Electro-Voice EVM-12L

This is for the EVM-12L Black Label. Heavy 16 pound magnet!. 18+ lbs overall. Cast metal frame. Plenty of mounting hole options with 8 holes. Rated for 300 watts! It comes with two connection options: the flat male blade style connector & a push button compression for bare wires. The speaker is vented also.

It's an EV! Of course it kicks butt. My amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe American version with stock GT tubes. It holds a single 12", 8 ohm Speaker & it's rated for 40 watts. The EVM12L is the replacement for a Celestion G12H Heritage Greenback. The Celestion is rated for 30 watts, but blew the coil mid-solo on the clean channel with the amp volume on 7. Granted, I was using a vintage Maxon D&S (insanely heavy distortion pedal). In all fairness the Greenback is a fantastic sounding speaker but just can't be over powered. Back to the EV. I am getting the same volume level on 5 that I was getting with the greenback on 7. This amp/ speaker combo will easily cover most all venues un-mic'd (it will flat out knock your head off if you crank it). The response is phenomenal. It handles every frequency level my amp has. The low are deep & clear all the way up.

This speaker appears to be bullet proof. I cannot forsee any troubles to come whatsoever. That's why it gets a 10 in this category.

Again, I will never have to contact them. The speaker is a well made powerhouse.

For myself... it will be the last speaker I have to buy. And, my first choice for any other amps I have to replace the speaker in. It's not all gravy though. It will cost you. I got one new on eBay for $210. That's cheap! All the others I priced were closer to 3 bills. My philosophy? Take the hit on the price. You'll never have to replace it. It has sound that can't be attained from other speakers especially when you get into the higher volumes. It's a rock players dream speaker!

(2) EVM 12L of various production years.
300 watts each

I own a Fender Super Twin Head that I have tried through different speaker orientations including a single 12L. If anybody is cringing at the mere mention of a Super Twin, this orientation is a completely different scenario. This amplifier sounds absolutely perfect with 2 EVM 12Ls. The cabinet is an old Crate 212 combo amp converted (what eles are Crate amps good for anyway?) with an open back. It sounds absolutely stunning.

The ONLY reason I am giving them a 9 is because they are so freaking heavy. At 40 lbs each combined with a 30 lb cabinet adds up to be 110lbs. I have grown to love the hand cart. Actually in process of building a 1x12 setup for carrying to practice.

I have been very luck to find a great tech and found that the EV website has good documentation. I have never had to call them, since the speakers are so old. One is from an old Carvin combo amp.

Awesome.
I own the 300 Watt versions. They are harder to track down. I have not tried the newest Black Label or reissues, but why buy new when there are a ton of used out there on eBay, Craigslist, and Pawn Shops for $100 or less. Saw one at a Pawn shop for a fraction of the price of the new reissues and just kicking myself for not waiting to buy it (busy day-had stuff to do).
No opinion on 200 watt version, although probably going to use one for my 1x12 setup since the 300 watt version so hard to come by.

They are HEAVY in weight.

Nothing special about a speaker, but it hase the "wings" like celestions to connect the cable, or you can put the cable without the connector directly into the speaker (red and black cables) by pressing the 2 buttons (red and black)

I don't give it a 10 because it's not so versatile, but compared to all the celestions (i tried all the 12" celestions) it has way more balls, a great midrange, lows are not overpowered (way less than the classic G12t-75), treble are a lot cutted back, so i have to keep the treble on the amp on 8, while with the celestion it was max on 6! (the amp is a Marshall JCM800 Zakk Wylde edition, so it is equipped with 6550), so it's nice that now i can finally use my treble pot! it stays tight at any level, it never gets muddy or mushy on the low.

I have also the MXR zakk OD and WHA, and a Gibson LP traditional equipped with EMG 81/85, and the Zakk sound it's here! if you don't want to spend too much for GT tubes, buy Sovtek 6550WE as powertubes (the GT 6550R are the sovtek but rebranded!), and in the preamp put a china 12ax7, tungsol 12ax7, and a mullard or simil mullard in phase inverter.

The clean sound is also very good, no spiky highs!

Here in Italy it's not so realiable, i had to order it from TubeTown in Germany, but in 3 days it was at my home.

It's a speaker that sounds totally different from anyone of the Celestions..maybe it sounds more similar to what Eminence is usually to make. I have the speaker in a Marshall 2x12 1936 and it sounds like it should be! It doesn't weight so much more than a Celestion V30 so no problem! the only thing is that you (maybe) need 4 screws a bit longer than the stock in the marshall cab used for the celestions, because the front frame of the speaker is wider than the celestion, so the screw will remain a bit inside the hole of the baffleboard.

Definitely made for pros - nice terminals, all heavy duty contruction, good documentation.

My EVM-12L came to be one of my all-time favorites in a roundabout way. I bought a cheap Mesa-Boogie 1x12 cabinet when I was in an original rock band because the knuckleheads in the band said I needed a bigger looking rig (genius, I know). So I thought, okay, I'll buy a matching extension cab for my combo and just not plug it in. That was the end of that. That band runs out of gas and I get more into recording sessions and arranging, and I try to get people to send me projects at my house to record guitar tracks here. I have a lot of different speakers, but this one vented Mesa-Boogie cab is sitting there and I literally don't even know what it sounds like. I try it and it sounds like it is made for metal, which is not my thing and I don't have anyone asking me for those sounds. So I think I'll try to take the back off the cab and let the speaker breathe. I make a 4" slat to replace the back panel as a mounting surface for the jack and WOW - all of a sudden this is the greatest cab ever. I look up the model number of the speaker and it turns out it is from a product line that has been used by a lot of my guitar idols. This cab now sounds like a million bucks for anything I do, using any amp, and I have a few. I think it was bottom heavy before I took the back off the ported cab, and now it is essentially a bone simple open cab, and the response is perfect for electric guitar amps. The highs are strong but still sweet and pleasing. The midrange is made in heaven for guitar. And I have no trouble getting the right amount of bottom from any amp. Sounds like I'm trying to sell mine, huh? It's just a perfect guitar speaker. It's weird - the response curve is anything but flat, but it is a chameleon for guitar tracks - it tracks with detail and authenticity for literally every style I do. This is the first 12" speaker that I am addicted to recording. I used to have the best luck with 10" speakers, but lately it is all EVM-12L, all the time. Great speaker. BTW mine is an old one - no idea the age or origin - not the "Black Label" reissue. Mine just has the name and info stamped on the back. It also says OEM, so apparently someone bought a big crate of these and put them in cheap amps at some point.

insanely overbuilt

Great speaker. IMO open cab is the way to go. If you like the Marshall heavy sound, then stick with Greenbacks and a closed cab. For Nu-Metal go with a ported cab and Vintage 30's. But for everything else, it's EVM-12L in an open cab. Not sure the construction of my cab, but it looks to be good quality plywood, 5/8" throughout.

This is a follow-up to the review I left a while back. Features...well, it's a speaker. I will say that it's extremely versitile from jazz to heavy metal and everything in b/w except... The 2 things you are NOT GOING TO GET from this speaker are: a vintage type of break-up...i.e. greenbacks & G12H30s and a certain voicing that leans heavily to one particular frequency range coloring your sound. Your amp is going to sound like your amp.

With what this speaker has to offer, it offers in spades, and one of the reasons I love it in most amps, is the same reason that, I don't like it in some. This speaker doesn't color your sound. It's warm, smooth w/ big bass and crisp highs, but you won't squeeze an ounce of cone distortion out of it unless you are just trying to go deaf or piss off and/or neighbors; these things are really, really loud, which may also make them seem a little less responsive at lower volume...you gotta crank em a bit. It's going to be harder to sueeze the most out of a tube amp at a reasonable volume so look into a good attenuator if you live in close proximity to others; you will notice the jump in volume. This speaker offers you a huge tonal pallet to choose from; provided your amp has a flexible enough e.q., you can most likely dial in the sound you're looking for. Absolutely crushing for hard-rock and metal, but just as well suited for smooth jazz runs...a very versitle speaker...unless you want to color your sound. I've got a Mojave Peacemaker that sounds better with my Hellatone 30s, unless I'm running the gain maxed out w/ an OD/Dist pedal in front and going for a more modded Marshall sound. Then the low-end precussiveness and tight note-deffinition of the EVM start to come into play...i.e. George Lynch, Zakk Wylde. For most classic rock, I like a good Brittish vintage type, but when I've got the gain cranked and my Tube factor in front, this is the cab I use.

I got em used last year and they're still running strong; did I mention they're extremely loud? My oversized 2x12 will go head to head for sheer volume w/ my 4x12 w/ G12H30s easily.

No idea

This isn't a speaker for the Plexi/"Brown Sound" guys, but don't discoun't em b/c of "brand loyalty". SRV used them a lot & Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamasa and Pete Anderson still use them quite a bit, and they've got awesome tone. I would recommend Weber Beam Blockers w/ these b/c of the nature of high power speakers, the highs can be a bit directional and piercing. These soften them up nicely and really help them "bloom" in a room...a more effective alternative to putting tape on the back of your grillcloth...i.e. SRV.

I'm not really sure of all the specs. They're freakin heavy and handle 200 watts... I think. I use em in my Voodoo modded 6505 combo because the stock sheffields were pretty muddy sounding.

After installing these speakers I noticed a definite increase in volume and bass response. However, ther were a lot more highs as well, and they didn't sound harsh or unatural. The sheffields seemed to be predominantly mids and low mids, wheras these sound great in every frequency range. The highs are much crisper out of my amp now... not bitting but just right. I'm also able to get a much warmer sound without it getting muddy and loosing definition at higher gain levels.

I'm not sure yet; these are used and seem to be doing ok. I'm not sure how much use they had on them when I bought em. I'll definitely get them reconed... or if Electro Voice decides to bring the price of the Black Label back into the stratosphere, I might get a couple of those.

N/A

A huge improvement over my stock speakers; these speakers have drastically improved my high gain sounds, crunch tones and my clean sounds. I highly recommend them. The only drawback is that they're a bit pricey and the new Black Label EVM cost a small fortune.

Made in 1980s. Features include Cast frame/basket, 3 inch voice coil and 100 ounce magnet. One channel, no headphone jack, damn! Handles 200 watts for sure.

Very smooth and crystal clear with more punch than a Howitzer on steroids. Can easily handle any type of music you throw at it. Late breakup in my rig. I have two now, a third on the way, and #4 whenever I get the ca$h. The only speaker I have ever heard that sounds better than this is the JBL DF120 orange frames.

You can pump 100 watts of tube tone through it and it will just laugh at you and beg for more power.

Never dealt with them. But I have had two of them reconed.

Been playing since I jammed with Carlos, Eric, and Jimmy. If it were lost or stolen out of my amp, I would buy a new one, I guess. Are they that valuable? I have many Celestion (currently about 8 or 9, a few Jensen, one or two Eminence (blue coat, red coat, Legends), a few Tone Tubbies, and the EVM-12Ls. None of them compare to the EV.