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Hello all, I'm going to post this question here as well as on The Gear Page forum. However, you guys seem pretty knowledgable about Raezer's Edge cabs. I've been borrowing and have a chance to buy a friend's very early Stealth 10 cab, I believe it was built by Rich Raezer himself. There are two brass plates on the back. One says 0011-00. The other plate is very cool. It says:
Stelth-10 (Yup, "stealth" is spelled incorrect, which I love!)
8 ohms-150w
by Rich Raezer
610-328-5466
It has a single 1/4" jack. No Neutrik Speakon jack.
I opened it up. It's loaded with an Eminence Beta 10. The old green label model. It has some very "experimental" padding and baffling (carpet, carpet padding, insulation).
What can you guys tell me about the history of the Stealth 10?:
1. Am I reading the date plate correct? Does 0011-00 mean it was the 11th cabinet made in 2000?
2. Do you know when Rich R. started making the Stealth?
3. I know the new ones have undergone significant design changes. What about from Rich R. to Jeff Hale; was there much design change when Jeff took over the company after Rich's death?
4. Has anyone seen the word stealth spelled incorrectly anywhere else?
I've played it with my Quilter 101, Princeton BFRI, and with a borrowed A.I. Clarus. Incredible sounding cab!
Any info on these early cabs would be helpful. Thanks all.
Skip B.
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07-03-2019 10:44 PM
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Skip, i also think the stealth 10 cabinets to be "incredible sounding".
I bought a couple of them from Jeff Hale in late 2010. At that time he wrote to me that he had been operating the company for 5 years.
I still have a review of a stealth 10er done by David C. Stephens for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine dating 2006. Hope this helps a little.
pm me if you want the review in pdf format.
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Thank you very much. This article/review was very helpful. I would love to know when Rich R. made the first Stealth 10 so I could better gauge where this one is in the evolution of the cab. Thanks again!
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I have two of these cabs that I think I purchased in 2000...or thereabouts. One is #124 and "Stealth" is spelled correctly
I haven't looked at the other yet. Both are in fine working order and were made by the late Rich Reazer.
David Stephens used to live in Dallas and reviewed my cabs along with some loaners shortly afterwards in the early 2000's - JJG mag?? (alas, too long ago to remember).
I like them both a lot.
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Rich started making his cabinets for sale in 2000. Your Stealth 10 is the 11th cabinet he made (of all styles). The first number is the year and the second number is the sequential number of cabinets built from the beginning of the enterprise.
When his son killed him, he and his son had made about 1200 cabinets in all.
The Wisconsin builds used different wood and different glue and do have a slightly different tone. Both sound great.
Keep that early Steath 10. Paired with an Acoustic Image Clarus, a Polytone Mini-Brain or a new Henriksen Blu, you have a jazz guitar rig that is second to none.
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........ is that a rumour or real tragedy? :-((((
Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Yes, mental illness and a guilty plea are in news reports. But let’s not head off that tangent here. Originally Posted by JazzNote
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The Stealth 10 is a great cab! Grab it if it's a good price.
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Thanks for the info - exactly what I wanted to know, that Rich R. started selling the cabinets in 2000 and this is probably the 11th cab he sold. I love the fact that "Stealth" is spelled wrong on the plate. An honest mistake and one he apparently corrected pretty quickly.
I can probably get this cab from my buddy for around $300 or less. The Emi Beta still sound very good.
I would add the Quilter 101 Reverb to the list of great jazz heads that pair well with this cabinet. I don't have a Polytone or Henrickson at my fingertips right now, but I'm sitting here going back and between an AI Clarus and a Quilter - dialing in a jazz tone and rotating around my ES-175, 335, and an Ibanez George Benson (w/ an SD Seth Lover in the neck). It certainly doesn't have all the features of the Clarus, but, man, does the Quilter sound good. I was turned on to it a couple of years ago by watching videos of Tim Learch and Chris Whiteman, a great jazz player here in Virginia. But that's beside the point...
Thanks again for the responses and info.
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Hi Skip
I recently came across this post re the original stealth 10’s and hope to be able to contribute some additional information on the development of the NY8, and the ER (extended range) RE cabinets as developed by Richard myself.
Rich had already made the 12” cabinet. Which I bought and used. One day While playing elec.nylon guitar through my Studio speakers I conceptually thought how nice it would be to have a similar sound in a robust guitar speaker that I could use for my sound production business . After contacting Rich and many emails and long distance calls later ,we jointly developed the ER series of speakers for testing. I distinctly recall the importance on insisting to have an adjustable tweeter to allow the user to dial in/out the amount of high end as per taste. The first unit was the 12 ER speaker. Dave Stephens and I probably have some of the original batch. Subsequent ER models were the stealth10 ER , a Twin 8 ER, and a prototype 4x 8” ER that I still have.
Around the same time I finally got to meet up with Rich in person at the Long Island Guitar show (2001?) and we were able to hang out with Jimmy Bruno and all the other RE cabinet users there.
The original NY 8” speaker at that time was in a slightly larger cabinet and was a bit heavier. I recall the sound was not as focused. So we went back to the drawing board and came up with the revised version as we now know it to be. Lighter ,smaller, and better sounding.
Rick always loved joking around and loved making those brass tags in the back of the speaker. so he made a tag calling it the HK8 model (HongKong) for our market out here. The NY8 was for the international and US market . same speaker just a different tag. We even came up with the new marketing wording that was on his website.
The 12” speaker we found was a bit bass heavy for some arch top guitars especially when coupled to the floor, but can be used positioned on a chair. The 10” ER probably has the best overall balance for most players. I’m not sure if the twin 8 ER ever went into production ,but that speaker allows the amp to be operated @approx. 6 ohms which works well with all the solid state amps out there. it retain the punch
it was a sad day when Jimmy B informed me of Rich’s passing. But at least through Jeff Hale and the now the new owners of RAzersEdge speakers that the speaker cabinets are carried forward.
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I've played through every generation of the Steath 10, from Rich, Jeff and Geoff. I never played them next to each other so I can't tell anyone the differences but they were all great sounding cabs no matter what they were being powered by (as is the NY8)
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I used to have a 6/8ER cabinet made by Rich. It had one 6" and one 8" speaker, no tweeter but it did have a crossover network. It was brighter in tone than the Stealth10. I'm sort of sorry I sold it, but I had too many cabs and not enough room at the time.
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I sold Raezers Edge cabs in the UK (and Europe) from about 2007 or so from J Hale and it was a privilege to sell such fine cabs. I ended up personally with my favourite ever cab which I've had for a few years now which is a Raezers Edge Tower (2 x 8" portrait). Very warm and valvey and as it's 4 ohms plenty loud enough paired with my Quilter Pro Block 200
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I have had many Raezer's edge Cabinets over the years (both made by Rich and Wisconsin builds). All were fine cabinets for jazz guitar.
I kept 3:
Stealth12ER (built by Rich)
Stealth10ER (Built by Rich)
NY-8ER (Wisconsin build)
Combined with an Acoustic Image Clarus head, these cabinets amplify an archtop, flattop, classical, Gypsy guitar and even a solid body quite well, assuming one likes a dark, thick tone.
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I have three Raezor’s Edge cabinets, all from Geoff Hale. They are Stealth 12, Stealth 10 and Stealth 10ER. I use an Acoustic Image Clarus head with them. The Stealth 10 is my favourite and it’s the one I take on all my gigs. I find the 12 a little bass heavy for my archtops. The 10ER is fine, but I don’t use it much because I don’t need the tweeter for an archtop. For my Gypsy Jazz guitar, I always use a Fishman Loudbox mini, which I really like for that purpose.
Keith
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The OP (Skip) here. Thanks for reviving this thread. I passed on the original Stealth 10, but ended up getting a newer model Stealth 10 that is loaded with an Emi Lil Buddy. I have it paired with a Quilter 101 Reverb. All last fall and winter (before the "plague" hit us!), it was my go-to rig for gigs with my 175. It sounded great on small duet jobs, as well as when I played with our local jazz orchestra. It's also my daily practice amp.
I don't own a Polytone or Henrikson and sometimes wonder what, if anything, I would gain. I'm so pleased with the Quilter/Stealth combo that I've been reluctant to add another solid state amp to the stable.
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BTW, has anyone tried swapping speakers to other "guitar" speakers in the Stealths (since the stock speaker is more PA/bass)? How did it sound??
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Yup, I have an Emi Lil' Buddy in mine. It's close to a 10" version of the 12" Emi Cannabis Rex - Very warm and smooth. Originally Posted by marcwhy
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the new ones use the same plans, same design, same speaker. I have a/b'd them and you wouldn't be able to tell them apart if you didn't know which was which.
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Thanks! I have a Stealth 10, too. Originally Posted by SkipBurz
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The RE S10 is an excellent sounding cabinet for archtops. I have used it with both the Acoustic Image head and with the Polytone MiniBrute PA head (superb guitar amp, by the way).
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I have a Cannabis Rex in mine, and I like it. I think I hear a little more definition than with the stock Beta. I bought a pair of the CRs for my Vibrolux Reverb, and for grins tried different ombinations. I ended up with one of the CRs in the RE cab and the RE speaker in the VR. I think all sound slightly better now.
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I'm interested in one of the these RE Twin 8 Towers for my home setup. The few people who have owned them and talked about them online seem to really like them. Do you have Alpha or Beta speakers in yours? I'm a bit fuzzy on the sound difference between these speakers - I know the Beta is higher wattage (which I don't need), but is there a big difference in they way they sound at lower volumes? By lower volume, I mean practicing at home or playing with a jazz trio, so nothing too dramatic. Thanks Originally Posted by JazzVocab
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Old thread, I know. I am thinking of picking up a Stealth 10 for use with my Quilter SuperBlock. Question: Is the ER feature necessary if I only plan to use the cab with guitars? I'll use it with hollow, semi-hollow and solidbodies. I'm not clear on if the ER is a feature for guitars or if it is so you can use the cab with other instruments. Originally Posted by floatingpickup
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