Yeah they're awesome speakers! Been out of production for a long time, unfortunately. Interestingly the 12S paired beautifully with the MC90 that came stock in the Mark V Combo - some of the best Strat tones I've ever gotten. I find the 12S sounds it's best in either closed back or ported cabs, they can be a bit vague in open backs. The 12L and SRO on the other hand I prefer in open backs because they have SO much low-end they can almost feel bloated in closed backs. But everything is so subjective when it comes to speakers/tone. Thanks for watching :)
great shootout. clean, crunch, hi gain with appropriate, familiar guitars. well. done. i wish more shootouts were like yours. there were some level differences with the series 2 on cleans, but no biggie.
After an online chat with Carlos Santana years ago I began using AlNico SRO 12"s on his suggestion in my combo amps. They are both solid state, one is a Peavey "special 150" the other is a Laney GC80 A (with a dual motorola horn tweeter built in to the cabinet) One thing I noticed immediately was the increased sensitivity, and sheer output volume and efficiency of BOTH amps, likely due to the efficient speaker design causing the amps to not work as hard. Not sure, but either way they are FANTASTIC sounding speakers, and that little 150 watt Peavey blew every speaker I'd put in it...UNTIL I installed that SRO. and it's been in there for over 25 years now. They weren't even re-coned yet,....still original cones! and from what I can tell, they are from around 1976-77. They weigh 20.2 pounds each YOWZA! and they are easily worth their weight in back pain for the sound and lasting performance they've delivered all these years. I got them for $300 around 1996. I'd also had some plans to re-cone two Altec 416 8C "Chrome Domes" that were in a '69 SUNN 2X12" cab like Jimi played for awhile, but I'd lugged that cab around through many many moves and finding the $$$ and time and a reputable speaker tech was tough without knowing someone who could recommend anyone, etc. so I ended up giving that cabinet to an aspiring young guitarist in Carson City, NV. -I wonder if he ever got it running, coz it would be quite desirable...but still not as nice as any cab or combo that's packin' old AlNico SRO's! They are deffo the BEST I've ever played and probably the most indestructible too. Thanks for the good comparison vid! -rock on :)
Dude, thank you for such great feedback! I’m right there with you on several points, firstly how kick ass the Peavy Special 150 actually is! Fantastic, under appreciated, gem of an amp. Especially if you’re doing a lot of live session work, rehearsing with multiple bands, and don’t want to subject a tube amp to that kind of abuse. That thing will take a lickin’ n keep on tickin’ for sure! And obviously it sounds fantastic, and is crazy powerful. Loading it up with an SRO… damn! You’re correct that they are incredibly efficient speakers. Even when I recorded these tracks (almost a year ago now) the physical size of the waveform for the SRO was noticeably larger than the others, and I measured the placement of the mic so it was the same for each speaker. The one I have is a very early example, probably late 60’s. And it’s all original! Only four mounting holes in the frame, original 76574 stamped curvilinear (trombone shaped) cone in immaculate condition. Found it at an estate sale. Was in it’s original box, never opened! I don’t care about the weight, once you play through old school EVs other speakers just feel lacking. Although the Altecs you mentioned are up there too. A friend of mine is a Randy Rhoads fanatic, and that tone is all about the 417 8s, which I’m also very fond of. Thanks again for watching, and for the great comment!
Thanks for doing that comparison! I was thinking about the S tonight because you never hear about them and low and behold, I find your Demo! That S has some special mojo going on. The classic is great for scooped metal but I like it the least. I love the SRO. Big lows and low mids. I have two 4 hole Alnico SRO's but they were from when they switched from the trumpet cone to a more "12L" style setup. ( you lucky dog!) They still sound great but closer to a 12L. I also have an SRO ceramic. Mine looks reconed with a 12L kit and plastic dust cap. It has a higher center mid frequency than a 12L. Lastly I'll say that I have two series two's. They sound fuller in the lows and low mids than yours but they are definitly scooped compared to a 12L. I love to pair them with my SRO alnico . Have you ever tried that? Thanks again for the great demo.
Hey Mike, thanks so much for watching and for all the great feedback! The 12S does indeed have some special mojo, and is my favorite overall speaker for my Mark Series Boogies. There’s other speakers that I prefer for a bit of this vs that, but I have yet to find a speaker that does everything so nicely, and if I had to choose only one driver.. it would be the 12S. I agree that out of all of them the Series II 12L is the ideal speaker for mix n match. On it’s own it’s a little too dry for me, but tends to pair nicely with other drivers. I actually really like the modern 12L Classic, but it’s a speaker on the extreme ends of the spectrum… great for contemporary super-smooth jazz tones and (ironically) ridiculously over the top high gain, but sounds pretty awful for everything else in between haha! The SRO is a very special speaker. At some point I want to have a cabinet made just for it, something along the lines of the Forte 3D design. For Great American Songbook jazz standards and warm classic rock tones it’s in a league of it’s own. And considering this one is likely from the late 60’s it’s pretty impressive how well it handles modern high gain. I have yet to try the ceramic SRO 12L, but as others have said I obviously need to! Thanks again for watching, cheers!
Hey Felipe, thanks for watching! I haven't tried the Force 12, so I can't offer any insight unfortunately. Besides the Force 12 there's several other EVs I'm eager to play, the ceramic SRO 12L and especially the EV Black Shadow that was voiced specifically for Mesa Boogie. Glad you enjoyed the video bro :)
@@gradythegray ya tou gotta try the ceramic sro my favorite by far but they gotta have the original cone with the small aluminum dust cap got 4 marshall cabs with them they sound great with every amp I have from fender to marshall to diezel
@@davemitchell4222 Right on dude! There were several listed on Reverb recently that were winking at me.. with the small aluminum dust cap as you described too. I always associated aluminum dust caps with JBLs and Altecs, and have read they can be really harsh with higher gain tones.. but I guess that's not your experience? Especially running with a Diezel? Super curious to try now.
@@gradythegray it may be the size of the caps I had jbl's in the bast that sounded harsh but they had the big dust caps to me the sro sounds like a greenback with balls
SRO was my favorite for everything except for high gain, which I never really play with. The 12S was second for me, but it’s top end sounded way more artificial, but fine with dirt. The modern 12L was eh, ok cleans and hollow unpleasant sounding dirt. The old 12L had this odd midrange color on the cleans but was cool with dirt. But damn, I keep coming back to this video just to hear the SRO...
Hey Bubby, glad you're enjoying the video enough to keep coming back! Appreciate it :) The 12S is my personal favorite, but the SRO is a phenomenal speaker. It's the end all be all for the huge uber-clean tone imo. It's worth noting that the SRO in this video does indeed have the original paper-edge cone (you can see the 76574 stamp at the start of the video), and is an earlier model with only four mounting holes in the frame. I was very lucky to acquire it for $200. Vitaly Enenko of Ashen Amps (incredibly beautiful amps and cabs, please check em out) measured the frequency response of this speaker for me and it was amazing to see how linear it truly is. Almost perfectly even all the way across. I was hoping to do some demo videos for Ashen with this speaker, but unfortunately nothing came of it. Anyway, thanks again for the views - Cheers!
If you skip ahead to 4:40 in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0tIFzoWK-o8.html you might feel differently. The compression of the camera's mic lends a "brutal," quality to the audio, and it's all the same speakers heard here. The clips in this video are completely raw audio. No EQing at all in pro tools, and I intentionally did that so we could really hear the differences between the speakers. Similar to raw drum tones without any processing... they're not going to sound very "brutal," as you put it. But I'm glad you are the proud owner of two 12s that needed to be reconed, and that they sounded much deeper and more brutal than this example. Cheers!
@@gradythegray don't forget, a speaker is nothing without an amp... Two mr hector, an 30ms from Keeley, these speakers... Treble 3/4, mids 1/4, bass close to half or 2/3, mid switch boost, lead gain half up to 2/3 bright on. Combine the evm with V30...
in your opinion. Is or isn't the 300 watt EV12L Black label speaker too big to use in the studio? I think 300 watts need more volume power to make the speaker move and vibrate correctly. While a speaker less power should be more manageable as it is more easily stimulated. What do you think?
Hey Bastian, thanks for watching and for the question! Short answer - I think it would be great in the studio. Long answer, and a few questions - I agree that all guitar speakers come alive if you push them a bit, but if you’re running into problems with the BLS in the studio I would consider a few other things first before changing to a different speaker. What type of tone are you after? What amp/cab are you using? How are you dialing that amp, and can your studio accommodate the needs (i.e. volume) of a player seeking the tones generated by power tube compression rather than pre amp distortion? The reason I ask is because the BLS is a slightly tweaked iteration of the Pro Line drivers found in PAs and monitors… they spit out almost exactly what you feed into them, at any volume, with minimal coloring of the tone. Could be a 15 watt blues Jr, or a modded JCM 800 wide open. That speaker will show you exactly what either amp sounds like, which is why I think it would be a great choice for the studio.
12S, far and away. Which is convenient since it's the only one of these speakers that actually fit in the combo cab haha! I was expecting the SRO to be THE ONE since there's so much lore surrounding that speaker.. but the 12S just has that sumthin'! Thanks for watching!
Crunch the SRO and the EV 12L II sounded close tie. The 12S sounded to much in your face and the classic 12L sounded poor on the bottom end. On high gain they all sounded poor but the S2 held it together other than the bubbling farting out bottom end.
Interesting, the 12L II was my least favorite across the board. To my ear it sounds like orange juice from concentrate, whereas the 12S (being my favorite) sounds like fresh squeezed with lots of pulp… and I like lots of pulp haha! Thanks for watching :)
Not sure. I bought it used a few years ago.. 2018 I think, but it was probably a few years older than that. It's stamped made in USA, and I'm pretty sure the recent models are made in Mexico.
