Hey Rick! So how is the Cream turning out with the Tucana?
I’ve been meaning to come back here and update. During my break in as
@York Audio outlined, about 45 minutes in the sound suddenly faded to nothing, though the amp was clearly on. Visions of hundred dollar bills burning filled my thoughts as I went to check it out. Burned voice coil? Or worse, burned output transformer? Either would be odd, as I wasn’t pushing it that hard, but there was no noise like a failing power tube might make. There was no sound at all!
I hooked the speaker up to my PRS HX/DA that happened to be set up next to the Tucana 3 rig. Thankfully, the speaker roared to life. A thorough check of the Tucana followed, and a 5751 preamp tube was found to be faulty and going out intermittently. I didn’t have one, so I ordered a new one and put in a 12AX7 to test the amp and make sure that was all that was wrong, and it was. $26 was the total damage… just a fluke thing on an oddball tube.
Back to testing! Now, somewhat broken in with recorded music, it was time to plug in a guitar. Starting with the clean channel, it was immediately apparent why this speaker is so popular. The sound was big and round, and very clear. You can get an extremely loud, percussive sort of tone through it that still sounds musical at the edges, kind of 3D if you know what I mean. Beautiful clean tone, as expected of this type speaker, but with a ton of headroom. A pair of these in a 2x12 would be
killer. In this single 12, semi-open back Carol-Ann cab, the output is surprising. Louder, for instance, than a 2x12 greenback loaded cab on the same settings.
Cautionary note here: this speaker is so clear sounding, it’s easy to think you’re not playing as loudly as you are. I stopped playing at what I thought was a moderate volume and could hear the strings ringing on my guitars hanging on the wall around the room. That’s how percussive the sound can be!
On the two higher gain channels, the pattern of copious output and clarity continued. At a edgy overdrive level, that nice ability to hear the note through the breakup made me think of those players who are actually playing less distorted than you think, even when rocking: Joe Perry, Angus Young, Mike Campbell. I think the KT88 tubes in the amp also have something to do with that, as no matter how loud this amp gets it never sounds like it’s beyond its means to hold it together. This speaker is like that, so together they come off more like they’re dancing than fighting one another. Even to high gain settings, it sounds beautifully balanced. The low end isn’t particularly pronounced in this cab, but a pair in a closed back 2x12 should have some impressive bottom. Still, it’s not going to sound like a Vintage 30 or similar speaker in that way.
So, my impression after a limited time with it is that it is a great sounding speaker, a bit like Alnico Blue meets EV12L in sound. I like it quite a lot for the sounds I do, and it nails the mid gain tone I was looking for especially well. As expected, the clean tone is big, clear, and very pleasing to the ear. It’s loud, so you get a lot of output per speaker. If there was one phrase to describe it, I would say it’s a spacious and balanced sound. Nothing cramped about it, and more vintage “whole spectrum” sounding than the more mid-forward ceramic Celestion. Not what I’d think of first in a metal amp, but perfect for the guitarist looking for the classic Fender/Vox/Hiwatt/early-Marshall sounds at current amp wattages. It’s a great match for the Tucana 3, an amp that can push a 4x12 to a crushing level, so you can really match the personality of the music just by changing the speaker cab, which was the whole idea! It adds another option, and isn’t like every other speaker I already had here.