Another speaker Break In Thread

[Endless Mike]

I didn't want to revive threads a year or older. I have three (count 'em, three!) new eminence speakers.
1) Wheelhouse 150
2) Texas Heat
3) Swamp Thang

They all have really good traits, but what they will ultimately sound like won't be known for some time, especially as I don't do live dates regularly at all anymore. Have no idea when another might happen. What I do know from having bought a brand new pair of Cannabis Rex speakers many years back, it can take a long time for speakers to fully break in. Some longer than others.

Yes, I know, some say it's a myth. Mr "In The Blues" says it is absolutely untrue, it doesn't happen. My experience tells me otherwise. I initially wanted to get rid of the CR, but kept at it, using them three to four nights or more a week for months, then finally they crossed the threshold, and they sounded amazing. Completely different than out of the box and those first few months.

So I need to pick one, and just let it take it's time. I've read hours of reviews. The Texas Heat sounds *great* clean, the overdrive sound is good, but a bit fizzy. The Wheelhouse sounds really great with overdrive, the clean is nice if not a bit lackluster. The Swamp Thang sounds pretty good with overdrive, but the clean is also a bit flat or uninteresting. Good, but flat/uninteresting.

I've read a few reports of the ST being astonishingly good, but that it takes a very long time for the goods to reveal themselves. As to the Wheelhouse, supposedly hemp cones take a freaking lifetime to break in, and my experiences jives with that. The Texas Heat has a hint of British qualities mixed in with its dominant 'Murican flavor. So I'm thinking that fizziness will always be there. Someone else said as much to me a while back.

I'm thinking I should stick the Wheelhouse in and just play it for amny, many months. Keep the other two for spares. Maybe I can get a 1x12 and pop one in there, get it fully broke in, and use it with my Mark V via the speaker outs.

So for anyone who has used any of these speakers, what was your experience prior to breaking in and after they broke in?

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

My hunch is that the fizziness of the Texas Heat when overdriven will eventually settle down, while if the others currently sound lackluster clean, that's unlikely to change. Pick the speaker that sounds best clean - that's always my rule.

The method Ted Weber used to recommend for accelerated break-in was to plug in a cable but not a guitar to induce 60 cycle hum, then just leave the amp on at a decent volume for a while. This will get all the parts loosened up in an hour or two - close the door, put a sofa cushion in front of it, whatever.

 

[Endless Mike]

My hunch is that the fizziness of the Texas Heat when overdriven will eventually settle down, while if the others currently sound lackluster clean, that's unlikely to change. Pick the speaker that sounds best clean - that's always my rule.

The method Ted Weber used to recommend for accelerated break-in was to plug in a cable but not a guitar to induce 60 cycle hum, then just leave the amp on at a decent volume for a while. This will get all the parts loosened up in an hour or two - close the door, put a sofa cushion in front of it, whatever.

Yeah, I favor the clean sound, as that's what I'm using approximately eighty percent of the time.

Both the Wheelhouse and Swamp Thang get consistently high reviews/remarks. Per your suggestion, I do favor the Texas Heat, but I also recall how dead and uninteresting the Cannabis Rex were for months. The only reason I didn't bail on them was because the stock speakers in the amp I put them in were worse, and one of them was not working properly, so I was cornered as I couldn't afford two more new speakers. When the CR finally crossed the line, they were amazing. The Wheelhouse being a hemp cone, I'm thinking will provide a similarly nice sound.

I think I'll just pick days when we'll be out and either do the Ted Weber trick, or what I've been doing, which is a mix of clean and distorted sounds played into a looper and leave it at a volume I can get away with, letting it go over night. I start it at about 7:00pm, and let it run until 7:00am the following morning. I think the problem is, not enough volume. So I'll take one of the extra large U-Haul boxes we have, and put the amp in there and put some couch cushions in there. I've got some plywood, I may construct one of those boxes like Billy Gibbons used for recording, a mini iso box.

I think I favor the second one. But your suggestion helps, because it helped me to extend my thinking about how to get this working. I'll just do this with all three speakers, again, but this time with VOLUME.

Thanks!