Looking for advice - what speakers have you tried that are "dark"

[laurie]

G'day!

I'm looking for recommendations for speakers for the JC-120 that I revived over here:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=954

I'm looking for something that you have actually tried and thought to yourself "that's a dark speaker, not too much top end in this one".

It needs to have a bit of fidelity to be OK with the JC-120, but some character is likely OK.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[bigtone23]

The Mesa MC90 Celestion Black Shadows fit the bill. They have good low end (sound great in an open back cab), flat mids and a subdued top end. They can take the fizz away from brighter amps. I would imagine they would pair well with a bright JC120.
These are my favorite Celestions and are installed in more than 50% of my speaker mounts.

[laurie]

That's interesting... I have a pair that came loaded in my Mesa Heartbreaker. I can jumper across to them without even unloading them to give it a try. Will do that on the weekend.

[laurie]

I tried the MC-90's this evening. They are definitely darker.

There aren't any deals on these at the moment (none on reverb.com) but I'll keep them on the list for sure!

[zentropa]

Darkest speakers I have played are the Orange "Voice of the World" speakers from their Crush series cabs.

I have read that the Mesa Black Shadow is a modified Celestion Classic Lead 80 if that helps open up some options.

[bigtone23]

Darkest speakers I have played are the Orange "Voice of the World" speakers from their Crush series cabs.

I have read that the Mesa Black Shadow is a modified Celestion Classic Lead 80 if that helps open up some options.

Yeah, the MC90 is much like a white label G12-80 from circa 1980. Some Boogie nerds (that go deeper than I can) have mentioned that there was a short lived G12-90 which became the MC90.
Also similar:
G12M-80
The Egnater Elite 80
Peavey Scorpions with the lighter magnet. The Scorpion Plus and Ultra versions are a little brighter. The Ultra is EV heavy, too! The OG version are relatively light, too, like 7 pounds each.

...and for a 10" option, the older G10S-50. I love and exclusively use these for 10" guitar applications. In particular--the bass cone version, with a smooth cone, has a similar character to the MC90. The guitar version has a ribbed cone, and is still a relatively dark 10" speaker, but the bass cone version is smoother. I have a bass cone in my Marshall Lead 12 and the guitar cone version in my Bassman Ten.

[laurie]

I ended up solving it electronically:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=954&start=130#p10606