Two Way Guitar Speaker

[Smitty]

Anyone ever try a two way guitar speaker setup? I'm getting ready to build a 15" and 8" speaker and passive crossover for a 40W tube amp. I'm thinking that the Altec N809-8A might get the job done nicely given that it has a HF control. I'm guessing that it will sound pretty good clean but there might be some issues when the amp goes into overdrive. Should I use two 8" 16 ohm speakers in parallel? I'm a little nervous about blowing a 25 watt eight inch speaker. It's clipping I'm worried about.

Signed,

Nervous Nelly in Nashville

[J M Fahey]

It should work.
In fact, it has been done before, specially by Gibson.
You should be careful in speaker selection, as in each speaker should be suitable for guitar reproduction on its own.
So, no heavy PA or Hi Fi woofers here.
Classic selection was a P15N , which today could be a C15N or a Mod 15/120 .
Choosing only an 8" speaker limits you to relatively inefficient 20W units; if you could rise your spec to 10", you have a lot to choose from, starting with P or C 10Q or Mod 10-50.
Post your results and good luck.

[Groover]

The Gibson GA 25, 30 and 50 used a 8" and a 12", but they were in parallel and did not use a crossover.

It is interesting to speculate on what the combination of an 8" and a 15" would sound like with a crossover in the design. I would think you could use a much lower rated speaker for the highs to soften up the HF response, and use something really stiff like an EV for tight low end.