Inefficient chimy speakers?

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stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26750
Situation - I built a 5e3 deluxe in January and it sounds brilliant.

It currently has a Celestion Blue speaker, as I'd been meaning to try one for basically forever and liked the sound of the Edge Deluxe from demos. It sounds properly great, and even better with a Klon in front, but even with power scaling on minimum it's still borderline too loud for home. FWIW I'm using Bright input 1, bright vol 2 or 3, normal vol 3, tone 9. 

As the Blue is a really efficient speaker, I'm therefore considering other speaker options. I know people often go for Jensens in these. I guess the question is what is the least efficient speaker that sounds most similar to a Blue? 

What say ye, the great tFB community?
The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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Comments

  • TheMarlinTheMarlin Frets: 7744
    Nothing will sound as good as the Blue in that amp. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    Jensen P12R. It doesn’t sound very like the Blue but it does at least sound good and ‘alnico’. It’s so inefficient that the first time I tried one in a Deluxe Reverb I thought the amp was playing up...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26750
    ICBM said:
    Jensen P12R. It doesn’t sound very like the Blue but it does at least sound good and ‘alnico’. It’s so inefficient that the first time I tried one in a Deluxe Reverb I thought the amp was playing up...
    Ta. Worth a try for sub-£100

    Does that work nicely in a Dlx Reverb as well? I'm looking at that for my next build and again, anything to keep the db down is good, provided it sounded sound rubbish

    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    Yes, it sounded good - just very quiet.

    Be aware that they take a fair bit of breaking in too - they can sound a bit thin and scratchy out of the box.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • kreggskreggs Frets: 64
    ICBM said:
    Yes, it sounded good - just very quiet.

    Be aware that they take a fair bit of breaking in too - they can sound a bit thin and scratchy out of the box.
    How right he is :) mine took over 30 hours. Worth it in the end! 
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  • How will the jensen do in a vintage ac15 circuit with top boost? 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    How will the jensen do in a vintage ac15 circuit with top boost? 
    Probably quite well, although it may be very toppy!

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ICBM said:
    How will the jensen do in a vintage ac15 circuit with top boost? 
    Probably quite well, although it may be very toppy!

    Probably going to go for a 10" greenback but was wondering if there was a 10" alnico that might be more authentic...
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    ThePrettyDamned said:

    Probably going to go for a 10" greenback but was wondering if there was a 10" alnico that might be more authentic...
    G10 Gold. But it's still pretty efficient - 98dB - that's the 'problem' with most alnico speakers... the Jensens are unusual in being less so.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ICBM said:
    ThePrettyDamned said:

    Probably going to go for a 10" greenback but was wondering if there was a 10" alnico that might be more authentic...
    G10 Gold. But it's still pretty efficient - 98dB - that's the 'problem' with most alnico speakers... the Jensens are unusual in being less so.

    If a g10 gold is £££, I'm after something that is £... ;) 

    But it does sound perfect. Just too loud. . My amp has a master but it's a loud circuit... 
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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 9499
    The go-to Celestion Blue 10” soundalike for years was the Weber Blue Pup. Tayden also do a 10” version of their Blue equivalent. Both probably very efficient though, and not as easily available as the G10 Gold.
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  • hywelghywelg Frets: 4302
    ICBM said:
    How will the jensen do in a vintage ac15 circuit with top boost? 
    Probably quite well, although it may be very toppy!

    Probably going to go for a 10" greenback but was wondering if there was a 10" alnico that might be more authentic...
    The Jensen P10R is very low efficiency, but also low powered and possibly overrated too.  25w stated but I'd guess lower than that?

    I've got 4 in a closed back ported 4x10 and they're nice with Fendery clean amps and behave themselves when pushed too. Saves me having to use my Hotplate to attenuate.

    If you want higher powered the Ragin Cajun is a very nice speaker for clean tones.  Matt Schofield has them in his 4x10 I believe.
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16011
    The Rain Cajun is a fantastic speaker ...but it is very loud
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    hywelg said:

    The Jensen P10R is very low efficiency, but also low powered and possibly overrated too.  25w stated but I'd guess lower than that?
    Yes, Jensen ratings are quite optimistic compared to Celestion. I think I'd probably risk a 25W one in a 15W amp though, especially cathode-biased so the overdriven power won't be as high relative to the clean.

    This is why it's fine to run a pair of Blues in an AC30, but they're liable to blow in a Marshall Bluesbreaker even though both are 30W amps - the Marshall is fixed-bias and doesn't compress as much when overdriven.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    The weber blue 30w alnico I had was probably about 96db efficiency, but I have no idea what Weber speakers are like now and shipping/ import duty tends to make them quite costly.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26750
    Cirrus said:
    The weber blue 30w alnico I had was probably about 96db efficiency, but I have no idea what Weber speakers are like now and shipping/ import duty tends to make them quite costly.
    Cheers. I'd read that the Weber is very nearly as loud as the Celestion, so hadn't thought of it. I'm not in the UK/EU so shipping & customs is a given with basically anything I buy. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes less so! 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    edited April 2019
    Cirrus said:
    The weber blue 30w alnico I had was probably about 96db efficiency, but I have no idea what Weber speakers are like now and shipping/ import duty tends to make them quite costly.
    Cheers. I'd read that the Weber is very nearly as loud as the Celestion, so hadn't thought of it. I'm not in the UK/EU so shipping & customs is a given with basically anything I buy. Sometimes a blessing and sometimes less so! 
    Maybe different eras of the same speaker had different sensitivities. About 10 years ago they started offering a neo magnet tip as an optional extra which gave a little sensitivity boost.

    But yeah, I was surprised. Absolutely great, smooth and creamy sounding speaker, but alongside a Celestion Blue it was way quieter and sounded better alongside a greenback (97db). I think the higher the wattage, the less sensitive they are. Or at least, that's what was reported 10 years ago when I was into that stuff. I can't believe how long ago it was.:o
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