Guitar Gear Forum

Hi everyone,

I am going to build a 5F1 TAD Champ replica in a few weeks. The only thing I still have to sort out is the speaker, I will be putting a 12" speaker in a modified 5E3 cab.

I live in Europe, so no Webers for me.
I came to the decision it will either be a Jensen P12R RI or a Jensen P12Q RI

What do you guys think will sound best, as many people say the R is not "it" and has farting bass.

The main thing where those two speakers differ is their rated power: P12R 25W while the P12Q is rated at 40W.
What difference do you think this will make? I have no possibilty to hear either of them. So it will be a blind guess and I really want to prevent swapping speakers afterwards in the case I don't like it.
What do you guys think?

Thank you!

I'd put a Celestion Blue in there but they're not cheap. Out of the Jensen's the 40 watt seems way overkill for a Champ but others will probably disagree.

Telephant wrote:I'd put a Celestion Blue in there but they're not cheap. Out of the Jensen's the 40 watt seems way overkill for a Champ but others will probably disagree.

I looked at the Celestion Blue, but with it's 100dB sensitivity it is a bit too loud for my living room. Also I really like clarity of those Jensens. And the price is way higher than I want to spent when taking the disadvantages into account. I will search some sound samples of the Celestion though.. Thank you nevertheless!

I have a Blue in a 5E9-A and it sounds gorgeous. You're right though, it is pretty loud!

Ok wait hold on a sec... So you're building a 5w amp that specs for an 8" speaker. But you want to put a 12" in it (much louder than an 8") but have an issue with the Celestion Blue due to a few spec points on the dB (only marginally louder)? When in I truth any of these differences can be easily negated with a slight touch of either the volume knob on the guitar or the volume knob on the amp. Madness.

Don't worry about these trivial differences. If you must have a 12" and want the amp to sound as good as it possibly can, get the Celestion Blue. If the price is a little steep for you then maybe go with the Jensen or another reasonably priced choice but don't get lost in the minutia of specs and marginal variations in volume while taming the wild 5w beast known as the Fender Champ

Edit: fwiw, I like small speakers with the tweed champ or tweed Princeton. 10" is the highest I would go, personally. I've even used a little 6" Weber alnico with very good results. It just doesn't sound "big" like so many people want it to. The tone is there if the ears are open to hear it, rather than expecting it to sound as big as it does in certain classic famous recordings.

Blue all the way

What about a Weber Silver Bell?

mortatone wrote:Ok wait hold on a sec... So you're building a 5w amp that specs for an 8" speaker. But you want to put a 12" in it (much louder than an 8") but have an issue with the Celestion Blue due to a few spec points on the dB (only marginally louder)? When in I truth any of these differences can be easily negated with a slight touch of either the volume knob on the guitar or the volume knob on the amp. Madness.

Don't worry about these trivial differences. If you must have a 12" and want the amp to sound as good as it possibly can, get the Celestion Blue. If the price is a little steep for you then maybe go with the Jensen or another reasonably priced choice but don't get lost in the minutia of specs and marginal variations in volume while taming the wild 5w beast known as the Fender Champ

Edit: fwiw, I like small speakers with the tweed champ or tweed Princeton. 10" is the highest I would go, personally. I've even used a little 6" Weber alnico with very good results. It just doesn't sound "big" like so many people want it to. The tone is there if the ears are open to hear it, rather than expecting it to sound as big as it does in certain classic famous recordings.

I own a 5W Blackstar, with an 100dB speaker. When cranked to max volume, it is just a bit too loud. Imagine putting in a 95dB speaker.

Imperceptible Change 1dB
Barely Perceptible Change 3dB
Clearly Noticeable Change 5dB
About Twice as Loud 10dB
About Four Times as Loud 20dB

I don't like the boxiness of an 8", that's why I want to put in a 12. Which is not louder, when having the same sensitivity, but fills to room better which makes the impression of being louder. 100dB in a 5W is just too loud for me, the thing you say about turning down the volume down a bit doesn't make any sense because the consequence is that the tubes and speaker are not driven as hard resulting in less distortion. But I get your point, I really like the sound of the Celestion and will take it into consideration, but for now, I keep sticking with less efficient speakers though.

I don't agree that 3db is a barely perceptible change - I'd apply that description to a 1db difference.

3 db is a clearly perceptible difference.

I went from a Greenback to a blue in my combo, and it was a big difference - easily perceptible.

Too many maffs up in this biotch...