1963 Fender Brown Deluxe Speaker suggestions and other questions...

[daveS]

I just picked up a little '63 Fender Deluxe Brown.

I'm not sure I'm diggin' the speaker in it too much.....anyone have one of these amp and could suggest a good speaker ?

Thanks
-Dave



P.S..... Also, the amp heats up a lot and there is a slight burning smell coming from it. The heat seems to be coming from the power tube area ...the tube base and the chassis around the tubes gets pretty hot. Any ideas ? ...this doesn't seem good to me but it doesn't seem to affect the tone.

[slider313]

Does it have the original Oxford? I have a '61 Vibrolux and never cared for the brown bell Oxford. They're not that efficent and quite bright. I have a '63 Jensen C12N in it and it sounds great.

[Jahn]

+1 on the C12N. I had 4 of those in my Brownface Concert and that was a great clean amp.

[Swarty]

C12N is a good choice (not sure how 4 of them got in a Concert?), but I'd prefer an original P12N or Celestion Blue (reissue or original).

[JimmyR]

I have a Celestion Gold in my 5E3 and it's fantastic. Tried some Webers - C12N, P12N, C12NT, Blue Dog, Celestion Blue and G12H. Like the Gold the best.

[daveS]

Cool responses guys...keep 'em coming.

According to the seller, the amp has a 60s Jensen P12R (not a reissue) in it.

[PRNDL]

Originally Posted by daveS

I just picked up a little '63 Fender Deluxe Brown.
Also, the amp heats up a lot and there is a slight burning smell coming from it. The heat seems to be coming from the power tube area ...the tube base and the chassis around the tubes gets pretty hot. Any ideas ? ...this doesn't seem good to me but it doesn't seem to affect the tone.

You may want to have a basic service for the amp to check everything out in the output section (bias, voltages, electrolytics). Something wrong there would dramatically affect the tone.

[slider313]

Originally Posted by daveS

Cool responses guys...keep 'em coming.

According to the seller, the amp has a 60s Jensen P12R (not a reissue) in it.

A brown Deluxe will blow a P12R, unless you intend on keeping the volume VERY LOW.
Also, 1960 was the last year Jensen made alnico speakers, so it may be a '50's.

[Telebluze]

I know this will probably draw some heat because there's usually a mis-conception that you have to spend big bucks in order for something to be "good".........

That being said........the Eminence Red, White, and Blues is a phenomenal sounding speaker in that amp......it's equally as good in any Blackface application.....

.........and you can get 'em brand new for around $75 shipped.....

Thx,
Ken

[phsyconoodler]

Agreed about Eminence.
I like the Texas Heat.Killer speaker.They are superior sounding speakers for very low bones.
Save the Celestion Gold for when you make your first million.You can buy 3 or 4 Eminence speakers for the price of one gold,and not be missing anything in terms of tone.

[Dexter.Sinister]

Depends on sound you want. After getting caps back in shape if sound weak or dull use more efficient speaker with alceaner tone. I used an EV in mine and it was very good for all amp tone with not so speaker colour tone. Nugent liked.

DS

[JimmyR]

Hey you'll get no flack for suggesting a cheaper alternative from me! I've tried a lot of speakers in my 5E3 (I know it's not a brown deluxe but it's the closest I have) and have found that the Gold works incredibly well in it for me. It's better than anything else I've tried. But I haven't tried the Eminences that you suggest.

I must admit a preference for Celestion over Eminence from my past experiences. Maybe I'll have to try some of those newer Eminences. My last experiment in trying something other than Weber or Celestion was a dismal failure - tried some Mojos that were supposed to sound like a G12H and they didn't. They sounded like Poo to me!

If you get the right Weber they can be really good. I haven't made my first million yet, but I still like my Golds!

[slider313]

Tube amps produce heat. How much heat depends on the amp itself. Was the amp ever serviced? Have you checked the bias on the power tubes? Vintage amps should be checked for leaking capacitors before being used.

[WrapAround]

I've tried a few in my '62 Deluxe. What I like the most for what I want out of the amp is an older Tone King speaker (OEMed by Eminence, I believe).

I've also used Celestion Gold with it and sounded super. I usually like Eminence speakers but Red Fang was a no-go for me. EVM12L was good as well while D120F was somewhere between good and OK. Other speakers I've tried with the amp include, TheTonker, V30, and old P12N (with a Rola code), Weber Michigan (AlNiCo and Ceramic), Weber Blue Dog (ceramic), etc....

Mine gets quite hot as well. You can always stick a small fan in the back to blow cold air at it (turn it on when you first turn on the amp, *not* after things get cooking). If you haven't checked things out, I'd do that first, though.

[daveS]

Originally Posted by slider313

Tube amps produce heat. How much heat depends on the amp itself. Was the amp ever serviced? Have you checked the bias on the power tubes? Vintage amps should be checked for leaking capacitors before being used.

I haven't checked the bias on this amp yet...I can easily do it though...I have one of those Alessandro bias meters...I think the 6V6s should be around 50ma ....???....I noticed the GZ recto tube get very glowy...almost moreso than usual...I swapped it out and got the same thing with a known good recto tube...heat issue is still there....I'm not sure what state the caps are in but its probably time for a check.

Great responses guys !