I think this speaker might give me a little more headroom then a Weber but with the same Alnico feel (I've always been a ceramic guy). Any thoughts ... good bass response? Thanks Randall
Phil both my Vic's,a high and low powered Twin came loaded with P12N's,and I love them,a real sugar factory backed off,and very sweet,smooth,and even creamy when cranked up.Plenty of headroom.Love them,super,super,sweet.Fidelity.Think Derek and the Dominoes.
Thanks for the input davebc, that's what I have, a Vicky 50212. It came with C12N RI & I have been through a few combinations already, all ceramic, a bunch of Webers, it now has an Alltone & the C12N in it. I was at the local shop & they had the new Fender Low Powered w/ the Weber alnicos (12A150A's) & it was sweeeet. They're really expensive thought & my experience w/ Weber's seems to tell me they break up pretty early. Any other thoughts guy's. Randall
Phil,If you're talking about the Fender Custom Shops version of the tweed Twin,how does it compare it sonically to the Vic's you and I are using? Also,When does your Vic really start to give it up interms of volume and sustain? Mine doesn't start to get over until the volume is at 7 or 8.I'm thinking it might be time for tubes.But,man,the Vic's amps are friggin amazing for the tweed thing,absolutely nail the "Cradle" tones!
Ya ... 7 or 8 but it's too loud & I like it better around 5 or 6 & use pedals to bump (or more then a bump), what a great "clean" sound. I've got a hotplate but I only use it for full load & then run it into a board (but before I get there it goes through a speaker emulator & an EQ ), stereo mixed in with some ambience it works out great. As for as the Fender, it's a bit of a different beast. It has different tubes (then I'm running, mine are lower gain for more headroom, JJ's for power & a copper cap), so it really gets gainy fast. But I think the big diff is those alnicos getting pushed hard, but then there isn't much headroom, thus the trade off. Randall
I had a reissue jensen in my Victoria deluxe and could never fully warm up to the amp. The mids always seemed overly strong and harsh. To me the jensens have the same midrange characteristic as the Sovtek tubes. Harsh, nasty mids that dominate all the other frequencies. Until I changed out the speaker for a Weber alnico blue dog I almost sold the amp, I'm glad I didn't because it sounds fabulous now. I agree with the above post about the new Fender tweed twin. Those speakers just kill. I would talk to Weber about getting some of those your amp will thank you for it. Stay away from the jensen reissue it's over priced and it not worth $50 IMHO.
I've got a vickie Low Power Twin with circa '98 P12N's in it, and the amp was gigged with a fair amount by the previous owner. So my guess is the speakers are broken in pretty good. For RI jensens (which I am not a fan of), they are ok. But just okay sounding. Not that great. I'm in the process of trying a lot of speakers (and tweaking the amp big time), so I can't really leave you with any good conclusions. I will say that the RI jensen P12Ns are not particularly loud, so if you want to crank the amp and not have it real loud, they might work for you.
I can only speak about the alnico P12N. I like them, and have 2 of them in Jamison combos (one in a single 1/12 and the other in a 2/12). Sweet highs, full, warm mids and a robust bottomthat does not flub. If you pair a P12N with a good V30---that is a great combo, IMO.
I really like them. I recently replaced the speakers in my reissue '57 Twin with them. I just like P12Ns better than P12Qs. The RI Twin is louder with the RI Jensen P12Ns. The RI Jensens also came stock in my Victoria 50212 and sound great in that too. I also really like my tweed Deluxe with the RI P12N. I had the RI P12Ns in my Vicky Double Deluxe, but I took them out and put them in my Kendrick high powered Twin. The Double Deluxe now has Celestion Blues in it and sounds real good with those too.
MK11 We have the exact same taste in Tweed amps.If you get a second could you explain the differences in tone that you're hearing between the Fender Tweed Twin RI versus the Vic 50 2-12? And,maybe share your thoughts on the Double Deluxe. Thanks!
I have three Victorias that I've had since "98. I've had the 50212 low powered Twin and Double Deluxe since '98 (right before a price increase) and I also have a '98 45410 that my buddy bought new in '98 and sold to me later in '98. He regretted sellng me his and bought another one about a year later. The Double Deluxe has had RI C12Ns, P12Ns and Celestion Blues in it. They all sound good but I liked the RI P12Ns better than the RI C12Ns. The RI P12Ns were the main speakers for my DD until I found some used 8 ohm Blues for a good price. I'm not saying that I like the Blues better than the RI P12Ns because I still really like the P12Ns in the DD too. I won't say that I like the RI P12Ns better than the Blues in it either. I like them both. The main thing about putting the Blues in the DD was that I wanted to get some P12Ns for my Kendrick high powered Twin and when I found the Blues, the P12Ns from the DD went into the Kendrick. Problem solved! As far as the DD's tone, it sounds like my '61 tweed Deluxe, except bigger. The main difference that I've noticed between my RI '57 Twin and the Victoria 50212 is the way that the bass controls work. The reissue bass control works pretty much like you'd expect (except for the mid cut when it's turned all the way up). On my Vicky, you have to turn the bass control up much higher than the Fender to get the same amount of bass when playing at moderate volumes. With the Fender I usually have the bass knob at about 3 and with the Vicky it's usually at about 8-9 minimum. I called up Mark at Victoria and asked him about that and he said it was normal for that circuit. My tech said that Fender had a couple schematics for low power Twins (with two rectifier tubes) and that the main difference was in the tone configuration. He said that Fender and Victoria must have each used a different version. (BTW, he likes both of my low powered Twins, a lot!) I guess you could say that with the Vicky you have more control control of the bass frequencies when playing at louder volumes because you have more range to turn it down if need be. I like TungSol 5881s in my tweeds, but I only have them in two of them; the RI '57 Twin and the Vicky 45410. Otherwise I use Svetlanas (the real ones).
I had the chance to do a direct A/B test of the RI P12N vs. originals from 1960. Used a BFDR amp to drive the speakers and had the speakers each in identical 1x12 open back cabs. The RI sounded close at low volume/clean, but once you pushed them with a distorted signal from the DR the RI got a bit harsh and strident on the top end while the original was smooth and creamy. I still think the RI is a decent speaker, but not quite as good as the old ones. The RI I had was broken in, not a brand new one. I'm not really addressing your question I know, but I was using the speakers in a Vicky 50212, and while I liked the RIs OK I ended up preferring vintage ones...P12Qs in my case, though they would not be the ones I would use for more headroom. For that, the Ns are better.
What speakers in your 4X10?? I hear good things about Kendrick blackframe 10`s, as well as some speakers built by Weber, for Lord Valve, used by Derek Trucks. I`m not happy with the Jensens in my Super Reverb RI. CT.
Currently I have the RI P10R Jensens in my 45410 and RI Bassman LTD, which I like, but I have been thinking about changing to the RI P10Q Jensens for a little more bass and headroom.
I absolutely love how does it behave in this combination, mounted in a solid pine tweed combo cabinet. More than words you need the sound...I can provide a video of a track in a gig if someone is curious.
