Hi All,
I'm new to this forum so let me start by saying hello. I did some exhaustive research as my entire rig has changed recently. I sold my archaic Mesa Boogie 2:95/Rocktron Piranha/Carvin Quad-X rack setup and replaced it all with a single head. I got a Jet City 100HDM on a steal and love the Soldano sound that it nails (i.e. touch responsive and extremely dynamic). I play a lot of everything. Like Jazz to Extreme Metal everything. I have a 7 and an 8 string as my primary guitars (7 string is active, 8 string is passive) and needed a speaker combo for my 4x12 that would handle the low end that my ERG's produce but maintain the clarity and responsiveness demanded by low distortion tones. My 4x12 has been converted from closed to half closed/half open like the late 80's Mesa cabs so this was a huge consideration on my part to find what would work best. I settled upon the ET-90 and HM75 in a 2x2 config due to not being able to decide which one I liked better. Seriously, I just couldn't make a decision so I figured make the ET-65 an ET-90 for more headroom and order the HM75's to round it out. I had read a lot of the forum posts on optimum speaker combos and found a wealth of information that made me feel comfortable with my purchase. The speakers will be in later this week and I will have before/after pics and videos so that others in my position might gain what they need to make their decision. I'm extremely excited. I even called to see what WGS' opinion was on what speakers should go in the bottom/closed port vs. the top/open portion and Wayne was cool enough to suggest having the ET-90's closed and the HM75's open since the ET's are punchy and have a heavy magnet that would benefit from being sealed. I can't say enough about how pleased I am with my decision to go WGS so far. The customer support, community, and company mindset is something I wish I could find with other areas of my gear. Perhaps if this was the case it wouldn't be such a chore when it came time to alter some section of my setup. Thanks to Wayne and everyone who takes the time to post information. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
Chris
Cool ... looking forward to pics & video!!!
Welcome to the WGS family :-)
Thanks Vaughn. I have the speakers in the cab with about 5 hours play time on them. I finally finished isolating the bottom ET-90's and making the top HM75's open back and it made a massive difference in how the cab articulates. I must say that even for an 8 string guitar the Soldano designed Jet City 100HDM is surprisingly clear when chording even on overdrive (well with responsible gain levels of course). I am blown away at how well both speakers work together. When not on the overdrive channel the speakers walk between convincing jazz and blues tones with ease. I'll put the videos up soon but I want to finish breaking the speakers in so that I can do them justice. I know some tone snobs would probably have gone for a pair of speakers with a stark tonal difference but in all honesty this combo works great for clean jazz and blues tones with maybe a bit more bass than one might prefer. The metal/hard-rock tones are just all over this combo. The bass is punchy and responsive, even before I isolated the bottom ET-90's, and the mid/treble frequencies get plenty of love from the HM75's. I have some pictures of the isolation process that I'll try to move over from my phone a bit later today as I have some work to do right now. Thanks for the response. My overall current analysis. ET90/HM75 combo: Excellent for ERG players that want articulation without sacrificing the "impact" that comes from playing lower frequencies on a guitar. Works great with everything from Clapton to Cannibal Corpse. Keep in mind about 45 minutes of my playtime on these was through my jam partners solid state Crate GTX3500H so they handle tube as well as solid state expertly despite the very noticable design differences in our two amps (Crate = Solid State Brutality, JCA = Classic Tube OD).