In pursuit of a sound

Some guitarists will know what I mean, probably a few bass players and pianists too, maybe even the odd drummer.

There's a particular sound that you know and love for your instrument - nothing else is quite right. The downside is that in order to create it you require increasingly rare kit, often at high prices and with significant disadvantages too. Some guys will spend £200+ on a single distortion or overdrive pedal, maybe upwards of £2000 (and as much as £30,000) on an amp, and as for guitars......

At the weekend I had one of those little tone-defining moments, where everything comes together for THAT sound.

I'd heard the sound a couple of times before, both occasions from amps I'd made, and the last time in a friend's recording studio in Liverpool. There he borrowed my A15 and hooked it up to a cab running a single celestion blue speaker. Want to know what it sounded like? Just like this except using a Les Paul instead of the 'Red Special' through a wall of Vox AC30s fitted with Blues. He played that song (never mind the 'interesting' lyrics) and it was like Brian May was in the room.

A couple of months back Chris and I had a trip to bath, where I picked up a used Eminence Red Fang speaker. It's an AlNiCo speaker designed to emulate the Blue, but take a higher wattage, and is a little rounder and darker (the blue is very bright, all upper mids and treble, yet remains creamy despite a stinging and raspy top end). I've had a couple of different speakers in the A15, but none have quite done it until now - the G12H is big, but a little too mid-scooped so that it sounds thin in the upper register. Had a Celestion Gold (a high-power handling version of the blue) and that just lacked the liveliness and musicality of the original speaker. The greenback was a bit harsh, bright and lacked bottom end. The last one - an Eminence Cannabis Rex (hemp cone, hence the name) - was big and full sounding, but would create a nasty upper-mids tonal spike when pushed that really hurt the ears.

So in went the Red Fang.

Brian May has apparently visited my livingroom. And Billy Gibbons. And Richie Blackmore. Angus young seemed to be hiding behind the settee just briefly too. It'll need pairing with that G12H to add some bottom end weight before Joe Bonamassa pops round, but there's a gloriousness to the tone that wasn't there before, and it stays lively even with silly amounts of overdrive. It's not perfect, and clean tones are going to take some getting used to (and it doesn't even stay clean with more than a couple of watts running through it). But flick the switch across to the drive channel and it's classic rock heaven.

AlNiCo speakers - every guitarist should own a good one at some stage.

*edit*

Took it to the youth jam at HPC tonight, along with the Tokai Les Paul. It sounds as glorious in a big space as it does in the livingroom, and the tones open out in the larger space too. Volume and cut are not in any way lacking. There's a chap called Josh staying with the youth worker who's a little seriously good, and he ran it through it's paces too: meaning I could listen at a distance. Yup, has tone for days, and I am grateful for something that sounds as nice as this.