Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Is there anyone that is doing this ? . . . who here has, or is using PA speakers in their guitar cabs ? IF so, do tell more - pix welcome ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PlectrumPete Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 I have a cab with Visaton PA speakers in it. It works, but isn't great to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted August 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 I have a cab with Visaton PA speakers in it.It works, but isn't great to be honest. Not enough of . . . ? To much of . . . ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 PA speakers deliver a much broader range of frequencies (ear-bleed highs to bowel-loosen lows) than guitar speakers and also should have a relatively flat response compared to guitar speakers. Sure you'll hear the guitar but generally speaking it won't sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluffalo Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 They work fantastic with a high quality modeler (Axe-Fx) with cabinet simulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Actually PA speakers have been used in guitar amps for years. When people wanted more headroom and volume out of their Fender amps, they would install JBL PA speakers. This became so popular that Fender added branded JBL's as an option on certain amps. Same thing with EV Force spekers in Mesa Boogies. I use a pair of PAS G1280's in a 2x12 Laney cab. Sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Actually PA speakers have been used in guitar amps for years. When people wanted more headroom and volume out of their Fender amps, they would install JBL PA speakers. This became so popular that Fender added branded JBL's as an option on certain amps. Same thing with EV Force spekers in Mesa Boogies. I use a pair of PAS G1280's in a 2x12 Laney cab. Sounds great. They may use the 12 inch drivers, but you don't want to hook an electric guitar amp up to a full range PA cabinet. You really don't want to hear those highs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted August 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Thanx to all so far - keep 'em comming ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 PA speakers deliver a much broader range of frequencies (ear-bleed highs to bowel-loosen lows) than guitar speakers and also should have a relatively flat response compared to guitar speakers. Sure you'll hear the guitar but generally speaking it won't sound great. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 I used to have a Kustom 15" as a second 'cab'. Sounded pretty good actually. Also did the same thing with a Peavey 18" Black Widow for a while. That sounded Killer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PlectrumPete Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Not enough of . . . ?To much of . . . ? Sort of sounds like headphones if you know what I mean. No colour. I do agree with the guy who said that they work well with digital modellers rather than guitar amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Sort of sounds like headphones if you know what I mean. No colour.I do agree with the guy who said that they work well with digital modellers rather than guitar amps. Modelers are designed to work best through a system with a flat response. Studio monitors or PAs are ideal. Never tried a PA speaker in a guitar amp though. I like to have a little speaker grind in my OD sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 can't you just EQ out the highs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 can't you just EQ out the highs? Not with ordinary amp tone controls, but if you have a loop then a good graphic (not a guitar specific type) might do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted August 22, 2009 Members Share Posted August 22, 2009 Pa speakers will give you fuller, tighter, more articulate and hifi sound then guitar speakers. However the signal you feed them needs to be your ready for recording tone. Lotsa pros and amatuers are useing house Pa for their bands sound to audiance. Just use whatever processor of choice to get your ready for recording tone and feed that to Pa amps and speakers. Same benefits of better sound result from useing full range bass & keyboard cabs btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Logan Vanek Posted December 15, 2019 Members Share Posted December 15, 2019 The wavelengths sent out by the guitar are far longer than what is meant for a PA system. you could blow out the speakers, same reason why you don't use a guitar on a bass amp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted December 15, 2019 Members Share Posted December 15, 2019 10 hours ago, Logan Vanek said: The wavelengths sent out by the guitar are far longer than what is meant for a PA system. you could blow out the speakers, same reason why you don't use a guitar on a bass amp This isn't quite right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted December 15, 2019 Moderators Share Posted December 15, 2019 13 hours ago, Logan Vanek said: The wavelengths sent out by the guitar are far longer than what is meant for a PA system. you could blow out the speakers, same reason why you don't use a guitar on a bass amp You actually have this all backwards. If that were true, then mic-ing a guitar cabinet would do the same thing...and it doesn't. Guitar amp speakers are designed to reproduce the input in a certain range which is narrower than most PA speakers. I also know many keyboard players who use powered PA Speakers rather than a traditional amp, and keyboards typically have a wider frequency range than guitars... I've played guitar through a bass amp before, it works, but is typically muddier sounding; I would certainly hesitate to play a bass through a guitar amp, though, since the bass frequencies are typically well below what a guitar amp's speakers are designed to handle. Welcome to HC...but coming in ten years later with completely incorrect opinions is not going to get you a following here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SteinbergerHack Posted December 15, 2019 Members Share Posted December 15, 2019 15 hours ago, Logan Vanek said: The wavelengths sent out by the guitar are far longer than what is meant for a PA system. you could blow out the speakers, same reason why you don't use a guitar on a bass amp Sorry, but this has no relationship to the way audio systems work. A guitar cabinet has a very non-flat response, and this response is part of the overall sound of the amp. In contrast, PA cabinets are designed to get as close to a perfectly flat response as possible. A regular old tube amp connected to a good PA cabinet is going to sound very gritty and harsh - nobody is going to like the sound very much. It won't damage the speaker, though, unless you exceed it's power rating (or if you connect the speaker output of the amp into the line input of a powered cabinet, which will rapidly let the magic smoke out of the electronics). That said, a modeler or profiler will have a cabinet emulator section that will get very close to the sound of that amp played through a cabinet and mic'd - and that signal will sound very good through a PA cabinet (and won't sound very good through a regular old guitar amp cabinet). In the end, various kinds of cabinets are designed for specific purposes, and will function best when used as intended. [Note that the supposed "FRFR" modeler cabinets are really just plain old PA cabinets with a different logo and a higher price tag. Caveat emptor.] [FWIW, the "wavelength" of a kick drum or bass guitar signal coming from a PA is far longer than anything a guitar will ever produce. Wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brucebennett Posted January 20, 2020 Members Share Posted January 20, 2020 Gary Moore regularly used EVM 12L speakers in is Marshall 412 cabs. Claimed that was where some of his tone came from. I can confirm that its a good speaker choice for guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brucebennett Posted January 20, 2020 Members Share Posted January 20, 2020 On 12/15/2019 at 12:14 AM, Logan Vanek said: The wavelengths sent out by the guitar are far longer than what is meant for a PA system. you could blow out the speakers, same reason why you don't use a guitar on a bass amp ya know, there is reason why the Fender BASSman amp is called the holy grail of GUITAR amps. 410 tweed , blackface and silverface versions.. So ya got that whole idea "bass" ackwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 20, 2020 Members Share Posted January 20, 2020 I've tried various PA speakers 10's and 12's in guitar amp cabs over the years. The best you can say for most is they make sound, but that's about it. There are a few vintage Altec, EV and JBL's that can sound good in a guitar amp but most new stuff is specialized. Most are designed to be run as woofers in 2/3 way cabs and produce mostly low frequencies. Many have lower SPL levels and a guitar head will have much lower volume levels using them directly. Most guitar speakers on the other hand will use high efficiency, 95 to 110dB SPL PA speakers will have a 95 or lower SPL in many cases and are designed for high wattage. Second PA woofers will often have heavier paper to produce low frequencies without distorting. The specs may say it has a top Frequency response that covers guitar frequencies but given the fact most are designed to be run with a crossover and other drivers handle the highs, those upper woofer frequencies aren't very good for a guitar amp. Overall, they typically sound bassy/muddy run directly from a guitar head. Guitar speakers on the other hand specialize in being overdriven, Have high SPL levels, and have lightweight cones that respond quickly and articulate the light guitar strings well. As Daddy and Steinberger says, there is no problem running a guitar direct or micing an amp through a PA so long as the raw output of a guitar is properly gain staged colored to sound good through a PA system. Most amp modelers typically rill off the highs and lows, ad electronic drive and highlight the mids and highs of popular miced amps. Of course micing and amp is the other way of doing it. Many of the new modeling amps also use full frequency amplifiers and full ranged speakers. I bought a couple of Peavey Blue Marvel speakers which are full frequency and have a flat full range up to 10Khz. Seems like guitar amps have taken the full revolution on this. Back in the 30/s 40's the goal was to have a full frequency guitar amp to make the hollow jazz guitars sound good. Now they're back at it again except the coloration comes from the modeling instead of the amp and speaker . This way the digital modeling can take advantages of the extended frequency response when switching from one amp model to the next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 On 1/19/2020 at 9:27 PM, brucebennett said: Gary Moore regularly used EVM 12L speakers in is Marshall 412 cabs. Claimed that was where some of his tone came from. I can confirm that its a good speaker choice for guitar I have the Fender-branded version (Fender 12F) in my Princeton Reverb II. Incredibly good speakers IMHO. They can handle 200W RMS each. Considering mine came as a factory-option in a ~20W amp, I doubt I'll ever blow it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JTEES4 Posted January 24, 2020 Members Share Posted January 24, 2020 They work great with my Headrush gigboard, without any amp of course. Sounds amazing in stereo...it's kind of addicting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Leftyguitartony Posted March 25, 2021 Members Share Posted March 25, 2021 I am interested in full range so I can get the most from my NUX drum and loop pedal. It has a mixer out for the drum side separate from the guitar side. I'm sending the drum side to a Peavey full range Monitor amp into a Peavey folded horn (bass reflex) 2x12 from 1976 with squarebacks. I think I can get more cymbals and highs if I swap them for some full range speakers. Mixing 45 year old Peavey gear with a modern drum and loop pedal works pretty good for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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