Vintage Speakers
Vintage speakers might be the number one way for you to get a good vintage tone out of your amp. Many people believe that just because speakers are old means that they will sound good. This is definitely not true, just like it is not true that old speakers will automatically sound bad. It really depends on what speaker it is, and on what condition it is in.
The condition of the cone plays a huge part in how good the speaker will sound. If the cone is damaged, sliced, ripped, or blown, than the speaker will likely not sound very good at all. It will buzz, hum, distort, and make all kinds of unattractive racket that you will probably liken to a burning cat or something even worse. Especially if there is a lot of bass in the sound, blown speakers can sound exceptionally bad.
If you are going to buy vintage speakers in person, make sure you check the condition of the cone. Start up the amp, and try it out. Make sure that there is no buzzing or anything when you play. Also, visibly inspect the speaker for tears or rips. If there are, then the speaker is worthless unless it is re-coned.
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Re-coned speakers might be good or bad. Sometimes, if whoever did it knew what they were doing, and if they used good cone material, than it can sound ok. But it sometimes sounds ridiculous, so you really just have to try it out. If you are buying online, and looking for good tone, than you really need to ask some questions. For example, ask if the speaker is blown or damaged in any way. Ask if the cone is original, or if it has been re-coned. Personally, if you don’t want to replace the speaker, you should probably not buy one with a replaced cone.
Are vintage speakers better than new speakers? Well, it depends on what you want. If you are a stickler for purity, than you are going to want vintage. If it is tone you are after, than you might want a new speaker if it’s in a tube amplifier. See, the thing is, nine times out of ten the speakers in a vintage amp aren’t good anymore. If you can find a good one, then you will love it. But more often than not, you will likely need to replace it with a new one.
New speakers are really more technologically advanced. Granted, you can get a feel and richness from a vintage speaker that can be amazing, but true amazing sound really is consistently produced by today’s speakers just as well. The amplifier is where you will get more vintage sound than from the speaker itself. So, if you are out for good tone, than you can always use a new speaker. If it’s the old fashioned that you seek, than it might take some looking, but they are out there.