Topic: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

So I've been on a quest of sorts for a year now to get my Blues Jr. to sound amazing.  I tried a speaker called the Cannibis Rex which is a hemp cone (Should have listened to Joe a few years back when he said "Thats hippie talk for bad tone") I hated that speaker, but thought I should break it in.  It sucked to my ears.  Currently I've got an old organ speaker in it called a Heppner, but the speaker is the wrong ohms so its cutting my amp down to 9 watts (my amp is modded with a larger transformer and its supposed to produce 18 watts of power at 8ohms.) 

So I put this speaker in the amp just for a while so I could still use the amp.  A week later I get a call from a friend who said his band's other guitarist quit and he needed me to take a spot.  Only problem is my amp is only putting out 9 watts and I had a gig the first week with them playing country, which I never played before then.  The gig went great and we mic'd the amp so that was good too.  For a while I was using my friends Flextone III which I'm sure you heard I said it was the Flexturd by line Sucks! 

A good friend of mine on the forum was kindly giving me an offer on a Fender 212 Deville that is impossible to turn down, but I've had to sell a lot to get the amp.  Which I have yet to raise the money.  So with the money I did raise I decided it was best for the moment to make due with what I've got, which meant spending more money.  So I bought a Eminence Guitar Speaker 12 Inch 8 Ohm Red Coat "The Governor" used for $75 total.  I chose this one because its supposed to be like a Celestion Green Back.  I'm just hoping that the speaker ohms being correct will let me compete with my friend's amp which is a peavey classic 410 form the 90's.  Most places we mic so I should be fine for now, but the deville still beckons me.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

I have an Eminence "Governor" speaker in my Blues Junior. Before that I had the Swamp Thang. I like the Gov better. Although you are mistaken on the Celestion association. The Governor was made to compete with the Vintage 30, not the Greenback. Nice thing about the Governor is that it's not as "ice picky" as the V30, so putting it in a brighter amp like blues jr is a good fit.

Here is the freq response for Governers
http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Governor.pdf

Here is the frew response for V30
http://www.mtraudio.com/imagesweb/cel_b … age_30.jpg

you can see similarities, but differences in the high end.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Wow that's interesting. I made recently an 1x12 open back with Cannabis rex and I'm in love with this cabinet... So many heads, so many sensations.

Maybe it's a good idea to try an alnico speaker. Like this Eric Johnson signature:

http://www.usspeaker.com/ej1250-1.htm

http://www.eminence.com/2012/02/eric-jo … ce-ej1250/

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Bonamazing, do realize the OP is the epitome of thrifty..! The EJ is a little $$

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

I put the Cannibus Rex in my Blues Jr and I think it sounds great! But I guess to each their own, of course. I also have one with a Emi Wizard in it... its not as boomy, but both amps blended together sounds great.


Logan

Block inlay Gibson ES-335, 50th anniversary American Strat, '61 RI White SG, '62 RI Relic Strat, Replica Korina Flying V, Gold Tone Paul Beard Resonator,  '58 Les Paul RI, American Highway 1 Fender Strat, Breedlove Acoustic, Stonetree Joe Bonamassa Custom, HIWATT Lead 100R, Reeves Custom 30.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Logan not sure what my deal was with the Cannibus Rex, maybe I was expecting the speaker to color my tone more then it did.  Maybe my mods to my amp were not a good combination with it.  All I can tell you is the stock speaker sounded much better to my ears after the mods, then the speaker I got (which was the Cannibis Rex) after having the mods for a few months prior to the speaker swap.  I gave it roughly a year when you were talking about replacing your speaker and it still didn't "speak" to me.  My Hope is even if I don't care for this speaker it will have to work for a while, but I hope I really like this speaker and I hope it will give me enough volume to play out unmic'd at places.  I'm planning running it wide open.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Well I can't seem to sell the Epiphone for what I want out of it, so I think my plans to buy the Deville are on hold.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

AD3THREE wrote:

Well I can't seem to sell the Epiphone for what I want out of it, so I think my plans to buy the Deville are on hold.

Sent you a PM...

Terrance Shuman
New Castle, DE

9 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2012-06-24 15:00:02)

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

My guitar teacher, who used to be a Hughes and Kettner rep, and toured as a guitar tech for AlexLifeson for a tour said that hemp cone speakers sound the greatest to his ear. Although he uses ToneTubby, not cannibis rex, he mentioned Eminence has tone tubby make the cannibis rex for emininence or something to that effect. The tone tubby speakers, however, are super expensive, so I'm thinking / hoping you get what you pay for there.

I personally made the jump from V30's to EVMs and couldn't be happier. The Governor in my BluesJR is great though, partly because an EVM would not fit, and I didn't want the BluesJR to be too heavy to carry around! lol

http://www.hempcone.com/tonetubby.com_new/index.html

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Maybe its me, but that hemp cone just seemed dull.  I heard Jazz players really like that cone which I think I could see that.  But the stock speaker sounded so much better in it.  I guess I'm so used to a speaker that colors the tone a little that I expect to hear that.  Nothing against you guys that like speakers that don't color your tone, but I think its a pretty important piece to the puzzle of finding the tone in your head.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

I have the Eminence "Wizard" in my Blues jr.III. It came stock in my Limited Edition "Red October" Blues jr.III. I sounds good, but it sounds amazing when the amp is cranked on full, then it really shines.

Keep Calm
     and
Carry On

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Believe me when I had the Cannibis Rex I cranked it.  I played it wide open for 2 hours one night.  I really liked the old speaker that was stock in it.  I'm hoping this one will solve all my issues.  So far every video I've seen or heard of the speaker with the jr. sounds fantastic.

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Bill M Mods say the speaker is the last thing you need to mod on a blues JR if you do all the other mods. "The Billm basic mods will go a long way to helping this speaker deliver." This webpage goes over all of the speakers and how they sound in a Blues JR.
http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=295

I did almost every single mod to my green board blues jr, and thought it made a huge difference. Then I experimented with stock speaker versus eminence swamp thang versus governor. I think swamp thang sounded the cleanest, sort of wish I still had it in my bluesJR, but am happy with the governor smile

Here's an excerpt of the page linked above:

Fender Special Design (stock speaker)
This is the stock speaker in all black and blonde Tolex Blues Juniors and old green board tweeds. The speaker is made by Eminence and it’s roughly equivalent to the Legend 125/1258. This speaker has been used in hundreds of thousands of Fender amps, including the Deluxe Reverb, Hot Rod Deluxe, Twin Reverb, Blues Deluxe, and many others. It’s a decent, all-around speaker. It doesn’t have the deepest bass, and the highs can sound kind of fizzy, but it’s well balanced. Many people decide to leave it alone after they do the mods. The “farty” tone in the bass of a stock Blues Junior is mostly due to poor design decisions in the amp, not flaws in the speaker. One surprising new observation about the stock speaker: The more power you give it, the better it sounds. My 5881-powered 25-watt Blues Junior has the stock speaker in it, and it sounds awesome. The Billm basic mods will go a long way to helping this speaker deliver.

Eminence Cannabis Rex
The Cannabis Rex gets its name from its hemp cone. Hemp fibers strengthen the cone and impart a different flavor than typical paper cones. The cones are made for Eminence by Tone Tubby, the leader in hemp-cone speakers. This is the warm/clean jazz speaker! It’s a great clean speaker, but its cleans have that hemp cone personality–soft-edged, but not mushy.  It handles overdrive and distortion very well when you push it. It’s very efficient, one of the loudest speakers you can put in an amp, and it pushes out pretty, round bass notes really well. The top end is very sweet, even forgiving. This speaker couldn’t make a harsh note if it tried and is beautifully balanced bottom to top. Super for creamy lead work.

Eminence Swamp Thang
There’s nothing swampy about the Swamp Thang–this is the loudest, cleanest speaker in Eminence’s lineup, but its response is tilted towards the bass side. Eminence calls the treble response  moderate, but I find its highs more prominent than the Texas Heat’s. It produces big, round lows, even in the BJr’s small cabinet. The magnet is huge and it will add noticeable weight to your BJr. It might hit an aftermarket, larger output transformer like the Heyboer I use. You can probably spin the baffle 180 degrees to place it at the lower right instead of upper left (from the back) for clearance. I use the Swamp Thang on my test bench because it’s so clean (I want to hear the amp, not the speaker) and the moderate highs keep the ice pick tones out of my ears. The Swamp Thang is not a truly neutral speaker; it adds a warm, woodwind-like undertone.

Celestion Vintage 30
The V30 was one of the tone pillars of the classic rock era: huge, powerful mids and early breakup. Four of these in a half stack and you were on your way to rock god status. But they were often tempered in half stacks by a pair of Greenbacks to fill out the bottom end. The V30 has less bass and less treble than the stock Special Design speaker. Fender chose the V30 for the Texas Red special edition of the Blues Junior and you can hear the difference right away. It’s a standout for lead guitar and for rhythm guitar that stays out of the way of the bass player. If you like thumpy bass or need clean headroom, look elsewhere. Some players say they get more clean headroom with the V30, but I think that’s because the mids are prominent and that’s the most sensitive area of our hearing, so it sounds louder.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Bought a new speaker for my Blues Jr.

Well the speaker came in today, and I was mad that the guy must have left it out under a tree or something their was pollen all over it!  Compressed air blew most of the stuff way but the speaker has some places that are kind of sticky so it didn't get it all.  I just left it.  I soldered the wire to the speaker, just before band practice tonight.  My first time hearing it was with the band.  One thing I will say is it sure was a tight squeeze.  I had a hard time keep the metal on the amp from sticking to the speaker while I was putting it back together, but I got it and it left maybe a 1/4 inch or so from the transformers so I was happy.  The tone?  Perfect!  I played my Les Paul Traditional Pro tonight instead of my SG and it was incredible.  I didn't have to use any distortion pedals just my distortion from the preamp.  I could back it off and it wouldn't loose any of its edge, and I could get the volume up past 2 and it would run us out of the room much louder.  This is because we practice with an Electric Drum kit and not an Acoustic drum kit.  Nobody wants to go too deaf before the shows!  So later I asked my friend was it worth $75? and he said ten fold!