80s fane 1250

welp, my 80s fane 1250 arrived today and....

it won't fit in my cab... debating just reselling it for what I paid.

this is the sturdiest speaker in this power handling range and magnet weight I have ever seen, makes EVERY celestion model look woefully under-engineered. n the other hand it won't fit in a front loading cab. hrm

Heh! I'm not looking to buy, but I have to say, you've got good trouble on your hands compared to the curves life can throw the less fortunate. You make me laugh and also relish the fact that we are in good company here. ~m

I have a lot of real life problems but things have been calming down enough in my world that I can putter with my guitar rig all summer. I'm still fudging with the MIDI effects setup and amp-switching configuration. I keep fip-flopping on what amp should be the "always on" amp... I will need to do some loud, band playing to really hear if my current setup with a Voxy side and a Hiwatty side is viable with bass and drums or if I should just use the Traynor for clean only.

I actually managed to cram the fucking Fane in today after I blew out a 70s CTS alnico in that cab while rocking out at volume (25 watts power handling my ass! she did sound great the last few weeks as I was destroying the voicecoil though. Nothing sounds better than a speaker pushed into meltdown, at least for awhile)... I am not sure how I feel about about the Classic 1250 yet, I think she wants to be driven pretty hard. Now the Cab's got the 50 watt fane classic series from the 80s and a celestion greenback. Its lost some compression and bite, but its still a chimey cab overall. I need to get her blasting tomorrow with the Traynor and Matchless and try to bond with the all-ceramic speaker arrangement. Hopefully it will please me more than 2 greenbacks. I only ran her with the master at 1 for testing purposes as it was getting late by the time I finished coaxing the speaker in. The clean was a bit bass heavy and kicking in my Nova Drive didn't have the same lush, natural drive tone it had with the CTS/greenback combo.... then again I was at 1 and there's a massive volume/presence jump turning the Traynor up past 2 that will probably get the Fane singing. We shall see.

I know this, the Fane is not voiced like a Celestion, nor does it sound like a Jensen, JBL, EV or any other old American speakers.... it has a thick midrange, but no upper mid spike like most other brit drivers. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I'll have to listen carefully as I pummel it at real man volumes.

turns out I blew the Celestion greenie, not the CTS. Cheap Chinese junk. One of my vintage, UK greenbacks coulda taken way more abuse and it woulda sounded better, okay, maybe I would blown it.... but not at 5 or less.

So the CTS went in with the Fane Classic 50 and they compliment eachother really well. The CTS has nice compression, slightly earlier breakup and a chinier top, the fane has THE mids from heaven. Wow, I get it. With the dying Celestion out of the way the bass tightened up in a great way. Its got plenty of low end, but its punchier and more dynamic with no boominess. Greenbacks aren't so hot unless they are 60s/70s ones. The vintage freaks are right. I was wrong! Shoulda sold this one with the other post-90s greenies I unloaded recently, woulda made an extra $50-100.

The flatter fane speaker suits the amp a lot more than the celestion. Its not as clean as all that, its definitely growls in the mids and a little in the lows. Some of the grunt n the Who's "Live at Leeds" was the speakers. I have the amp set to just start growlin' as I dig in, but the speakers are giving up growl and crunch as they are pushed.

with a little research on goggle I found the CTS can handle 40 watts and the Fane can handle a good 40 without issue (its rated at 50, but Fane had a tendency to overrate their guitar speakers, Pop 50s blow at 30 watts.... the joke is they call 'em Pop 50s because if you show 'em 50 watts they POP). So the 2x12 can now handle my Traynor at full tilt. Its a glorious Hiwatty sound with the Fane in the mix. I wonder if two fanes Classic 12/50s would be better than the Fane CTS combo.... the CTS has great treble paired with a smoother speaker though.... hmmmm.... tempted to drop 100 bucks on another 8 ohm Classic from 1983.