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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Electro-Voice 12L

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11/6/1999 12:54 AM
Stan Bailey	Electro-Voice 12L Does anyone have any comments on the EVM12L speaker? I'm thinking about putting one in my Princeton to Stumble OD 50 conversion. Right now, I have a Mojo 12"er in there but would like the low end a little tighter.Any comments/opinions will be appreciated. Thanks, Stan

11/6/1999 3:14 AM

The EVM 12L is an extremely clean speaker that sounds terrible when played distorted. Even clean it sounds brittle. The 12L just doesn't break up properly when overdriven. In fact it has literally no ability to break up or compress and that is the problem.

Mesa used them for years in their Boogie amps and most people who hate Boogies tend to hate them because of the sound of the EVM 12L rather than the amp itself. Take out the 12L and suddenly the boogie sounds half way decent.

The only redeeming grace the 12L has is its continuous power rating which is somewhere around 300 watts. If you absolutely need this type of power handling ability, try an ALTEC LANSING 417 instead. Boogie used to provide these as an alternative to the 12L and the ALTEC LANSING was the option used by the Rolling Stones when they were into Boogies.

Personally I prefer the ALTEC to the 12L but again it is also rated at 300 watts and therefore has absolutely no ability to break up and compress when overdriven. After much frustration with the 12L, I finally settled on a Celestion which I'm very satisfied with. The moral of the story is that a cheaper less perfect speaker such as a Celestion often has better tone for guitar amplifiers.

BBP

11/6/1999 4:04 AM

Psycho Bass Guy

Not to bust your bubble, but EV makes the Altec. FWIW though, I agree with you comments on overdrive on an EV for clean tone, however, they are very tight and responsivewhen palyed clean. Altecs are voiced with less highs and high mids to sound more "vintage", but the basic overdrive is still the same. In order to get any crunch out of an EV or an Altec, you have to have a warm-voiced amp.

Psycho

11/6/1999 6:05 AM

I have heard the complaint about EVs before, I really have gotten so used to them that I find shortcoming in everything else -- and this is in a 1x12 configuration, not 2x12 or 4x12 cabs.

I think that if one is building an amp from scratch, all components can be factored in and the amp can be voiced to sound good with whichever speaker the designer has in mind. EVs are ultra tight and can be stiff, but they tend to not color the sound, or perhaps rather color the tone is a very consistent way. Those speakers will not crunch, unlike say Celestion greenback 25s, which are a part of the early Marshall sound accordingto many.

Boogies may sound too much like a Boogie through EVs, but through anything else, they really mush out in my opinion. It's a matter of liking that tone or not liking it.

Lastly, I have never played through one of the 300W ones, I favor the 200W instead, but I hear that people have complained about the 300W ones being even "more EV-like."

Gil

11/6/1999 12:58 PM
tjam	Bought a 4210 a couple of weeks ago and it has an EV- 12L 200w. Not really pleased with the tone, so I just ordered the Max Marshall schematics from Circuitrix,should I have changed the speaker Gill? The O.D was kinda bland.The clean channel- you have to turn the bass up to get a good tone.6550 changed to EL 34s.

11/6/1999 2:07 PM
Ken Gilbert	BTW, I know the guy from Circuitrix very well--Manny Bettencourt--and you will be pleased with the kit. He knows his stuff and he wants to help others learn it. KG

11/6/1999 8:50 PM

My main guitar amp right now is a TITANO (no model# or anything) basically a stereo accordian amp with a QUARTET of 7591As. The amp is a combo but the speaker cab portion is sealed. It has a 12" and an 8" speaker. After auditioning just about every speaker in my shop (Jensen P12R, Vintage30, G12M70, Fender CTS and Eminence speakers) I decided on the EVM12L 200w. It adds a little bit more to the weight of the amp than I want, but it really fills the bill for the sound I'm going for. It goes to show that beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

BTW the 8" is that little speaker out of my VOX pathfinder RI. Didn't sound too great in the VOX but it sre kicks ass with a 20-25W tube amp in a sealed box!

Farrow
http://surf.to/pharaohamps

PS anybody looking to unload some EVs? I love 'em.

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