Category: What the Pros are Saying

Bassist for Razer and former Krank Product Manager Chris Catero and band mate Jordan Ziff recently contacted us to talk guitar speakers. After hearing what tonal characteristics they were looking for we decided they needed to give our CV-75 British-voiced model from our Redcoat series a try. Apparently we hit the nail on the head, because they were so taken with the tones from this speaker they decided to share their thoughts in this video. Very well done!

Guitar World’s Paul Riario demonstrates the new CV-75 guitar speaker from Eminence. Rated at 75 watts, the British-voiced CV-75 offers complete tonal balance – Grunt and punch in the lows, warm/tailored mids, and clear, open/airy highs. Qualities often attributed to hand made British speakers from 20 to 30 years ago. The CV-75 is the latest addition to the Red Coat series of guitar speakers, and features a 1.75″ voice coil and a 56 oz. ceramic magnet. Get complete specs here.

If you’re a guitar player and you have ever been told you’re stage volume is too loud, welcome to the club. We like to crank our tube amps up to get that sweet tone, but often times we end up too loud, especially in smaller venues and practice situations. With the Eminence FDM (Flux Density Modulation) guitar speakers, you can literally dial back the volume without losing the tone and feel you’re after. Our good friend Josh Smith offers a great explanation from a guitarist’s point of view, and demos both models: The British-voiced ReignMaker, and the American-voiced Maverick. Both speakers are rated at 75 watts, and when the dial is set to maximum attenuation, can drop the overall volume by nearly 9 dB. That’s like taking a 100 watt amp down to 12 watts.

Eminence has had the pleasure of working with George Alessandro for many years, building custom guitar speakers to his specifications for many of his high-end amplifiers. Together we collaborated with legendary guitarist Eric Johnson on what we think is the finest alnico guitar speaker on the market, the Eric Johnson Signature EJ1250. We recently sat down with George to learn more about the man behind the tone of many of today’s premier artists.

In this video Eric Johnson discusses vintage tone, and how he, along with George Alessandro and Eminence, set out to recreate those classic sounds in this new design. Eric also demonstrates the EJ1250’s ability to deliver very balanced, harmonic tones in various playing styles.

Learn more about the EJ1250.

Here’s another great demo from our good friend Jon Bloomer at Guitar Noize. In this demo, Jon uses one of our most popular combinations of 12″ speakers, the Governor and the Man O War, both from our British-voiced Red Coat Series of guitar speakers.

“The frequency response of each of these speakers are slightly different, The Governor has a great classic speaker response with a nice full and even tone whereas the Man O War is more pronounced around the 1kHz range and you can hear that in the Overdriven guitar parts in my demo in particular. The Man O War also seems a little tighter and is well suited to heavier Rock and Metal. When you blend these speakers together you get the best of both worlds resulting in a detailed punchy tone great for any genre you throw at them. I tried to show this in my demo video by layering clean, crunchy and high gain overdriven guitars on top of a Jamtrackcentral.com backing track. For each part I placed a single Audix i5 Dynamic Mic on the edge of the dust cap a couple of inches off the grill cloth. I used my Suhr Modern and Ceriatone Chupacabra 50 amp in 60′s mode for the clean rhythm guitars and added the Suhr Shiba Drive for the clean solos. For all other guitar parts I used the 80′s mode and added the Shiba Drive for the Overdriven lead guitars.”- Jon Bloomer | GuitarNoize.com

Check out more of Jon’s great posts at GuitarNoize.com

Chances are, if you’ve turned on a TV, radio or video game console within the last several years, you’ve likely heard the infectious music of Steve Ouimette. From his awe inspiring work behind the epic Guitar Hero video game series, to his composition and song writing heard in many popular TV shows and studio recordings, Steve is quickly becoming known for the creativity he brings to every project. With the myriad of options available to recording artists today, one thing remains consistent in Steve’s tone toolbox – Eminence speakers.

Eminence: Was the guitar your first instrument? When did you first pick it up?

Steve: I wish I could say it was but my first instrument was the organ. My parents had bought one and signed my sister and me up for lessons. I did that for 2 years from 5-7. When we moved to California I started playing drums but I was more Bobby Brady than John Bonham so around 11 or 12 I switched to guitar. It was Ace Frehley who originally inspired me. After that it was Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie and Angus Young.

Eminence: At what point in your life did you decide you were going to make a career out of your musical abilities?

Steve: From the first time I picked up the guitar I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. Computers were in their infancy and MIDI had just come out so I was fascinated with the potential. I majored in music in college and during and after that worked in studios and was fortunate enough to learn a metric ton from Eric Valentine during his early years of running his own studio. The combination of all of that and working in the game industry sort of dovetailed into my forming my own company and doing this full time.

Jon Bloomer knows a thing or two when it comes to guitar tone. He’s been playing since he was 12 years old, and since 2007 he’s been the brains behind GuitarNoize.com, a website that is loaded with everything a guitar enthusiast loves. This video features one of our most popular combinations of classic American tones, the Texas Heat™ and Swamp Thang™, both from our Patriot Series of guitar speakers.

“The Texas Heat is a little darker than the Swamp Thang and creates some great Eric Johnson style lead tones.” said Bloomer. “The Swamp Thang breaks up nicely when you play hard and has a little more presence and as you can hear combined they are a perfect match for a great rhythm tone.”

Check out more of Jon’s great posts at GuitarNoize.com

Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario puts the ReignMaker guitar speaker with FDM™ Technology through its paces. Of course, the speaker sounds incredible, but Paul has some serious chops too!

Paul points out the advantage of our proprietary FDM™ Technology, noting that there is no need for any expensive electronic attenuators. The speaker does it all for you, and also give you the sound and feel of playing a cranked-up amp but at lower volume. He also clearly illustrates there are many positions between full-output and max-attenuation that let you dial in the sound and volume you’re looking for. Whether you’re in a small club, recording studio, or practicing in your bedroom, you can turn down the volume while maintaining the saturated tube tone you’re looking for. The next night you might be in a larger venue where volume isn’t an issue. No problem, just turn the dial and crank it up!

Paul enjoyed checking out the British-voiced ReignMaker from our Red Coat Series of guitar speakers, and we know you will too. Also check out its American-voiced cousin, the Maverick, also with this truly unique FDM™ technology. Both speakers are now available in 16 ohms.