Swamp thangs; first impressions

[MDV]

Loving them!

Testing with my PB, playing br00talz.

The low end is the most striking thing. Its huge, quite tight but not as much as the V30s, throaty growly and really natural sounding. Its not choked or constrained of forced. The k100s low end is less prominent (as is the V30s) but sort of sounds like its being squeezed out; this speaker breathes in the low end much more. It slams and grinds, gutterally and with great authority.

I've heard people go for these for blues and doom because of the low end. I can see how that works, but many of you will be familiar with my lust and on going quest for precision, tight low end, and they arent as tight, but they arent loose enough to displease me. Remember that this is with a PB and my Aurora; both low end definition titans. I have more leeway there than, say, a dual rec and a les paul. YMMV!

The mids and top end are far smoother and more open than the k100s they replaced. They dont honk nearly as much and theres little brittlness (unbroken in too). Smooths the harsh breakup of the PB very well. Plenty of bite in them, but less attack. Again, remember the rest of the stuff I'm testing with and YMMV!

Its more innately scooped than the K100 (less than the V30), which may lead to less cut in a mix, but they're also quite a bit louder and more percussive, so I guess maybe it will even out. Yet to test this.

It in general made the sound a lot bigger and fatter as well.

Overall, I'd recommend this speaker if you want to warm up a cold sound, give low end to a thin sound, give more solidity and space to your low end (and dial it back a bit), smooth fat blues tones and huge grind tones through fairly conventional rigs and fatter, chunkier and smoother, more open sounds in laser-beam metal rigs.

Not recommended if you already have a very dark sound/setup, or if you enjoy brighter janglier sounds.

I'm quite delighted with it for my needs and they'll be staying in.

[dave_mc]

i didn't know you were getting swamp thangs... so you're running them with the v30s now?

edit: have you tried the texas heats?

[MDV]

Yep. I liked the K100s, but in the speaker test hunter posted I liked the SA quite a bit, and in my head it added up well with the V30, if you see what I mean. So I tried em.

They're the only eminence I've used so far. I'll definitely be looking into them if I need speakers in future, rather than just celestions (as I was before). Very good stuff, very good value as well. Solid build, great sound.

The only thing I dont like is the US flag and "patriot" on the back in big letters. But I dont need to look at those.

[dheim]

The only thing I dont like is the US flag and "patriot" on the back in big letters. But I dont need to look at those.

i'll never understand why the hell they do these things. the yankees, i mean...

[BigB]

They're the only eminence I've used so far. I'll definitely be looking into them if I need speakers in future, rather than just celestions (as I was before).

I'd really like to try out these Swamp Thangs. FWIW, I have a legend GB 12/8 (greenback-like) on my Bjr and AFAICT it's really worth each cent of the €59 I paid for it - just smokes the V30 in this setup.

[JDC]

would you say they are better than k100s or different or mix better with v30s?

[MDV]

They both mix well with V30s. Its just different. The k100s have very fast low response and lots of mids and a pretty sharp top end, but not as spiky as the V30, so they pair with the V30s fairly big low end, nasal mid and atack in the high mids. They act with the V30 as a tightener and mid-adder. The V30s bring the low end magnitude and thickness, and the attack snarl in the top end.

The Swamp Thangs also have more mids, but less top and attack, more grit than sparkle and a fatter low end, so they work with the V30 as a smoother and chunkyfier.

I never liked the K100 miced either, it was too honky. Maybe have better luck with the swamp thang, dont know yet, I'll have a listen through a mic soon enough. No point looking quite that closely at it till they're burned in.

[_tom_]

Good review :) I've been interested in trying some with my Laney, as you may know it has quite a harsh/bright breakup. Think they'd work well together. I just don't dare mess with the 2xG12H30 setup which has worked well for about 3 years now!

[MDV]

cant comment on the h30; not tried them. Heard the comparison in hunters link though, and the 30s, from memory, were one of the smoother, if not smoothest celestions, but the eminences were smoother/warmer than any of the celestions. If youre getting harsh breakup my *guess* (from the comparison) is that these (or tonkers) will help. They helped with that with the PB.

[dave_mc]

Yep. I liked the K100s, but in the speaker test hunter posted I liked the SA quite a bit, and in my head it added up well with the V30, if you see what I mean. So I tried em.

They're the only eminence I've used so far. I'll definitely be looking into them if I need speakers in future, rather than just celestions (as I was before). Very good stuff, very good value as well. Solid build, great sound.

The only thing I dont like is the US flag and "patriot" on the back in big letters. But I dont need to look at those.

hehe. I couldn't care less.

i have an eminence in my valve junior cab, it seems fairly nice (and it's one of the cheaper, OEM, ones). Would like to try weber, tayden etc. too at some point. :)

Great review, by the way (didn't mention that yet). :)

[MDV]

Thanks.

Certainly given the tonal quality and the bang for buck of them, I'll be using Eminence again, even if they do have jingoistic stickers (the new bk stickers are a little nationalistic as well, but they sound good, I'm not gonna stop using them :))

[dave_mc]

the bkp stickers would worry me a bit more here, play in the wrong part of town here (or in the wrong town :lol: ) and you might get lynched if anyone saw them. Not sure whether that should be a :lol: or a :( And I doubt the "but they're nice pickups" would be much of a defence.

[MDV]

You dont have to put them on anything though ;)

Stick them on the inside of an eminence loaded cab and they might cancel each other out :lol;

[HairyChris]

Mm, interesting. Was pondering Swamp Thangs. Currently have Weber beam blockers on a V30 loaded Framus cab.

I'd like to replace the whole cab but can't justify a Diezel, hehe. I never liked the Celestion 100s when playing in E standard aaaalthough... I've not tried them out since I started 7 stringery.

[MDV]

I doubt you'd need the blockers with the swamp thangs.

I did get them under the microscope, so to speak, today - miced up with an MD421 pointing at the join between the dust cap and the cone, and compared them to V30s with isolating headphones.

I was wrong about one thing - they are at least as tight as the V30s, but they havent broken in yet, so that may well change.

They are much less constrained and nasal, much more open and less fizzy. I was able to raise the gain on the PB (channel 4) to about 4 and still have a tone that I would record without fear of mush or mud. Not so with the V30s; 3 is the most I can get away with, and thats pushing it. They're more percussive by far and the low end grinds and slams. The top end is much less brittle, and I could also get away with moving the mic more over the dust cap (havent tried dead on straight yet) and get more attack and definition without the army of wasps.

On the whole the sound was much broader and thicker and the line between 'sharp and attacking' and 'fizzy and annoying' is a much wider one. A little less responsive; it seemed I had to dig in more with them, but then I can raise the gain more and still get a 'clean' distortion (if that doesnt sound absurd), so it ended up easier; let the amp do a little more work. They're darker, but they arent dull or muddy. They strike a nice balance.

I was also able to dispense with my JD10, which was causing some noise and phase and note attack weirdness (subtle but really annoying)  - I had it set to 0-10-0, output 10, drive 4ish to give some kick to the mids and smooth the sound overall. No need with the swamp thangs.

I really hope the sound doesnt change drastically with break in, because I'm really liking these speakers.

Ill be doing my next track with them. If that turns out OK I may even redo the one I just did with a V30 with these.

Note to self - must try the i5 on them. I reckon that would sound great.