Re: [Harp-L] Ripped speaker cones

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

AFAIK it was a common practice in the late 60's early 70's as a way  
to get more distortion or fuzz
out of an amp.  My brother use to do it to his speakers.
A scalpel blade was used to put cuts in the speakers then the cuts  
were sealed with nail polish to keep from ripping further. You just  
put in as many cuts as needed until
you got the sound you wanted.

Another method I heard  from an amp tech  is to spray Aqua Net  
(hairspray) on the cone.  It's suppose to react with the paper giving  
a similar fuzz tone.

mike
On Jan 14, 2006, at 5:24 AM, Dave R. Fertig wrote:

> This same lo-tech method for obtaining distortion was employed by  
> Carlos Santana.  I saw him talk about it in a smokey basement in  
> N.W. Washington, D.C.,  I think it was like 1968 or '69, it's all  
> so fuzzy...  but as I recall he made a couple or few slashes - over  
> the gasps and initial objections of his rotund plank spankin' cuzz,  
> whose name I don't recall, but I think it was the band's name, Zapata.
>
> I seem to recall the few cuts were radiant, rather than lateral, or  
> parallel to the rim or driver, but can't be sure thirty-six years  
> later.   I do remember we thought it was easy and reckless for a  
> seemingly rich rocker to slash cones, but a garage band couldn't so  
> easily afford to replace them, and I think they had much shorter  
> usage lifes, shredding not so long after the "modification."  But  
> again, it's all so darned fuzzy...
>
> Sounded great though!
>
> Harp content: I wasn't playing harp at the time, I was like 13  
> years old and running cables and rolling papers.  But I was  
> preparing myself spiritually to play the blues.
>
> -Dave Fertig
>
> At 05:12 AM 1/14/2006, you wrote:
> > From: John Frazer <jfrazer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 29, Issue 34
> > Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:08:55 -0800
> >
> > Spirit in the sky was played using a speaker with a rip in the cone.
> >
> > hj
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