New Speaker Day: 4ohm, 180w, Hemp Cone Modified Celestion CL80

[Heady Jam Fan]

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.

[Buffered]

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.

[Heady Jam Fan]

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.

[Buffered]

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

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.

[Heady Jam Fan]

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.