Fed up with heavy 1x12 combos - should I splurge on some neo creambacks?

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bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
As above really. The Traynor YGM3 is heavier and bulkier than my vibrolux reverb (and with an emi C.rex in there, basically just as loud). The WEM westminster has a super efficient and trebly Fane-looking thing that I want rid of anyway, and the lighter the better for that one - what should be a neat, portable combo is a hefty lump with an awful beamy treble coz of a PA cone.

The neo creamback is a spendy driver and I don't doubt they sound decent. It'd be nice to hear some opinions from people who've used them.
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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7730
    YGM3s never had a great speaker to start with. I'd go so far as to chop down the cab to a smaller 1x12 open back size as well as put in a creamback. This would involve chopping the sides and lifting up the bottom panel, then moving up the baffle into the chassis section. 
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    edited August 2018
    Slight tangent but I got a G12 Century Vintage in the post today, which is also a neo magnet, picked up for a reasonable-ish price used.  It's a potential candidate for replacing a Celestion Creamback 75 in a DRRI combo.  The neo is 3kg lighter.  I can report back once I've had a blast if you like

    https://celestion.com/product/14/g12_century_vintage/
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    For the Traynor I would also consider a Jensen Tornado - they're fantastic in more American-sounding amps, and in fact I recently fitted a pair in a Traynor YGL-3 2x12", which made it sound great and almost light enough to lift :).

    For the WEM I would look for an old Celestion G12L-20 or G12S-20 if you don't want to spend too much - period-appropriate, quite light due to the small magnets, and the tone really suits the amp.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    ICBM said:
    For the Traynor I would also consider a Jensen Tornado - they're fantastic in more American-sounding amps, and in fact I recently fitted a pair in a Traynor YGL-3 2x12", which made it sound great and almost light enough to lift :).

    For the WEM I would look for an old Celestion G12L-20 or G12S-20 if you don't want to spend too much - period-appropriate, quite light due to the small magnets, and the tone really suits the amp.
    This is exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks mate! Hope the arm's not holding you back too much!

    YGM3s never had a great speaker to start with. I'd go so far as to chop down the cab 
    1: there's a Crex in there, which replaced a ceramic jensen (fine but a bit "small" sounding while it was my only gigging amp). I've never experienced the marsland drivers that came stock on them

    2. No chance! I'd sooner get a head cabinet built and mount the chassis in that, run it through a separate speaker cab
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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    ICBM said:
    For the Traynor I would also consider a Jensen Tornado
    So would you go for any specific one over the others? I'm leaning to the 65 over the others for the ~1db less efficiency, but the Neo 12/100 is the least heavy (though they're all around 2kg, +/- a couple hundred grams).
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    bbill335 said:

    So would you go for any specific one over the others? I'm leaning to the 65 over the others for the ~1db less efficiency, but the Neo 12/100 is the least heavy (though they're all around 2kg, +/- a couple hundred grams).
    I haven't actually tried any apart from the original Classic - but in the demo samples, that's also the one I like the best. I think the samples of the Classic are pretty accurate, so I would assume the others are too. The weight difference is fairly trivial compared to the difference compared to a normal ceramic speaker - the Classic feels lighter than the box it comes in :).

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • fandangofandango Frets: 2204
    Got a Neo Creamback fitted to my Princeton (to replace the Stock Celestion G10-30.

    Noticeable weight reduction.

    The combo has lost a little fender clean chime, but gained a bit of beef across the frequency range. Now copes with bass far better than the 10-30 ever did.
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  • meltedbuzzboxmeltedbuzzbox Frets: 10337
    A heavy 1x12?
    You girl :-P
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    edited August 2018
    Annoyingly, the Jensen Tornado Classic isn't listed for sale on hotrox or thomann  :/ dangit
    A heavy 1x12?
    You girl :-P
    The Traynor is built to outlive everything, especially regressive statements like this.

    Seriously, I have health problems that motivate me to try and strike a balance between weight/ usefulness, and the WEM has no business being as heavy as it is when it's so small. I wish it were a Princeton (or at least a Pro Jr) but this is what I've got to work with for now!
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    edited August 2018
    ICBM said:
    For the Traynor I would also consider a Jensen Tornado - they're fantastic in more American-sounding amps, and in fact I recently fitted a pair in a Traynor YGL-3 2x12", which made it sound great and almost light enough to lift .
    I have a 100 watt Jensen Tornado which I bought on @ICBM’s recommendation in my early 80s Musicman RD50. It sounds phenomenal - great Blackface cleans and really bold when overdriven.

    My was £99 delivered from Hotrox - really good value. The whole (50 watt) combo weighs about 30 lbs.
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  • telehacktelehack Frets: 93
    Gotta agree on the Jensen Tornado Neo. Had one in a Deluxe Reverb and couldn’t fault it. Not just a great neo speaker, but a great speaker full stop.
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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    Oooooohhh, facepalm moment here! So, it seems the "stealth 100" is the same as the "classic 100", just with a magnet cover! I mean, I think so? After a tonne of googling, clicking around different Jensen/Sica sites, that's the conclusion I've come to.
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    bbill335 said:
    Oooooohhh, facepalm moment here! So, it seems the "stealth 100" is the same as the "classic 100", just with a magnet cover! I mean, I think so? After a tonne of googling, clicking around different Jensen/Sica sites, that's the conclusion I've come to.
    This is the one - though they look different to the image shown on the site:

    http://www.hotroxuk.com/jensen-jet-tornado-8oms-neo-100-speaker.html
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    Really impressed with the Celestion G12 Century Vintage after giving a quick blast today.  Really well balanced and sounded great with clean and high gain.  It will show up your picking technique.  There's a few neo options in the Celestion range
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    roberty said:
    Slight tangent but I got a G12 Century Vintage in the post today, which is also a neo magnet, picked up for a reasonable-ish price used.  It's a potential candidate for replacing a Celestion Creamback 75 in a DRRI combo.  The neo is 3kg lighter.  I can report back once I've had a blast if you like

    https://celestion.com/product/14/g12_century_vintage/
    I have these..they're a tad ice-picky compared to real V30s but ive been using it as my main speaker for 5+ years.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    @PolarityMan I did notice a smidge of harshness on the bright channel with P90s at house volume (2-3), was tameable with tone control though. Not wound it up yet
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Yeah I mean Im talking about maybe 5% in it between the neos and real V30s and for me the weight saving is worth the trade foff, especially once you're in a full band mix.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9444
    Yes !! Ive got a Neo in a Zilla 1x12 - dead light and sounds great even with the Kemper through it
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  • rlwrlw Frets: 4669
    A heavy 1x12?
    You girl :-P
    Have to say I was thinking that....
    Save a cow.  Eat a vegetarian.
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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    rlw said:
    A heavy 1x12?
    You girl :-P
    Have to say I was thinking that....
    I challenge anyone to walk 200 meters or more with a guitar, pedalboard, bag of leads/bits and a Traynor YGM (again, built like a fuckin nuclear bunker) and not think "it would be nice if this was easier". Or, you can stay stuck in the 70s with yer silly gendered insults.
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