Hondo
3 posts
Mar 21, 2010
10:21 AM
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I would like your opinions please. I have the Epi Valve Jr. half stack and I'm considering selling to my friend and getting the Gretsch. Here are my thoughts. I probably will never gig in a large area. I have a small house and that 12" Epi speaker is way loud. Maybe I can get some distortion out of the 6" earlier without my ears bursting. But I don't want to make a dumb decision and wish I had the Epi back. I know Adam has glowing things to say about the Gretsch. I have also considered getting a 6" cab to play through. Your thoughts?
Last Edited by on Mar 21, 2010 1:16 PM
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Hondo
4 posts
Mar 21, 2010
1:19 PM
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That cetainly sounds like a great option. Does anyone know of a good source for cabinets to put the speaker in?
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congaron
725 posts
Mar 21, 2010
5:53 PM
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Or get a digitech pedal and knock the volume down on the patch.
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Train-train
22 posts
Mar 21, 2010
7:51 PM
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Like Joe L says, get the Weber Sig6. Build your own cabinet. Once you build one you will find how easy it is to do and that you can tailor it to your needs.
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Ryan
247 posts
Mar 21, 2010
9:33 PM
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You could try using a power soak with the epiphone. It should let you turn the volume down but still keep the overdriven sound you want.
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Hondo
10 posts
Mar 22, 2010
7:13 AM
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Thanks Ryan. I'm not familiar with a powewr soak. But maybe an internet search will teach me.
Thanks Train-train and everybody else.
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Ryan
249 posts
Mar 22, 2010
2:31 PM
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Here's one I have been considering trying, but I haven't yet got one, so I can't comment on how good it is:
PowerSoak
You just plug this box in between the amp head and the speaker. You start with it turned all the way up, and then you crank up the amp volume and dial it in until you get the sound you want. From there you can turn down the power soak/attenuater and it will lower the volume while still retaining overdriven tone that you dialed in.
Last Edited by on Mar 22, 2010 2:43 PM
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htownfess
44 posts
Mar 22, 2010
3:06 PM
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If you use a Lone Wolf Tone+ pedal with the Epi half stack--and you should--you can leave the amp turned up and turn the pedal's output level down and keep an overdriven tone around the house at lower volume levels. I was surprised how far down I could bring it that way and still get a good sound by attacking at the mic.
Really, with the stock Epi circuit you're looking to overdrive the main stage and use a clean speaker to project that, but I guess for minimal volume levels one could factor in some speaker breakup too. Get a Sig 6 and make your own cabinet, as train-train says.
For your purposes, a 6" speaker is light enough that you could make a speaker cab for it out of a sturdy cardboard shipping carton. Don't use the box the speaker comes in--always hang onto speaker shipping cartons in case you need to sell or transport the speaker--but take a small sturdy carton and add another layer or two of cardboard on the "baffleboard" side where you cut the speaker hole. Use big washers on the outside, long enough bolts, and don't overtighten them, just snug them down enough and check them periodically. That will let you test out the 6" approach and may do for a longterm cab if you don't mind how funky it looks. There are some cool 1960s Harmony amps, the 305 and 306, whose entire cabs and baffles are made out of fiberboard, which is compressed paper/cardboard, and I think there were also Lectrolab models that used the fiberboard cabs. Those cabs actually seem to filter out some overtones and sound good.
Use your imagination for making a more permanent cab. Both old tube PA suitcase speakers and the PA speaker cabs hung high on walls inside buildings both use pretty light wood, tends to measure around 3/8" thick at most, so you can build an adequate cab out of that. I've got a couple of porthole baffleboards for 6" speakers from an old stereo that I got off eBay; they may have come with Oaktron alnico speakers, I'd have to root through boxes to check that. They're that light wood, and really one could use glue and a handsaw to make an adequate cabinet with one of those and some more light wood, it's nothing on the order of providing for four 10", or the sturdiness of that Epi's 12" cab. You could make a 6" cab out of most anything you can cut a hole in, an old plastic box or whatever won't rattle when you bang on it.
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