Guitar speaker
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A guitar speaker is a loudspeaker – specifically the driver (transducer) part – designed for use in or with the guitar amplifier of an electric guitar. Typically these drivers produce only the frequency range relevant to guitars which is similar to a regular woofer type driver which is approximately 75 Hz — 5 kHz.
The cones of these drivers typically range in size from 6.5 in to 15 in with 10 and 12 in models being the most popular. As with all loudspeaker drivers, the magnets are usually made from Alnico, ceramic, or neodymium with higher quality Alnico magnets reserved for expensive models.
Well-known guitar speaker manufacturers include Fane, Jensen, Celestion, Eminence, Electro-Voice, JBL, Weber, and A Brown Soun (Tone Tubby).
[edit] Cabinet
- See also: Loudspeaker enclosure
The speaker cabinets which hold these drivers can be closed-back or open-back, along with variations such as a semi-open back 4x12 in cabinet, which may have a baffle deflecting two of the four speakers. Closed back cabinets can be acoustic suspension (rare, due in part to lower efficiency and distortion) or bass reflex (higher efficiency but, if properly designed, also low distortion). A 4x12 in speaker cabinet has four 12 in speakers; a 2x10 in speaker cabinet has two 10 in speakers. Bass cabinets often have multiple different-sized speakers.
When driven hard, guitar speakers produce complex behavior. There will be some power compression, several kinds of distortion, even mechanical limiting as one or more drivers run against their physical limits (eg, cone excursion). A guitar speaker cabinet simulator circuit attempts to emulate the complex behavior of a guitar speaker as an aid to design. A common microphone used to pick up guitar speaker sound is the Shure SM57 or the Sennheiser 421.
For convenience, there is often an amplifier head built into the cabinet. The combination can be -- somewhat misleadingly – referred to as a guitar amplifier, but is actually called a "combo".
