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Speakers to listen to The Who to?
- Thread starter cool9
- Start date
mad shadows
Super Member
Tannoy Arden + Threshold S200 :guitar:
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I'm not sure which hi-fi speaker sounds most-like the old Hiwatt/Sound City amps from the late '60's/early '70's, but Pete played Voxes prior to that, and the Briggs-era Wharfedales are THE hi-fi equivalent of the Vox AC30 sound, plain and simple. My W90's sound excellent with ANY of the old British bands from the '60's and early '70's though. Best speaker I've ever heard for Zeppelin, the Beatles, Hendrix (who recorded his first two albums and part of his third in England), Badfinger, Pink Floyd, etc., and yes, the Who as well. Also the best speaker I've ever heard for old-school classic-rock guitar stuff.
They're not really a good speaker for ear-splitting levels though. The W90's can get plenty-loud (as they should, having two 12" woofers, two 5" mids, and two Super 3 tweeters per cab), but they were designed to sound great at NORMAL volume levels. That's their thing. They're cruising vessels, not top fuel dragsters. So, if you're gonna' crank them most of the time, then they're probably not the right choice.
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Mr Natural
Malmborg in Plano
Actually, Pete played thru Hiwatts. Similar tube layout to Marshalls.
John played Sun amps with 18" folded horns.
My choise for listening to Quadraphrenia, for home speakers would be some big azz Fraziers. Once heard the album thru a pair of Urei 813's.
Early on Townsend used Marshalls. I saw the Who several times in the 60s and the bass player used HI Watts with direct radiators. Later I saw him with Sunns but with direct radiators, not horns.
The Acoustic 360-370 was a popular bass amp back then, it used a 18" driver in a folded horn.
As for playing back the Who, IMO a big Altec like a 19, A7, Iconic or 604-605 would be best, next in my favor would be big horn loaded JBLs, EVs, some Klipsches and such. No small direct radiator like a Pioneer HPM will keep up with those.
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I have to think a pair of AR9's would demolish the HPM's and Machs. They're supposed to be one of the absolute best in terms of audiophile-type speakers that can do rock music very-well.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Wasn't Pete using Voxes at some point back in the '60's, prior to the Sound City/Hiwatt ones? I know he supposedly played some of those early Marshall amps from Jim Marshall's shop (back in Marshall's early days), but I thought he had been using Voxes at some point between those and the Hiwatts.
*EDIT* - I just double-checked, and Pete sometimes used an AC15 back in the Who's early days, plus he also used a Vox AC100 in the mid '60's because those early Marshalls weren't loud enough for him... But he later went back to Marshall again, having them custom-build those notorious, incredibly-heavy 8x12 cabs, until his roadies protested, and from that came the legendary 4x12 cab, of which they would stack two of them (one on top of another) with the amp head on top, and the Marshall stack was born. It's been a while since I thought about this stuff. I forgot about him being one of Jim Marshall's earliest clients (along with Ritchie Blackmore and Big Jim Sullivan), back in the early '60's when Jim had the small shop in Hanwell, London.
I have to think a pair of early '60's Goodmans speakers would be excellent for the Hiwatt-era Who stuff, since they have that kind of sound-signature.
I've always loved Pete's rhythm-guitar tone. He preferred single-coil guitar pickups, which have a brighter, more-chimy sound than humbuckers (double-coil pickups). He used an SG with P90's back in the Hiwatt days, and nowadays he's been using a Strat with single coils into Fender Vibro King amps (and Custom Vibroluxes, which are like the Vibro King's little brother), and yet his tone is still very-much the same. Those Vibro King and Custom Vibrolux amps are killer-sounding amps though. My two favorites of all the modern Fenders.
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I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised, it seems many British bands used Vox, it being readily available.
Back in the 60s I played with a guy who had a Super Beatle, it got loud but the guy thought the tone lousy so he got rid off it for a Dual Showman; THAT was a nice sounding amp.
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Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, he did (I edited my last post with that info).
The Dual Showman was a STELLAR amp (and rare nowadays). One of Fender's absolute best ever. I had a 2x12 Fender cab that I believe originally-came with a Dual Showman head, and the cab had two alnico 12's in it. Best-sounding cab I ever had, and I totally-regret getting rid of it.
The Vox Super Beatle was solid-state, I believe (or maybe a tube/SS hybrid of some kind), and was not really in the same class as the AC15 and AC30 models, which were EL84-based class A circuits. The Super Beatle was one of the amps built in the US by Thomas Organ in the mid '60's. Not among their most-revered models.
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sensei91
Active Member
I have been listening to the Who for a very long time. As a matter of fact, it was the song Pure and Easy that was played in the store when I purchased by JBL L100's in 1973.
It sounded great, and based on that, I took the L100's home. They were my main listening speakers for many, many years. Unfortunately one day I was really playing Who's Next loud, and I destoyed one of the woofers. I was pushing them with a McIntosh 2105 amp.
Sending the speaker away to be reconed, I needed something to listen to. I ended up replacing them with a pair of Definitve Technologies BP 10s. After I got the JBL back, I set them up against the Def Techs. It wasn't even close.
All across the board, they would play cleaner , louder, and handle more power. I purchased them because they are more of a Home Theatre speaker, and while there are more detailed speakers availaable on the market for strictly audio, the biploar construction makes live concerts more lively than any other speakers I have heard.
I still have the L100's, as the rear channel in my HT system. They still sound good, especially on full range DVD audio recordings. But as front mains, they can't stand up to the DEf Techs. My friend, afer hearing them, went out and bought the next series up, with two woofers in each. I don't think they make the model anymore. His Klipsch Hereseys ended up in his workshop.
Just my opinion.
It sounded great, and based on that, I took the L100's home. They were my main listening speakers for many, many years. Unfortunately one day I was really playing Who's Next loud, and I destoyed one of the woofers. I was pushing them with a McIntosh 2105 amp.
Sending the speaker away to be reconed, I needed something to listen to. I ended up replacing them with a pair of Definitve Technologies BP 10s. After I got the JBL back, I set them up against the Def Techs. It wasn't even close.
All across the board, they would play cleaner , louder, and handle more power. I purchased them because they are more of a Home Theatre speaker, and while there are more detailed speakers availaable on the market for strictly audio, the biploar construction makes live concerts more lively than any other speakers I have heard.
I still have the L100's, as the rear channel in my HT system. They still sound good, especially on full range DVD audio recordings. But as front mains, they can't stand up to the DEf Techs. My friend, afer hearing them, went out and bought the next series up, with two woofers in each. I don't think they make the model anymore. His Klipsch Hereseys ended up in his workshop.
Just my opinion.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
What's a "direct radiator"?
krowmagnum
Compulsive speaker freak
The AR 9's would definitely demolish the RS Machs and most of the HPM line up. The higher models of HPM's would give the AR 9's a good run but still fall short. Even the smaller AR 90's will blow away the Mach One's and HPM-100's.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, I figured... The AR9 is a true TOTL-type model and is supposed to be one of the greats.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Yeah, people say they're among the best ever...
A speaker in which the diaphragm works directly against the air, without an intervening device such as a horn or bandpass box. For example an Altec Model 19 is horn loaded above 1200 hz but the woofer is a direct radiator.
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wsissons
Super Member
My opinion a speaker to play the WHO .....Any great speaker will do a fantastic job. A great speaker should play any kind of music well......And that depends on what your vision of what a great speaker is .....Out of control bass and blaring mids is what some people want . Then there are the guys who sit around a room smoking pipes speakers which I find nice at times. and the list goes on.......Me I like a solid speaker top to bottom that will tell me if I have a bad recording but will have me glued to my seat when things are right. I think thats what we all want its a journey.
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Boy, then I guess my W90's are very-direct-radiators. The mids and tweeters aren't even mounted to a baffle (They're free-air-mounted).
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phil-g
Active Member
i didn't think model 19s were horn loaded. unless you mean the hf horn in the upper cabinet.
coincidently i'm listening to the Who on a pair of altec 828s with 511 horns. so i would have to give my vote to A7-500s.
now if you can muster up a pair of A-2s, THAT would be the ultimate way to hear the Who.
http://www.weareprivate.net/blog/?p=15246
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