10" Speaker Favorites?

[tommy d]

I have a Musicman 210-65 (2x10" 65 watt 2xEL34) that I want to change the speakers on. While I was shopping, I thought: why not ask the forum?! This is my first 10" speaker amp and I miss the bass a little from from my twin - but not enough to carry it around

I use a H&K Tubeman I for leads but would like to maintain the cool and mellow jazz sounds AND the twang from the 10" (I think they are jensens and one has a small rip in it --> picture)

I would very much appreciate your opinions!

[TD_Madden]

Eminence Copperhead.

[tommy d]

Thanks for the reply, I was looking seriously at the Copperhead and the Redcoat Ramrod. I am leaning toward the Redcoat b/c of the extra high end in the spl/hz graphs but other than that the frequency between those two speakers is pretty close and the reviews on both are overwhelmingly positive. Having heard neither of these speakers your input has at least narrowed my brand choice down.

[mastergian]

try this...really good speakers..

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/ragincajun.pdf

[Bernardduur]

I tried the above named and went for the Legend 102A's; AlNiCo magnet, great "old" sound, just for me the best speakers!

[tommy d]

Thanks for the input! I found this resource by Eminence that maps their speakers to OEM replacements.
http://www.loudspeakersplus.com/html...nce_chart.html

Then I went and played the amps at GC to get an idea of what the speakers sounded like. Admittedly, very unscientific but what can you do without actually buying them and swapping them in and out of the same cabinet? Ultimately, I had a hard decision between the Copperhead/Cajun/Ramrod but went with the Ramrod b/c the bass was a bit tighter and the high sort of sparkly. I am not real fond of the tweed speaker sound but I like the amps so the "old sound", while great, is not to my liking. My amp can be really bright (which I want to keep) but the mid is in your face and I wanted to play that down. I have a MusicMan 65 watt 2xEL34, 12ax7 and has been described as a "baby Twin" and I think that is accurate when compared with my '68 twin. The copperhead I thought was a very musical and even speaker and the cajun was as advertised: nice "american" sound. Neither of these speakers had the "sack" that I sometimes require so I went with the Ramrod as auditioned through the Line 6 spider III 2x10. Very clean and musical. The Ramrods could really take the power and still sound nice and round but not raspy or face blistering mid/high.


I may not have made the best choice but at least I am confident that I will enjoy my rig thanks to all your input.

[Alex R]

I think Celestion's cheapest low-wattage guitar speakers (super 8, tube 10 and rocket 50) are in fact also their best-sounding speakers. Over here in the UK you can get the Tube 10 for £15 or so. These speakers do the jagged crunchy Celestion colouring of distorted sounds better than a Vintage 30 at the lower volumes, I think. And they chime beautifully on the cleans. I suspect this is because of weaker magnets, freedom of cone movement and light speaker coils in low-wattage speakers.

[justinbelshe]

I put a Weber C10N in my hotrodded Kalamazoo Model One and it's amazing! Fat and punchy with lush overtones. It's the same magnet and voice coil that Jensen used in their C12N (Jensen never made a C10N), but CNC milled with a tighter VC gap. My amp double in weight when I installed it, also doubled in volume!

Weber changed their numbering system, I think this model is now called the 10F150.

[tommy d]

Well, I've had the Ramrods for a couple of years and wished I had gone with something a bit different, the Ramrods are a great speaker in an EVM plus a little chime sort of way. Tons of bass, nice everywhere but they make the MM sound a little too sterile - as in hi-fi stereo good = too good.
I need a little Ford Maverick dash board speaker in the mix. Maybe I'll put in one the stock speakers and see what happens.

[txstrat]

I've tried the Eminence Legend 125 and think it's sort of a general purpose speaker.
It's great if you try to combine the best of both worlds (Fender and Marshall sound in one amp). It lacks a bit high end sparkle (good for Fender sounds) but has more mid honk (good for Marshall sounds) than a Jensen C12Q.
I'd assume the 10'' Eminence 102 might sound similar.

[TD_Madden]

You might look at the Warehouse speaker's Vintage 10s as well...they are pretty midrangey to me...and the price is pretty good.

[scole]

i use the reissue jensen ceramics in my 5f4 amps. they sound pretty good, very jangly and fendery sounding.

[RogerWilco99]

For Celestions, I like the G10 Vintage. I think it sounds better than the Tube 10 and the Rocket 50.

For Eiminence, I like Ragin Cajun followed by the Copperhead. The bottom end on the RamRod just seems a bit too loose for my taste.

For Jensen speakers, there are a lot to choose from.
I personally like the C10Q speakers from the Ceramic line (I have two in my Marshall Lead 12 stack).
The MOD10-50s are okay, too. But not my favorites.
The Neo-100 just doesn't sound right to me at all. It sounds somewhat glassy as though it has built in reverb but you don't get the main signal. It's hard to explain. The word that comes to mind is "disconnected".
The Jet line I don't much care for.
Of the Alnico line, which are my favorites of Jensens. They have a nice "full rounded" tone that can just roar with tube driven distortion. Yummy.
I really can't tell much difference between the standard Alnico speakers and the Vintage ones except the Vintage ones seem a little lacking in the mids compared to the standard Alnicos.

There are other makers as well but none that I'm that familiar with except for Webers. I really don't care for the tone of Webers. They seem somewhat tinny and sterile.

Anyway, that's my preference run-down.

If I had to pick just one, It would be a toss-up between the Celestion G10-Vintage, the Eminence Ragin Cajun and the Jensen C10Q.

I have a 2x10 cab with Celestion G10-Vintage speakers in it that makes the Marshall 18 SuperLite TMB sound just incredible. The only thing that sounds better is the 2x12 cab I have with 2 Celestion Vintage 30s in it on that same head.

If I was playing through a Fender amp, though, I'd go with Jensens or Eminence. Probably the Eminence.

Celestions, for some weird reason, just seem go with Marshalls. I can't explain it, really.

Of course, all of that is purely subjective as it's my personal opinion. YMMV.

Cheers,
Bruce

[gmoon]

I put a Weber C10N in my hotrodded Kalamazoo Model One and it's amazing! Fat and punchy with lush overtones. It's the same magnet and voice coil that Jensen used in their C12N (Jensen never made a C10N), but CNC milled with a tighter VC gap.

FYI: Jensen did make a C10N. The Kalamazoo Bass 50 amps used two C10N's (I have a pair, 1966.)

I've read they show up some 60's Fender amps, too (Vibrolux.) Must not be very common, though.

[jvb]

G10 Greenback for mine. Very fat sound for 10"