Carstens Grace Speaker Comparison! (Video)

[hellzington]

Hey Team,

I'm sure many of you know I'm a huge fan of Brian Carstens' amps, especially the Grace. I get a lot of questions about how the Grace sounds through non-Carstens speaker cabinets. Brian's cabinets use an unusual speaker combination and I think people are (rightfully) hesitant about purchasing one or about purchasing a Grace because they don't know how it will sound through the speaker cabinets they already have. In other words, how will the Grace sound with more common speakers?

In this video, I check out four different speaker cabinets:

1. Marshall Jubilee 4x12 w/ Celestion G12 Vintage 70w speakers (Marshall OG version of the V30)
2. Mesa Boogie 4x12 w/ V30’s (Mesa version of the V30)
3. Friedman 4x12 w/ Celestion Greenbacks (top) and V30s (bottom) (Chinese versions)
4. Diezel 2x12 Oversized Front Loaded w/ Celestion G12K-100’s
5. Carstens 2x12 w/ Celestion Alnico Cream 90w and Weber Blue Dog Ceramic 100w

I do three different sounds with each cabinet: clean, mid-gain, and high gain. All EQ controls are set to noon, including headroom and presence. The gain is at about 10:30 and the master is at about 9:30. I am using a PRS Standard 22 loaded w/ Lollar Imperial High Wind pickups and in standard tuning.

There are timestamps throughout so you can jump around.

This is not a close mic'd video; rather, I wanted to give you the "in the room" sound of each.

Very interested in your thoughts!

 

[fearhk213]

Thanks for doing that. Here's how I would rank them per category:

Clean - Carsten, Mesa, Friedman, Diezel, Marshall
Mid Gain - Casten, Mesa & Friedman tied, Marshall, Diezel
High Gain - Carsten & Mesa tied, Marshall, Friedman, & Diezel

The Carsten & Mesa cabs were the clear winners for me, but I’d say the Grace does seem to sound “right” through the Carsten cab. Guess that shouldn’t be a massive surprise lol. It is less aggressive with a softer attack through those speakers, but it still sounds really good even in the high gain setting. The Mesa was no slouch either. It would just depend on if you want a more modern or vintage character to preside.

After that I’d rank them Marshall, Friedman, & Diezel. Generally speaking, I found the Marshall Vintage a bit too glassy here. Most evident going to the clean and mid gain settings. The Friedman sounded cool clean and mid gain, but it was a bit too bloated and pinched in the mids under high gain. The Diezel had a strong low end, but was generally kind of flat compared to the others.

 

[MxLx]

Yeah, no surprise for me either, the Carstens stands out as my favorite. I’d be curious to see how big of a difference eq adjustments would make for the different cabs, I’m betting the Carstens would still come out on top. Zach’s video does make the creamback 75’s sound great, but he makes everything sound great

 

[hellzington]

Yeah, no surprise for me either, the Carstens stands out as my favorite. I’d be curious to see how big of a difference eq adjustments would make for the different cabs, I’m betting the Carstens would still come out on top. Zach’s video does make the creamback 75’s sound great, but he makes everything sound great

Yeah, debating having a second version where I EQ the amp to every cabinet (to my ear) before recording.

I love Zach's videos and playing, and I agree that he made the Suhr 2x12 with Creamback H75's sound great. If I have one criticism it's that his videos are very produced. He has a video where he shows you exactly what he does to record guitar tones and, while great, it does expose that he is removing and/or processing certain frequencies within the recording. Doesn't mean his videos are bad or invalid, just something to think about.

 

[MxLx]

Yeah, that’s a good point. I do try to watch all of these types of videos with the application in mind - if there’s a mic on a cab (or an ir) I keep it in the context of if I’m playing through a load box and ir. No different than listening to a guitar sound on an album. Videos like yours, with a mic in the room, definitely make it easier to think about in terms of standing in front of the actual amp/cab. Both are useful in their own way, so keep ‘em coming! BTW, you’re one of the reasons I ended up with a first-run Grace