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AccessoriesProducts > Speakers
In our accessories section we stock a range of high quality cables and patch leads in standard and cryo treated format. A range of the most popular guitar and bass strings in both standard and cryo treated version as well as a range of other useful accessories.
At Watford Valves we offer a full range of loudspeakers from the world leading manufactures. When we could not find the right speaker offered by the major manufactures for many of our customers we launched our own brand, The Harma diamond range of speakers which are manufactures in England.
Why go to all this trouble?
As musicians we all spend huge sums of money on getting the ‘right’ amplifier
yet leave the speaker choice down to the manufacturer who will normally base the speaker choice on cost not on sound quality.
Indeed it is extremely rare that one speaker will suit all forms of music style and in the past buying a loudspeaker is nothing short of a lottery. To change that and to be able to offer telephone advice the person who is selling the speaker needs not only to play the guitar but needs to have heard and recorded all the units that they stock, More importantly they need to have experience of items that they do not stock. This is why I set up the sound factory so you can compare speakers and see how they sound and make the correct choice, even if we do not stock it.
Changing your speaker will make the single most dramatic change in your sound that you will ever make. So the reason for going to all this trouble is simple, at Watford valves I simply want to get it right.
Speaker types
There are 3 types of magnet material that is common in guitar loudspeakers
Here is a brief rundown to help you with your choice.
ALNICO MAGNET SPEAKERS
Alnico magnets are made from a combination of aluminium, nickel and cobalt used to make the magnets. The speakers were common in amps made in the 1940 through to the late sixties. The Alnico speakers have a rich warm overdrive sound. They are famous for the early speaker distortion with a touch sensitive response and smooth compression. They have a large dynamic range and long life with a bright tone. Some famous examples of Alnico speakers at work is the Classic 1959 bassman tone using Jensen P10R and the Vox AC30 with the Celestion blue.
CERAMIC MAGNET SPEAKERS
Ceramic magnet units tend to provide higher power handling at a lower cost than alnico magnet units. They produce a sound which is generally considered harder with more punch and aggression. They are considered less sweet than the alnico whist providing greater clean headroom. These speakers tended to
become extensively used from the mid 1960’s onwards and is common use today.
Some famous example of ceramic speakers at work is the Classic Blackface Fender Twin using Jensen C12N or Oxford 12T6 and the late 1960’s early 1970’s Marshall sound using the Celestion Greenback and G12H.
NEODYMIUIM MAGET SPEAKERS
Neodymium magnet speakers offer the fastest cone response of any magnet material. The speakers retain some of the sonic benefits of the alnico magnets but offer high power handling with very low weight. Due the escalating cost of the neodymium these speakers are less common and are generally used in bass and pa enclosures due to their low weight.
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