20 Best Guitar Speaker For Metal (2023 Updated)

I have spent most my life as a Jazz Guitar Performer, educator, and student. Certainly I have played in just about every musical situation but tonally leaned toward the Metheny, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery clean sounds and a driven sound that could best be described as Al Dimeola melting with Robben Ford but with much less gain or bass than either (a clear dynamic overdrive that is spongy on the highend and tight on the lowend.

In 1999 I got a 66′ Princeton Reverb that had a horrid Jensen in it and just lived in my closet. One night my Polytone died (imagine that) and I found a Re-coned original Vintage 10 and stuck it in the Princeton to play the gig.

Immediately it displayed as much clean volume as the 100 watt polytone yet it was only 12 watts. It was more dynamic and the response was very even and needed nothing from the EQ of the amp (set it at High-4 Bass-4 Reveb-3 and volume 3-5).

Almost 20 years later that is still my favorite sound and little has changed since the speaker really broke in (highest highs got a bit less immediate). Through the years I got a couple 2×10 vibroverbs and Deluxe Reverbs with 2×10 cabs and was always hesitant to spend so much on the new G10Vintage so I have tried the 1040 Celestion, the Eminence Ramrod, and Eminence Copperhead (I hate the copperhead – least even response I have ever heard from any speaker).

The Ramrod was always close but a but less dynamic and the highs were always a bit quick to respond, still a good speaker. The 1040 Celestion is fine but not worth the trouble to change to. I finally bought a G10 vintage 2 months ago (Aug 2018) and paired it with Quilter Pro Block 200 head in a 1×10 open back cab.

It is similar to the Princeton but – no maintenance, nearly weightless, more headroom, and better overall tone. The question is probably ” is that the amp or the speaker ” and the answer is that it is as much the G10 vintage as it is the amp.

Both love each other.

I purchased the G10 Vintage for my Marshall DSL5CR. The stock 10-30 wasnt bad, but I wanted a bigger overall sound and more personality from my amp. The G10 Vintage added warmth, midrange punch, and some harmonic complexity that was lacking with the stock speaker.

The tone is similar to a Vintage 30, but to my ears is not harsh in the upper mids and highs like Vintage 30s can be. Bass is tight, mids are warm and prominent, and the highs sparkle but are not harsh.

This speaker added some bite and aggression to my lead channel, but produces excellent cleans as well. Overall, this was a great upgrade for my DSL and I definitely recommend it to others who want to beef up the sound of their small combos.

I gig with a Fender 68 Custom Princeton. The Celestion stock speaker wasn’t bad. However it was heavy on the bass. The amp itself has the bassman circuit. This speaker definitely is an upgrade and improves the amp in every way.

Better balance between bass, mids and highs. Leads have more presence. The amps headroom is improved. For me, I am very pleased with the results. Sounds like a much larger amp than it is but still toneful at lower volumes.

I must admit. I usually like the Jensen sound with a Fender amp. But with this amp I made the right call.

Received my new speaker, first allowed it to get warm temperature wise. Shipping in North Dakota can get items a little cold. Then installed, and even before this speaker has had time to be properly broken in.

It instantly brought a new life to a fairly new amp. A Peavey VYPYR VIP-1. The Peavey original speaker was just an eight inch speaker. I can only believe that as the new speaker is slowly broken in. The quality will continue to be rich, and a full range of tones.

I even ran some bass notes thru it. There was a great improvement here too. The over all quality of a small home amp, has been greatly improved.

I repair guitar amps for work now. Have had a good amount of experience with speaker types. This is no alnico blue, vintage 30, or original Rola, but for the money it’s great. Good value. Not overly bright like Italian Jensens.

Pretty efficient, though not as much as some. Therefore, not terribly loud. Warm side of tone, I guess, with ever so slightly “phasey” boxy tone with single coils on Tele and strat. Still, this is a fine speaker for the money.

Unless you make a living doing recording / session work, this should be just what the doctor ordered. Even then, it sounds good mic’d up. There are better if you want to pay double for them.

I have these installed in the doors of my 2017 Mustang on custom spacer rings. Using them as the midbass for a 3-way driver set. Decided to give these a shot after I blew the 6. 5″ midbass speakers that came with my Morel Maximo Ultra 603 component set.

The two drivers have almost identical physical dimensions. The Betas are about 1/8″ deeper on the install depth and have a different bolt pattern, but that’s about it for physical differences. For me, it was a drop-in install, which is always welcome.

Goes without saying, but when you’re mixing and matching drivers, you need to have some idea of what you’re doing with crossover points, slopes, etc. I’m currently running these bandpassed, 90-450Hz/24db on about 100 watts @ 8 ohms and they sound fantastic.

The Beta’s RMS power handling is 2x what the Morel driver’s was and it shows during high-volume listening excursions. Haven’t heard any coil slap yet and I’ve had them pretty cranked. Being that I’m running them semi-free-air (in the doors) I don’t want to push the low end.

I have a sub, and it takes care of 90Hz and below. Properly crossed over and fed some power, these drivers really slam for 6. 5″ drivers. I find the crack of a well-recorded snare drum very satisfying (Genesis ABACAB comes to mind).

I should add that I have a full-active driver setup, which makes a big difference. Signal processing is being done by a JL Audio TWK88 which is an infinitely-variable DSP. I’ve been impressed by how well these drivers integrated with the Morel mids/tweets that I somehow haven’t destroyed yet.

The midbass on the Betas is way tighter than on the Morel drivers, even without EQ changes. The magnet on these drivers is huge. No little Neodymium magnet here. You’ll need three hands when installing these in doors but the effort is worth it.

That said, the magnet diameter coupled with the signal leads makes for a big, honkin’ mess to try and stuff into the door speaker hole. I didn’t have to cut anything because I was already using spacer rings, but it was a tight fit.

You may have to figure out how to physically install them, depending upon your application. The way I’m using these is a niche case use for sure, but I wanted to post this review in case someone else came looking for midbass drivers for their car after they blew up the ones that came in the component set they bought.

like I did. HIGHLY recommended.

After using the Tonker for a few years (the heavy ceramic magnet version) I gave the Tonkerlite a go. It sounds great! The description “less low-mid meat” is accurate compared to the Tonker, and otherwise sounds similar in voicing.

My guitar sound is heavy in low-mids anyway, and it was easy to put them right back to the expected amount with graphic EQ. The Tonkerlite sounds much better than the stock speaker in my Peavey 6505+ 112, and makes that amp much more portable.

At 125w of power handling, this speaker easily handles the exaggerated low-end of this 60w amp. I also have an Eminence EM12n, a 200w Neodymium speaker based on EV’s EVM-12. Normally I don’t mix speakers but: I’m considering putting a Tonkerlite + the EM12n in my 2×12 EVH 5150-3 cabinet.

The EM12n is a more “hi-fi” speaker, the Tonkerlite is voiced like a British Fane. This should approximate the Celestion+JBL mixture Edward Van Halen and others have used in their cabinets, at a much lighter weight.

I predict the same tonal improvement over the stock Chinese-made Celestions. (Normally I love Celestions in general, but the import “Anniversary” 12s in the EVH 2×12 have no “qualities” I could recommend.

) I have used Eminence speakers for many years and had very good luck with them for sound and durability. So far, I am having great results with their Neodymium-magnet speakers!.

I got these for open baffle duty. They match up well with a B&C mid and an Aurum Cantus ribbon tweeter. All three drvers are 98db or better in their passbands. I got these knowing the specs were not ideal for OB but wanted to try them.

Holy cow this is the best bass I’ve ever heard. The detail, the richness, the transients. I don’t just hear the bass I hear the string vibrating. I wanted to use them as a fill-in driver for 50-400 or so and hand off to the OB sub.

Well the sub stays off. This driver has the output, the range and the fidelity. All at one or two millimeters of travel. Big cones; short throw. That’s the key to the best sound. 2’ by 4’ large baffle with wings and 2” thick.

I have purchased four of these speakers for use in a couple of birch plywood cabinets, with a 2X12 baffle, similar to the Pre-CBS Fender Bandmaster cabinet. The plywood responds much better than MDF, and it weighs much less.

Probably works just as well in a pine cabinet. Since I no longer have any 4X12 cabinets, I can not offer any information, but, I have a positive feeling about using these Celestions in this type of cabinet.

I have tested these speakers with a number of different amplifiers, all tube, and find that they work well, even better than the stock speakers. These are not inexpensive tube heads, and the one that I am using the two cabinets with, is a Fender Super amp head from the mid 1990’s.

The amp was originally in a 4X10 combo, but, the cabinet was damaged beyond repair after it fell off of the back of a truck. The amplifier still worked, so, it was installed in a Fender style head enclosure, after the local amp technician worked on it, which included new tubes, and a different power chord.

Fender rated the amplifier at 65 watts with 8 ohm speakers. That has to be taken into consideration, and one should check out which configuration works for an 8 ohm output. Speaker installation is simple, in an existing cabinet.

Be sure that speakers are wired to the cross-over identically. Just use the existing fasteners, that are installed, already. The frame of the speaker is sturdy, but, be careful not to damage the cone, otherwise, your new speaker(s) will be useless.

The two cabinets were sealed with porting,front loading, so I can not say how the speakers will sound in an open back cabinet. In a closed cabinet, the speakers perform very well. Even though they are inexpensive, consider that they are genuine Celestions, and have better quality control than some other speaker manufacturers.

This is not a slur against Emminence, but directed toward cheap imports. Some of these imports are more expensive than these Celestion speakers, even though these speakers are manufactured overseas, but, with strict requirements.

I’ve had the Rocket 50 for about 3 months as I’ve been on a speaker quest. To me, speakers and amps generally click or they don’t. This is the least expensive of the 5 speakers auditioned (also Celestion G12T-75, V-type, G12M Greenback, and WGS ET-65), switched between 3 open back 1×12 pine cabinets driven by an Orange Micro Dark and Bugera G20.

The other speakers are all more expensive so it is important to factor that in. The Rocket 50 is the least efficient and least articulate. To me it sounds kind of “fizzy” with overdriven tones. The cleans are ok, but I don’t spend a lot of time there.

I think it would be an upgrade for some combo amps I’ve owned and it may work better with other cabinets and/or amplifiers. My two cents would be to spend a little more money and try the G12M or V-type (with the G20, although the WGS sounds the best with the MD).

I put two of these speakers in a sealed back extension cabinet for a Fender Mustang III and they work very well. In this application the Rocket 50’s performed very well and the harshness sometimes attributed to these speakers does not seem to come through with this cabinet.

I’ve also used this cabinet with my 78 Music Man with the same result. I have performed and rehearsed with both these rigs and had no trouble or negative feedback for the Rocket 50’s. Now obviously these are not top of the line speakers.

But that being said, they work and sound just fine in the right application. And can give you good results for a budget price. I would recommend the Rocket 50’s to anyone.

I have bought 6 or more Eminence speakers , never been disappointed in their performance. To me they are the best value in quality speakers , that and the fact that they offer so many models keeps bringing me back I have bought 10″ , 12″ , and 15″ speakers from them , Patriot , Redcoat , Legend.

all good. Value and quality makes them top choice for me.

Very efficient speaker that will open up your amp. It’s an honest speaker that doesn’t color the sound of your guitar. If you have a quality guitar it will sound great. It sounds a little different in my other amps, but it always sounds good.

Good value.

Bought this as a replacement for the OEM speaker in my Fender Blues Jr. guitar amplifier. I have installed a number of Bill M. Mods in this amplifier and the OEM speaker just wasn’t cutting it. This speaker is just st what the doctor ordered.

Nice tight cleans at low volume yet it breaks up nicely without getting mushy at higher volumes.

I replaced the blown speakers in a vintage Music Man 210 Sixtyfive amp. These are perfect speakers for this amp. These amp have lots of clean headroom and these speakers match up great with it. They handle everything well, they have a nice clear top end and an amazing midrange tone.

Perfect match for my princeton 65 reissue. I’ve had lots of speakers in it, but the copperhead is the best balance of tone and weight.

I have this in a Laney Cub 12r and it sounds terrific. It is the perfect speaker for this darker sounding amp and I can’t recommend it enough. I bought into the hype that this was a cheap, un-hip speaker and ‘upgraded’ to an WGS ET65 which sounded muddy and blah, then I tried a Jenson C12N which was better but not really doing it for me either.

I then put the 70/80 back in and it sounded great – like the amp was developed with it in mind. Lows are solid, mid-range is good, top end has chime and sparkle, and as I am aiming for a good clean tone, I am pretty happy.

Rule of thumb; you can always add dirt, you can never add clean. My guess is that if the manufacturer were to paint the frame a cool color, put a fancy sticker on it and double the price, then people would rave about it all day long.

In sum, this is the perfect speaker for some amps and it does an outstanding job regardless of the price or hipster forum cred. Your mileage, of course, may vary depending on your desired outcome.

I installed this speaker in a Champion 40 amp that I just got because reviewers suggested ordering a replacement speaker at the same time that you order the amp. Man what a difference. This speaker is designed for Hybrid and Modeling amps so it fits like a glove.

Think it even gave the amp a little more headroom to my ears. The clean channel just oozes out Fender tone and the voicings on channel 2 really shine also and the speaker isn’t even broke in yet. This speaker seems to have the perfect balance of lows, mids and highs.

I used to own a Mustang III V. 2 that came stock with this speaker and I liked the speaker alot but all the menus that you had to scroll through Not so much. It will handle whatever you want to throw at it.

Very overlooked and under rated speaker. I love it!.

The Celestion G12T Hot 100 is a great sounding speaker. Very open with a tight bottom. Highs are crip without being spikey. I purchased one for a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe based on the price. I was amazed at how good it sounded for less that $100.

It works great in amps with a lot of headroom. If you want all your overdrive to come from the amp and not the speaker, then this is the speaker for you. I just put one in a Victory V40 Deluxe and it tamed the spikey highs.

It also reduced the weight by 4 lbs. I can get very loud with no distortion if I want to, or I can crank the volume and get killer tube driven crunch and overdrive. I highly recommend the G12T Hot 100.

Billy Sig.

This 10 Eminence Ragin Cajun is worth every dollar! Fantastic sound and it it gets very loud with even 20 watts. I put it in a Skar audio car subwoofer cabinet and Im quite pleased even though Ive yet to fine tune the port for best bass response Still need to add a 1/4 jack, grill, handles and rubber feet.

Nice update to stock speaker on Fender SuperChamp X2 combo. Handles more low end without getting flabby, increases perceived volume as a result. That said, it is also a bit darker than the OEM speaker, and I found it to be a trade-off with regard to tone & break-up characteristics.

Installation was a breeze – no need to pull the tubes – and with a powered screwdriver the job took 6 minutes start to finish. I’d say the change was well worth it because of the improvement to low-end response and slight increase in playable volume.

It might be the difference between actually using it onstage in a small room or having to bring a larger rig. AMS did great (on time, well packed) and the installation was easy. Everyone deserves 5 stars on this product, just temper your expectations a bit in terms of the “wow” factor.

You’ll need to recalibrate tone & FX to get your sound dialed in.

This 10” speaker is what every speaker should sound like. Tight low end, mids are just right and the high end is smooth. Now I put this in a fender frontman 25R. Yes it’s solid state, but this speaker made it a great practice amp.

I would use this at a small gig that’s how much I think this speaker made this amp beyond usable now. I’m an Eminence fan for life.

First off i have tried many celestions. Great company but the marketing is a little thick. A guitar is all about upper midrange and highs. Most guitar speakers represent that. Just the facts. Some have stronger magnets , coils and cones for more volume and tightness, some have have weaker magnets etc for the other reason- warm tone.

But they’ll all be in the same frequency response ballpark. Compare the results yourself. Some ears say these are warm, some say they are bright, scooped , whatever but youll get those same differing opinions on other speakers.

I replaced 4 speakers in 2 of my genz benz 2×12 g flex cabs. They were old stock speakers , sounded very warm but were old. One finally went buzzy so i replaced all 4 with these hot 100’s. They sounded like great brand new speakers.

Because they are new. Clear, defined, loud. I will say 100 watt speakers will always be a little cleaner. But they will work for any situation. If you play a classic rock style they will represent that, if you play clean jazz , country metal etc – they work well.

But a lot of celestions work well. The one that is way different and defiantly vintage are the greenbacks. They sound great with low gain amps like an old plexi but not high gain in my opinion. But you could throw these G12ts in anything and get a great sound.

If you wade through all the adjectives in the marketing of the other speakers- you may come out confused , a little lighter in the wallet but with close to same results. Some say they dont like the sound of a brand new speaker – i love it.

Its like anything else.

The biggest problem with 99. 9% of guitarist, is that they all have their default EQ and Gain settings on any amp with any speaker cab and than Complain when they can not achieve the sound they want.

These speakers are based on the Classic Lead 80 which is a hidden gem. if you as a musician, can not achieve the sound you are looking for from these speakers, look to yourself and your personal capabilities as a musician first and not the product.

their are plenty of musicians on the planet, that can plug into anything and sound great and with that being said, these are great sounding speakers at a great price point. Practice Practice Practice and stop blaming your lack their of musicianship skills on equipment.

My friends this is one of the finest midbass drivers ever produced get them while there hot. 4 of these on the back deck of the car and 2000 watt amp no one can touch you no one. 8 of them will make concert sound.

If you missed youre chance for EVDLX 10s dont miss out on these.

Was a little reserved at spending 300 a speaker when I had to fill my 4 x 12 cabinet. But now that I have , I’m glad I did. You won’t find a better quality speaker. You can’t kill these speakers. True Audio file quality you get a true reflection of your signal , crank it up to 10 no noticed distortion discernible whatsoever The quality of the components that make up your signal chain reflect what you get out of it.

I always try and get the best I can afford and these are them.

This speaker is amazing, i really dont know any speaker out there that can even come close to this, im talking quality!!! Nothing can compare in quality sound, this speaker can even handle way more than even advertised! The louder it goes the more you can hear the drums and whistles it just sounds so perfect, i will recommend this to anyone and everybody.

Theres no competition with this one folks! Trust me! (Been doing this since 2008).

Absolutely the finest 10 inch speaker available. Better than the much lauded vintage Jensen P10r (USA), without equal. (The contemporary Made in Italy Jensen P10r are rattle buckets) If you have something else in your amp, give these a try.

You will not be disappointed. If you rebuild speakers, as I do then you will know the meticulous precise build of the 1028. Welded basket, not peened like contemporary Jensen (which causes rattles in many Jensen P10r) Shaped, hard felt Voice Coil cover.

Not a thin felt disc like the Jensen. Eminence understands that the cone seam position is important and is placed 180 degrees form VC leads, unlike Jensen who places seam randomly. A magnificently manufactured cone, spider, basket and magnet structure insure a consistent tone and feel.

A Super Reverb or Bassman loaded with the 1028 is a Heavenly Experience. The newer 1028 has been updated with a screen vent at the magnet structure, older versions have a metal seal cup. The vent screen allows for better VC cooling but I have never run into an issue with either if kept under the 35 watt rating.

I personally prefer the metal cup because it insures the VC is protected from foreign materials or object coming in contact with the VC.

Installed on 5F2 cabinet. The circuit is 6V6 PP based on 6G3. This speaker does great job as expected. Sufficient power with warmth. Keeping richness of the sound, the clarity of chords is amazing. So, I ordered again for my another customer’s amplifier.

Excellent alnico speaker.

This is a very lush-sounding speaker with a much warmer tone than the British-coned Eminence or Celestion Alnico speakers. It’s also quite sensitive (loud) and a great bargain. It really complements brighter sounding guitars and amps, like Fender.

Very versatile because of its sensitivity: will play clean and will break up nicely when pushed. I have four in a tweed Fender Bassman and a single in a Princeton clone.

Celestion 12 Inch Seventy 80 Watt Speaker. This speaker is great because it allows entry-level amplifier buyers have a good quality speaker. The speaker is not for everyone and of course, professional guitars will buy the best sound system speakers for their amplifiers.

The whole point is that we as individual artists cultivate our sound pallet through performing, recording, and jamming, and experimentations. I purchase 5 of the initially released 15 Watt Monoprice amplifiers that use the speaker as OEM.

These are really good but through money and experimentation I can not say these are bad or poo speaker. They do great job and they don’t fail.

This speaker is characterized by its hefty bottom end, aggressive mids, crisp highs, and robust volume handling, this speaker sounds great no matter what style of music you play – and it’s affordable! Blends well and is not muddy.

Great for practice amp or half-stack. Power and versatility.

I bought this as a replacement of a Celestion G12T-75 that came in my Rivera Superma Jazz. It’s basically a souped up Deluxe with one channel. Why would Rivera put a British sounding speaker in a very Blackface and Tweed sounding amp? Idk, I didn’t like the speaker from the get-go.

IMO it is completely wrong for the amp. So, I looked for something lighter and more Californian sounding. Enter the Lil’ Texas. First off, this speaker has some edges too it. In a good way. Just for flavor.

But the over all sound change was immediate. Brand new speaker and it completely changed the sound and feel of the amp. What an improvement. And the speaker isn’t broken in yet. The amp is lighter and the harshness of the highs are gone.

I couldn’t be happier with this choice. Definitely a speaker to consider for all clean sounds. Haven’t put much dirt to it, so I don’t know how it will handle it. With a name like Lil’ Texas, I’m sure this will bring the sizzle!!.

I’ve had a brick for over a decade. I got an original Blues Deville in a really bad trade. Total trash amp that never worked. A couple of trips to a “tech” left me with trashy, distorted sound no matter what I did.

A friend suggested plugging the main board into my ’65 Bassman box and the sound was fabulous. Bought these Eminence speakers after research. Now I can play on 3, have plenty of tone and a really nuanced tone at that.

I usually play out of a ’65 Bassman Blackface that is perfect and a genuinely fine amp. This one sounds really good in comparison and I love the real reverb. I haven’t cranked it to any level of distortion and that is fine.

I know where to get that. The blue alnicos were total trash even though original for sure. These converted a brick to a gem.

It wasn’t just the reviews that won me over but the actual sound bytes on the Eminence Web Site and the email reply I received from Eminence to my question “which speaker is most like the Fender Special Design in my Fender Ultimate Chorus amp?” to which they replied that the Eminence Legend 1258 is the closest thing in our stock to the Fender Special Design (which is manufactured by Eminence).

Let me say it is more! Higher perceived volume due to it’s SPL rating, tighter slightly bigger lows, smooth mids and highs. I mainly play clean but was surprised that it actually smoothed the overdrive on this solid state amp to a point.

NO Solid State amp will have as good of an overdriven tone as a tube amp but this took the chainsaw out of the sound for the most part. It was tolerable at least. I have had several Weber speakers including the 10F150, California’s, Michigan (which I liked for it’s cleans), an Electro-Voice EMV-12 which are very nice but very expensive, an Eminence Canabis Rex 12″ and now these two Eminence Legend 1258’s and none excited me more for price, quality, and good warm tone than these.

Highly recommended. Very good speakers at a good price.

Greenbacks are legendary in that sweet tonal balance of cleans, grit and crunch, it’s no wonder the greats utilized them so much. I had to see/hear what the hype was all about and I’ve heard and felt the hype these puppies produce.

While you can’t get that dropped Z production from these, everything above that genre is readily accessible to achieve sonically with the Greenback speakers in play. So much can be said and praised about them but ultimately until you’ve tried them in person you can’t truly hear the bliss that they produce.

Utube does an injustice to these through their compression of video audio so don’t knock till you’ve tried it. I recommend these as a pair or mix with G12H-30s. Live it, try it!.

I’ve gone through many different speakers through the years. But I’ve found that the Celestion G12M Greenback is the best for the style of music (classic rock to hard rock) I play. I’ve got a 1976 Marshall cab with Celestion Black Backs (same specs as Greenbacks), and they sound very similar to the new G12Ms.

I installed two G12Ms on the top of my 1973 straight Marshall cab and two Celestion G12H30s on the bottom. Sounds great. Very balanced and gives you that classic Marshall rock sound.

Overall this is my favorite Celestion speaker. I am running through a boutique Swart MOD 84 VOX inspired 15-watt amp and this speaker works perfectly! It sounds great clean with chimey and sparkling highs.

Very articulate and touch sensitive. When overdriven it has the characteristic velvety smooth mids and tight bass. This is the sound of mid 60s through the 70s Rock and British Blues. AMS has great deals and payment plans to help musicians of all kinds.

AMS shipped quickly. Buy one you won’t be disappointed if this is the sound you are after!.

For me the tones of these are somewhere in between American and British. I use these mainly in a 2×10 cab for a fender vibroverb style amp. Vs the Oxford speakers these have a lil more mid focus and rounded highs that work much better with higher gain tones.

I also use these with my Marshall origin 50 set relatively clean to get a slightly bigger bottom end than V30s.

Like many Fender Blues Junior owners, I found the stock speaker to be pretty lacking. The highs were brutal. ice-picky, and not pleasant to listen to. So, I set out to find a good replacement speaker.

I’ve owned Eminence replacement speakers before, and they make great stuff. The C-Rex seemed to be a popular choice, but I just didn’t really care for the sound. That being said, my other amp is a small Vox combo, and I like the “edge of breakup” sound that I can get from it.

I was hoping to find a speaker that could do great clean tones, but break up a bit when pushed. I talked to one of the guys at Eminence, and he thought the Private Jack or the Governor would be a good choice.

Speaker came in this week, and after installing it, I am amazed. SO much better than the stock speaker, and does exactly what I wanted it to. Plenty of clean headroom, but breaks up smoothly with/without pedals.

Highs are there, but smooth like they should be.

Overall: I have a 2006 Gibson GA20-RVT which is a very dark amp that lacks depth that comes with higher frequency overtones. The stock speaker is a lower end Eminence. I tried a Jensen Alnico and Celestion G12 50th anniversary.

Neither of those worked for me, so I did some reading and research on the internet. The Eminence Red Coat Private Jack looked like it might fit the bill so I ordered it. After installing it in my amp the deference was immediately noticeable.

The higher frequencies were more pronounced and smooth, adding much needed depth to the tone of the amp. The overdrive is also more smooth and pleasing. I’ve been using the speaker for around 20 hours now and I think the sound has improved as the speaker breaks in.

If this speaker came in the Gibson GA20-RVT this amp might be more well known and sought after. It is a different amp now.

I have a 1×12 cabinet that can be open or closed-back. I have chosen closed-back for the Gold 50W Alnico. The install is a close fit, but the magnet cover on the speaker is plastic so no worry about metal-to-metal contact with the jack or wiring.

As far as sound, whoa! This one really hits it. It emanates distinctive harmonics I have not heard with my other ceramic magnet Celestions. In comparison the alnico is chewy and the ceramics are plucky.

Running my 3-speaker ensemble (Greenback/70th Anniversary/Gold) creates a sound field that circulates with attack similar to lightly panning the sound – alnico honks a little more as strings are hit harder.

Room acoustics, cabinets, placement, tilt, volume, and other variables contribute. The Gold is the perfect complement to my 2×12 open-back amplifier that has advantage of different output combinations.

Some of us know how to custom wire cabinets and are familiar with series/parallel, impedance, power handling, American Wire Gauge (AWG), soldering, plywood, hole saws, and the like. I have had a lot of fun over the years modifying and re-purposing equipment without blowing anything up.

As I’ve seen in other reviews, check the spec sheet for dimensions to make sure it will fit. Tape measures are awfully handy. Alnico Gold has 6. 5″ depth compared to 5. 1″ for Greenbacks. Packing slip states item is non-returnable.

I had debated getting a new amp or just upgrading the speaker. I have a 2010 Bugera v22 that’s been reliable, sounds good and has a great vintage look. So I decided to keep the amp and upgrade the speaker.

I’m very pleased with the Celestion Alnico Gold 50w. The speaker provides an immediate improvement in clarity and volume on the clean channel. I’m also happier with the gain channel which sounds much better than the stock speaker did.

Overall, very pleased with the upgrade. The sound from the amp is a significant improvement.