Replacement speaker for Champ Amp

[MonkHouse93]

So everywhere I look nobody seems to like the original speaker. Personally I like it very much. I've used a weber in another champ before, I didn't like it too much. So I'm not looking to improve the sound, but more to retain the original sound with a different speaker because these old oxfords like to tear after a while. Before I bought that weber about a quarter of that oxford's speaker cone was toilet paper and elmer's glue. It worked nicely until i tried rubber cement on the surround and it became stiff and ripped where the surround meets the basket. . . anyway something that essentially sounds like the oxford but perhaps handles the "bass" a little more, I was thinking a Jensen P8R.

[riz]

Troll ebay for an old one, or just get a Tone Tubby alnico and never look back.

[MonkHouse93]

Their hemp cone thing they have going is pretty enticing, thank you for the suggestion.

[riz]

Yeah, I was skeptical though, until I picked a couple up for a friend, and had to keep one. They're expensive, but let me tell you, my Champ is a MONSTER now--it just sounds so good at every volume setting. It took maybe a few days to break it in, but I remember playing it one day, and it "happened" right when I was playing, just sweetened up the more I played. Pretty cool experience. It's an amazing speaker. The ceramic, I don't like so much. Huge bass though. I tried both.

[riz]

I need to add that I recently rehabbed a Bronco/vibrochamp that had a solid original speaker. It did sound good, and maybe just a little better when fully cranked, alone--just a bit more "soft" and chimey while clipping, but the TT is very rich and full of harmonics even clean, and makes the Champ much more useful as a musical tool. I feel like I'm playing through a "real" amp when I'm jamming around the house with other musicians, and it has way more balls even quiet. That original didn't really sound good until the amp was up to about 7 on the volume dial. Tone is so subjective, but I value my amps as tools, and I've gotten over obsessing over every detail of my amps' sound when I'm by myself. It's what happens when I'm trying to make music that matters more. My TT replaced a newer Fender replacement speaker that I previously had no problems with. Now it sounds relatively like a cardboard box--I still use it when I need it on the bench for testing.

[MonkHouse93]

I usually crank my champ all the way, all the time, while occasionally bring it down to 6 to clean it up. It seems to retain the full bodied sound it has at 10, just clean sounding is all. Below there it starts to wimp out a bit. The about the original speaker is that it's cheesy sounding, and that's exactly what I like about it, I don't quite want it to sound like a "real" amp, unless these Tone Tub's really are that great. This replacement I intend to use for practice and then use the original for when it matters, although the real decision between the two will occur when I can AB test them. I will definitely look into Tone Tubby though, I mean the Jensen I mentioned is only about 5 bucks cheaper, why not go that extra "mile"? Thank you for this.

[riz]

Hope whatever you choose works out for ya! FWIW I tried the Jensen in a friends Champ and wasn't all that impressed with it. It didn't suck, just didn't do anything magical. I think we get so used to certain tones sometimes we fear change, but I'm learning that it all comes from the hands anyway, so every little bit of an edge up just helps. I'm finding I sound like me through anything... Hell I just ditched my all-time favorite guitar in Europe two weeks ago, and I'm just loving playing anything I can get my hands on now (got a few others), best thing I've done in a while, and it'll be there waiting for me next time I go over!

[MonkHouse93]

I understand what you mean by that, it is you playing after all I don't think I'd ditch my favorite guitar though, unless I find another that I like even more. This is kind of a similar situation, but I used to always play an American strat and thought this thing is great, then one day I picked up my dad's old mexi strat and well that's all I play now. Now I'm waiting on the delivery of electronics to restore the jap strat I first learned to play on. I restrung it, tweaked the action a bit and if it weren't for non-functioning electronics that mexi strat would have sat on a stand for quite a while.

[riz]

Those old Japanese strats are great, if that's what you have. I didn't get rid of my axe, I plan to spend more time over there. It's safe. I have a slew of other great guitars that were getting dusty. Main gigging axe is now a '57 Gretsch Duo-jet, so life is good! I also have another project guitar--intended as a back-up-- just like my main one (60s Gretsch Corvette) languishing on the bench--just need to finish the fret-work, so this situation is motivating. If you decide to go TT for the speaker, you may find you don't need to dime the Champ for great tone, unless that's what you're after. It's kind of like going from an 8" to a 10". What I was trying to get at in my last post was that the way this speaker sounds even clean, it brings out a response in my playing as if I was playing with higher gain, due to the richness of the tone, and the touch sensitivity is great, really full cleans playing soft and you can really dig in and drive it too and it doesn't fall apart. It handles the bass and then some--I'm not limited to the lower ranges on the bass knob anymore, as the volume knob goes up. Hope I'm not muddling all this for ya with all my gushing!

[MonkHouse93]

Not at all, And the dimed champ tone is what I'm after, kinda like Clapton with Derek & The Dominos. I just need a speaker that can handle it in the long run. I probably should have kept the bass lower but it just lacked without it. That's probably what keeps getting to the champ speakers, and the fact that they're over 30 years old. How do I tell if it's a Japanese strat like you're thinking? This is just natural finish with nothing on it to tell me what it is, aside from "Made in Japan" on the neck plate. Not even a decal on the head. Perhaps I will put up another thread for its restoration. The speaker will have to wait a bit though, but after your raving I think the Tone Tub will be the one. Aside from tone, the other thing that I keep thinking about is the power difference. This is a Silverface champ, pushing about 6 watts it says on the back, and of course even more when over driven. Fender kept using 5 Watt speakers in them, that's another reason why they tear on me, but I think that since the speaker is rated for lower power than the amp, there's an element of cone distortion that may not be there anymore, which is why I chose Weber over Jensen lest time, the lowest power 8 inch they had was 10 Watts. This Tone Tubby is 25 watts? I suppose it's not that big of a deal.

[pops]

I like the 8" Weber alnico vintage. It's $30 if i remember the last one i got and sounds very warm especially when pushed. They are made to sound like the vintage Jensen that would have been in a lot of old Fenders.

[MonkHouse93]

I have a weber Chicago Vintage, I don't enjoy it too much. . . I haven't tried one of the sig 8s yet though

[riz]

I'm still stoked on my choice.