Hi KV,

Thanks for asking.
I’m not a top expert in acoustics but from experience I always (almost) follow a golden rule of “more is better”.
If you have 50w amp or 100w you will be happy with 100+ w speaker.
For me EV and fane AXA12 would be the top choices.
Both has loads of bass which is great in open back cab and their sensitivity are also high : 100 and 101 db. They are great for any style as well.

I don’t have any experience with Altec 417-8C, sorry.

I found some old interview of Alexander Dumble mentioning speakers.  Looks like he used to use Altecs until '79 then moved to EV.

After experimenting with various speakers, what do you favor?

I've gone with everything, there are a lot of things I still like. The most versatile is the EV. But all manufacturers, include Altec and JBL, make wonderful speakers that do specific jobs other speakers can't do. I divide speakers into two classifications: the efficient and the low-efficient. Both are very useable. Low efficiency speakers are things like Celestion and Jenson and PAS. Usually because of the physical construction, they don't get the same acoustic level per watt as the Altecs, JBLs, and EVs do. There's an advantage to that, because you can make the amplifier work harder to get the same acoustic level, and a whole different kind of harmonic structure results. I love the sound of JBLs, especially for chords, but I had a lot of trouble with 4" voice coil not traveling in a linear fashion. The actual coil would short out against the magnet structure. The Altecs didn't do that, so I was using them up until '79, when EV started coming out the the EVM series.

my experience is that the higher the power the speaker the more warm and ounded it sounds... probably due to the extra mass in the voice coil. i reckon its better to match the speaker the wattage of the amp you are using so you dont do so at the expense if the highs.


DR Ika, i agree with you on Fanes... i have a 70's AC30 with specially made fanes (made for vox)...they have an excellent tone and dont lose their clarity when turned up. mmaybe a little more agressive sounding than celestions, but excellent for sound projection at high volumes.

I see several mentions of Celestion Golds and Weber Blue Dogs, but none of the Eminence Red Fang, which is a similar speaker, and is my personal favorite.  I had a chance to try an OTS about 10 days ago, and would love to get one, and I'm just curious how it would sound with a Red Fang.  (So I don't have to buy a cabinet or speaker).  If I play with these same guys again, I'll take my 1x12 Red Fang cabinet and try it out.

I also have a Texas Heat that I used to use in a Dr Z Maz 38, which has been mentioned several times, and a Tonker.  Someone said they liked the Tonkerlite, but I read on The Gear Page that the Tonker did not sound good with Dumble clones.

Obviously it means a lot more for me to actually try the amp with these speakers, but I don't have the amp.  Also, I don't need to sound like Robben Ford...I just want to sound great.  Then I'll be more inspired to practice until I play great.

John