# Eminence Speaker Shootout (7 Speakers, 2 Rigs)



## KhzDonut (Jun 1, 2015)

So awhile back I got a handful of Eminence speakers to try out, and recently got another batch to try out. So the only logical thing to do was to do a shootout under *fairly* scientific conditions (trying to keep all other variables as consistent as possible)

So this is the result:





The speakers represented are as follows:

*Patriot Series:*
Screamin' Eagle
Swamp Thang
Texas Heat
*Redcoat Series:*
CV-75
The Governor
Man O War
Private Jack

*Amps/Rigs Used:*
1. Orange Jim Root Terror - Modded Squier JazzMaster w/ Duncan Distortion, VFE Ice Scream OD
2. Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier - Custom 7 w/ EMG 81-7x, VFE Focus Boost

*Mics Used:*
Blended Shure SM57 & Sennheiser e906

All other relevant tech info (bass rig, recording rig, etc...) is in the video description if you are so inclined.


Would have loved to throw a few more models in there, but budget constraints being what they are... Hope the other ToenzChaserz around here can get some use out of it. It's definitely interesting to see the differences and similarities between speakers. Makes my inner science nerd happy to do tests like this


----------



## vick1000 (Jun 1, 2015)

Man o' War FTW!!!!


----------



## FILTHnFEAR (Jun 1, 2015)

Me likey the Swampy's. 

Thinking that paired with one of the V30's in my Recto 2x12 would crush. Wish he had a G12K100 up in this piece to compare.



Edit: Thanks for posting this OP, nicely done.


----------



## TRENCHLORD (Jun 2, 2015)

To my ears The Governor sounded the most "complete" with both rigs, but in general with rig-1 I seem to prefer the sharper/scooped models, and with rig-2 I like the thicker lows and mid-heavy models.


----------



## mcleanab (Jun 2, 2015)

vick1000 said:


> Man o' War FTW!!!!



Agreed!

Great vid... thanks! I've owned the Governor and the Swamp Thang which paired so well together, and now own the Man O War and Texas Heat, which I think I like better. This video really highlighted all the voices of each... 

And that CV-75 really caught my attention too...


----------



## ProphetOfHatred (Jun 2, 2015)

Governor and CV-75 sounded best, not a surprise to me. The CV-75 seems to have more high mid presence and sat better in the mix in my opinion.


----------



## Promit (Jun 3, 2015)

Man, I really like what that CV-75 is doing. Solid upper mid presence without fizziness, whereas the governor has some fizz on top.
...
After some listening, I feel like the Governor does something weird with palm mute attacks that I don't like. They seem to have kind of a soft edged feel? Wondering if anyone else hears what I'm getting at.


----------



## mcleanab (Jun 3, 2015)

Promit said:


> Man, I really like what that CV-75 is doing. Solid upper mid presence without fizziness, whereas the governor has some fizz on top.
> ...
> After some listening, I feel like the Governor does something weird with palm mute attacks that I don't like. They seem to have kind of a soft edged feel? Wondering if anyone else hears what I'm getting at.



I thought, as good as the Governor sounds, just couldn't get any bottom to the chunks; which is why I found it paired so well with the Swamp Thang. 

When I had my ISP Theta Combo, it had one 1x12 guitar speaker, and a proprietary 1x12 sub woofer. The Governor sounds great with it, but it always seemed to just sit on the top sonically, as opposed to blending with it... the stock speaker blended well (I just hate stock speaker) and the Swamp Thang blended well too.

Don't know if that's what you are hearing, but that's been my experience. Maybe four Governors in a nice big 4x12 sounds huge!


----------



## sonofabias (Jun 3, 2015)

KhzDonut said:


> So awhile back I got a handful of Eminence speakers to try out, and recently got another batch to try out. So the only logical thing to do was to do a shootout under *fairly* scientific conditions (trying to keep all other variables as consistent as possible)
> 
> So this is the result:
> 
> ...




 Damn , that was a killer test , my dilemma ...CV 75 or Man O War which one to X pattern with two V30s in my Engl XXL cab , to balance some the fizz , add a little more low deff . ?


----------



## lewis (Jun 3, 2015)

Oh my god....these sound unreal and to me, way better than Celestion!!

Anyone got any IR's of the speaker used in the demo!!!!? I need to get my hands on these for my Pod HD Pro!!!

Great job OP and thanks for the heads up. I have never bothered listening to or using Eminence until now.


----------



## KhzDonut (Jun 3, 2015)

vick1000 said:


> Man o' War FTW!!!!



It can haz teh dj0ntz 




FILTHnFEAR said:


> Me likey the Swampy's.
> 
> Thinking that paired with one of the V30's in my Recto 2x12 would crush. Wish he had a G12K100 up in this piece to compare.
> 
> Edit: Thanks for posting this OP, nicely done.



I was hoping to get a V30 as a reference, but it ended up not happening  I was a bit bummed, though I'm sure Eminence probably preferred it this way 

But thanks for watching, hope it was useful. And the Swamp Thang is still my favorite speaker out of the bunch, with the CV-75 a close second.




TRENCHLORD said:


> To my ears The Governor sounded the most "complete" with both rigs, but in general with rig-1 I seem to prefer the sharper/scooped models, and with rig-2 I like the thicker lows and mid-heavy models.



The Governor has a really nice sound to it, my only issue was that it was the only speaker I had to adjust the input on my interface for. It has this really thunderous low-mid that just rumbles everything in the room. Not super sub-lows, just this like... 150hz kind of thing that just penetrates the walls. It was overloading my mic pre's like crazy. I'm in the upstairs so that aspect of the speaker kind of makes it a no-go for the iso-cab  kind of defeats the purpose.




mcleanab said:


> Agreed!
> 
> Great vid... thanks! I've owned the Governor and the Swamp Thang which paired so well together, and now own the Man O War and Texas Heat, which I think I like better. This video really highlighted all the voices of each...
> 
> And that CV-75 really caught my attention too...



CV-75 is super awesome. It's the closest I've come to trading out the Swamp Thang. The Screamin' Eagle is also a contender (in a different way) because it's kind of like a tighter Swamp Thang, but there's a texture the CV-75 has that's really unique.



ProphetOfHatred said:


> Governor and CV-75 sounded best, not a surprise to me. The CV-75 seems to have more high mid presence and sat better in the mix in my opinion.



I would tend to agree with that assessment.




Promit said:


> Man, I really like what that CV-75 is doing. Solid upper mid presence without fizziness, whereas the governor has some fizz on top.
> ...
> After some listening, I feel like the Governor does something weird with palm mute attacks that I don't like. They seem to have kind of a soft edged feel? Wondering if anyone else hears what I'm getting at.



There is a possibility that during the recording the Governor favored the SM57 more than the e906, because I had to lower the input level of the mic pre on my interface to offset the ultra penetrating low-mid of the Governor. The mics were positioned to complement each other, not to be in spots that would be "ideal" for each individual mic, and in this case the SM57 was in a spot that made it a bit darker than it would have been if I mic'd it solo. I did my best to make sure all levels were as identical as possible for the purposes of the test, but it's a possibility.

In general, when I've mic'd up the Governor, the palm mutes have sounded pretty exceptional, and in person I imagine they would hit you like a ton of bricks straight to the chest because it absolutely PENETRATES the walls of the iso-cab during recording. It's by far the loudest speaker in terms of what it sounds like from outside the cabinet.




mcleanab said:


> I thought, as good as the Governor sounds, just couldn't get any bottom to the chunks; which is why I found it paired so well with the Swamp Thang.
> 
> When I had my ISP Theta Combo, it had one 1x12 guitar speaker, and a proprietary 1x12 sub woofer. The Governor sounds great with it, but it always seemed to just sit on the top sonically, as opposed to blending with it... the stock speaker blended well (I just hate stock speaker) and the Swamp Thang blended well too.
> 
> Don't know if that's what you are hearing, but that's been my experience. Maybe four Governors in a nice big 4x12 sounds huge!



Interesting. I get so much more rumble out of the Governor than any other speaker from my Iso Cab, but I suppose a live situation ends up being way different than a recording situation so that's good to know. I know that if I was pairing things for the studio, then I'd probably go Swamp Thang + Governor, or Swamp Thang + CV-75. I only did preliminary tests to that effect during this project, I'd have to really dial in the mic's and everything to be sure, but someday when I have a 2x12 Iso Cab we'll see where things go 




sonofabias said:


> Damn , that was a killer test , my dilemma ...CV 75 or Man O War which one to X pattern with two V30s in my Engl XXL cab , to balance some the fizz , add a little more low deff . ?



I'd probably just go Man O War and CV-75 and get rid of the V30's  But I'm going to have to admit to a bias against V30's because I'm generally not a huge fan. A bit "crackley" sounding for my tastes, but of course that doesn't stop me from listening to the majority of bands I listen to, which almost all seem to have recorded their albums with V30's. So I should probably be kinder to them. Someday I'll find a use for one, I'm sure.




lewis said:


> Oh my god....these sound unreal and to me, way better than Celestion!!
> 
> Anyone got any IR's of the speaker used in the demo!!!!? I need to get my hands on these for my Pod HD Pro!!!
> 
> Great job OP and thanks for the heads up. I have never bothered listening to or using Eminence until now.



I seriously only tried them out because of the price. When I built my iso cab I just didn't want to spend the money on trying out a bunch of Celestion's (because I was pretty sure I didn't want a v30 and I had no clue what anything else sounded like) and I had a really good experience with an Avatar bass cab with Eminence speakers. I thought I'd give them a try, and now I think I'd be hard pressed to find another speaker company to replace them with. I'll always keep searching, but nothing seems to replace my Swamp Thang.


----------



## Carl Kolchak (Jun 4, 2015)

To the OP,

Great vid. I really appreciate the fact that you made a comparison vid using different gear in an actual (high gain) musical setting and didn't waste our time playing the same old blues licks you are usually subjected to in vids like this. 

As for the speakers, it's hard to pick a favourite, as they all sounded quite good in their respective settings.


----------



## lewis (Jun 4, 2015)

OP

I really liked the CV - 75 for djent in the Orange Jim Root Terror section and I wondered what it would sound like with the other speakers combined so I overlayed it with each of the others. Thought others might be interested so I hope you dont mind but here it is

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/lewprog9/eminence[/SC]

So the demo is as follows
CV-75 + Sreamin Eagle
CV- 75 + Swamp Thang
CV-75 + Texas Heat
CV-75 + Governor
CV-75 + Man o War
CV-75 + Private Jack

My 3 favourites are 1, 2 and 4 but imo that CV-75 sounds amazing blended with all of them


----------



## KhzDonut (Jun 7, 2015)

Carl Kolchak said:


> To the OP,
> 
> Great vid. I really appreciate the fact that you made a comparison vid using different gear in an actual (high gain) musical setting and didn't waste our time playing the same old blues licks you are usually subjected to in vids like this.



Thanks, and yeah, I couldn't agree more. I find that the place speakers make the most dramatic difference is on high gain chugs, so why not spend the most time on THAT rather than just noodles that only really demonstrate some minor EQ changes?

The entire texture of the distortion, fizz, hiss, chunk, and grit completely change from speaker to speaker, and it drives me nuts that when I'm looking for speaker information I usually can't find any clips that would actually demonstrate that fact...

I just wish I had the time and ability to do a more rigorous test with multiple mic locations, because moving the mic 1cm either way, or angling it, has an equally dramatic effect.

Too many variables 



lewis said:


> OP
> 
> I really liked the CV - 75 for djent in the Orange Jim Root Terror section and I wondered what it would sound like with the other speakers combined so I overlayed it with each of the others. Thought others might be interested so I hope you dont mind but here it is
> 
> ...



Awesome, and yeah I don't mind at all. If you'd like I can throw up some extra clips with things more isolated so you can screw around more.

It's just enough work that I don't want to do it if I don't have to, but will be more than happy if someone requests it 

-edit-

Also, I totally agree the CV-75 is a great speaker. It's my favorite out of the Redcoats. There's things I like about the Governor too, but it's terribly wall-shaking even in the iso-cab, so it kind of makes recording quietly difficult 

Still just keep going back to the Swamp Thang though because even though it's a little dark sounding, it's super punchy and has a lot less fizz than most speakers. Though I have to admit the Screamin' Eagle is a strong contender for tight, punchy, fizz-less tone


----------



## p4vl (Jun 7, 2015)

Emi Legend v128 = \m/


----------



## lewis (Jun 7, 2015)

KhzDonut said:


> Thanks, and yeah, I couldn't agree more. I find that the place speakers make the most dramatic difference is on high gain chugs, so why not spend the most time on THAT rather than just noodles that only really demonstrate some minor EQ changes?
> 
> The entire texture of the distortion, fizz, hiss, chunk, and grit completely change from speaker to speaker, and it drives me nuts that when I'm looking for speaker information I usually can't find any clips that would actually demonstrate that fact...
> 
> ...



Dude yeah the isolateds would be sweet if you dont mind. Also do you think you could try and make these into IRs?. I would be willing to pay a little for an IR pack containting all these speakers?. Im sure most would actually. What do you think?.

Agreed the swamp thang is awesome. Would pair well


----------



## aqa (Jun 7, 2015)

This the greatest Eminence shootout ever created

I have a pair of swamp thangs and two private jacks in a 4x12 in a configuration 2x(2x12) and the sound or voicing in the video is similar you get in front of them, sometines I run a blackstar s1-50 and a evh iii 5150 on that cab.

Saying that, and as an owner of eminence: EMINENCE ARE NO WORTH FOR METAL

don't burn me alive, but is true, if you are a home recording metal musician with a focusrite and some sm57's, you will not ever get the sound of a vintage 30's or a gt12-75, I'm not a fan of vintage 30's but these just cut excellent in a mix.

No matter what guitar you use, you can try dozens of humbuckers, try dozens of amps. but in metal you only can use or v30's or gt12-75, that's the real deal, maybe the cv 75 i think is the best sounding in this video


----------



## ProphetOfHatred (Jun 7, 2015)

What? Plenty of amazing sounding records have been recorded with different speakers. Lots of death metal bands have used Vader cabs, including Suffocation since the early 2000's.


----------



## aqa (Jun 7, 2015)

ok, maybe legends series worth 

Don't missundestood, maybe doesn´t work for me ; I said is a lot easier if a are a HOME METAL MUSICIAN to get better results with these cellestions


----------



## FILTHnFEAR (Jun 7, 2015)

aqa said:


> Saying that, and as an owner of eminence: EMINENCE ARE NO WORTH FOR METAL
> 
> No matter what guitar you use, you can try dozens of humbuckers, try dozens of amps. but in metal you only can use or v30's or gt12-75, that's the real deal


----------



## Sean Richardson (Jun 8, 2015)

lewis said:


> OP
> 
> I really liked the CV - 75 for djent in the Orange Jim Root Terror section and I wondered what it would sound like with the other speakers combined so I overlayed it with each of the others. Thought others might be interested so I hope you dont mind but here it is
> 
> ...



this is really good... actually hats off to both you (for manipulating this) and of course Kirk for doing it in the first place (again)... just ordered a man-o-war based on this.

BTW for me... 3, 5 and 6


----------



## Carl Kolchak (Jun 9, 2015)

@KhzDonut: If you ever do a Round 2 please consider demoing the Tonker and the Cannabis Rex speakers.


----------



## JeffFromMtl (Jun 9, 2015)

Damn, the Swamp Thangs and CV-75's have some grind about them. They'd crush it in an HM-2 based rig.


----------



## p4vl (Jun 10, 2015)

aqa said:


> ok, maybe legends series worth
> 
> Don't missundestood, maybe doesn´t work for me ; I said is a lot easier if a are a HOME METAL MUSICIAN to get better results with these cellestions



I can't tell you how much better my tone got when I switched from V30's to Emi V128's, and I'm a home metal musician. Vintage 30's are a safe distance from a home metal musician's best speaker choice; they have to be cranked.


----------



## Carl Kolchak (Jun 10, 2015)

p4vl said:


> I can't tell you how much better my tone got when I switched from V30's to Emi V128's, and I'm a home metal musician. Vintage 30's are a safe distance from a home metal musician's best speaker choice; they have to be cranked.



Sorry if this is a little OT, but I think this would make for a great thread, a high-gain speaker shootout done a low/bedroom level volume for the home recorder who cant' crank an amp.


----------



## lewis (Jun 14, 2015)

bump this

Because of my IR request


----------



## crwnedblasphemy (Jul 16, 2015)

Thanks for taking the time! Excellent comparison. I have 4 Governors in my Splawn cab. So that kinda tells ya which I prefer.


----------



## punisher911 (Jul 17, 2015)

Damn. amazing. job. I love the SwampThang and Man O War.. Glad I ordered the ST for my DSL40.. Can't wait to put it in....


----------



## HerbalDude420 (Dec 30, 2016)

I just purchased a Mini Rectifier. I have a Seismic Audio 2x12 I was wondering what mix of Eminence speakers would suit it best. So far I'm thinking Swamp Thang/CV-75. I'm open to any suggestions.


----------



## jc986 (Dec 16, 2018)

Sorry for the necrobump, but just wanted to say thanks for such a thorough and well done demo. I’ve just ordered a Swamp Thang and a Texas Heat as a result. 

I have a Vintage 30 loaded 2x12 and I’m going to try the Swamp Thang with the V30 first and go from there.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 16, 2018)

I'm surprised at how good the Swamp sounded here. Always heard people talk shit about it as a solo speaker.


----------



## cGoEcYk (Dec 17, 2018)

I rolled a bunch of popular speakers and ended up liking Eminence V12s. I appreciated the thundah of the Govs but agree about the low mid thickness. They also have a bit of a hi-pass effect, found Govs did not work great for low extended range. Gov/Swamp combo is pretty br00tal, two extra-loud and pretty clean (minimal speaker breakup) speakers.


----------



## Alex79 (Dec 19, 2018)

The governors do that indeed, they don't cut as well in a mix either despite all the mid. I think the V12 is the better speaker overall. I currently have both the V12 and the V30. 
The speaker I would like to try is the CV75.


----------



## Breeding The Spawn (Dec 19, 2018)

I'd like to swap out the Celestion G1K-85 in my solid state 1x12 Ampeg SS70, Can any one recommend which speaker would fit best? I usually set my sound for an early 90's Death Metal style but also modern tech death metal.


----------



## Alex79 (Dec 19, 2018)

What amp do you use?


----------



## Alex79 (Dec 19, 2018)

Sorry I just realised that is a combo. 

No idea really. What's wrong with the original speaker?


----------



## Breeding The Spawn (Dec 19, 2018)

Nothing wrong with the original speaker, although at times I feel like it's very raw and harsh sounding..I just want to try out a different speaker and maybe get a different feel of the amps tone.


----------

