trinityamps.com

Hi all - I read through the previous thread about various speaker recommendations (specific models), and that was all useful info.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on speaker SIZE. I know this amp is sold as a 10" combo. However the cabinet is (or at least seems to be) large enough to accommodate a 12" speaker. In my case, I plan to build my own custom cabinet, so it's not an issue.

But are there any strong rationales for sticking with a 10"? The only things I could think of are a) smaller is quieter, and quieter may be preferred? or b) for an amp that only puts out 6-12 Watts it may be more efficient to drive a smaller speaker? or c) cost of 10" is lower, so there's a savings there.

Do I have the right thinking here, or are there any other considerations, or does none of this matter and it's just "whatever you want to do?"

Thanks for your opinions!
Bob

IMHO it'll be generally quieter (10" speakers tend to be less efficient than 12"), lighter to carry, and probably have less bass. That said, I've got a TAD clone of a blackface Princeton Reverb I built as a head and I love the sound of it driving a 4x12 closed back cab, so it really is personal preference.

One thing to consider, at least with the cabinet supplied by Trinity, is that with a 12" speaker you may have some clearance issues with the speaker magnet interfering with the tubes and switches. I have a 12" speaker in mine, but there are certain ones I simply could not install due to the magnet diameter. This is because the 10" speaker is normally mounted off center of the baffle, but the 12" ends up being centered more towards the middle of the cabinet where the speaker jack and output tube are located on the chassis.

There are a lot of 10" and 12" speakers with nearly identical efficiencies, so I think the decision may come down more to how tight or focused you want the bass response. Perhaps see what you can find on the web about a Fender Princeton with either a 10" or 12" speaker. The stock Princeton cabinet is fairly close dimensionally to the Tramp, so it may be the best comparison (granted...different circuits, but the same general comparisons).

The Tramp combo cab dimensions may have changed from when I got mine back around 2012(?) or so, so some of what I mentioned above may not be entirely accurate.

Good luck with the speaker search...the Tramp is an awesome amp that sounds good with basically every tube and speaker I've thrown at it.

I agree with you 100% on the speaker size vis-a-vis cabinet size. I'm building a custom cabinet, so I'm choosing its specs based on the actual speaker sizes of potential 12" models I might select. I've done a couple of sketches of the proposed cabinet, with speaker installed to see how the speaker does (or does not) clear the chassis and transformers.

The basic dimensions I am going with are 18.5"w x 16"h x 9.5-10.5"d (tapering from bottom to top for slight tilt). Using 0.75" fir for body, 0.5" plywood for the baffle (or possibly 3/8").

I attached the diagrams below for others going through same exercise. In this side view, you can see that 2 typical 12" models will fit (small Alnico, larger Ceramic). The power transformer is far enough to the side of the chassis that it is nowhere near the speaker magnet. And even the largest tube (EL34) will be farther back in the cabinet than the back of the speaker.

That said, some models of speaker will *not* work. For instance, Trinity recommends the 10" Blackbird 100 for this amp, which sounds like a fantastic speaker. If you try to go with the 12" version of the Blackbird 100, it has a gigantic bell on the back, and it won't fit in this cabinet. Could accommodate it by either making the cabinet 1 inch deeper (see last diagram).

Jensen P12R:


WGS Reaper:


Front View of Cabinet w/Reaper:


Blackbird (larger cabinet):

I've never played through a Blackbird, but why in the world would a 100W speaker be recommended for an amp that can push only around 15W max???

Not sure if the wattage rating on the Blackbird influences the size of the magnet/bell cover, but if it does, I'd recommend using a 25 or 50W version of speaker if it allows you to squeeze it into the cab.