jensen speakers

kirkster · Post by **kirkster** » Tue 08/05/08 9:06 am

anybody every try a jenson mod50?
guys at jenson says it will do nicely in a vintage style amp...just wondering if any thoughts on it are out there..
kirk

Alexo · Post by **Alexo** » Tue 08/05/08 1:57 pm

"A vintage style amp" could mean anything, a speaker that would sound great in a vintage Princeton probably wouldn't sound so great in a vintage SVT. I hate to be someone who repeats internet-speak without personal experience, but I've not heard many good things about the newer Jensens, and I didn't think they were aimed at "British" type amps. But hey! Ya never know.

kirkster · Post by **kirkster** » Tue 08/05/08 3:22 pm

talked to drew at judy box...he has some of the bad bettys he was surplusing out still...92.5db rating...30watters...they are relatively inexpensive...still probably sound better than the celestion...looking at the frequency graph for them then have more lows than most of the others
we shall see...anyone tried one of those either?
k

Snakeman · Post by **Snakeman** » Tue 08/05/08 3:39 pm

kirkster wrote:anybody every try a jenson mod50?
guys at jenson says it will do nicely in a vintage style amp...just wondering if any thoughts on it are out there..
kirk

I have a Mod 35 (which is the inexpensive 10") in an old Kalamazoo Model 1 and it sounds good. My buddy bought one of the alnico 10" jensens for his Blues Jr. and didn't like it as much as my cheapo in an A/B comparison. Don't know about the Mod 50 though.

jake

kleuck · Post by **kleuck** » Tue 08/05/08 3:50 pm

Alexo wrote:"A vintage style amp" could mean anything, a speaker that would sound great in a vintage Princeton probably wouldn't sound so great in a vintage SVT. I hate to be someone who repeats internet-speak without personal experience, but I've not heard many good things about the newer Jensens, and I didn't think they were aimed at "British" type amps. But hey! Ya never know.

I have a Jensen P10R, and i think it's a wonderful loudspeaker (needs a long break-in time....) for blues and dirty rock'n roll.
I suppose people who are at the origin of this kind of 'internet speak" :

A don't allow the speaker to break-in before posting their review
B think that "more expensive" means automatically "better"
C think that "not built in the USA" means "crap"

You can say that you don't like the sound of them, but you can't say they are bad speakers.

One issue is thas they do not have a high sensitivity (95 db/1w/1m for the P10R)
Added with the light coil and cone, it makes a perfect speaker for home practice, as they sound good at low volume.
For gigging in bars, i will certainly go for a Red Fang (102 db)

Post by **rjgtr** » Wed 08/06/08 3:56 pm

My answer is it depends on the amp. I have Jenson reissues in a few of my vintage amps and they sound good. These are Gibson and Fender amps that originally had Jensons.

For an 18watt style amp, I still prefer Celestion speakers. Eminence and Scumback have some good clones that many people like.

Nothing is a wrong choice - it's what you like the tone of. Derek Trucks likes Utah speakers, which was a cheap line of speakers used by a lot of American amp companies in the 60s and 70s. I'm not fond of them, but he does make them sound great!

1950 · Post by **1950** » Wed 08/06/08 8:05 pm

s'gotta mean a good few gigs before you make your mind up.
Did a Marshal fix on the EVJ, wicked in the kitchen, local bar (miked up), didn't work, resorted to 18 watter and Epi cab. Joe's Jap LP coppy in the EVJ was magic. There is so many variables to be making ones mind up over night.
Kleucks looking straight on that one.
Guys

check this emoticon

JohnnyCrash · Post by **JohnnyCrash** » Mon 09/15/08 2:12 am

Alexo wrote:I hate to be someone who repeats internet-speak without personal experience, but I've not heard many good things about the newer Jensens, and I didn't think they were aimed at "British" type amps. But hey! Ya never know.

I believe the "Mods" are Jensen's Brit voiced speakers.

As far as new Jensen RIs quality/tone, let me put it to you this way:

I own FOUR reissue Jensens and one Jensen Neo.

The higher powered ceramic Jensens have a Brit V30 style mid presence in some ways. I have a C12N in a tweed Deluxe build, an AlNico P15N in an open backed cab, an AlNiCo P10R in a G!bson GA5 build, a C10R in a K@lamazoo Model One build, and a Neo12-100 in an open backed cab.

Having run all of them through my 18w builds - they're all different, but plenty good for an 18w amp! You can mix your Brit/US socks

HERE'S PART OF WHY I THINK NEW JENSENS GET A BAD RAP:
Every "real" Jensen ever heard by any amp snob was made anywhere from the mid 1940s to late 1960s. After that Jensen closed shop.

So as far as A/B comparisons, your comparing a brand new Jensen with one that has been broken in (and had beer spilt on it, humidity and drying, heat and cold) for at least 39+ years, at minimum.

The new Jensen's are made to the exact specs as the originals.

What everyone remembers hearing during their youth in the 1960's may be tainted as science and countless studies have shown memory is extremely faulty (to the point of unreliability).

There was a vicious "speaker rub" rumor spreading too. Perhaps in the new Jensen's early manufacturing (starting in the late 1990's) there may have been rub issues, but with the exact specs, perhaps originals had a percentage of rub leaving the factory too. We'll never know how many bad eggs the originals had.

In any case, I have NEVER received a Jensen with any problems and they all sound great to me.

Duke · Post by **Duke** » Mon 09/15/08 8:03 am

kirkster wrote:anybody every try a jenson mod50?
kirk

Yes I have. It was the speaker I purchased when I finished my GDS trem combo. I thought is sounded okay, but... I bought a WGS Vet 30 a few months later. The change for the better was instant and drastic. Higher volume, more clarity, but still excellent breakup. It was like I took earplugs out. I sold my Mod shortly thereafter. I should have recorded both speakers because there was nothing subtle about the difference and it would have been interesting to hear others' thoughts.

The Mods are quite different from the other Jensen models though.

soundchaser59 · Post by **soundchaser59** » Thu 10/09/08 5:31 pm

I've only owned the C12N, C12K, and Blackbird, but all have been great sounding, no issues ever. The C12N sounded almost identical to the Eminence Cannabis Rex in my Red Knob Twin.

The alnico is my favorite, and I try to get the better builds, stay away from the budget stuff myself as I am positive that I have heard quite a sound difference compared to the chepaer Jensens I've test driven.

SoK66 · Post by **SoK66** » Thu 10/09/08 6:54 pm

The Jensens as a rule are fairly tight & shrill when new, particularly the alnicos. They take some time to burn in. Mark Baier of Victoria Amps uses them in his tweeds and he is not known to use sub-standard components.

lectricman · Post by **lectricman** » Thu 10/09/08 7:42 pm

i had a jensen c10q in a pro jr i converted to an 18w lite. 35w speaker took a dump and fried the ot. i think they may have some quality issues. or perhaps this is an isolated incident. whatever the case that speaker sounded fine but i wont be buying another jensen.

JohnnyCrash · Post by **JohnnyCrash** » Fri 10/17/08 2:08 am

lectricman wrote:i had a jensen c10q in a pro jr i converted to an 18w lite. 35w speaker took a dump and fried the ot. i think they may have some quality issues. or perhaps this is an isolated incident. whatever the case that speaker sounded fine but i wont be buying another jensen.

Are you sure it was the speaker? Proper impedance?

Sounds like it could have been a few things. I've had bum tubes (brand new too) kill OTs (no Jensens in sight on those builds either), poor speaker to OT/output connections kill OTs, bad OTs in general, and other issues between myself and friends' builds... I have yet to hear of a bad speaker doing this (I'm sure it does happen though).

Other than blowing speakers (my fault for aiming that kind of wattage at them), I haven't ever even seen/touched a real-life bad/faulty speaker from any manufacturer (even old RadioShack speakers) yet... cr@p sound and getting blown are other issues entirely though

lectricman · Post by **lectricman** » Sat 10/18/08 11:33 am

JohnnyCrash wrote:
lectricman wrote:i had a jensen c10q in a pro jr i converted to an 18w lite. 35w speaker took a dump and fried the ot. i think they may have some quality issues. or perhaps this is an isolated incident. whatever the case that speaker sounded fine but i wont be buying another jensen.

Are you sure it was the speaker? Proper impedance?

Sounds like it could have been a few things. I've had bum tubes (brand new too) kill OTs (no Jensens in sight on those builds either), poor speaker to OT/output connections kill OTs, bad OTs in general, and other issues between myself and friends' builds... I have yet to hear of a bad speaker doing this (I'm sure it does happen though).

Other than blowing speakers (my fault for aiming that kind of wattage at them), I haven't ever even seen/touched a real-life bad/faulty speaker from any manufacturer (even old RadioShack speakers) yet... cr@p sound and getting blown are other issues entirely though

it was the speaker. after replacing the speaker and the ot the same tubes were used in the amp. the proper impedance was being used. it was just a bum speaker!

JohnnyCrash · Post by **JohnnyCrash** » Sat 10/18/08 11:56 am

lectricman wrote: it was the speaker. after replacing the speaker and the ot the same tubes were used in the amp. the proper impedance was being used. it was just a bum speaker!

It obviously wasn't the tubes, but it still could have been the OT.

If the OT was faulty and you replaced it (after it died, you naturally had to hehe) with a new OT, of course it would run fine. That logic makes no sense.

If you still have the speaker you can check it for shorts, etc. Even if you don't like it, at least you'll know if you can sell a working speaker or not.

lectricman · Post by **lectricman** » Sat 10/18/08 2:01 pm

JohnnyCrash wrote:
lectricman wrote: it was the speaker. after replacing the speaker and the ot the same tubes were used in the amp. the proper impedance was being used. it was just a bum speaker!

It obviously wasn't the tubes, but it still could have been the OT.

If the OT was faulty and you replaced it (after it died, you naturally had to hehe) with a new OT, of course it would run fine. That logic makes no sense.

If you still have the speaker you can check it for shorts, etc. Even if you don't like it, at least you'll know if you can sell a working speaker or not.

i only replaced the ot because i saw it had arced. the cause of that was a faulty speaker. the ot was still working but for how long was my concern.
after 20 amps built i can do the math. i merely posted this as a warning not to discourage anyone from buying jensen or to put them down but the fact is one blew which should not have and caused alot of problems for me. ymmv

JohnnyCrash · Post by **JohnnyCrash** » Sat 10/18/08 4:54 pm

lectricman wrote: i only replaced the ot because i saw it had arced. the cause of that was a faulty speaker. the ot was still working but for how long was my concern.
after 20 amps built i can do the math. i merely posted this as a warning not to discourage anyone from buying jensen or to put them down but the fact is one blew which should not have and caused alot of problems for me. ymmv

I meant no insult.

We've all built a lot of amps. With your further details I can see it was the speaker afterall (arched, but not blown yet).

Sorry if I came off condescending. I also didn't mean to make you sound like a noob either.

As far as discouraging, I hear you on that. Sure maybe it's only one speaker out of the tons out there (like I said I own 4 and love them), but that one horror story still needs to be shared.

Please accept my apology if I did offend you.

lectricman · Post by **lectricman** » Sun 10/19/08 2:00 pm

no problem, just clarifying. I just thought folks should know about it and use the info to make a more informed desicion.
peace
paul

justinm · Post by **justinm** » Mon 10/20/08 11:17 am

I have some experience with Recoton built Jensen P and C series speakers so here are my general observations:

They do need to be broken in and will sound a little brittle/ fuzy at first.
They are bright compared to Celesion speakers in general which holds true for the vintage Jensen's as well.
I'm not as much of a fan of the ceramic models as the AlNiCo, but bright ceramic speakers may just not be my bag.
I have not had any problems with quality.

I've used:
C12Ns in a Twin reissue workhorse.
P12N in a 5E3 with very good results.
Same P12N in a single ended amp of my own design with good results.
AlNiCo Jet 100 in a Leslie 125 cab driven by a Bassman 100/ Hammond M3- This is my organ setup at the practice space. I've had this going for about a year with no problems.
NEO 100 in various amps with good results.

guitardan · Post by **guitardan** » Mon 11/10/08 12:19 pm

I had good results w/ the MOD 35's in my Carvin Bel-Air (50 watt 2x12)
Also, I have a pair of the MOD 35 10"s in my 4x10 cab along w/ a pair of P10R's. I'm pretty happy with it too.....

I think they are a great speaker for the $$.

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