[Harp-L] Re:Fluxtone speakers

["mike wesolowski" <mwesolowski@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's what I got from Marc Landry about Fluxtone speakers.
Very imformative.
Thanks Mark.
Hi Mike,

Marc Landry here..  I know Steve Carey, makes them here in Lafayette, CO.   What they are is a variable efficiency speaker  (see the current issue of Guitar Player magazine, June issue..)

Anyway, it's a value added product, meaning, it's not just a "speaker", it a variable efficiency speaker..  I've been playing guitar for ages (I'm 55, ) and have always fought the volume battle, how to get good tone, without volume..  People spend huge amounts of money for vintage and boutique tube amps, and then squish the tone by never getting the gain off of "1 or "2", and having to use all sort of stomp boxes, to get distortion.. The other camp uses preamp overdrive to get that grit, but it doesn't produce the same overtones that the output stage of a power amp does when it's turned up to higher gain..  Higher gain, more watts, more volume, as the final output device, the speaker has a fixed efficiency, dependent on the power of the magnet..

Reduce the strength of the magnet, reduce the efficiency of the speaker without changing anything else..  It's not a power soak/resistor, as this doesn't get in the tone circuit at all..

So you can turn up the gain of the amp, all the way if you want, and then turn down the strength of the magnet (these use an electromagnet instead of a fixed ALNICO or ceramic magnet..  These used to be called field coil speakers about 60 years ago, but when good permanent magnets were invented during the war, they made speakers much less expensive to manufacture..   Steve went back to an old technology, but now varies the voltage on the magnet, so you can drive at full bore, or reduce the voltage and reduce the magnetic strength by a lot, thereby reducing the distance the voice coil and speaker cone can move- more less, move less air, less volume..  No change in tone..  The amp doesn't know it it not running at full bore through a speaker voice coil, cause it is..  The voice coil continues to do the same job as it always does, it just has less  magnetic field to push/pull against..

My good buddy and partner Jim Konish,  a killer harp player..  ( http://www.myspace.com/theboulderbluesmafia ) has a Fender Blues Jr., but never used to use it except at loud electric gigs, as it was hard to get a good tone without being too loud..  Steve put a 10" Fluxtone driver in it (I think it has an Eminence cone)
We are an acoustic blues duo, we play small venues, coffee houses, wine bars, places where people want to sit and drink and chat, so loud is not an option..  Jim uses this amp at every gig now, as he can turn the gain up to where he gets that sweet crunch/growl, then turn down the pot that controls the magnet voltage, and voila! We're at the a nice low volume and still crankin' tone like crazy..

Not all of Steve's drivers are as expensive as you saw on the web site..  He has a line of drivers for around 500 and change..   I have 2 of these in my electric rigs (and old 55' Fender tweed Pro, and a boutique Deluxe circuit in a tweed Mojo cabinet.. That's the Pro with my 54" Strat in the pics.... )

It's the best idea no one has heard of yet..  (except the ones who own them- no longer a slave to the volume battle..)

You can buy a speaker and power supply , pretty easy to install yourself, (the power supply is a little box, plugs into 110ac, and is hooked up to the magnet coil..  ) and sit this on top of your amp.. (that's what I do to my Pro- I don't want to drill or mod it in any way.. See the attached pictures..)  Or you can buy it in an extension cabinet, with a built in chassis (no amp) that has the power supply/volume pot built in, then use this with any amp..  Or an amp tech can "wire" the power supply into you existing amp, and use an unneeded knob (tremolo??) for the control pot.  Or buy and amp from Steve (he built my amp..)

If you're interested, call him and have a chat.. He's cool, and easy to talk to, and very knowledgeable about tube amps etc..  He can get any cabinets or grill cloth (he uses Mojo to make his cabinets..)..

That's my story, it really works, Nick Forster from E-Town uses one, KBCO radio here in Denver uses one in it's in-house Studio C, and list is growing..   These speakers don't really sound any better than a Celestion ( any flavor) a Jensen or an Eminence, as those are the speaker cones we use..  ( I have a Vintage 30 cone in my other amp, and a Eminence "Old Jensen" in my Pro..) . But they do give you a much wider range of tone without fighting the volume thing..    You can play this in the house, wail away, and not drive the wife crazy..

Big fun..

Give me a shout if you have more questions, be glad to help..  It's worth the money..  I'll put you in touch with Jim, the harp player if you like..    He'll rave about it..

Marc

"Play Da Blues..."











--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike "Wezo" Wesolowski
www.myspace.com/harpwezo 
www.megatoneamps.com
www.bluesworldorder.com