If you are reading this blog, you have an affinity for speakers and tone that surpasses that of the casual guitarist.  You have no doubt encountered the term "doping" when researching speakers.  Some believe that doping creates monster speakers the way it creates monster Baseball all-stars.  This is one of those oft misunderstood areas which can approach smoke & mirror status.  So, let’s carefully enter the murky waters of speaker doping.  Put on your hip waders and READ ON!

Hello fellow lovers of superior sounds!  My blog today has left the tracks and is headed down a dirt road ... so LOOK OUT!  Last month I had the pleasure of doing a show with one of the finest singers I’ve ever worked with, Melinda Doolittle.  Dear God in heaven, how that girl can sing; I have goose bumps as I write this ... just remembering her performance on that evening in December.  For those of you unfamiliar with Doolittle, she’s the long-time American Idol background singer who came out of the background in 2009 to be a contestant; she almost won the thing, and she DID score a record deal.  Well, this morning she was on one of the network news shows, and she said something that I feel is well worthy of repeating.  READ ON to find out what she said!

A few weeks back, I received an email from a WGS fan asking if I could do a video on just how the WGS speakers are made.  First the bad news: The short answer is no.  WGS uses a few very distinctive and proprietary techniques, and as much as they would love to go bragging to the world, some competitors might just seize the opportunity to do a little unauthorized "borrowing".  Now the good news: There IS a bunch I can disclose!  So, read on!

Man, oh man was 2011 a GREAT year!  Now that might not be true for everyone everywhere, but it sure is true at WGS.  Yea, the national housing market spent the year in shambles, our federal government went another Trillion dollars in debt, and National unemployment was still stuck in the 10% range.  And sure it’s true that the EU is reeling from a spending spree on the part of some of its member states that might just bring the whole house of cards down.  Too bad the world’s leaders don’t follow WGS’s example. You see, our 2011 headline reads: WGS Chooses Not To Participate In The Recession ... READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Let’s run the WGS stats for 2011:

• Number of employees laid-off: Zero.
• Sales figures: The best yet.
• New models introduced:  Four.
• Company moral: positive and contagious.

Spin the facts any way ya want, 2011 was a good year in WGS land.   In fact, this past "Cyber Monday" saw more sales than any other single day in WGS history.  Don’t worry, though, WGS will never be one of those companies that gets wildly successful, goes public, and then fires everybody and moves production to whatever country has the cheapest labor and/or loosest environmental laws.  No way!  Success means one thing to WGS:  it ain’t broke, so it don’t need any fixing.

Next week I hope to give you a little insight into just how the magic happens at the WGS factory.  For now I’ll leave you with this wonderful pic of budding young tone-masters in the making.  Ain't they cute at that age?

email vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

Howdy folks!  It's Christmas eve; I've been under the weather and wrapped up in bed for the last few days ... but that's not been an entirely bad thing; it's given me some time to reflect on just how blessed I am.  First, when I get sick, it sure is nice to have a warm house with indoor plumbing and a comfy bed; and my wife is an absolute angel,  bringing me chicken-noodle soup and the like.  And of course there are the other wonderful members of my immediate family, my two precious redheads, my daughters Ashley and Callie; though separated by nearly two decades, those girls are like two peas in a pod.  Their laughter is like good medicine.  In the middle of what, I am told, are the toughest economic times since the great depression we managed to buy our dream house ... and even sell our old house!  My career has also never been better.  I love my current adjunct professorship, my current band lineup, my new studio, my church praise leader gig, my DJ biz, and most of all, I love being a part of the WGS family.  I truly wish each and every WGS customer could come and meet the folks who design, build, test, and ship the speakers ... for they are a truly special group of good-hearted and dedicated folks!  I recently received an email asking if I could post a video showing how the WGS speakers are made.  I'm not quite sure I can do that, as there are a few unique and proprietary methods employed.  However, I think I can do a very nice little behind-the-scenes piece on what exactly goes into making a WGS speaker ... oh, and don't worry ... this time, when you get a glimpse of the man behind the curtain ... you will NOT be disappointed!

Until then, on this Christmas Eve I wish a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  Be blessed.

Man oh man does the ET65 mate well with other speakers!  There have been a few great conversations on the Q&A forum concerning the ET-65.  So good, in fact, that I believe they warrant a quick mention and review here!  I won’t reprint the entire threads, just a summary and a link.  Let’s get started with a brand-new conversation concerning a pairing of 2 ET-65’s and 2 Reapers in a 4x12 cab. Here is the quote that sums it up: “I am blown away at how DELICATE and SENSITIVE the combination is!  Even at high gain settings, notes and chords are still articulate, and the overall tone is still touch sensitive.  Even the tone controls feel like they have more range.” I could stop there, but hey, that just wouldn’t be at all like me!

Then there is this post concerning a Marshall JCM800 combo: “So I ordered a pair of the ET65 speakers, received them yesterday and installed them today.  After a couple hours of playing...all I can say is that they are EXACTLY what I was looking for!  For my application, the ET65's gave me a more usable tighter/deeper-sounding bass, they got rid of the upper-midrange hump and they smoothed out the highs.  There's still a nice sparkle too!  Now my 50 watt open-back combo sounds like a scaled-down version of my 100 watt Superlead thru a 4x12 closed-back bottom.  I am extremely happy!”  *** We LOVE to make people happy :)

The other little feat of magic the ET 65 can perform is in taming an overly bright and/or sterile amp.  From this post about an overly-bright MusicMan 2x12 combo a user states (concerning the ET65’s) “I just installed them this past Saturday and I am very happy with them.  They have a deep, full and tight bottom end, a wide/not over-bearing midrange and a smooth high end with a nice sparkle.  They sound great with clean, overdriven and high-gain settings and they're not even completely broken in yet!”  ***Yep, that’s the ET65, baby!

Okay, I could go on and on … there is more on the forum (just search ET-65), but I’ll stop with this one concerning a 2x12 cab mated to an Egnater Tweaker: “I just built a 2x12 cabinet (vertical like the Hard Truckers JG-1) and I put a ET65 on top of a Vet 30 in it. I have to say, I was absolutely blown away by how good it sounded with my Egnater Tweaker in every mode. It is a phenomenal sounding pair of speakers and I couldn't be happier.”

See, there’s that word (happy) again!  How cool!  I think WGS’s new slogan should be "We make the world a Happier Place".  It’s Christmas time, how appropriate!

See ya nex week.  Oh, and if I don’t see ya again before Christmas:  Merry Christmas to you and to yours, be blessed, -Vaughn-

email vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

Smooth or Ribbed, Where Will You Find Pleasure?

Hi-diddly-ho fair neighbors!  I’ll just bet that you all have noticed that WGS is now offering the 10" & 12" American speakers with "smooth cones".  Here is a pic of a young naked smooooth WGS gal wearing nothing but her pretty lil ohm rating.

Pretty, no?  So, anyway, if you have been wondering if a smooth-cone may be the right gal for you and your amp, READ ON!

Yesterday I walked into the luxurious WGS command center and found Daniel, resident guitar maharishi, drawing what can only be described as one seriously kick-ass Unicorn on a WGS shipping box.  

 As it turns out, a patron had included a request for a Unicorn to be added to their speaker order.  For any other speaker company this would be an impossible request, but not for WGS!  This proves what we all already know; WGS isn’t your typical company.  Some folks may wonder why WGS speakers consistently sound better than the other brands; well, here is your answer: WGS in no way, shape, or form resembles any other company currently manufacturing speakers.  If ya don’t believe me, just request a Unicorn from one of those other companies ...

For now my friends, I wish you peace, love and Unicorns.

email vaughn     About Vaughn Skow

Last year I sold my early 1965 (pre CBS) Deluxe Reverb.  My amp had a factory Jensen C12Q in it, and it totally kicked butt on the vintage DR’s with the factory Oxfords.  On several occasions I’ve wished I had kept that amp long enough to compare it’s Jensen to the WGS G12C.  I actually have both a vintage P12Q (Alnico) and C12Q, but both are blown, and alas, their inch and a quarter voice coils have rendered them tough to recone.  That’s a problem with the old Jensen’s, they were never very high-wattage speakers to begin with, and after 30-50 years of service, many have thrown up the white flag and surrendered.  But last week a buddy brought me a pair of fully functioning 1965 Jensen C12Q’s.  At last the moment had come to finally do the direct A/B comparison between my old flame and the new girl.  So, for the results of the Jensen C12Q vs. WGS G12C, READ ON!

There is an old saying that goes like this: "youth is wasted on the young".  And seriously, it would be awesome to have that uber-responsive 18 year old body that could be used and abused and bounce right back ... matched to a seasoned brain capable of rational thought and not subject to whims of fancy.  Or would it?  We’re going to take a trip back to my world, as it existed about 30 or so years ago, when I was a bright-faced teen just starting to chart my musical path.  Please, join me for this little trip...