sound brighter than a speaker that is flatter,
smoother or less extended in this region.
An ideal way to tame a bright amp is with a
hemp cone speaker. Hemp is a denser, stiffer material than traditional paper pulps, and
it really colors the tone. Hemp speakers are
much warmer and smoother with subdued
highs. They also tend to break-up later, but
we’ll pick up with break up next month.
effect, look for a speaker with a larger dust
cap. More mass will have an inverse effect.
Also, take notice of the material. A cloth,
screen-type cap is commonly used on guitar
speakers and sounds relatively transparent.
Hard paper caps sound brighter. Felt caps
Figure 5
add warmth and smoothness to the highs.
The frequency response graph is also a
useful tool for the highs. Notice peaks and
dips around 2kHz-5kHz and compare the
levels (figure 5). A speaker that exhibits
a variance of peaks and dips will typically
Anthony “Big Tony” Lucas
is a guitarist and Senior Lab Technician at Eminence
Speaker LLC, where he specializes in guitar-speaker
design and customer support. Big Tony has been with
Eminence for over 10 years and is responsible for many
well-known guitar speaker designs.
