Tone Tubby Alnico 50W experiences?

Buffered · March 18, 2015, 08:37:15 PM

Hey all,

Someone in my town is unloading their Tone Tubby Red for $200, is that a good price for this speaker? I'm looking for another speaker to swap in my Carr and potentially Mesa, looking to smooth out the midrange and add punch. I also highly value a sparkling clean, that also sustains and adds lots of dimension. Just to reiterate, this is the 50W AlNiCo which according to specs is hemp coned, but I have yet to try out this one. I'm going to be using this with a 25 watt and a 40 watt amp (rarely at half volume with the 40W) I think i'll be okay, but I'm relatively new at speakers compared to many.

Walker done done · March 20, 2015, 06:07:04 PM

Quote from: Buffered on March 18, 2015, 08:37:15 PM
Hey all,

Someone in my town is unloading their Tone Tubby Red for $200, is that a good price for this speaker? I'm looking for another speaker to swap in my Carr and potentially Mesa, looking to smooth out the midrange and add punch. I also highly value a sparkling clean, that also sustains and adds lots of dimension. Just to reiterate, this is the 50W AlNiCo which according to specs is hemp coned, but I have yet to try out this one. I'm going to be using this with a 25 watt and a 40 watt amp (rarely at half volume with the 40W) I think i'll be okay, but I'm relatively new at speakers compared to many.

How old is the speaker/what kind of wear does it have? Those go for $300 new so $200 could be a good deal if it's in good shape. I've owned 2 of those and they are phenomenal speakers.

Hoody · March 20, 2015, 09:02:35 PM

I tried these, but much prefer the weber blue dog. It's cheaper and has a darker, smoother and more smokey sound. I'm a big fan of trey's tone from 97-98, and this speaker gets it. Once they're broken in they have the most unique and cool sound. I use it in a blackface dr and a Mesa. I'd check those out, they're basically 20 bucks more new than the tone tubby is used. And I think they're better and unique sounding. Roll down your volume and they're unreal. So smooth and warm.

Heady Jam Fan · March 21, 2015, 10:14:07 AM

You got a Steamboat Hemp 100, right? That is a Tone Tubby cone, just for reference. I haven't personally played the Reds, but DaveKS on TGP is a good person to ask: he is a fan of both speakers, and he and I have similar taste in speakers and NOS tubes.

The Steamboat kicked a Weber Blue Dog out of my Deluxe Reverb, but the BD is also a killer speaker. The thing about the BD is that there are so many options, depending on the specs, the speaker can sound very different. For example, a 50w paper cone BD is brighter than an Eminence Red Fang or Celestion Gold, however a 100w Hemp Cone with Pre-Rola Dope is one of the darkest speakers I've heard. The 100w with Hemp and Dope is the last one I had, and it was incredibly smooth, but too dark for me - the Steamboat has more treble and deeper / punchier bass. If I got another Blue Dog, I probably would get hemp, but no dope (probably not necessary with a hearty hemp cone). Also, the BD is quieter - probably about 97db compared to a 100db Celestion or Steamboat. Weber can add a neodymium booster magnet when they are building the speaker for you, which is a good idea unless you want to quiet your amp down.

Buffered · March 30, 2015, 09:30:26 AM

Quote from: Heady Jam Fan on March 21, 2015, 10:14:07 AM
You got a Steamboat Hemp 100, right? That is a Tone Tubby cone, just for reference. I haven't personally played the Reds, but DaveKS on TGP is a good person to ask: he is a fan of both speakers, and he and I have similar taste in speakers and NOS tubes.

The Steamboat kicked a Weber Blue Dog out of my Deluxe Reverb, but the BD is also a killer speaker. The thing about the BD is that there are so many options, depending on the specs, the speaker can sound very different. For example, a 50w paper cone BD is brighter than an Eminence Red Fang or Celestion Gold, however a 100w Hemp Cone with Pre-Rola Dope is one of the darkest speakers I've heard. The 100w with Hemp and Dope is the last one I had, and it was incredibly smooth, but too dark for me - the Steamboat has more treble and deeper / punchier bass. If I got another Blue Dog, I probably would get hemp, but no dope (probably not necessary with a hearty hemp cone). Also, the BD is quieter - probably about 97db compared to a 100db Celestion or Steamboat. Weber can add a neodymium booster magnet when they are building the speaker for you, which is a good idea unless you want to quiet your amp down.

Oh yeah, absolutely loving the Steamboat. I swapped it with the V30 in my Express 5:25+ and it's a much better speaker for that amp - more pleasing midrange vs congested IMHO and it's got a sparklier top end which helps with the darkness in that amp. I don't think I'm going to get this TT, but instead buy another steamboat for my Carr

Heady Jam Fan · March 30, 2015, 10:41:28 AM

Quote from: Buffered on March 30, 2015, 09:30:26 AM
Quote from: Heady Jam Fan on March 21, 2015, 10:14:07 AM
You got a Steamboat Hemp 100, right? That is a Tone Tubby cone, just for reference. I haven't personally played the Reds, but DaveKS on TGP is a good person to ask: he is a fan of both speakers, and he and I have similar taste in speakers and NOS tubes.

The Steamboat kicked a Weber Blue Dog out of my Deluxe Reverb, but the BD is also a killer speaker. The thing about the BD is that there are so many options, depending on the specs, the speaker can sound very different. For example, a 50w paper cone BD is brighter than an Eminence Red Fang or Celestion Gold, however a 100w Hemp Cone with Pre-Rola Dope is one of the darkest speakers I've heard. The 100w with Hemp and Dope is the last one I had, and it was incredibly smooth, but too dark for me - the Steamboat has more treble and deeper / punchier bass. If I got another Blue Dog, I probably would get hemp, but no dope (probably not necessary with a hearty hemp cone). Also, the BD is quieter - probably about 97db compared to a 100db Celestion or Steamboat. Weber can add a neodymium booster magnet when they are building the speaker for you, which is a good idea unless you want to quiet your amp down.

Oh yeah, absolutely loving the Steamboat. I swapped it with the V30 in my Express 5:25+ and it's a much better speaker for that amp - more pleasing midrange vs congested IMHO and it's got a sparklier top end which helps with the darkness in that amp. I don't think I'm going to get this TT, but instead buy another steamboat for my Carr

Yeah - I like Alnico speakers, but I don't think the cost is worth it IMHO. Glad your enjoying the Steamboat! I also agree the V30 was not ideal with the 5:25+ I had: the small size and EL84 bite was just too much with the V30's mids. The only thing I've found myself doing with hemp cone speakers is dialing out some low-mids on my GEQ. On my MK III, I set the low mids just below unity. Sometimes I also boost the upper mids just above unity too, giving the speaker a bit more bite like a V30, but still much smoother because of the hemp cone.

Poster · May 12, 2015, 08:04:22 PM

* update on this one. I actually did a much larger deep dive with about 30 speakers since this post years ago. The tony tubby alnico purple haze or rosebud sound pretty great in just about everything, and sort of approximate a JBL, not nearly as close as Sarno would suggest. Anyway, mixing speaker sizes has seemed to make the most difference, past a point. 1x15 plus 2 or 4 tens pretty much 3-d out of two similar but mismatched heads. Touching on a more complex approach, but if you get into figuring out how your speakers are throwing, youll get into different sizes - usually treading of similar but not exactly. Tried to get into the Jensen Blackbirds but did not do it for me? Probably needed more break in, but alas, the above mentioned speakers sound great out of the box. My boy Fat Jimmy in Petaluma also makes killer speakers. He builds amps for Bob Weir, Jackie Greene, Kimock etc. So try all those out you can just search Fat Jimmy speakers. Just awesome boutique vintage fender speaker recreations - very tasty. Pretty sure Jackie Greene used his alnico and out of a 1x12 fat jimmy combo at a show i was at not long ago, paired with a Pelham Blue vintage gibson SG - he had some of the fattest rythym tone I've heard in a long long time. And I dont even like Jackie Greene, or should I say, did not used to like; it sounded that good.

The JBL thing IMO should be limited to the K or D series stuff. Never dug the E's. Even mixed with all sorts of different shit. - just some thoughts!

Poster · January 04, 2019, 11:06:21 AM

bump for all the new speakers out these days ^ above for some thoughts

Arafel · January 04, 2019, 04:14:19 PM

I put the Celestion Century Vintage in my HT Fatty cabinet and really like it. They are neodymium, so they are light. Two of them weight less than one Celestion Greenback. I can pick up the HT cab with one hand.

Poster · January 04, 2019, 04:44:33 PM

Quote from: Arafel on January 04, 2019, 04:14:19 PM
I put the Celestion Century Vintage in my HT Fatty cabinet and really like it. They are neodymium, so they are light. Two of them weight less than one Celestion Greenback. I can pick up the HT cab with one hand.

those are decent speakers but have nothing in common with alnico magnet stuff - kinda the polar opposite.