Best 15” speaker

[agedhorse]

The SRO was smoothcone as he a had a pair of them in an old guitar amp[West I think] and one speaker was sent to a business to be reconed and it came back with a ribbed cone.When the business was contacted about that they said they recone the old SRO 12s with EVM 12L cones.I was just going by what they said.Thank you for the correction.There is a speaker company called WGS that makes a smooth cone and a ribbed cone version of the same speaker.There is a difference in tone between the 2 because of the cones.

EVM-15L’s never came with ribbed cones either.

This is why I mentioned that many parts out there are not original nor meet original specs. When used, the driver becomes just another random driver and IMO worth (essentially) nothing.

 

[JimChjones]

Are the old cabs better

The stuff available to the likes of me back in the 70s was pretty dreadful. Acoustic and the like might have been OK but was utterly unaffordable for a kid my age this side of the pond. Nostalgia for the stuff we had then.. well, I sure as hell wouldn't swap what I have now for it. Modern kit is not only way better, but also so cheap...

 

[DavidEdenAria]

You can put 500 watts into a JBL as long as you keep it clean. I come from a sound reinforcement background, but also deal with musicians on a daily basis and probably have prefaced my statement by asking if the original poster is looking for the speaker to provide its own character to the sound, or looking for a accurate transducer to replicate the sound the amp, efffects, and bass are producing. Two completely different schools of thought, both equally valid.

I wouldnt push any old JBL (30 years since they made a bass speaker) with much power....not worth potentially trashing an original alnico JBL bass speaker, besides many guitar players like them with say 50 watt tube amps but usually not dimed either.

I am careful with my pair of EV-15L in TL 606 cabs...usually a GK 800RB which as we know can get rather 'grindy' when pushed! Then you throw in a low B string?...nope not going there!

 

[StereoPlayer]

I wouldnt push any old JBL (30 years since they made a bass speaker) with much power....not worth potentially trashing an original alnico JBL bass speaker, besides many guitar players like them with say 50 watt tube amps but usually not dimed either.

I am careful with my pair of EV-15L in TL 606 cabs...usually a GK 800RB which as we know can get rather 'grindy' when pushed! Then you throw in a low B string?...nope not going there!

But they have a 5 year warranty!
And my Acoustic 301 cab has a Lifetime Warranty!

 

[DavidEdenAria]

EVM-15L’s never came with ribbed cones either.

This is why I mentioned that many parts out there are not original nor meet original specs. When used, the driver becomes just another random driver and IMO worth (essentially) nothing.

Some folks think the 'accordion edge' means 'ribbed cone'....reminds me of the good old days with Cletron 10" hi fi woofers with 'accordion edge' about 1975....doping on those 'accordion edges' still flexible in the crappy old cabs i built with Phillips drivers from McGee radio in KC.....1975 back when pot had a lot of stems & seeds.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

But they have a 5 year warranty!
And my Acoustic 301 cab has a Lifetime Warranty!

I feel better...

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Beware when buying used drivers, from what I have seen many have been reconed with poor/cheap parts for quick profitable sale. I see the results when customers bring in their problems. This is especially true of out of production parts like many JBL, EV, Gauss, Altec, etc. Since factory parts are no longer available, it's a crapshoot as to what you really receive. I used to have access to some very good aftermarket parts sources but they are also gone, replaced by overseas parts that nobody can compete with.

What i commonly see is most re-coned speakers are for guitar players only...i have several 50's Jensens, CTS alnicos that sound great, some are recones some not....but guitar is a WAY different thing than bass.....lots of variations to recone into guitar speakers but demand for re-coned bass speakers isnt even close from what i see.

Joe Bonamassa on his 1st tour had a pair of Marshall 4x12's loaded with EV 12Ls, each pair driven by a 100 watt Marshall type....this was in a TINY club!! Guitar players will try anything but its a different game than bass and MI speakers.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...1975 back when pot had a lot of stems & seeds.

You got it backwards...

 

[agedhorse]

You got it backwards...

I worked many Commander Cody shows over the years. The video brought back memories.

 

[Michedelic]

Some folks think the 'accordion edge' means 'ribbed cone'....reminds me of the good old days with Cletron 10" hi fi woofers with 'accordion edge' about 1975....doping on those 'accordion edges' still flexible in the crappy old cabs i built with Phillips drivers from McGee radio in KC.....1975 back when pot had a lot of stems & seeds.

You bought from the wrong person; there used to be a guy down at Volker Park on Sundays…

 

[DavidEdenAria]

You bought from the wrong person; there used to be a guy down at Volker Park on Sundays…

Oh man he had Cletron woofers? There was a robbery....no wait.

No worries plenty of 'growers' in MO even back then....and bootleg whiskey...we had it made.

 

[Michedelic]

Oh man he had Cletron woofers? There was a robbery....no wait.

No worries plenty of 'growers' in MO even back then....and bootleg whiskey...we had it made.

Never dealt with ‘bootleggers’, but there was a liquor store at 39th and SW Trafficway that never asked for ID.

 

[BruceG63]

The person that I used to be in a band with that has the audio repair business used to have somebody[another business]that did recones for him and did a pretty good job especially with the EV 15s and 18s but the cost of reconing them got to the point it wasnt worth it any more because other drivers with better specs didnt cost much more than the recones and shipping back and forth made it not worth it any more.To recone a EV 15 with shipping was getting to be around $150 and thru Parts Express you could buy one of their house brand 15s that had almost twice the xmax and more power handling for less.The business that reconed them closed and all these fly by night recone businesses came in being using inferior non manufacturer spec parts[like ribbed cones on an EV SRO] just for the sake of making the speaker work again.How good though is another matter.There are people on ebay that want more for those vintage drivers than they are user worth.

 

[agedhorse]

The lack of quality parts is in part driven by all the DIY parts available on the internet. The DIY market will convince themselves that because a part looks like the original it’s all good without the slightest understanding about how important those original factory specs really are.

When you can use the same cone for example in 20 different recone kits rather than for just the single speaker it’s original to, it can be sold cheaper. A pro recone shop can’t go down that road with pro customers for obvious reasons, but “internet experts” have much lower standards (in part because they think they know more than they do)

These poor quality fake parts have canibalized the already limited market for genuine and premium aftermarket parts. The result is that these suppliers are going away, as are many of the pro oriented recone shops.

 

[eddiemac]

According to the picture I'm looking at in a 1985 Electro-Voice brochure, the EVM-15L had a ribbed cone (as opposed to the EVM-15B). I always thought it was odd the guitar JBL D130F had a smooth cone and the bass D140F had a ribbed cone, reverse of the EV designs.

 

[agedhorse]

According to the picture I'm looking at in a 1985 Electro-Voice brochure, the EVM-15L had a ribbed cone (as opposed to the EVM-15B). I always thought it was odd the guitar JBL D130F had a smooth cone and the bass D140F had a ribbed cone, reverse of the EV designs.

The 5 rib cone that EV used is quite different in composition than what JBL used, the ribs are a visual similarity.

Ribs are used to control how a cone might break up, or to change the harmonics as the vibrations travel through the paper (and how the paper moves) at different frequencies. It's not exclusive to bass speakers.

 

[5StringPocket]

I worked many Commander Cody shows over the years. The video brought back memories.

Listened to a lot of Commander Cody back in college.
I think this has one of the best boogie woogie walking bass lines ever:

 

[BruceG63]

To add to this one those newer recone places did a few speakers for my friend and some of them came back with the voice coils rubbing as they did a terrible job aligning them right when they reconed them.As for ribs on speaker cones check the G12C and G12C/S by WGS speakers.I have heard the G12C/S[smoothcone] which is kinda of an old Jensen clone like used in older Fender amps.It had a nice slighty muted woody tone that goes well with a bright open back amp.

 

[agedhorse]

Listened to a lot of Commander Cody back in college.
I think this has one of the best boogie woogie walking bass lines ever:

Agreed. It goes to unexpected places and then comes back in unexpected ways, keeps it fresh.

To add to this one those newer recone places did a few speakers for my friend and some of them came back with the voice coils rubbing as they did a terrible job aligning them right when they reconed them.As for ribs on speaker cones check the G12C and G12C/S by WGS speakers.I have heard the G12C/S[smoothcone] which is kinda of an old Jensen clone like used in older Fender amps.It had a nice slighty muted woody tone that goes well with a bright open back amp.

These are completely different cone construction styles. One is pulped paper fiber and the other is seamed paper sheet. The seamed paper is calandered, which makes it's properties very different. The ribs are usually seen in seamed paper cones for practical mechanical reasons, the tone aspects are then exploited for marketing purposes.

 

[BruceG63]

Could be as I havent heard the ribbed cone version of the WGS G12C to experience the difference.I really did like the sound of the smoothcone G12C/S speaker though I cant absolutely say it was because of the cone itself.I know when my guitar player sold the amp it was in he replaced it with a Celestion as he liked that WGS speaker enough that he wanted to keep it.I think on the WGS website some where they do a comparison between those 2 speakers.