Im thinking of picking up a Sunn 215B and loading it with Eminence Legend CB15's and want to make sure I will get the desired results. I play in shoegaze running my GK700RBII using both clean and distortion (depending on the song). Essentially I want a smooth tone while clean and something dirty when I kick on the pedal with plenty of low end to feel.
Ok so the reason you want to change them is that you don't feel it's smooth when clean or that it lacks low-end when dirty? Does it feel like there isn't much cut or presence when running your distortion pedals? Just trying to make sure I have the right problem in mind.
Being as Im new to speaker swapping would this setup be a good idea? My concerns are my head wont be loud enough to support the 300w speakers, or perhaps the CB15's will work better in a sealed cab. Probably over thinking things. Thanks TB
Take the wattage worries out of your mind, it's not relevant at all in this situation. IME as a rule of thumb, if your speakers can handle
significantly more wattage than your head is rated at, you shouldn't worry about it until you hear farting out or heavy distortion when running the head clean or without distortion effects.
I have a set of CB15's in an old Kasino 2x15s cabinet that I bought used. Mine is ported and I've had excellent results with the speakers after installing them. Now each cab is different, but from what I hear the CB15s are quite versatile speakers and do well in a variety of cab sizes. I don't usually run lots of effects through my cab (usually just some chorus/delay and a DS-1), but it seems to handle them ok.
I don't know if swapping these speakers will solve your problem though, since it seems that you aren't getting enough low-end when using your distortion pedal. You may want to consider a single 15" or 18" to run a clean channel through, or moving to something with some more cone space like an 8x10 cab. A blend pedal for effects might be another route to investigate if you are a hardcore shoegaze guy. FWIW, the blend pedal will be much cheaper (and returnable) option to try before doing a speaker rewire on an old cab like a 215b. An EQ pedal
after your effects may be another option to explore before shelling out for new speakers as well. Boosting your lows + mids with an EQ pedal after the effects can give them some more beef...that way your amp head doesn't have to fight as hard to get lows pumped out to your cab. I would strongly suggest trying the pedal options since you can return them if it doesn't work out and you don't have to do any wiring/soldering in order to get things up and running.
