Eminence The Karnivore-8

I replaced Celestion UK V30's in an Engl cab with this. I play high gain and clean. As with all speakers, there are three different contexts in which you'll hear them, so I'll judge those individually:

TL;DR: compared to the V30's, nothing's harsh, and nothing's weak. It is just a more mix-ready, modern sounding speaker than the V30. Expect to lose some "character" and gain something that just sounds more controlled, contemporary and ready in context of other musicians; in the room and in the mix. You will need to boost your volume a bit as it doesn't have a narrow band that cuts through more than the rest, which makes the V30's perceivable as 'louder'.

1) In the room, solo. Here the difference with the V30 is most obvious; the V30's have a classic and instantly familiar character (imperfection) to them; that mid spike and unmistakable 5kHz sound. The Karnivore sounds much more balanced (modern), with more bass authority, less prominent mids and clearer, even highs. I miss the V30 character on one hand, but on the other hand I don't have to fight the speaker and get a more even and open, modern sound that is just 'ready'. This opens up a whole range of mid and treble settings on the amp that otherwise would just sound off and unbalanced when doing that on the V30's.

2) In the room, in a band. This is where it starts to shine instead of just being different. V30's have some boosted frequences that always 'cut through', which means you'll hear it at lower volumes than the Karnivore, so increase volume a bit. When you do, you'll hear much more frequency range cut through, low, mid and high, as opposed to the V30 where it's just the honk and treble that made it through. That translates into more body and fidelity of any part of the guitar sound that comes through; low chugs, chords, leads, things are just more even and usable. Kind of like removing a mild low-fi filter if you have any experience with that.



3) In a mix, miced. This is where it shines even more. It's clearly made to be a much more solid recording starting point, and it is. Compared to the V30's, nothing's harsh, and nothing is weak. It's more even, big, and wants to crush. Even in Engl's oversized 1x12 vertical slant, you'll ask yourself why you'd ever need a 4x12.

So the sound of the speaker is good on its own. It is neither better or worse than a good British v30 in my opinion but just different. Its EQ lowers that mid spike the v30 speaker is famous for and concentrates more on the low mids. It also adds more presence than a v30 does.

I bought a couple to try in my Mesa and Engl cabs. It is better suited for the Engl cabs as those are front-loaded and much more mid-forward. It smooths out the mids and adds the low mids to a pretty sterile sound from the Engl cabinets and makes it sound much more full and open instead of boxy. In the Engl cabs, another note, it can actually be heard when there are other v30s: the cabinet’s construction allows you to hear both the speakers.

This cannot be said about the Mesa cabinets. They are designed differently. Thinner walls, more space for the resonance to occur and bury the mids a bit… The Mesa cabs were designed for the v30 speakers mainly, and mainly for the British version according to Mesa boogie. Adding the Karnivore to the v30s there makes it sound like you have one or more (the number of the Karnivores you put) less speakers in your cabinet: you simply can’t hear the karnivores as they are quieter than the v30s and don’t have the same EQ around the mids. V30 speakers continue to dominate the sound produced by the cabinet and I can’t even hear the Karnivore even when I am standing up close to it, directly. I can hear it with a mic, I can capture the sound but I can’t hear it. In other words, it makes little sense to try mixing the Karnivore with the v30s in the Mesa cabinets: you will still only hear v30s and the Karnivore will be SO much in the background you will just never understand they are even there. It was so much of a difference, that at first I thought the speaker was dead but it couldn’t have been as the impedance was correct and I rechecked the connection - it was all good and in-phase with all the rest. So if you like the Karnivore speakers and like the sound of the Mesa cabs and want to try, replace all the speakers with the karnivores instead; you can’t mix them together there. You will hear more if you have both the top-row of karnivores and the bottom row of the v30s, but it will sound a little odd compared to the X pattern - you will naturally find that crossing line between them, so you will be constantly getting annoyed by their difference and that you hear it so much.

I wish the speaker was as effective (sensitive) as the v30 speaker, so that mixing them together would actually result in the listener hearing them and not just the v30 which is always louder. The lowering of the output in the mids and lower sensitivity of the karnivores makes it impossible to hear it in the Mesa cabs, while they are still audible in the Engl (front-loaded with thick walls) cabs.

Ich habe mir eine 4×12-Gitarrenbox gebaut, mit vier separaten Anschlüssen für vier unterschiedliche Lautsprecher: Celestion Seventy 80, Celestion G12M Creamback, Celestion Vintage 30 und Eminence The Karnivore.
Anfangs war ich ehrlich gesagt skeptisch, ob der Karnivore dem Hype wirklich gerecht wird. Die Celestions klingen – bei allen vorhandenen Unterschieden – tonal doch näher beieinander, als man oft erwartet. Nicht schlecht, nicht falsch verstanden, aber eben keine Revolution.
Der Karnivore spielt in dieser Runde klar eine andere Rolle. Extrem druckvoll, sehr fett, dabei weder leblos noch matschig. Massiver Bassbereich, ohne dass Präsenz oder Durchsetzungskraft verloren gehen. Genau das, was viele Speaker versprechen, aber nur wenige tatsächlich liefern.
Ist er mein „bester“ Lautsprecher? Nein – weil es den einen besten Lautsprecher nicht gibt. Es hängt immer vom musikalischen Kontext ab. Aber sobald eine Metalband mit tief gestimmten Gitarren bei mir im Studio steht, ist nun völlig klar, welcher Lautsprecher zum Einsatz kommt. (Kleine Werbung: -> PBT records 😉)