I have this old Marshall JTM 30 1x12" which just doesn’t sound very good and it has overheating issues because of a design flaw. I was wondering if the Celestion G12 Heritage speaker is of any value. I thought I could build a new box for the speaker and run it on a little amp head like an Orange micro dark or something. It will probably never leave my living room but I’d love to re-utilize the old Marshall amp.
Any ideas on the design of the box? Open or closed? Size? Or keep the Marshall as a piece of furniture and go with a small modelling amp? That would even be cheaper and probably good enough for home use…
Open for any suggestions. Whatever I end up with must work on low volumes.
If you go the route of a new or used modeling amp, take a look at Line 6. Their amps have a ton of effects and cab modeling built in. Most, if not all have headphone jacks as well. I was big into Marshall tube heads for years but went the solid state route because of the heat, warm up time and the cost to replace and bias new tubes. All of my gear, now in storage lol, is Line 6.
Thanks @MisterSinner, I know what you mean with the drawbacks of tube amps and had a look at different modelling amps. It’s such an unbelievable number of different stuff out there now and they all seem to have entered at least the 2nd generations. Since it is all for home use and I don’t mind fiddling with software I was kinda in love with the Vox amps. The first gen of the Line 6 spiders don’t really have a good rep but with their new stuff it seems to be much better from what I hear in the youtube reviews.
One big selling point for me is the availability of user presets but I can’t really find a nicely structured database from any manufacturer. But I have just started researching the latest stuff.
Unfortunately our local shops don’t have a great choice but side by side comparisons can sometime totally mislead you anyway so I’m glad to have a recommendation from the real world.
Yeah I don’t think I’ll ever go for anything apart from them peavy, vox close second
Oh you can grab a pedal to minipulate the presets from line 6 seen someone saying they could not its a line 6 board hooks up to the RJ45 connection allows you to change and save presets
Yep, I use(d) the pedal boards for my HD147 heads. No latency when switching presets or fx either. And I would connect the heads to a computer to get a visual of the effects etc and then save the presets as files for back up just in case.
The Line6 Spider V seem to be getting a lot of positive reviews now. I like the idea with the built in wireless receiver but it’s not available in the smaller models.
WIth the modelling amps I still feel drawn to the Vox amps with the valve preamps, I’ll have to find a shop where I can have a closer look.
I’ve also seen a review of the Boss GT-1, looking very tempting.
The marshall amp is in Germany anyway and who tf knows when I can get there next time…
Looks like a shoot out between the VOX valvetronix VT and the Line6 Spyder5 for now. But… oh dear… I’ve just realised that there are hundreds of diy amps out there which look like I can build them. And since i don’t have any bigger projects on the desk…
Next can of worms?
As for the speaker box… I haven’t really seen many different styles yet apart from the fact that most combo amps are open designs and the 1x12 cabs all seem to have a closed box. Any idea what that is the case? A closed box produces more bass, doesn’t it? That’s what i learned from hifi and car speaker building but I also know that doesn’t necessarily apply for guitar amps?
The celestion speaker seems to be a solid choice although I haven’t seen many amps with this particular one.
If the cost of doing one DIY is less I say give it a shot. You can always find the other amps somewhere if it doesn’t pan out.
I’m not exactly sure why most combos are open backed but it def makes a difference with sound. It didn’t really effect me with those since I would use them at home for practice. Everything else were closed off 4x12 cabs.
The speaker box and a diy amp for it is more of a project I hope to finish before the end of the year, the Vox or Line6 amp would be so I have something to jam with. I’ve just lost my acoustic to my niece who decided to give it a go on the guitar.
I’ve used an old washburn practice amp or just the computer speakers with a boss multieffect in some Roland audio interface but that’s no fun anymore, never was really so replacing it with a combo amp is fine, especially when you look at the prices. For under 200$ you get all you need for the living room.
I have a bunch of their gear. Most of it is discontinued aka their Legacy products. All workhorses at the studio and the road.
