What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

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Embenny
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Embenny » Fri Nov 11, 2022 5:54 pm

JackFawkes wrote:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 10:32 am
I'm glad the Jensen C12K ended up as a reasonable suggestion.
I was eyeing this thread last night before anyone else responded, but I didn't write anything because I only have experience with a very small handful of cabs and speakers... but I do like and would recommend the open-back 1x12 that I currently own, which has a C12K in it :freako:
They're also pretty abundant, you can usually pick one up second-hand for pretty cheap.

Jack
øøøøøøø wrote:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:09 pm
If I were in this position I'd do a C12K hands down. Good speaker, plentiful, not too exotic or expensive
Well, folks, we have a decision made here!

The seller of this "gently used" C12K just accepted my offer.

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$50 USD and reasonable shipping. Easily worth it to turn my little Power Engine into my Fender/Supro stand-in. I can't thank all you guys enough, I'd never have searched for this specific model at this specific moment. I feel like I got a solid deal there.

I'm going to keep the other suggestions in mind if this little experiment kicks off a cab/amp buying spree like I think it might, particularly the Celestion Gold. I've listened to a bunch of speaker demos and that one really does seem to sound good with everything (at least, within my musical wheelhouse). But for this cheap little combo amp, I'm super excited to try out something more flattering at this price point. I'm glad there was a deal available on this one, or I might have tortured myself with indecision for a while. I'm sure my next amp/cab will provide that opportunity, though.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by DeathJag » Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:53 pm

I see a lot of Jensens with those lines in their cones. Looks like a repair, but why is it straight and why do so many have them? I doubt it affects the sound at all though.

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Embenny » Fri Nov 11, 2022 7:02 pm

I've seen it a lot too, so I assumed it was related to the manufacturing method. The seller certainly didn't disclose any repairs. They said they bought this in the wrong impedance for their 2x12 so they used it briefly before ordering a pair in the correct impedance. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Larsongs » Fri Nov 11, 2022 9:59 pm

If you have other Spkr Cabs try running your Amp thru them.. You may find one you like.. Before going down the rabbit hole buying for a Spkr’s for a Digital Amp…

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by 46346 » Sat Nov 12, 2022 1:42 am

DeathJag wrote:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:53 pm
I see a lot of Jensens with those lines in their cones. Looks like a repair, but why is it straight and why do so many have them? I doubt it affects the sound at all though.

pretty sure they all have that seam in the cone, from the factory.
some speaker cones are formed as one piece, but many are cut and
joined into a cone shape at that seam.

i recall seeing a lot of original seamed cone speakers from the 60's onward,
that haven't been repaired or re-coned. they were assembled that way in the first place.

some of my 50's and early 60's combo amps had the formed/un-seamed cones.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Sauerkraut » Sat Nov 12, 2022 2:20 am

Good choice and great deal! I find buying (moderately) used is the best way to go with speakers; cheaper and less breaking in to do.

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by JackFawkes » Sat Nov 12, 2022 10:24 am

mbene085 wrote:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 5:54 pm
$50 USD and reasonable shipping. Easily worth it to turn my little Power Engine into my Fender/Supro stand-in. I can't thank all you guys enough, I'd never have searched for this specific model at this specific moment. I feel like I got a solid deal there.
That's perfect! I don't think the C12K is an end-all be-all speaker, but it is very good to the point that it's kinda hard to beat (for Fender sounds), especially for the price second-hand.
And since it's such a well-known quantity, if you don't end up loving it, it makes an easy baseline of comparison to try to find another speaker that's "like the C12K but with more X or less Y".

Jack

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by øøøøøøø » Sat Nov 12, 2022 4:15 pm

JackFawkes wrote:
Sat Nov 12, 2022 10:24 am
mbene085 wrote:
Fri Nov 11, 2022 5:54 pm
$50 USD and reasonable shipping. Easily worth it to turn my little Power Engine into my Fender/Supro stand-in. I can't thank all you guys enough, I'd never have searched for this specific model at this specific moment. I feel like I got a solid deal there.
That's perfect! I don't think the C12K is an end-all be-all speaker, but it is very good to the point that it's kinda hard to beat (for Fender sounds), especially for the price second-hand.
And since it's such a well-known quantity, if you don't end up loving it, it makes an easy baseline of comparison to try to find another speaker that's "like the C12K but with more X or less Y".

Jack
Exactly this.

It's an old cliché but... if I can't sound good with a Fender amp into a reissue C12K, it's probably not the speaker's fault.

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Embenny » Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:02 pm

And that certainly sounds good to me. My goal was to get this little combo sounding good enough that I'd sometimes want to use it, compared to the last several years that it's sat untouched in the basement.

Even if I only end up running Fender tones with it, that'll be infinitely more use than I was getting out of it previously. I'm hoping the Supro sounds decent enough through it as well.

I can worry about Marshall tones with another cab, or stick with FRFR for those for now.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Embenny » Wed Nov 23, 2022 1:49 pm

The speaker has cleared customs and should be delivered soon.

Really looking forward to testing it out.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Arthon » Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:55 pm

I have quite the same issue with my Chris Stapleton Princeton. The stock speaker sounds fine, but is too loud. It's not versatile since it make the amp too loud when it's start to sound good. Great for band playing; but it's not why I bought this Princeton.

I have bought a C12R since it's the less sensitive speaker 12 inches I have seen. Dont know if I like it or not. I know I should gave it time to break-in, but reading this thread, maybe I should have bought a C12K.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by JackFawkes » Tue Dec 06, 2022 5:21 pm

The OP going from an FRFR speaker to any other guitar speaker is difficult since you don't really have any baseline from comparison coming off of the FRFR.
The C12R you chose was probably a good option to try since it sounds like lower sensitivity was one of your main goals, and it's hard to get lower than the 92.3 dB that it offers... the C12K would seem noticeably louder by comparison with its 99 dB.
Out of curiosity, could you tell us what is it about the C12R that you aren't loving? If I'm not mistaken, I think both the C12R and C12K are generally considered to be in a fairly similar sonic ballpark aside from their sensitivity and power handling differences.

Jack

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by Arthon » Wed Dec 07, 2022 7:00 am

JackFawkes wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 5:21 pm
The OP going from an FRFR speaker to any other guitar speaker is difficult since you don't really have any baseline from comparison coming off of the FRFR.
The C12R you chose was probably a good option to try since it sounds like lower sensitivity was one of your main goals, and it's hard to get lower than the 92.3 dB that it offers... the C12K would seem noticeably louder by comparison with its 99 dB.
Out of curiosity, could you tell us what is it about the C12R that you aren't loving? If I'm not mistaken, I think both the C12R and C12K are generally considered to be in a fairly similar sonic ballpark aside from their sensitivity and power handling differences.

Jack
Too Harsh and too much treble... But maybe it's just a not-broken-in-speaker case. What I like is that it made that amp volume more manageable and some lbs lighter. It also sound Fendery with less mid then the stock speaker.
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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by JackFawkes » Wed Dec 07, 2022 8:35 am

I haven't owned many speakers, and all of them were used/second hand, so I don't have much personal experience with break-in; but I've heard countless people say that it makes a big difference, and that the modern Jensens in particular take a while to loosen up.
This will probably sound like a silly question, but have you experimented much with trying to control the Treble earlier in the signal chain?
Reducing the resonant peak of the pickups at the guitar by rolling back the Tone knob, or adjusting the taper of the high-end on any pedals between the guitar and amp? If you get lucky, the tone/treble control of something in your chain might help cut some of the specific frequencies you're not liking.

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Re: What's a good all-around 12" speaker for an open-back 1x12?

Post by øøøøøøø » Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:05 pm

My experience has also been that the C12R and C12K aren’t as similar as I might have expected

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