Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

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DavidLeeGoth
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Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by DavidLeeGoth » Wed Jun 17, 2020 9:08 am

Hey folks, this is my first post on Offset after scanning it for years, not only for offset advice, but advice on pedals, amps, recording, etc. I've always felt my taste in music was more reflected here than elsewhere, so thanks for the tips and tricks I've gleaned from here.

Anyway, I'm having what I've determined to be a partial speaker issue with my JC-40. I bought this amp 3 years ago and tbh I haven't really played it a ton, mainly because I switched to learning drums two years ago and haven't played much guitar in general. I also pretty much never boost the amp bc I'm a solo studio project so there's no real need. However, in the past two months I've noticed a significant noise artifact in certain notes, from around G# on the A string to low E on the E string in standard tuning. I switched out one of the speakers with an old Randall speaker from my neighbor's cab and I immediately noticed that it lessened the severity of it, to the point that I feel it would be a negligible coloration when recording, if perceptible at all.

Therefore, after determining it was probably a speaker issue, I need to determine how to proceed. I don't know much about the reconing process but these speakers really have not seen that much wear honestly

Can anyone here recommend a speaker replacement that will reproduce the JC cleans well? I have a 2x12 cab for the heavier stuff I'm playing so I don't really need this amp to handle distortion well, but I would prefer a speaker that does well with moderate overdrive. I'm mostly playing ambient, dreamy stuff through it (a la Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, etc.) so something that would pull off those tones, preferably something that isn't too bright in the top end. Unfortunately, most of the threads I've read have been for the JC120, and therefore rules out classic clean speakers like JBL 12s and EV12s, and I haven't had much luck finding EV10Ls or EV10Ms online. Any help is greatly appreciated

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by beauzooka » Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:37 am

I'm sure that the JBL and EV's sound great but they are usually heavy. Especially the EV's.
JC40's are 2x10" right? I'd go for a something like a pair of Eminence Rajun Cajuns. I have a 12" Cannabis Rex that has a great top end without harshness - they make a 10" version now. Anything loud, clear and somewhat neutral.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by beauzooka » Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:47 am

I forgot to ask, what ohm speakers are the originals?

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by DavidLeeGoth » Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:50 am

8ohms. And thank you for the recommendation, I've heard those Eminences thrown out in other threads about replacement JC speakers. I'm probably looking at them or the Jensen Mods currently

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by cestlamort » Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:28 pm

As has been said, the EVM and JBL speakers will be heavy (they'll probably sound great, though). I remember hearing good things about the Jensens when I was going to replace the speakers in my JC77 (I ultimately kept them and am more than satisfied). Maybe the Weber California?

Maybe keep an eye out on Reverb (etc) for a bit to see if a used Roland one pops up.

Any chance that it's still under warranty? If the unpleasant sound doesn't go away entirely, it may be something other than the speaker.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by jvin248 » Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:00 pm

.

Hop on Youtube and search for "Johann Sageborn" and all his speaker reviews. He did a deep dive into Celestions where he compared 27 different versions through the years and models.

.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by DavidLeeGoth » Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:56 am

cestlamort wrote:
Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:28 pm
As has been said, the EVM and JBL speakers will be heavy (they'll probably sound great, though). I remember hearing good things about the Jensens when I was going to replace the speakers in my JC77 (I ultimately kept them and am more than satisfied). Maybe the Weber California?

Maybe keep an eye out on Reverb (etc) for a bit to see if a used Roland one pops up.

Any chance that it's still under warranty? If the unpleasant sound doesn't go away entirely, it may be something other than the speaker.
See, I'm worried about getting another set of Rolands because I'm wondering if this is just how they're voiced or whatever. Like I said, it really doesn't have that much wear on it. I unfortunately bought it used in late 2016, but the guy I bought it from said he'd barely played it and I believed him bc it looked brand new and it had only been out for like a year anyway.

I need to read up more on the Californias, I remember a guy in one thread saying Weber sent him an email to say the Michigan would work well in a JC. Thanks for the recs!

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by cestlamort » Thu Jun 18, 2020 7:09 am

Maybe try a Jensen mod or similar as a stopgap solution - the Weber ones will probably be great but maybe not five times ($200 vs $40 each) great.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by eggwheat » Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:38 am

It's not a very good amp.

I would just sell it and a look for JC-77 or JC-85..or even a JC-90. All 2x10 with much more headroom and a much better chorus.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by DavidLeeGoth » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:15 am

eggwheat wrote:
Thu Jun 18, 2020 10:38 am
It's not a very good amp.

I would just sell it and a look for JC-77 or JC-85..or even a JC-90. All 2x10 with much more headroom and a much better chorus.
Hmm yeah I think it does what I want for the most part. It's a pretty loud amp already, and I don't need much headroom as I'm not really gigging or jamming or anything right now, just mostly using it for a solo recording project. That being said, I am not against scrapping it and buying something better that would fit the dreamy, modulated clean stuff I'm going for, including another JC if the voicing is better suited to the style of music. Any other amp suggestions for that style of music would be appreciated and I'll look into them.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by eggwheat » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:36 am

I'm not talking about loudness, I mean the JC-40 goes into distortion pretty easily..it doesn't take much to drive it. The JC-77 has a lot more clean headroom...at least in part due to; 1. The speakers are better. 2. The amp is rated at 80w RMS, twice that of the JC-40. And the really big bonus is you get a real analog JC chorus and reverb..rather than the odd digital versions in the JC-40.

And I bet it will be a lot cheaper to exchange than swapping out the speakers.

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by DavidLeeGoth » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:44 am

eggwheat wrote:
Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:36 am
I'm not talking about loudness, I mean the JC-40 goes into distortion pretty easily..it doesn't take much to drive it. The JC-77 has a lot more clean headroom...at least in part due to; 1. The speakers are better. 2. The amp is rated at 80w RMS, twice that of the JC-40. And the really big bonus is you get a real analog JC chorus and reverb..rather than the odd digital versions in the JC-40.

And I bet it will be a lot cheaper to exchange than swapping out the speakers.
Oh ok, that's interesting about the onboard effects sounding better in the JC-77. I understand the concept of headroom but really haven't noticed the JC-40 distorting at the volume I play at so it's never really been an issue, but I guess if I ever did want to gig or jam out it would help to have something like the 77. Thanks for sharing that!

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Re: Speaker Replacement for Roland JC40

Post by eggwheat » Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:27 am

Well the JC77 is the original stereo 2x10 JC. The JC-85 is a later update and the JC-90 is the same but has eminence speakers(IIRC). But they all have the original analog JC chorus and a spring reverb unit. The JC-40 has digital chorus and reverb emulations which don't sound like the originals..the reverb is a hall reverb...not an emulation of a spring reverb. And the chorus doesn't really sound like the famous JC chorus either.

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