Which 12" for a loud(er) Champ?

knuckleberryfinn

I've been using 4x10 combos for the last few years and am sick of lugging them around. And my back is giving me trouble now. So I took my lowly ampmaker Champ to rehearsal a few weeks ago (playing swing and bebop stuff with a Loar archtop) and it sounded great. However, I think it could do with a better speaker. Currently it's got a Fender branded 12" eminence thing taken out of a DR2 which is quiet and a bit dead sounding. I'd love to put an albino blue in it but they're a bit pricey for me. What would you do?

bandmaster188

Put a blue in it. Or a cheaper alnico option would be a Jensen p12r . But put a blue in it!

SunDevil

M-Magnet Greenback will be much closer to a Blue than the Fender and cheaper

KKJale

Have a look at the WGS G12C. Maybe the /S version with a smooth cone. Lovely. 

ICBM

Jensen Tornado. These sound great in Fender-type amps, are pretty efficient, not too expensive and have the bonus of weighing about as much as a paper plate.

richardhomer

ICBM said:

Jensen Tornado. These sound great in Fender-type amps, are pretty efficient, not too expensive and have the bonus of weighing about as much as a paper plate.

Seconded - I’ve got one in my little Musicman combo - bought on @ICBM’s recommendation.

Nice bright highs that don’t take your head off, a clear - rather than forward/aggressive mid range and an extended low-end that doesn’t get farty when pushed.

I bought the amp with a Celestion installed - far too much mid-range for an American-voiced amp - at least to my ears.

knuckleberryfinn

The annoying thing is, I have 9 spare 10" speakers and a couple of fane 12s but at the wrong impedance. I'm tempted by the WGS, but can't get that Alnico Blue out of my mind. Maybe a WTB thread is in order and see what turns up...

knuckleberryfinn

@ICBM and @richardhomer I had a Jensen Blackbird in a 1x12 a few years ago and thought it was brilliant. And I really like the alnico Jensens generally. Not sure why everyone gives them such a hard time.

ICBM

knuckleberryfinn said:

@ICBM and @richardhomer I had a Jensen Blackbird in a 1x12 a few years ago and thought it was brilliant. And I really like the alnico Jensens generally. Not sure why everyone gives them such a hard time.

Yes, I liked the Blackbird too - I only heard one in an amp so I don't have a wide range of reference, but it was very good.

The standard P series Jensens can be very harsh and buzzy straight out of the box - they break in quite dramatically, but I suspect most people don't give them enough time to do that. I have to say I'm not a big fan of the P12R either - it's really too inefficient, unless you deliberately want to throttle back the amp. The P12Q and particularly the N are much better.