The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1
    So I managed to get a 74 twin for $1000cad with road case and two new vintage 30 speakers .

    The amp has had the caps and electrolytics replaced.

    the tremolo is not working but I knew that before buying the fella I bought it from didn’t like tremolo so he didn’t bother getting it fixed and basically posted the amp to see if there was any interest in it.

    needles to say I like the but find the vintage 30s too harsh at any amount of volume so I am wondering what is a good warm speaker I can get ? . I’d be tempted on electro voice but I’d be afraid of loosing the brightness all together and the ev in my Mesa is kind of sterile it doesn’t have that shimmy colourful sound the fender has but yeah that vintage 30 is a little bit too bright ?
    Attached Images Attached Images '74 Fender Twin Reverb-d687316a-71b9-434e-92eb-06e39c13990e-jpg '74 Fender Twin Reverb-c2546435-9efd-4e34-b3b1-d84ecd48fdc7-jpg '74 Fender Twin Reverb-5bd9f878-cc63-47f7-849b-f6f55e7699fe-jpg '74 Fender Twin Reverb-95c62b53-5a91-4d47-ad83-c099cda41421-jpg '74 Fender Twin Reverb-16b4b914-9a80-470b-a323-67afe453c678-jpg '74 Fender Twin Reverb-c4a5a885-6deb-4fc7-b731-eb122cf6b91e-jpg 

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  3. #2

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    I'd probably slap in a pair of Jensens or better yet Webers if you can spring for the extra dough. You can sell the 30s to partially offset the cost.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by wintermoon
    I'd probably slap in a pair of Jensens or better yet Webers if you can spring for the extra dough. You can sell the 30s to partially offset the cost.
    what are Webers and as of this weekend my Mesa should be gone so I’d probably be able to pickup a set

  5. #4

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    Did the amp come with the reverb/trem footswitch? Reason I ask is trem rca needs tip shorted to sleeve to work. If the footswitch, or a shorting jack is not plugged in, trem
    won’t chooch.

    Of course, you probably already knew that.

  6. #5

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    Wow, these are getting hard to find in that condition. In fact in 1980, when looking for a twin, most of the ones I looked at were worse looking than that one. And yes, even back then the blackface twins were already hard to come by.

  7. #6

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    Might want to think about a Neo speaker, my pref is Eminence, but a lot of people like Jensen. I put Jensen NEOs in my 72 Twin, man that was a sonic ice pick. The Eminence cured that.
    Also, get the 12AX7s out of the initial preamp and sub with NOS 5751s. A bit less gain, yes, but much more full and wide toned. The AX7s, especially the new ones, can be on the shrill side than the 7025s (12AX7 in RCA drag) that amp shipped with.
    There are instructions on line to get that master volume out of the circuit, and then modify the amp back to late blackface or early silver face circuits. Some swear at that, some swear by it.

    Above all enjoy your very own monster )))

    Jk

  8. #7

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    In general, Hemp-cone speakers tend to be designed for warmth.

    The
    Eminence Cannabis Rex highly regarded, widely available, and not very expensive:
    CANNABIS REX™ - Loudspeakers | Eminence Speaker

    Tone Tubby Hempcone AlNiCo speakers are very warm, but very expensive.

    Weber makes some lovely hemp cone speakers as well:
    -12F150H, 50 watt version
    -Ceramic Amsterdam 12 w/hemp cone
    -Ceramic Blue Dog 12 w/Hemp Cone
    -Ceramic 1225 w/Hemp Cone
    -Ceramic 1265 w/Hemp Cone
    -Ceramic 1265 W/Hemp Cone
    -12A150H, 50 watt version - lovely, pricey
    -Alnico Amsterdam 12 - lovely, pricey

    There are many others out there. You'll want 2 x 8 ohm speakers, so that the total load is 4 ohms, which is what the amp is designed to see at the speaker output.




    Last edited by Hammertone; 01-11-2023 at 12:38 PM.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by silvertonebetty
    what are Webers and as of this weekend my Mesa should be gone so I’d probably be able to pickup a set
    They're online and will recommend a speaker to your specific needs

  10. #9

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    My Guyatone Twin copy - that I modded to be exactly AB763 - came with a mismatched pair of Fender-labeled speakers (probably Emminence made) that I didn't like.

    I first put in a pair of Jensen C12K reissues that sounded gorgeous, especially in the bass department and I liked the somewhat subdued trebles, but they were soooo heavy. But they really sounded good and if you don't mind the weight, it sounds these are exactly what you're looking for.

    I replaced them with a pair of Jensen NEO 12-100s and those sounded pretty close to the C12Ks but with less bass and they were a touch more hifi sounding. No ice-picking at all. Definitely very good!

    I ended up with a pair of Pyle-speakers, with the blue Fender label and parts number 005379. These were at some point original to the Twin, I think in the later 70ies? I know for sure they came with the Pro Reverb. I like these best because they are very allround and 'vintage' sounding: good bass, but not too much. A fair deal of mids, just the right amount. And moderate but sufficient highs, that are not piercing but still offer nice clarity. They sound full and 'round'. These speakers are impopular for some reason - I can't grasp why, I love 'em! - so you can find a pair for cheap! I paid the equivalent of $60 for the pair.

    Just to share my Twin Reverb speaker experience!
    Last edited by Little Jay; 09-17-2021 at 09:14 AM.

  11. #10

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    Little Jay I should have made it clear the Jensen Neos I had the ice pick results with were the first generation model, maybe 12-15 years ago!
    Time does fly: I suppose thats been enough time to improve things)))
    Great thing about NEOs on a twin is they weight very little, makes it a bit easier to manage.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by silvertonebetty
    what are Webers and as of this weekend my Mesa should be gone so I’d probably be able to pickup a set
    I use vintage Jensens in my old Fenders, but Ted Weber makes great modern speakers that are wonderful.
    Just Google weber speakers,
    Call them and they'll recommend a speaker that suits your sonic needs.

  13. #12

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    It’s interesting to mix speakers. I paired an Eminence Red White & Blues with a Celestion V12-60 in my ‘74 Twin Reverb and got a nice warm tone with no ice pick. The Eminence has a fairly flat response. I think the Celestion adds a little sparkle. It’s now discontinued but was marketed as having a relatively flat response. The Celestion’s sensitivity spec is about 4dB higher than the Eminence, which means it’s dominant.

    I also dial both the treble and bass controls way back, since that’s the only way to achieve a fairly flat frequency response with the Fender tone stack. You’ll find lots of discussions about Fender tone stack settings on this forum, so I won’t go into detail here.

    I have a Jensen Tornado neo speaker in another amp that I like. I have thought about trying it in the Twin. The George Bensen Twin Reverb uses a pair of Jensen Tornados. I think the Bensen model has the standard Twin Reverb circuit, except for substitution of a 12AY7 preamp tube. On the product video he set all tone controls to 4. The Tornado is expensive, but the weight savings would be nice.
    Fender GB George Benson Twin Reverb 2x12" 85-watt Tube Combo Amp | Sweetwater
    Last edited by KirkP; 09-18-2021 at 04:02 PM.

  14. #13

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    Just turn the master volume to 10 and it's eliminated. Just use the regular volume as if the Master volume was not there. No big deal.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzkritter
    There are instructions on line to get that master volume out of the circuit, and then modify the amp back to late blackface or early silver face circuits. Some swear at that, some swear by it.
    Above all enjoy your very own monster )))
    I have one from 1975 and did the "blackfacing" mods.
    (mine has JBL D120F speakers, they sound amazing)

    I found the pull master volume for added gain (through the reverb driver) feature to be a useless sound option, so I changed the circuit so that the pull master volume now completely removes the master volume from the circuit (it disconnects the 1M resistance between the pot's fixed terminals out of the circuit ).

    There is a small noticeable difference between having the master volume at max and taking it out of the circuit. Some days I perfer to have it at 10 and some days I prefer to have it pulled.
    I find the difference to be rather insignificant. I've seen some people swear by no master volume (blackface style) and claim it is by far superior, but I have a switch on my amp to compare it back and forth, and find it hard to comprehend how you can have huge opinion on which is superior.
    (but because my amp now has blackface component values, this 1M resistance affects the LTP input resistance more than it would with silverface component values).

    I definitely like the added flexibility of having the master volume control and use it quite much. For my intents and purposes, I would not remove the master volume completely like some people choose to do.

    Because I like working on amps and learning about amps, I did definitely enjoy the process of blackfacing my amp, but if you just want an amazing sounding amp to play music, I am hesitant to recommend it (but by no means do I recommend against it).
    I really like how it sounds after doing the changes but it also sounded really good before. I was never at a point were I could compare the sound back to back.
    My rational brain says that because I put in effort, I am biased towards wanting to like the new sound better, which makes me not capable for judging if it "really" made the amp sound better.
    (I do find the blackface "set" bias circuit to be more useful than the silverface bias balance circuit, that mod was already done in my amp when I purchased it).

    I do like the idea of swapping the speakers. It's a much easier mod and it impacts the sound by far more.

  16. #15

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    I hate Jensen speakers. I took mine out and gave them away.

    JBL K120's give the JBL sound and take the abuse of a loud Twin. The D120 is good to, but has a tighter coil gap that will result in speaker failure under hard usage.

    I have some made in England Celestion G-12-100AVT that came in a '72 I bought. I thought they were junk and planned on replacing them. Celestions in a Twin? But they sound real good and have held up to a lot of loud gigs so I kept them.

    I'd like to try some Neo's or maybe a big clean steel guitar speaker in there but there are other more pressing gear matters to deal with since my speakers are working just fine.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by DawgBone
    I hate Jensen speakers. I took mine out and gave them away.

    JBL K120's give the JBL sound and take the abuse of a loud Twin. The D120 is good to, but has a tighter coil gap that will result in speaker failure under hard usage.

    I have some made in England Celestion G-12-100AVT that came in a '72 I bought. I thought they were junk and planned on replacing them. Celestions in a Twin? But they sound real good and have held up to a lot of loud gigs so I kept them.

    I'd like to try some Neo's or maybe a big clean steel guitar speaker in there but there are other more pressing gear matters to deal with since my speakers are working just fine.
    Ever try a 60s Twin w orig C12NAs?
    Might change your mind about Jensens.....