15” guitar speakers

[FleshOnGear]

I was reading through @Supernatural’s thread on his pre-Rola G15M, and it got me thinking about 15s in general.

Does anyone here have a lot of experience with 15” guitar speakers? Any fans of 15” speakers? I realize that historically there probably aren’t a lot of guitar 15s, but maybe someone here has more than the average player’s experience with them?

The other part of my curiosity is my desire to get the best sound out of my Marshall 5215. It puts out 100W into 4-ohms and came with a 4-ohm G15B-100. It’s sounds OK, but I think it’s meant to be a bass speaker. I’ve tried two other high-wattage 15s, and both of them were too dark in the treble. I was hoping someone might know of a good alternative for this amp.

There’s always the G15V-100 Fullback. I think it’s only available in 8-ohms, but it probably has higher sensitivity than the G15B-100 and would still sound louder. Really, any info on 15s in general would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Tom Arbogast]

I've had a couple of 1970s JBL D130F speakers on a shelf for about 8 years. I've been listening to old Fender Vibroverbs with a 15" speaker and they sound great. It has me wanting to put together a 15" cab.

 

[FleshOnGear]

Yeah! I really appreciate the warmer midrange the 15 in my 5215 gives me. It’s fun to switch between it and any of my 12s, and it mixes really well with the 12s.

 

[RLW59]

I haven't had a lot of them. Early '80s I had a JMP that I ran through an Acoustic 215. Currently I have a MusicMan 115RH that I use with a little Fender VCXD and an Orange Micro Terror. It has the stock 65w alnico speaker (Eminence?).

Rich and full but plenty bright.

 

[Im247frogs]

Eminence Legend at 150 watts should do the trick. I don't think they make a 4ohm speaker but the 8 should be fine.

 

[FleshOnGear]

Eminence Legend at 150 watts should do the trick. I don't think they make a 4ohm speaker but the 8 should be fine.

Yeah, I’m considering that one. The 5215 only puts out 80 watts into 8 ohms, so I’m still considering the Fullback. For kicks I looked up Eminence’s bass speakers, and the Kappa Pro 15A looks usable - it is also an 8 ohm speaker but has great sensitivity.

I think what I’ll end up doing is getting an 8 ohm speaker and rewiring the amp to place any external speaker in parallel with the internal speaker. That way I can get a Marshall 1912 cabinet and run a kind of mini-stack that mixes a 15 and a 12. I just have to find an old 1912 with a faded grill cloth to match my combo amp.

EDIT: I did some research and it turns out the Marshall model 1931 cabinet is the cab that matches the width of the 3310, 5100, and 5215 MOSFET amps. They came in an A and B version, meant to make a mini stack with the 3310 head. AFAIK, the chassis for the 3310 is the same as for the 5100 and 5215 combos. I’ll be keeping an eye out for a 1931B.

 

[10kDA]

I used to run a 1987 into a Fender Dual Showman 2x15" cab and it sounded great. IIRC some kind of Jensen speakers but they could have been JBLs. It was nearly 50 years ago. It sounded more "open" for lack of a better term than the used 4x12" Marshall cab I replaced it with. Controlled feedback was easier to get too, but the cab was taller than the 4x12 so the top speaker was closer to the guitar and probably had much to do with it. At times I also used an Acoustic (brand name) single 15" folded horn bass cab that definitely had a JBL that sounded like shit standing in front of it but sounded great, so I'm told, 10 feet out onto the dance floor.

I'm thinking I may want to put together a 1x or 2x15" cab some time in the future. BTW I seem to recall the guy that publishes the London Power books about amp design etc is a big fan of 15" for guitar.

 

[wmachine]

I used to run a 1987 into a Fender Dual Showman 2x15" cab and it sounded great. IIRC some kind of Jensen speakers but they could have been JBLs. It was nearly 50 years ago. It sounded more "open" for lack of a better term than the used 4x12" Marshall cab I replaced it with. Controlled feedback was easier to get too, but the cab was taller than the 4x12 so the top speaker was closer to the guitar and probably had much to do with it. At times I also used an Acoustic (brand name) single 15" folded horn bass cab that definitely had a JBL that sounded like shit standing in front of it but sounded great, so I'm told, 10 feet out onto the dance floor.

I'm thinking I may want to put together a 1x or 2x15" cab some time in the future. BTW I seem to recall the guy that publishes the London Power books about amp design etc is a big fan of 15" for guitar.

Can't really offer anything constructive here, but back in about 1970, the ultimate amp to me was the Fender Dual Showman with 2 15" JBLs. I believe the JBL was an upgrade to the Jensens. I still remember cranking it up and hitting it. The beginning of Back To The Future reminded me of that moment. It was a mint used one that I was looking at. Just couldn't spend the $800 for it. Today along with my Marshalls and others, I have red knob Fender Dual Showman, but the cab is a late model Fender Bassman 810 Pro.

 

[Purgasound]

I have quite a few cabs with 15"s. The Celestion G15M is a great sounding speaker. I have a few variations, Greenback, Creamback and a set of Blackbacks from 1971 to 1975, all in 4x15 1979B cabs. They have metal dust cap covers on the cone. Very sweet sounding, close to the original G12M Greenback speaker. I really like them. You'll usually have a stronger resonant peak in the lower midrange on 15"s. In the late 70's they went to G12-100 speakers and those were the ones Lemmy used in his 4x15's for a long time. They still had those in the JCM800 4x15 cabs which are pretty hard to find. Celestion also did 15" Sidewinders which sound great for guitar and bass. Plenty of low end but I've never driven them with anything other than a JCM800 Superbass and the regular 2203/2204 amps. The JCM800 Bass Series amps put out a great tone but don't have enough output power to shake the room with low end. If everything is mic'd up on a stage that's not necessarily a problem.

I built a 1979B clone and used the Celestion Fullbacks. They also sound great. Very similar in tone and the higher power handling is great. Kind of hard to describe unless you've heard the original G15M's. In a blind test I might not be able to tell the difference between the two unless you you A/B'd them instantly back and forth.

I also have some 1970 CTS and 1969 Sunn branded CTS speakers. Very different flavor than the Celestion stuff. The Celestions sound great for guitar, the CTS ones not so much. They give me great bass guitar tones but the cabinet I used them in just sounded horrible for guitar when trying to drive them with a '69 Bassman 100.

 

[mickeydg5]

I like 15's and use vintage Jensen AlNiCo and have used JBL fullrange.
Still, I like Jensen the best.

The Celestion G15V does have some good specifications.

 

[FleshOnGear]

I found this video of Johan using 15s:

I only had a chance to listen on my phone, but I really liked the clarity of the Jensen Concert and the midrange snarl of the Altec.

There aren’t a lot of videos of the Eminence 1518 or the Celestion Fullback. I found one where the guy plays SRV riffs through a Vibroverb, comparing those two and an old JBL:

To my poor old ears, listening to a phone, the Eminence has a bit of an upper midrange peak, while the Celestion is more chimey. It’s hard to say which would be better for the humbucker driven doom stuff I like to play.

 

[mickeydg5]

I found this video of Johan using 15s:

I only had a chance to listen on my phone, but I really liked the clarity of the Jensen Concert and the midrange snarl of the Altec.

There aren’t a lot of videos of the Eminence 1518 or the Celestion Fullback. I found one where the guy plays SRV riffs through a Vibroverb, comparing those two and an old JBL:

To my poor old ears, listening to a phone, the Eminence has a bit of an upper midrange peak, while the Celestion is more chimey. It’s hard to say which would be better for the humbucker driven doom stuff I like to play.

And the Jensen EM1501 are not the best. The P15N are much better.

 

[FleshOnGear]

I bought an Eminence 1518 to try. If I don’t like it the Celestion Fullback is up next.

 

[FleshOnGear]

Ok, I got the Eminence 1518 and installed it. Before it installed it I took a video of the original Celestion G15B-100 for a comparison, then I took another video after the installation of the new speaker. Here they are:
The Celestion G15B-100

The Eminence 1518


To my ears the Celestion has a more cutting upper midrange peak, while the Eminence is a bit flatter with more treble extension. Overall I prefer the Eminence, but it doesn’t cut as much. I just like that it’s not as peaky as the Celestion. Interestingly, there wasn’t really a change in overall volume, despite the fact the Eminence is 8 ohms vs. the Celestion being 4 ohms.

One thing to keep in mind is that I modded the preamp to tone down the upper midrange peak coming from the Celestion, and so the Eminence might sound a bit more subdued because of that. All I have to do is change a couple capacitors and I should get more presence from the Eminence.

 

[FleshOnGear]

Here’s an improved clip:


Recorded with an SM57, a couple inches back from the grille cloth and slightly off center. I used a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and Audacity.