The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I was removing the little caps on the tubes in my DRRI, and when looking underneath, I (laugh at me for this haha) realised that it's probably super easy to change the speaker! I still have in the stock Jensen "special design" speaker. I'm a neophyte to all of this gear stuff, but customizing my amp sounds fun. I'm a jazz guitarist, obviously. I mainly play bebop. What speakers out there should I consider? What differences should I expect?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Well now you're welcoming all sorts of personal opinions on what makes a good jazz sound and what amp speaker gets you there.
    I did a bunch of trials and errors and I have a Fender Princeton II that I love. Yeah it's super easy to swap out a speaker. The Princeton II has a 12" speaker and I wanted a warm jazzy sound that could approach the break up point smoothly and had the efficiency (more efficient, the louder per given amount of juice) I wanted to play anything up to a medium sized club and be clear.
    I have found Eminence to be a really great, friendly, helpful and high quality speaker maker and at least the last time I needed to swap out a speaker, very affordable. Depending on the amp, I'm always down to Eminence or Weber as my go to speaker choices.
    The 12" Cannabis Rex is what I have in my amp. That Princeton II is close enough in essentials to your deluxe that I can recommend you at least look into it. It uses a hemp surround that breaks in really sweet. I was surprised at how much it improved the sound of an amp I already loved. Warm, clear, responsive. It made my notes come forward and made me feel like I was a better player. That's my prejudicial account anyway. Have fun with your search.
    Eminence Speaker | The Art and Science of Sound
    https://www.tedweber.com/

  4. #3

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    Eminence has some great speakers and are reasonably priced. The CRex is a sweet sounding 50 watt speaker that many DR owners praise. It's a little dark due to the hemp cone, but breaks up nicely.

    That said, I wanted a bit more clarity and headroom in my '77 Deluxe Reverb so I went with an 80 watt Weber California.

  5. #4

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    I honestly really only use the amp for the clean tones. I never go beyond around 4, and even that isn't my taste. Around 3 or so seems to be the sweet spot for me. More headroom (I didn't know the speakers played a role in this) would definitely be something I'm after.

  6. #5

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    The Jensen Mod 10-50 is a favourite among Laney Cub 10 (class B 6V6) users after one of them tried a dozen different speakers. Personally I think Jensen offers really good quality for the price, you can listen to all of their speakers’ response to jazz blues rock country on their website. Many people use them for DeLuxe replacement but I forgot which series, Ceramic (C series, I’ve got an 8” of these and love it), Alnico(P-series) or Neodymium (Mod series in US different name in Europe). Mesa Boogie uses them they can’t be all that bad.
    The OEM you got now is no real comparison, my 8” Celestion 8-15 sounds waaay better than the OEM 10” Celestion in my Cub 8.

  7. #6

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    The stock Jensen C12K is is not there for nothing. The OP says he uses cleans only, a Fender forte. A swap for swap's sake, to de-Fenderize the tone, to up-Fenderize it, to reduce weight, to add weight? A lot of work and some expense given volume settings remain far below the amp's optimum and the discernible difference is likely to remain small. Home volumes would speak for a lower-sensitivity speaker; the headroom request the opposite. The C12K is 99.7 dB, one of the most sensitive in the category. On the Home | Jensen Loudspeakers site you can compare the response curves of the entire Jensen offering. I juxtaposed C12K 8 ohm against Tornado Classic (Neo) 8 ohm. The curves are next to identical, except the Tornado (a Neo speaker I've installed hundreds of) offers more bottom and top end. DV Mark's speakers appear to be an insensitive, darker-sounding alternative. No data is available on them, however, and their 1/4" connecting tabs are not compatible with the standard 5.2 mm Abiko receptacles.

  8. #7

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    Hi Loreto,

    I have a '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue here in London, which many touring jazz guitarists borrow when they pass through town. For a time I had an Eminence Cannabis Rex in there but the strong preference of many "name" players has been for the stock Jensen speaker in there (it's a known quantity for many).

    It's been good enough for Peter Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg, Nelson Veras, Brad Shepik, Lage Lund, Gilad Hekselman, Sheryl Bailey, Mike Moreno, Steve Cardenas - these players are playing DRRIs at gig volume with no amp distortion.

  9. #8

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    I too have a Princeton Reverb II, which I love. Mine has the Fender 12F speaker – a modified Electro-Voice EVM 12-S, that was designed as an optional extra for the II series amps. A 200 Watt speaker in a 22 Watt amp creates a lot of space. I usually play at 2 or 3, because I am in an old building and my neighbours have emotional issues.

  10. #9

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    I have a original 66 fender deluxe reverb. Really like it with Celestion Alnico Cream. It didn't have the stock speaker in it when I got it so I can't really compare for you. I doubt it can sound better for my ears.

  11. #10

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    I like the Jensen speaker personally, but I like to clip the bright cap on the 'normal' channel.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by entresz
    I like the Jensen speaker personally, but I like to clip the bright cap on the 'normal' channel.
    What's the bright cap?

    Quote Originally Posted by David B
    Hi Loreto,

    I have a '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue here in London, which many touring jazz guitarists borrow when they pass through town. For a time I had an Eminence Cannabis Rex in there but the strong preference of many "name" players has been for the stock Jensen speaker in there (it's a known quantity for many).

    It's been good enough for Peter Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg, Nelson Veras, Brad Shepik, Lage Lund, Gilad Hekselman, Sheryl Bailey, Mike Moreno, Steve Cardenas - these players are playing DRRIs at gig volume with no amp distortion.
    Woah! That's awesome. I guess maybe my desire was a change for changes sake, but I had no idea the stock Jensen speaker was so sought after!

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Loreto
    What's the bright cap?



    Woah! That's awesome. I guess maybe my desire was a change for changes sake, but I had no idea the stock Jensen speaker was so sought after!
    It's a capacitor that soldered on the hot lug and wiper lug of the volume pot. From about 1-4 on the volume dial it has the most effect. It makes the amp brighter sounding. Some people like that sound. If I had a guitar with dark sounding humbuckers it would be useful; however all my guitars have single-coil pickups so I don't really want/need that extra treble.

  14. #13

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    Sorry deleted for fatal typo
    Last edited by Eck; 01-21-2022 at 02:12 AM.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gitterbug
    The stock Jensen C12K is is not there for nothing.
    I stand thoroughly corrected! I love my C8. Glad to see more Jensen lovers here. Ive spent countless hours listening to their website


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  16. #15

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    A couple years ago I made a DIY one channel DR clone and decided to go with a 12” Jensen Tornado Neo for its balanced sound and its light weight. So it had very nice Fender sound and was a bit lighter than a standard tube combo.

    Then I bought an used Celestion Cream for my Quilter TB202-powered DIY combo and decided to test it with the 1 channel DIY DR. Woah, what a difference! It was deep, dynamic, three dimensional, musical etc superlatives with every guitar I have. It handled jazz sounds, rocks sounds, clean and overdriven sounds superbly.

    But the Cream handles 90W so it is a bit overkill, and after a short research I ended to buy an used Celestion Gold to my 1 channel DIY DR, it sounds as good as the Cream.

    And then: if You the sound You want with the stock speaker, don't do anything!

  17. #16

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    Eminence Red, White and Blues. I prefer it to the CR. For me, it was the overall perfect speaker for a Deluxe Reverb. Super smooth and sweet.