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Replacement Speaker for a 1960 tweed deluxe ?

bluesroom

Active member
Joined
Jul 17, 2001
Messages
443
Hello all
Wondering if anyone can recommend a speaker for a vintage 5E3 . It has a Jensen P12Q but I want to box it and not blow it.
The ones I’ve been suggested are the following
An original P12 Q
Celestion Blue Alnico
WGS wharehouse G12Q
Speedshop A12Q ( knockoff of an original P12 Q)
Weber Blue dog
Any thoughts or help you can give me is appreciated
 

LtKojak

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2015
Messages
208
Hello all
Wondering if anyone can recommend a speaker for a vintage 5E3 . It has a Jensen P12Q but I want to box it and not blow it.
The ones I’ve been suggested are the following
An original P12 Q
Celestion Blue Alnico
WGS wharehouse G12Q
Speedshop A12Q ( knockoff of an original P12 Q)
Weber Blue dog
Any thoughts or help you can give me is appreciated
As this circuit could generate from 12W in class A to a max of 17W in push/pull config, any 25W, 8 Ohm speaker will be more than adequate for the task.

Even if it's basically overkill, the best-sounding speaker I've heard in a British Blues musical context, was the Eminence Cannabis Rex, closely followed by the Celestion G12-65. YMMV.
 

BurstWurst

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Messages
568
My 5E3 had a C12Q in it when I got it, and I began cycling through various speakers looking for what I preferred in it. I tried a modern Celestion blue (good), a Weber 12A125-light dope (better) and finally settled into a vintage Celestion greenback (best). I had a pair of the greenbacks, and I liked it so much in the tweed deluxe that I slapped the other one into my brown deluxe with similar success. Wish I had a few more of those old greenbacks. Always on the lookout for 'em.After running out of greenbacks, I found Scumback speakers to be a pretty good alternative. The Scumback in my Goodsell super-seventeen (in tweed deluxe type cab) sounds great!
 

marshall1987

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,278
I went though this exercise with my Victoria 20112 Tweed Deluxe. I tried all sorts of AlNiCo and Ceramic magnet speakers, both American and British. The best speaker I found was the original speaker that was installed in the amp from the factory. Mark at Victoria equipped my amp with a Jensen C-12N ceramic magnet speaker.

I would recommend an American style speaker like a Jensen with either a 1.25" or 1.5" voice coil. These low powered tweed amps seem to work better with speakers that have the smaller diameter voice coils, vs. a Celestion with a 1.75" voice coil.
 

PaulLaRue

New member
Joined
Jul 2, 2003
Messages
268
There is only one replacement speaker for that amp and it is the vintage Jensen P-12R /Q. They sell for as little as $100.00 bucks on ebay. Cheaper than most modern speakers that won't sound anything like a vintage tweed amp. Look for the black frame Jensen's [pulls from Hammond organs]. Same exact speaker just not the green frame found in vintage 5E3's. Or you could buy the Celestion Blue for 3 times the price? I have both speakers and the Jensen sounds so much better in a tweed deluxe, not even close.
 

toxpert

Active member
Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Messages
3,068
I have used Jensen vintage P12Qs for my 5E3s. These are pulls from old organs. I had the magnets re-gaussed and new voice coil/cone rebuildS. I used Orange County Speakers in the past for the speaker re-builds...with nice rugged results. The voice coils were rated for ~45 Watts.
 

corpse

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
4,876
Any of the Chicago Type Weber replacements- or the Warehouse Guitar Speaker C series. Alot more efficient. Sound great after a break in.
Man speakers are SOOOO important in any guitar/amp.
(Duh quote of the week)
 

Axis39

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
83
I have a Cox Ultimate 5e3. It came with a Celestion Gold in it that sounded great at volume, but was a bit dark at lower volumes. I replaced it with an Eminence 1228. Sadly, these Emis are discontinued. I keep my eye open for another....

My next non-vintager suggestion would be something from Weber.
 
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