maverick amp discussion

hello everyone. i am new to this forum and looking to start a discussion about my 1971 Guild Maverick amplifier. let me first start by saying i am just a "recreational" guitar player, and basically know little to nothing about electronics. I can see by other posts on this forum, that puts me in the minority, so i hope i dont make myself sound too stupid. i have had the mav for about ten years and it has always sounded very good, although the reverb never worked, the tremolo did and i was very happy with it overall. when i got the amp it had 2 Groove tubes as the power tubes, and from the sound of it, the tubes were new at that time and other than that, it was all original. there were a couple screw holes in the tolex, but i dont know why. i honestly have not used it much at all for 10 years but like i said, when i did it was always bright, clean and loud. i go with a boss overdrive/distortion pedal with this amp as well for the overdrive/fuzz, and i find it genuinely perfect. with the single coil P-90, that amp and that pedal i am really hearing like anywhere from a dickey betts/derek trucks to jack white or neil young tone. even just clean the single coil and the mav sounds amazing. like a clean fender tele but alot louder. i also have a flange, digital delay, and whaa and the amp responds great to everything. it has always sounded amazing. i have a les paul special with 2 soap bar p-90s and a melody maker with 1 dog ear p-90. everything sounds excellent. so i noticed recently the wires were cracking so i brought it to a reputable source to have a gander. he told me his goal was to keep it original and get it working properly and safe. so first he replaced all filter, bypass, and 2 leaky coupling caps, burnt resistor, cleaned switches and controls, and replaced the orig 2-prong power cord with grounded 3-prong power cord. then he called me and asked me if i wanted to replace the original 2-spring reverb pan with a new 3-spring fender reverb pan. he said a new one would make it sound more like it did in 1971 than the old one so i told him to do it and save the old one. i picked up the amp, and it sounds great. the tremolo was always great but now i am blown away at the tremolo, it never was working like this before. and the function of the amp when you turn up the volume is much smoother than before. no "scratch" at all whatsoever. what a difference. the only thing is i need to order a new reverb tube since the one in there was original. so i have not heard the reverb yet. the old one still lights up and the amp sounds great with the verb turned all the way off but if i play with it at all it gives very loud feed back. so he told me order a new reverb tube and also told me to get JJ tubes as new power tubes to replace the Grooves when necessary. he also said the orig speakers sound "good enough" to him, but a new pair of Jensen re-issue speakers would be a great move and would have more fullness. he said the original speakers in there are more highs and less lows and i do agree with him, but looking for other feedback on that one. so in addition to that question (Jensens?) i am also wondering if i can unplug the speakers and plug this amp into a half stack or any other cabinet regardless of ohms. i do not know how all of that works. also wondering opinions on the new reverb tank as described above. like i said i still have the old one. the new one looks identical to me. and of course, i have to ask, how much is this amp worth, anyway? its in pretty decent shape. i cannot find much at all on the maverick, and just bits and pieces of other guild amps out there on the web. truth is i was considering parting with it and figured it needed this service first, but the tremolo is so incredible now, so im not sure now. was thinking of giving it to an acquaintance of mine as a gift, who is in a professional band that collects and uses vintage amps, but i dont know enough about the mav or other amps to know if they would even genuinely want it (or possibly already have one). i am very curious what they are worth. any info very appreciated and thank you in advance.

Eric

Hi Eric; welcome to LTG congratulations on your Mav! There's at least one other happy Mav owner here and I'm sure he'll post in. I have a few ideas that might help but not enough time right now ... will post again later today. Welcome!

so i noticed recently the wires were cracking so i brought it to a reputable source to have a gander. he told me his goal was to keep it original and get it working properly and safe. so first he replaced all filter, bypass, and 2 leaky coupling caps, burnt resistor, cleaned switches and controls, and replaced the orig 2-prong power cord with grounded 3-prong power cord. then he called me and asked me if i wanted to replace the original 2-spring reverb pan with a new 3-spring fender reverb pan. he said a new one would make it sound more like it did in 1971 than the old one so i told him to do it and save the old one.

Hiya! Maverick owner here too. Couple of links:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17721&hilit=maverick
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=17883&p=191491&hilit=maverick#p191491

Just as a comment, the Mav wants a reverb pan like an Ampeg, not a Fender. Fenders use a transformer to drive the pan, Guilds and Ampegs use a capacitor to drive the pan. Before these amps, Guild often had a dedicated power amp and speaker driving the reverb.

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i picked up the amp, and it sounds great. the tremolo was always great but now i am blown away at the tremolo, it never was working like this before. and the function of the amp when you turn up the volume is much smoother than before. no "scratch" at all whatsoever. what a difference. the only thing is i need to order a new reverb tube since the one in there was original. so i have not heard the reverb yet. the old one still lights up and the amp sounds great with the verb turned all the way off but if i play with it at all it gives very loud feed back. so he told me order a new reverb tube and also told me to get JJ tubes as new power tubes to replace the Grooves when necessary. he also said the orig speakers sound "good enough" to him, but a new pair of Jensen re-issue speakers would be a great move and would have more fullness. he said the original speakers in there are more highs and less lows and i do agree with him, but looking for other feedback on that one. so in addition to that question (Jensens?) i am also wondering if i can unplug the speakers and plug this amp into a half stack or any other cabinet regardless of ohms.

The reverb tube is a 6GW8. No longer in production, but you can still find them fairly easily. Sounds like the tube has gone microphonic, so a replacement would be in order. Don't bother with the reissuse Jensens, take your money and give it to Weber Speakers. Reissue Jensens don't sound like the 60's Jensens, nor did Guild amps come with Jensens for the most part. Normally, they came with CTS speakers, although they had JBLs in some models. matsickma would have a better idea. As far as impedance and speaker cabinets, my huse is torn appart at the moment, so my amps are in storage and I can't check on the speaker load that my Mav has. Check the back of the speakers, the ohm rating might be printed on the magnet. It should have no problem driving one 8 ohm speaker cabinet.

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i do not know how all of that works. also wondering opinions on the new reverb tank as described above. like i said i still have the old one. the new one looks identical to me. and of course, i have to ask, how much is this amp worth, anyway? its in pretty decent shape. i cannot find much at all on the maverick, and just bits and pieces of other guild amps out there on the web. truth is i was considering parting with it and figured it needed this service first, but the tremolo is so incredible now, so im not sure now. was thinking of giving it to an acquaintance of mine as a gift, who is in a professional band that collects and uses vintage amps, but i dont know enough about the mav or other amps to know if they would even genuinely want it (or possibly already have one). i am very curious what they are worth. any info very appreciated and thank you in advance.

I couldn't really tell you what it's worth. Part of this is because, like everyone else in the amp business, Guild got steamrolled by Fender. I happen to think that Guild amps are great in their own right, but you aren't going to get 59 Fender Deluxe prices for it. Figure 4-5 hundred? Another factor is the scarcity of Mavericks. They are great sounding amps, but were made right before Guild stopped making amps altogether. There just aren't that many of them floating around.

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thanks for the information. I will order the reverb tube tomorrow and take it from there. Just for clarification, it is the just the reverb pan that was replaced, not the transistor/capacitor. the new pan literally looks identical to the old one-the same rectangular metal housing with all the same pre drilled holes and everything. i was told this one has 3 springs and the old one just has two. so im not sure if he just "called it" a Fender or what, but id be curious to know how an Ampeg pan differs or for that matter could be more similar than what he gave me. like I said he gave me back the original pan and it looks to be in much better shape than he made it sound on the phone, but i couldnt say as far as 40 year old soldering or other small connections...the old pan looks just fine, but the springs are very loose. he only charged me $35 bucks for that part and gave me the option of just leaving it alone (plus I still have the old one) AND the reverb NEVER worked before so it seemed like a good call at the time. he was the one that told me from the start to keep it original, so when he suggested the swap it seemed like a good idea. if this is a Fender pan, will the reverb function properly (u said the mav "likes" Ampeg pans better)? or is Apmeg just preferred for sound of reverb from the mav? If the new pan is Fender does it need to be removed?

and thanks for posting those links. i had seen the one thread before, that is where I concluded you all work on your own equipment. the second link, when i clicked on it, said I was not authorized to view.

also thanks for the speaker info. right now i am assessing how much $ i want to devote at this time. part of the reason i asked about the value, and part of the reason i asked about plugging into a separate cabinet altogether. the orig speakers are "there" and im wondering if best to just leave them alone and if I get new ones just get a new cab altogether. (or use someone elses). I will check into Weber. Glad i mentioned that so thanks again.

Eric

mavuser said:

... I will order the reverb tube tomorrow and take it from there ... it is the just the reverb pan that was replaced, not the transistor/capacitor. the new pan literally looks identical to the old one .. so im not sure if he just "called it" a Fender or what, but id be curious to know how an Ampeg pan differs or for that matter could be more similar than what he gave me.

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Hi Eric; all reverb cans look alike but there are several things that make them different; orientation of in/out jacks, # and length of springs .... but the most important characteristic is the input / output impedance ... and you can't tell that just by looking. In the pic below, the little yellow thing in the blue circle is a transducer ... there's one at the input and one at the output .... they have to match the impedance of the circuit or else the can won't work correctly.



Fender, Gibson, and many others used a small transformer in between the reverb 'drive' tube and the can. Ampeg, Guild, and others used a capacitor to connect or couple the drive tube to the can. The output impedance of a Fender/Gibson transformer is 8 ohms. Any can to be used that is driven by a transformer has to have 8 ohm impedance. If the can is coupled by a capacitor, the input impedance of can (the transducer) is usually about 2.5K ohms.

This is not a matter of whether a 8 ohm input can or a 2.5K input can sounds better. One will not work in a circuit designed for the other. Before betting that it's the tube, you ought to call you tech and ask him either what the can's input impedance is or what kind of an amp was it made for.

wow, thank you. i will do just that.

also wanted to share this but it might be old news around here:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/guild.htm
http://www.ggjaguar.com/maverick.htm

says the mav is 50 watts peak @ 4 ohms. also the source that leads me to believe i have the CTS speakers. they have a bunch of #s on the back: 018013 on the top, and 137 616 on the bottom, of the rear magnet of each speaker.

is it recommended to replace the original speakers or leave them in there? i am looking at the Webber website and it looks like there are several 10 inch options, and they also build cabs so that is good to know, but im sure it would be a lot less money just to replace. of course a separate cab could be used elsewhere and is basically apples and oranges at that point. the real questions are #1 is it a sin to remove these original speakers, and #2-if I do, what can I expect in the difference in sound? the recent refurb in electronics is making me think just get new speakers and it could sound epicly amazing, but the original ones do "work fine" and they are original.

and I just emailed my tech Captnjuan's entire post, picture and all, so that should be interesting. should hear from him by tuesday. Thanks again!

Eric

137 is CTS's manufacturer code. If you have replacement in mind, save the old cts speakers in the box from the new ones, in case you sell the amp later. As the capn reminded me, the pan is driven by a transformer in this amp, so I mis-spoke.

captn's above post says ampeg and guild used capacitors, so are you saying the maverick is an exception to most guilds and has a transformer like a fender?

mavuser said:

captn's above post says ampeg and guild used capacitors, so are you saying the maverick is an exception to most guilds and has a transformer like a fender?

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Hi Eric; my apologies for contributing to the confusion. Guild's earliest reverb amp, the 98RT, used an Ampeg circuit that coupled the can with a capacitor. Guild later used the 12" speaker in their Thunder 1 RVTs and Thunderbirds to couple the reverb can. In the later 60s/early 70s they adopted the more conventional transformer-coupled design. The Maverick uses a transformer. Not saying your tech isn't right but unless the 6GW8 reverb drive/recovery tube has been over-stressed, the several resistors and capacitors that make up the reverb circuit are likely to fail sooner than the tube will.

If you'll send me a PM with your email addie, I'll send you the Maverick/Lead schematic. Sorry for the confusion. J

Captn, no need for an apology! this is all very helpful. only problem is i do get confused somewhat easily, and your last post above is throwing me for even more of a loop. (transformer vs. capacitor in the reverb circut of a mav? still not sure which one it is)

I ordered my new reverb driver tube, the 6GW8, from the Tube Depot. I am quite confident at this point the one in there now is original and has likely gone microphonic which is what i am hearing from several parties. as for the reverb pan, when i get the new tube i will assess it further. i am expecting the difference to be like night and day, right now it is completely inaudible/unusable. If there is still strange noises coming from it after i change the tube me/my tech will have to assess the pan and "the several resistors and capacitors that make up the reverb circuit" that "are likely to fail sooner than the tube will" so thanks again for that Captn.

also i checked out the Webber Speaker website, and this phase of my amp resoration is not happening so immediately. like i said previously im torn if i would remove the original speakers that still sound fine for what they are, or just go with an extention cab, which would more than double the price of the speakers, but for now im just leaving it alone.
but wow, those speakers sound amazing from the sound clip. like the mav on its best day that I have never seen in all its glory:

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/

I am not sure if i should go with 25 or 50 watts. i know stock for the mav is probably each speaker 25 watts but i do use pedals and its says 50 watts with pedals. it also has Ohm options. I think the mav is 4 ohms so two 8 ohms speakers equals 4 ohms-right? or should each speaker be 4 ohms? this is all just research/homework at this point. i am also just curious if the mav can be plugged into a 16 ohm 4x12 cab but just for education at this point, that is not a very serious inquiry. i know that many 50 watt heads are used with 4x12's as a "half stack" so i am just wondering how that would work w the mav.

also just thought id comment again on how amazing this tremolo effect is. i have never heard anything like it. not sure if all guild amps are like that or the mav is a standout in this category. it reminds me of the very sought after "Soldano surf box" of which only 100 were made and now sell for outrageous prices on ebay. The late Mikey Houser of Widespread Panic was a master of the surf box while using his volume pedal simultaneously.

Also I find all Guild amps to be very intriguing at this point. I guess most are from the 60s but they all have certain similarities and some look like the tremolo might be the same as the mav. a perfect example is in the thread right under this one on the index, someone said they bought a Superstar for $250 on CL and posted some great pictures. Well I very recently saw what looks like the same amp sell on ebay for $650, but it was the Thunderstar. they look identical but the Superstar has a cover on the back. The Superstar says "Superstar" on the front and the Thunderstar is blank there. the ebay add of the Thunderstar also had great pix and showed it stamped "Thunderstar" on the back (where mine is stamped "Maverick"). other than that those two amps look to be the same-identical- (Thunderstar and Superstar) and this intriuged me very much, because to my knowledge there are not very many of either that were ever made, so it is interesting at some point they changed the name, or so it seems. that one looks closest to the Mav but only has one speaker. I also saw a small solid state from Guild from the 1980s on ebay that looks like it has the same tremolo as well. I suppose they all must sound a little different but yet must sound a little similar (tremolo wise), but nothing can sound better than the Mav. that tremolo effect is crazy. I think this amp would be a lot more sought after if there were more of them made. it seems to be so rare that it is beyond a "high demad" item...more like so rare that people don't even know they exist, there fore the demand is not nearly as high as the tremolo effect and clean tone might otherwise deem it. it is a "twin" as well, as we all know. just my 2 cents.

Captn J i will sent you my email address. Thanks again!

Eric

mavuser said:

... your last post above is throwing me for even more of a loop. (transformer vs. capacitor in the reverb circut of a mav? still not sure which one it is)
The Full (Guild reverb) Monty down below; your Maverick is like the Thunderbird (V2/V3) and Thunderstar near the bottom; it's transformer, not capacitor, driven.

Speakers , I am not sure if i should go with 25 or 50 watts ... I think the mav is 4 ohms so two 8 ohms speakers equals 4 ohms-right?
Most combo amps with only one speaker - unless they have an impendance switch - are 8 ohm output. The Maverick schematic on its way to you shows an 8 ohm secondary. Two 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel is a 4 ohm load; 16 ohms if in series. Two 4 ohm speakers in series is an 8 ohm load. The different arrangements of speakers and impedances gets a little dizzying .. more here on the subject.

The 'half or double' rule governs; you can load any output transformer safely at either half or twice it's rated load ... for an 8 ohm transformer, no less than 4 ohms and not more than 16 ohms.

The Superstar / Thunderstar / Thunderbass
This link will help a little here. I'm sure they had a reason but I found the similarities in names awkward in remembering which was which ... but can't be helped now.

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Stuff below from (this LTG thread)

This is a study in the several methods Guild used in its '60s amps to generate the boingy boingy ... on-board reverb. Like Gibson, Fender, and Ampeg, Guild too produced a stand-along reverb unit; the RC20 which was modeled after the Gibson GA1RT; same tube lineup except with a solid state rectifier but this is a look at onboard reverb and specifically the several methods that were and are possible to couple the reverb tank to the electronic stage that is sending it a signal to be 'verbed.

There are two requirements; that the coupling device get rid of any DC so it doesn't appear at the input of the reverb can and matching the impedance of the reverb can with the internal impedance of the signal source; in the case of tube amps, the tube 1/2 that is 'sending' the signal. There are three ways to couple the tube section to the can; with a capacitor, transformer, or a speaker. In its '60s designs, Ampeg chose a capacitor ... shown in the red circle below and the reverb can in the blue box; two very successful Ampeg designs below (the dotted green circle on the left is the center third of a 6U10 tube - a three-section tube used almost exclusively by Ampeg):




The capacitor blocks the DC from the tube from appearing at the input of the reverb can and Ampeg specified reverb cans with about 2.5K input resistance which approximates the internal impedance of most signal tubes in common use (the resistance is set by the transducers that connect the can's wiring to the springs)

Fender and Gibson went a different route; they both use transformers to 'couple' the sending tube half to the reverb can. The transformer saves the cost of a capacitor because it blocks the DC and the secondary side of the transformer is 8 ohms .. the nominal input impedance of most reverb cans.





An early, if not the first, Guild amp with on-board reverb was the 98RT and it used an Ampeg-style capacitor to couple the drive tube to the reverb can:




In it's mid-60s T1 RVT and version 1 Thunderbird, Guild coupled the reverb can with a speaker whose impedance was already 8 ohms. It added a resistor to reduce signal strength and a frequency-selective capacitor:




At some point in the later 60s, the amp line was re-designed electronically and cosmetically. In the process, the speaker-coupled reverb was dropped in favor of the more conventional transformer-coupled design. Like a Silvertone 1484 and other Valco designs, Guild relied on a reverb 'tray' in the preamp chassis mounted spring-side up and not a can in the bottom of the cabinet (late 70s Fender design shown for comparison);




There you have it; Guild tried it Ampeg style, then they tried it Burger King's 'Have it your way' style, but ultimately reverted to the more conventional transformer-coupled design.

mavuser said:

... I am not sure if i should go with 25 or 50 watts. i know stock for the mav is probably each speaker 25 watts but i do use pedals and it says 50 watts with pedals. it also has Ohm options.

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Hi Eric; according to the tube data (see class A/B1 w/ cathode resistor ... what the Mav has) at 450V (your power supply runs at 460V), The 7591s will put out 28 watts ... the 25 watt speaker out of the question ... 50 watts and up is the way to go.

Not sure what the reference to 'it' is ... ohms options ???? Even if you have a pedal that increases signal strength ahead of the amp's input jack, the amp's output expressed as watts is a function of the power supply, the characteristics of the power tubes, and the output transformer and not something jerking the signal around ahead of the preamp.

Funny, i did not think it was possible for me to confuse the Captn. but there is a good explination, the link I posted does not bring you to the exact Webber web page i was looking at. "it" is the advertisement itslef-which states the speakers can be ordered in any requested Ohms.

If you go to: https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/ click on "vintage series" on the left, and click on 10F150T under 10" ceramic models you will see what i meant ("50 watts with pedals for a princeton reverb" written in red at the top, but you already answered my question). and u can hear the sound sample. it also confirms this model speaker replaces the CTS. I am really diggin that sound sample. super clean and strong. Is that a princeton reverb? almost sounds like a mav with that trem and the clean tone.

"Not sure what the reference to 'it' is ... ohms options ???? Even if you have a pedal that increases signal strength ahead of the amp's input jack, the amp's output expressed as watts is a function of the power supply, the characteristics of the power tubes, and the output transformer and not something jerking the signal around ahead of the preamp."

...I think they mean the speakers can be ordered in different wattage depending on the power of your amp (and according to them also if u use pedals) and the Ohm option is a different option, more like what I have been asking (ie: would i want 2 speakers to run at 8 ohms or 4 ohms if they were wired together...they could provide either one?)

but i do agree i have never heard of adding pedals requiring an upgrade in speakers, this recommendation appears to be specific to the Princeton Reverb amp but i really could not say.

Okay Eric; got it now, my apologies. Yes; Weber will make your speaker with whatever impedance and power handling you want. Those notes about using a 50 watt speaker apparently only apply if you're installing it in a Deluxe Reverb and using pedals. That note is new there ... the DR is twin 6V6 but they run at 415V and higher with either GZ34 or 5U4 rectifiers ... well above the old 'book' standards for the operating health of 6V6s.

Not really sure why they mentioned the pedals but a higher voltage DR with 6V6s will run closer to 20 watts and maybe too close to Weber's idea of what's healthy for its 25 watt speakers. But maybe more to the point, the note is specific for DRs; it doesn't say anything about Gibsons, Ampegs, and the 10-12 other makes that use 6V6s/25watt speakers. But your 7591s take the 25 watters off the table anyway. I wouldn't get too concerned with the 'pedals' remark and the suggestion that any amp with pedals needs an up-rated speaker.

i got the new reverb tube in there and i guess that must have been my problem. there is definitely a cool vintage reverb effect on the mav now, and it actually gives you a whole different tone entirely, almost like and overdrive compared to the clean, well not really but i dont know how to explain it. but more than anything it seems to increase the overall volume in a serious way. turning the reverb up maybe one-third of the dial would be the absolute max, and that is with the volume of the amp all the way down to were you can just hear it come in. also with the volume increase comes an increase in volume of the tremolo spinning inside the amp, and a little hiss. the reverb just makes the whole amp scream everything its got going on. what sounds pretty good is having the reverb turned up just enough to were you hear it come on and then turn the volume of the amp up as desired. that does not result in the increased background noise nearly as much. but even with the reverb turned up as high as you reasonably could (now you are playing some very loud guitar-and the volume of the amp is at minimum, or as loud as you can handle it) and then you could hear that tremolo spinning pretty loud and some hiss, but the guitar is just so loud at that point that it wouldn't even matter. and of course with the reverb just turned completely off, the mav just sounds fabulous. clean as a whistle...

the speakers i have in there , the original ones, are definitely fine for now. it sounds great. I do appreciate all the info, and in bouncing around Weber's site I found this speaker sampler of Weber, Jensen, and Eminence. granted none of those models on the sampler would go in the mav but I thought it was pretty cool. you can really hear the difference between each of them: http://www.gtraudio.com/products.html

overall i am very happy. it is fully functional and sounds great. a little scary if you push that reverb up and hear all that going on inside the amp, but I already have smoothed that out a bit with setting the dials right (volume/reverb) and havnt even used any pedals yet since the refurbishing, so it will take some time for me to play with it and get used to the "new" mav, as it is functioning and sounding noticeably different than before. thanks everybody for all of your input and i will check back in soon.

Eric

Glad you got her straightened out. Haven't fired mine up in too long!

8) 8)

Thanks for the speaker link!

yes, of course you are welcome! that is pretty cool, right?
and I am ecstatic i could actually contribute something to your forum!

I am actually thinking of ordering that whole CD, "cone tones" volume 1. says there are 40 different types of speakers all played under the same exact circumstances for a true comparisson. Again, they all look to be 12 inch models, and I am not buying new speakers for the mav right now, but that is super cool. I listened to those 3 samplers over and over. amazed at the difference between them. pretty cool that someone would take the time and do all that. also it says "volume one" so maybe if they sell a bunch of these there will be more to come? certainly anyone shopping for 12 inch speakers should consider the full cd: http://www.gtraudio.com/lineup.html

mavuser said:

... Again, they all look to be 12 inch models, and I am not buying new speakers for the mav right now, but that is super cool ... I listened to those 3 samplers over and over. amazed at the difference between them. pretty cool that someone would take the time and do all that.

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Many / most of the better-know makes are available in 10". I think Vintage Guitar does an annual speaker shoot-out ... get a panel of golden-ear people and do A/B tests on speakers. Not sure about this year but in years gone by, the perennial winner was the Celestion 'Blue', an English 15-watt alnico magnet (aluminum, nickle, cobalt, iron alloy) speaker. Celestion now make a 50-watt alnico 'Gold' speaker but I don't know if it's as well-regarded. All of those 3 links on the webpage are ceramic speakers (magnets made from powdered iron oxide and barium/strontium carbonate).

Jensen makes a 50-watt alnico although I don't know if there's much raving about it .... but lots of dudes who use twin cabinets commonly use an alnico along with a ceramic speaker.