Moving speakers around among many different amplifier combos, styles, and sizes of cabinets is somewhat analogous to soldering the same set of pickups into different guitars. The resulting dimension of sound and the way the air is pushed will likely lead you to conclude that in both scenarios, each variable represents itself. Said another way, you'll hear both the characteristics of the speaker and the cabinet just like you'll hear the guitar come through, no matter the pickup and vice versa. The ratios of each's influence can vary of course, but this reality is reinforced for us time and time again, which makes for incredibly fun exploration and experimentation.
The Fane Crescendo AE is, for us, a big, bold, beautifully round-sounding speaker that will crunch and bite if asked to. The EQ curve as discussed with Tim and Foo is a more shallow curve with an extremely musical midrange compared to, say, the wider full spectrum of the EV12L or another of our perennial favorites here, the Celestion G12H 70th Anniversary. We absolutely love the speaker in a brighter amp, like our 20-watt Tungsten Crema Wheat, Adam Palow's take on a Tweed Deluxe. That circuit can get wooly and lose some low E and A definition in a beautiful, saggy way when dimed, but the Crescendo rocked in that amp, and we didn't have to roll the tone below noon to take the edge off, as we often do with other speakers in that spot. We also put the Fane in our benchmark oversized pine 1x12 Tone Tubby as a second cab to the Milkman JG40 combo with a JBL K120, and it was a nice marriage in complementing the EQ spectrum. In and out and back into the Benson it has gone, and each time we marvel in how well this speaker does clean, pushed clean, and driven saggy Plexi tones. Amazingly well-rounded and unlike some American-style Alnicos that we've only found to work well in black-panel circuits, the Fane can play a chameleon-like role. The speaker is beautifully made, with its powder-coated cast-aluminum gray chassis/basket and aluminum dust cap. The 2" voice-coil former is made just like they did back in the day, with glass fiber wound with copper, which was a Fane innovation allowing for greater power handling, reliability and heat management.
If you're looking for a relatively high-efficiency speaker that will elegantly handle the full gamut of clean and distortion, possibly as another flavor for your 1x12 combo or cabinet, the Crescendo AE is a winner. It's not light, but as Uncle Larry says, "Big tone is heavy and hard to carry. Always will be!" TQ—Scott Ulrichs
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