Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

[greco]

I am in the process of building a Champ and will be putting the amp into a head.

Then, I intend to build a pine speaker cab for a 10" or 12" speaker.

My question is: Which speaker would be a good choice for blues and some basic rock tones ? I'm thinking more American blues, not British.* (* no offense intended)

I'm prepared to invest reasonable coin to get the best tones.

Thanks for the help.

Dave

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Depends on what kind of champ you are talking about...Black Face Champs sound far better through 10's than the stock 8's IMO. If you use a standard Champ output tranny you'll need a 4 ohm speaker and to be honest I woudl order a 4 ohm Weber VST 10...I would order a 4 ohm 10A100T. That is a copy of a mid 50's Jensen P10RT and it doesn't get more american that that!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

actually...I'd do the same for a tweed Champ too!

 

[greco]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Many thanks for your comments

A friend (who has built many amps) is helping me and is suggesting that I use a Hammond 125ESE output transformer and a power transformer rated at 300-0-330 at 250 ma. He is saying that these will allow for "experimenting" in the future, if I want to try something else.
Seems like this OT can be wired for 4 or 8 ohms.

Does this change your recommendations ?

I am building the amp from a schem by Kevin O'Connor (from his book "The Ultimate Tone -Volume 3")

Dave

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

I would still go with that Weber I mentioned...I have one in my Mission AMps tweed Super and it's just a great speaker, if you can go with an 8 ohm then go with it...

 

[BigDaddy]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Allen Amps has a bigger output transformer for a champ that has an 8 ohm tap and can be used with either 6V6, 6L6 or EL34's if I am not mistaken.

It's really not th size of the speaker as much as what you are trying to do. Since the amp is only going to put out somewhere between 5-10 watts look at the factors.

You don't need a speaker rated higher than 25 watts if you crank it. A 12" speaker will give you a bigger sound, more lowend. It's possible a 10" speaker would be a better choice if you are looking for a cleaner sound that cuts. The size of the cabinet makes a big difference.

It's my opinion that 8" speakers just do not sound good for guitar, much better for harp.

I am most familiar with old Jensen's so I would ask you this. Are you interested in an alnico with seems to breakup sooner and has more compression or a ceramic which will be cleaner and tighter sounding?

Using speakers with a higher SPL will make the amp louder. Webervst speaker do that.

I would use a Jensen C10N which is a ceramic magnet, 1.5" vc and is a very clean speaker. There are equivalent speakers on the market. Those speakers have a lot of lows.

Or a P12Q or C12Q is a good choice. It's a bigger sound with more breakup and distortion. It has a 1.25" vc and a smaller magnet than the N model. There are also equivalent speakers on the market.

There is also a P/C12R model with a smaller magnet and a 1" vc that would not give as much lowend as the 10 but really breakup nicely.

You could make a cab with a baffle for a 10" speaker and another baffle for a 12" since your are building the cab yourself. Than you can experiment with different speakers.

You could also make a cab for 2-10" speakers and use a C10R and a P10R in it since the transformer I spoke have has 2 taps.

 

[Curly]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

this is likely not a problem with a larger cab, but I couldn't fit an alnico 8" in my tweed champ -- had to use a ceramic

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Depends on what kind of champ you are talking about...Black Face Champs sound far better through 10's than the stock 8's IMO. If you use a standard Champ output tranny you'll need a 4 ohm speaker and to be honest I woudl order a 4 ohm Weber VST 10...I would order a 4 ohm 10A100T. That is a copy of a mid 50's Jensen P10RT and it doesn't get more american that that!

Christian's right on the money. I agree on the Weber. The model to get is the 4 ohm version of what Ted used to call his P10RT. Jensen never made one called that though...Jensen called it the P10R. No "T". Ted offered two new versions of the 50's Jensen P10R: the Weber P10R which had the early 50's smooth cone with more mids and less treble and the P10RT which had the late 50's ribbed cone style like you'd find in a real '59 Fender Bassman with more highs. Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

^^^^^^^^

Thats right...I always add the T to the Jensen for some reason. That is the peaker ted now calls a 10A100T and it is a great speaker.

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Thats right...I always add the T to the Jensen for some reason.

"T" for Ted.



At least, that's what you can tell people.

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

In The Guitar Amp Handbook, Dave Hunter has a Champ-inspired kit that has 1 x 8" Jensen C8R and 1 x 10" Jensen c10Q in a combo. If you're using mostly humbuckers he recommends 1 x 12", a Celestion G12H-30.
I read something about a "detuned" cabinet and thought about making a 212 box, slightly larger than "normal", with thumb-screw detachable baffles for one set of speakers.
A fixed 12" baffle in one position with a Hellatone and removable baffles for the other position; an empty 12" for the "detuned" thing, a baffle with the 8" and 10" Jensens and another baffle with the G12H-30.

If I ever get a wild hair, I'll put Tone Tubbys in there, instead.

Oh, and I was gonna make the back panel section removalbe for both open and closed back sounds.

Dave Hunters book:
http://www.backbeatbooks.com/?articleid=59

The detuned cabinet thing:
http://www.londonpower.com/speakers.htm

MM

 

[greco]

Re: Best Speaker for a Champ build ?

Thanks for all the responses!
Lew: I'm assuming that Christian is "The Guy Who Invented Fire"

I want to keep the amp simple (as it is first build), with a light weight cab, I'd also prefer to stay with alnico magnets, would like the amp to break up at fairly low volumes, and with more mids than highs.

So, after reading all of this I'm leaning towards the Weber P10R. Is this the correct conclusion?

Thanks again

Dave