Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

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jeff m.
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Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by jeff m. » Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:24 pm

Hey all.
I've owned one of those early '90s Fender Vibroverb '63 Reissue amps for a number of years..fabulous amp, but the last 18 months or so it has been relegated to 'spare' in favor of an early '80s Vox V15 Twin ( now THERE is an amp you don't hear discussed very often !).

Pulled the Fender out the other day to loan to a friend passing through for a gig, & was surprised to rediscover how HEAVY it is !! When I was using it regularly, I kinda knew it was weighty, but don't recall it being quite as 'boat anchor' as it actually is !

So, friend returns it- raving about the sound- which has in turn inspired me to switch back for a while & give the Vox a bit of a break..BUT, I really don't know if I can deal with the weight issue.

It's a 2 x 10'', currently with Fane speakers*, which sound fine as is, but are there any 10'' speakers currently on the market that pair quality w/ light weight ? I'm somewhat out of the 'loop' as to modern speakers..anyone have any recommendations ?

*The amp came with its stock 10'' Oxford speakers, which were certainly 'lightweight', but are also one of the first things owners change out on these amps..they simply sound 'flabby', among other not very flattering attributes..however, having had them, at least I know that the added weight is due to the speaker swap..

Oops, this was more long-winded than I intended :blush: , but any opinions, recommendations etc., very much appreciated !

Very best,
Jeff.

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honeyiscool
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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by honeyiscool » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:23 am

If you want light, nice, modern speakers that can handle a ton of wattage and not give you flub but still with some character, you're looking at the Jensen Tornado 10, which are neodymium speakers that can handle 100 watts each.

If you want light, nice, more classic Fender sounding speakers that will give you some of that Fender rattiness with early breakup characteristics, you are looking at the Eminence 1028K, which are very lightweight alnico drivers.

If you want light, nice, modern speakers that will have absolutely zero cone cry or speaker distortion/breakup and give you exactly what the tubes and transformer are giving out, then you should check out the Celestion BN10-200X, which are 200 watt neodymium bass drivers, but Celestion bass drivers happen to make great guitar speakers.

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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by Despot » Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:23 am

There's also Weber to consider.

I fitted a Weber 10 inch to my old SF Princeton NR a few years back - as well as sounding fantastic it represented a huge improvement over the non-original EV speaker that was originally in there - it went from boat anchor to portable again. They do two different variants of their 10 inch speaker too - I went for their heritage sort of ceramic magnet speaker (i.e. their version of what would have been in original BF Princetons) and it was a mighty fine sounding speaker - but they have versions of it with more head room too.

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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by jeff m. » Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:35 pm

Great ! Many thanks for the replies, guys..much appreciated.

Yeah, the Eminence 1028K comes up often in searches, but there had been no indication that they are also lightweight..I'd normally run this amp at around 5 so, honeyiscool, your tonal description fits the bill well..a tiny hint of 'rattiness' at mid-point is all good ! Pretty much the way it sounds currently with the Fanes, but just too bloody heavy !

Seems they are widely available, too ( helpful, as I'm in Australia & shipping costs can be brutal ! ).

Again, many thanks to you both..time to do some shopping & get this amp back on the road.

Best,
Jeff.

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46346
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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by 46346 » Mon Apr 02, 2018 11:20 pm

wow - them Fanes... do they have huge magnets on them?
my AC15 is heavier than my Fender Vibrolux (70's 2x10).
it seems all of my combo amps with 10's are not a problem with weight, except my custom 3x10 Bassmania, but that's the heavy iron on the chassis bringin' it down.

the stock Vibroverb '63 Reissue never struck me as being especially heavy. not like my AC-15. do you have a photo of those Fanes?
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jeff m.
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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by jeff m. » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:02 pm

Hey 46346.

Yep, huge magnets on the Fanes, & just the 'frames' themselves are super heavy duty !

No model numbers on them that I can see, either. Fanes seem to have a fine reputation, & they certainly sound good..just too bloody heavy, to the point where I'm just not using the amp at all, in favour of my Vox V15.

Unlike pretty much everyone else who owns a '63 VVRI, I actually didn't mind the sound of the original Oxford 10'' speakers..years back, a friend had it on loan when one of them blew..the only 10' speakers the local amp guy had on hand were these Fanes, so that's how they ended up in there.

Also, yep..the amp was very light & portable before, hence looking into lighter speakers to start using it again !

Don't have any pics atm, will see what I can do..was there anything in particular you were looking for ?

Best,
Jeff.

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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by oid » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:44 pm

Back when I did the amp tech thing a common mod I offered on such amps was to put a pair of handles on the amp, one on each end of the top, parallel to the chassis straps. Makes carrying much easier and even makes it simple for a two person carry. Most everyone jumped at that mod when offered, no idea why it is not more common.

The single central handle on many amps is completely ridiculous, especially in Fenders which tend to be off balance with the power transformer at one end and the output transformer in the middle.
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Re: Quality, lightweight 10'' speakers ?

Post by 601210 » Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:39 am

oid wrote:
Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:44 pm
Back when I did the amp tech thing a common mod I offered on such amps was to put a pair of handles on the amp, one on each end of the top, parallel to the chassis straps. Makes carrying much easier and even makes it simple for a two person carry. Most everyone jumped at that mod when offered, no idea why it is not more common.

The single central handle on many amps is completely ridiculous, especially in Fenders which tend to be off balance with the power transformer at one end and the output transformer in the middle.
AC30s are the only ones I can think of that has handles like that, which makes sense to me 'cause I can barely pick up an AC15

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