MSP: Vintage Alnico Speakers

MSP speakers are often found in Australian made amplifiers, such as Goldentone, Moody, Vase etc.  It seems at the time, local manufacturers had a choice of either MSP or Rola / Plessey Rola speakers.  This is likely because of the high import tariffs and shipping costs at the time.

MSP were made in Sydney, Australia by Manufacturers Special Products.  MSP was a component manufacturer for AWA, which was a huge electronics and broadcasting company up until the mid-seventies in Australia.  MSP made a wide range of products, apparently so they could sell to competitors without using the AWA brand (side note: AWA also made some great germanium transistors). 

I'm jotting down any information I can find, as there doesn't seem to be much info out there, and these are great speakers; they compare very well to their more expensive vintage counterparts from the U.S.A. or U.K.

I recently picked up one of these speakers in an old projector speaker cabinet and there was also one in a Goldentone amplifier I used to have.  They're sometimes referred to as Hi-Flux speakers.

work in progress, more information to be added as I track it down - I'm not looking to document every speaker they made, just ones used in vintage guitar amplifiers.     

M.S.P.  VINTAGE ALNICO GUITAR AMP SPEAKERS

12PQ - 21567

12" Alnico speaker,  20 / 25w RMS, 16 Ohms.   Made between 1954 - 1966

12PQCB-21188

Appears to be a variant of the regular PQ - I have no idea what the function of the little attachments to the speaker cone are supposed to do.  They appear to be stock, as I have seen one other photo showing this on the cone.

12PS - 21011

12" Alnico speaker, 16 Ohms - this was in a 4 or 5 watt amp, so I'm guessing it's also a low wattage speaker.  Unlikely a high wattage speaker would be wasted in a little amp like this.

12UA

12" Alnico speaker, 15w RMS

MSP SPEAKER DATE CODES

Look for a two letters and a number ink stamped on the speaker.   In some cases the first character is also a number - there's some question about what the first character is, but it's not that important, as really most people just want to know what year the speaker was made.

AB1 as an example,   A - not sure, B month, 1 year

A = January

B = February

C = March

D = April

E = May

F = June

G = July

H = August

I = September

J = October

K = November

L or O= December

DL9 = December 1959

Information on date codes care of P Fields, Aussie Guitar Gear Heads forum