Jensen C12N or Cannabis Rex for Ampeg J20 Jet

[The Kid]

UPDATE: I ended up going with a G12H30 Anniversary. Needed more bark and clarity. Live clip included below.

Trying to decide between a Jensen C12N or Cannabis Rex for an Ampeg J20 Jet. The J20 Jet is basically a Fender Brown Deluxe circuit. It's not my main amp, just a grab and go for small gigs and situations where I'll be mic'd and want an easy load in.

I definitely need a speaker that sounds great clean, and can handle being overdriven without sounding harsh. I play Soul/R&B, Gospel, Reggae, and Blues gigs.

Both speakers will handle the power. It seems that the Sensitivi[email protected],1m of the Jensen is 98.4db and the Cannabis Rex is 102db.

I would imagine that the 3.6db different would make the C-Rex noticeably louder, but I also read that it's a dark speaker and I'm worried if it might not cut through a mix as well as the Jensen.

I definitely want an efficient speaker which on paper would favor the C-Rex. I'm just inquiring about the voicing of the speaker a factor. Any tonal comparisons between the two are definitely welcome.

Thanks to everyone in advance. I really appreciate all of the help that I receive on TGP. Hope everyone is well.

 

[FFTT]

The C-Rex has a very nice smooth top end, great for blues and lower volume cleans.

For single note leads it will fatten up those single notes, but you may have
to switch towards your bridge pickups at high volumes to keep the speaker from
getting too boomy on the low end.

 

[The Kid]

The C-Rex has a very nice smooth top end, great for blues and lower volume cleans.

For single note leads it will fatten up those single notes, but you may have
to switch towards your bridge pickups at high volumes to keep the speaker from
getting too boomy on the low end.

Thanks man, you are always so incredibly helpful on this forum. Especially on the Ampeg threads. I've learned a lot from you, and just wanted to tell you how appreciated you are.

I just paid for a C-Rex on the emporium here.

 

[FFTT]

I think you'll find yourself switching most of your guitars to the middle or bridge
pickups, but the smooth top end works well that way.

At lower volumes the lower end is really full and warm.

 

[The Kid]

I'm rarely on the neck pickup anyway... I'm excited to try the C-Rex.

I picked up a Jensen C12N for a great price, so I'm going to compare. I'll probably sell whichever speaker I don't keep, or keep it as a backup. The C12N purchase was out of curiosity.

 

[ked]

I really like to C-Rex, as said earlier, it is a smooth speaker that will round off a sharp top end. Out of the box it sounds fairly good but it needs to be well broken in to get the goods. I pounded mine with loud music for a good while to get it to smooth out and get to that smokey sound.

Ken

 

[FFTT]

A good 50 hours of thrashing and the C-Rex will become one of your favorites.

 

[BigPapiFan]

Not the same amp, but the C. rex sounds terrific in my blue-checkered Ampeg Reverberocket 2! I think it is a great speaker for any Fender or American-voiced amp.

 

[The Kid]

I'm excited to try the C-Rex.

 

[OOG]

Not the same amp, but the C. rex sounds terrific in my blue-checkered Ampeg Reverberocket 2!/QUOTE]

mine too
+ the new Jensens are crap compared to my old ones

 

[The Kid]

A good 50 hours of thrashing and the C-Rex will become one of your favorites.

I hope so. It supposedly already has a few hours on it but it sounds sorta dull. Almost, "muted" in a way.

In addition: It doesn't seem very loud for a 102db sensitivity rating. I'll pump some low end through it tomorrow with my Ipod and Crate Powerblock.

 

[southy]

The C-Rex is a great speaker for a bright amp, but I can definitely see it sounding dull in an already dark amp. I went from a Jensen to a C-Rex in my NOS Blues Jr and couldn't have been happier.... it really tamed the ice pick and sounded so good I almost kept it. If you want to brighten up your amp, the Jensen may be a better choice though. After you break in that Cannabis and you still don't like it, I'm sure there's a line of BJ owners who would be happy to swap their Jensen with you.

 

[candid_x]

Imo, they're on opposite sides of the spectrum, with the Jensen being bright and articulate, and the CR being often defined as sounding smoky, dull, thick, warm etc. I'll confirm that the CR takes a ton of breaking in to balance out and let the highs come though. Leaving the guitar cable unplugged and humming high pitch white noise helps to loosen those highs. I ran everything but the kitchen sink through mine, often and quite loud, in addition to playing the s--t out of it before it sounded musical and clear to me. But that soft, felt-like attack still sometimes bugs me, then I switch to a more traditional cone speaker (specifically a G12-65 clone) in a 1x12 ext cab.

Just pondering here. My first amp was a new Gemini ll, which had an alnico 15" speaker. Recalling the clean (only) sound of that amp, I think a 15" equivalent of a C-Rex would have absolutely killed the lively sound of that amp. Its glorious reverb gets pushed more to the background, as do any subtleties, and I respect that some likely disagree, but that's been my experience with those two commodities.

I'd first make sure I get the stock speaker nice and broken in before I'd run off to "upgrade" it.

 

[The Kid]

The seller said it had about 10-15 hours on it. I'm going to pump some reggae through it for a bit to try to get it broken in.

 

[The Kid]

UPDATE:

I didn't dig the C-Rex in the Ampeg J20 Jet. Too dark. The roll off on the high end took all of the spank out of the stuff that I need spank on even when using the bright input. I really wanted to like it too. If I had a really bright amp, it would be perfect.

I'm sure more break in will help, but I'm doubting that it will help enough. I put a G12H30 Anniversary in it and I'm digging that more. Still not as thrilled as I was with the Blue, but then again, I fried the Blue in that amp. Maybe a Gold someday.

Here's a clip of the J20 with the G12H30. Solo at 3:08, but I hit a Timmy at 3:51.

 

[dmagalhaes]

That's a nice groove.

 

[The Kid]

That's a nice groove.

Thanks man! Here's another clip from that night:

 

[The Kid]

I finally got a Gold for the J20. It's a keeper!

I liked the G12H30 Anniversary, but the gold sounds better to me. Fuller, richer, warmer, ... but it still sounds like it will cut.

I also a Cannabis Rex. I didn't like it at all. Some say it needs to be broken in more, but I highly doubt it would have enough spank for the r&b gigs that I play regardless of the level of broken-in-ed-ness. (?What?)


I'll know more after the gig tonight! Thanks for all the help!

 

[pdubs410]

Nice "Pass the Peas" quote!

 

[ES330]

Weber Ceramic Blue Dog 50W lightly doped