About 6 months ago I bought a 100w 8ohm Weber Blue Dog with a Hemp Cone and Ceramic Magnet to use with my Silverface Deluxe Reverb and Badcat Unleash. The Unleash boosts the amp to 100w.
Then I realized the Unleash puts out 180w with a 4ohm speaker!
I've been loving my Hemp Blue Dog - sooo smooth! I had an EVM12L that was reconed with hemp is I liked that much more than a regular EVM12L. I also had a Cannabis Rex and liked it more than similar non-hemp Emi speakers, so I set out to find a 4ohm hemp-cone speaker that would handle 180w... I just kinda had to have the loudest DR possible, ya know?
I sent my old Celestion Classic Lead 80 out to get modified.
- Kept the Frame, pole plate & magnet
- Added a 4ohm voice-coil with an aluminum former (rather than cardboard or plastic) and CCAW (copper clad aluminum wire) wound in order to efficiently move the cone and handle 180w
- Used a 14g conical ribbed hemp cone to handle volume without breaking up
- An open-weave textile dust cap: a) acoustically transparent, and b) lets air pass over & cool the voice coil further increasing the power handling
- I'm not sure if he did or didn't use ferro-magnetic fluid, radial venting, or a particular type of voice-coil to extend the upper frequency range (I think he did use this voice-coil though, because I can see its red when I look through the dust cap).
I got the speaker today and it sounds great!
- I prefer the 50oz magnet over the 40oz magnet of the Weber: handles more bass, sounds punchier, but not overly heavy, nor so big that it adds too much bass.
- Its smooth, but brighter than the Weber and has a bit more "sizzle" with overdrive which might tame as it breaks in. I think the treble is from that special type of voice-coil, the open-weave dust cap and having a lot of ribs on the cone.
- I only play it for about an hour with the Unleash set about unity volume with the amp, but I think this speaker might get loud! I'm playing a big outdoor gig next week and I'm excited to put it to the test and see how loud it gets, how loud it gets without breaking up or getting cone-cry, and people's reaction to a 180w Deluxe Reverb!
I got it from a speaker builder Sour D suggested a couple years ago. I passed on his suggestion at the time because I wanted to stick to Celestion or Celestion clone speakers so I could better understand the gear I was using (so I could hear recordings with the speakers and read about them etc). *Note, this is NOT Atlas Modified Speakers, who sells hemp reconed Classic Lead 80's on eBay. I actually had a really bad experience with them about a year ago.*
I don't think I'll ever buy a regular paper-cone speaker again - hemp is just so much smoother, sweeter and thicker.
(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/Jon_Weingarden/Hemp%20Speaker/image_zps1b93f033.jpg)
(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/Jon_Weingarden/Hemp%20Speaker/image1_zpsb8e25660.jpg)
(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/Jon_Weingarden/Hemp%20Speaker/image2_zpsd90ed41a.jpg)
(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/Jon_Weingarden/20140426_142907_HDR_zpsr95kzeg3.jpg)
Hey Heady I always like reading your reviews! I love hemp cone speakers too, I may try a Cannabis Rex with my Express 5:25+! Weber makes a 100W hempcone but swapping speakers in the ODS is a major PITA.
Quote from: Buffered on July 05, 2014, 11:54:24 AM
Hey Heady I always like reading your reviews! I love hemp cone speakers too, I may try a Cannabis Rex with my Express 5:25+! Weber makes a 100W hempcone but swapping speakers in the ODS is a major PITA.
Thanks man!
The C. Rex is a nice speaker and the somewhat more American voice might balance the mids of the EL84's a bit. If you do try it, I'd be interested to hear.
Your ODS is a DRRI mod right? Do you have to take out the chassis to swap speakers? Fortunately, I don't on my SFDR - just enough clearance between the screw lugs and the transformer that I can swap in & out speakers if I am careful. I just have to take out one of the screws holding the reverb tank down.
You could always plug the ODS into an extension cab, or the speaker in a different cab (such as the 5:25). Obviously the speaker will sound a little different in the ODS cab, but maybe you can get a good enough idea of how the speaker pairs with the amp to decide if its worth swapping it in.
I might try my Blue Dog in my Mesa MKIII. I've hardly been using the Mesa because its too heavy and not loud enough (crazy right?). I know the Weber is quieter than the EVM12L, but at least its lighter. The 40oz magnet will reign in the bass a bit on the Mesa, which goes really really deep, as long as the magnet can handle the bass without farting.
I'm currently using the EVM with the Mesa, so I'm interested to see how the cleans benefit from the smoother mids. I had one in a Traynor YCV40 and it was so nice.
The ODS is built from a Hotrod deluxe, so I have to take the chassis out. There's an Emi RW&B which I am pretty happy with, it's what Fuchs ships most of his stuff with. For some gigs and at home, I always run an extension speaker either with the RW&B or solely EVM12L, I have a parallel cable and run them off the 4 ohm out.
Isn't the mesa 100W? I thought that would be killing small animals at full bore.. the ODS is plenty loud and that puts out about 50w from 2 6L6s
Quote from: Heady Jam Fan on July 05, 2014, 01:57:05 PM
Quote from: Buffered on July 05, 2014, 11:54:24 AM
Hey Heady I always like reading your reviews! I love hemp cone speakers too, I may try a Cannabis Rex with my Express 5:25+! Weber makes a 100W hempcone but swapping speakers in the ODS is a major PITA.
Thanks man!
The C. Rex is a nice speaker and the somewhat more American voice might balance the mids of the EL84's a bit. If you do try it, I'd be interested to hear.
Your ODS is a DRRI mod right? Do you have to take out the chassis to swap speakers? Fortunately, I don't on my SFDR - just enough clearance between the screw lugs and the transformer that I can swap in & out speakers if I am careful. I just have to take out one of the screws holding the reverb tank down.
You could always plug the ODS into an extension cab, or the speaker in a different cab (such as the 5:25). Obviously the speaker will sound a little different in the ODS cab, but maybe you can get a good enough idea of how the speaker pairs with the amp to decide if its worth swapping it in.
I might try my Blue Dog in my Mesa MKIII. I've hardly been using the Mesa because its too heavy and not loud enough (crazy right?). I know the Weber is quieter than the EVM12L, but at least its lighter. The 40oz magnet will reign in the bass a bit on the Mesa, which goes really really deep, as long as the magnet can handle the bass without farting.
I think the published wattage on the Mark III's varied over time (and some differed because of changes to the circuit), but I think the highest they published for a simulclass MKIII was 75w. I don't think my Red Stripe puts out quite that much. Its loud, but not loud enough for some of my recent needs.