Eminence Private Jack

Basic Private Jack Speaker....It's Red!! You know the rest.

Mounted in a Mesa Boogie 22+ w/ JJ tubes. SOunds much smoother than the original Black shadow from Mesa. Straight bolt-in, installed in less than 10 minutes. Broke in gradually and after about 2 hrs tried a bit of volume. Clean is awesome...everywhere. Bass, mids, and highs; all shine w/ this spkr. Drive channel...just took some tweaking time. Everything you could want tonewise. Just play with the knobs until you get what you want...EXACTLY what you want! I use a Gibson 355 and a Boss OD-3 from time to time. Couldn't be more pleased....Can't help but wonder about how a Canabis Rex might sound....Hmmmm.

Really too soon to tell. Got the speaker from Bernie @ BLT; great help there. I really don't know what I would complain about.

see above...

Been playing a LOOOONG time (30+ years). I've used SS Marshalls for years w/ Celestions. This is kinda fun for me at this point. I've pared my axes down to just my 355 and a very few pedals (usually none), and a smaller amp (Mesa 22+). I'm really happy w/ my sound at present. This speaker was a great upgrade to the overall character of my little Mesa amp.

2 inch guitar speaker in the british "GREENBACK" tradition.
50 watts power handling. Ribed british style cone and small mesh dustcap. This a ceramic magnet speaker.

In the past I have been critical of eminence speakers, as I have strongly disliked their reissue jensens...

***the previous poster noted that in his test these speakers sounded thin with no bottom end ????? I would suggest he wire them properly in phase, then make his comments!!!!****

Mounted this unit in a open back 2-12 cab, each speaker wired seperately to aid in A vs B evaluation. Test amps included a traynor YBA-1 and a fender princeton, and a variety of other stuff. Comparison speakers included a vox alnico, em Red Fang, celestion vintage 30, gk85 and a couple of original greenback & blackback celestions.
To begin with this speaker is right in the celestion ballpark, if you are looking for a decent speaker at around 50 watts price alone
makes this a winner right off. This speaker sounds just lke the celestions I was comparing it to, and the differences are minor so you may just want to go out and buy one/some.

These are so Creamy I'm going to have to have a cholesterol test!!!

Now for the nitty gritty, I love celestions and have a good selection of them to use. The Jack was both warmer and sweeter than almost every comparison speaker I threw at it. The closest in character was the Red Fang, which I like a lot and now have several. The cheif difference between the Fang and the Jack is the nature of pick attack under overdrive, the Fang sweetly spits the note out with a kind of BRIAN MAY (queen) attack, the Jack has another character more reminiscent of the attack heard on the Bluesbreaker album, in fact the Jack reminds me of the best set of 20 watt greenies I ever heard. Those Greens were purchased by a buddy and he is "nuts" about them. I have been looking for a set of 20 watt celestion greenbacks for years, and have had no luck. Since these are 50 watts I will use a pair in a 2-12 box for portable speaker for my 100 watt marshalls.
In comparison with the vintage 30 and other celestions the vintage 30 seemed trashy and harsh in the top end. The private Jack were most like my oldest set of greens with a very dark and muted top, Fizz was just not there...of course some people may like those extra "scratchy bits" on top.
When using my Les Paul with 50's wiring good pickups and an aluminum stop tail thru a "fake" bluesbreaker nail that sound. Add a Fuzzface and its tres hombres time ...

These are just a blast and worth the $$$
These are an out of the park home run!

Should be reliable they are conservatively rated and well made.

A buddy e-mailed the designer a while ago and he responded right away telling him about other new models arriving soon.

A great alternative to hunting for and blowing up vinatge celestions. A better alternative than chinese made "british" speakers. (yes people in china deserve jobs too, but celestion is messing with their ICON status as the british sound !!!)

I used to hoard vintage celestions because they were the sound I wanted and nothing new was good enough, these might be better.

I did this test as a favour for a friend now I'm stuck these are great ...

Eminence Private Jack
12" speaker 16ohms @50watts/100watts max. Light weight Ceramic magnet
I play a Les Paul/Ibanez/Custom/ETC No into effets. I like My articulate Clean as well as Hi Gain sound. I use some effects sometimes when needed. But that's it. I play mostly classic rock. But also play country/jazz/blues and Hard rock;) Tubes all the way.

I play boutique amps. Ans I am very anal about my sound. I had a pair of Greenback caddy corner in my cabinet. With a pair od Vintage 30"s in the other caddy corner. I took the Vintage 30"s out because I heard so much about how the Private Jack was to be the exchange for the Greenback but with more power capabilities. So I put my greenbacks on one side and the private jacks on the other side. And proceeded to alternate between speakers and channels. I have to say. They have the basic Greenback sound. But loose quite a bit in low end resonance. When I crank the green backs in clean or hi gain. My cabinet resonates amazing with the greenbacks. But with the Private Jacks empties out. It's kind of like putting sound to a speaker in your hands and then putting it into a box or cabinet. The sound difference is much difference. The frequencies are simillar. But the greenback to me sound much thicker and warmer than the Eminence Privat Jack.

Never had and issues here.

Never had to deal with them

Use Celestions. Or if you have the money or avalability. Try as many speakers as you can with the playing styles you are comfortable with. Then decide on your sound. Somewhere we all hit the quest for tone. When it's your turn you will understand.

16 ohms, 50 watts RMS (100 peak) 1.75 copper voice coil. Small dust cap. 38oz ceramic magnet. 101 dB efficiency. Rubber magnet cover ring.

Yes, definitely Greenback-inspired. Blends the best qualities of the re-issue G12M "Greenback" and the 70th Anniversary G12H. I'd say it's very close to the G12H, but it has slightly less high-mid "krrang", making it the warmest speaker I've ever heard.(and the G12H is about the thickest tone you can get) With overdrive, the highs are nice and gritty, but less sting than the G12H, making it a good speaker for high gain channels. Big bass.

Clean, the speaker is very warm and full, with a subtle chime. Again, the G12H has more sparkle (air) on the highs, but the Private Jack still breaths nicely, especially with single coils.

Pushing the clean channel, the bass breaks up smooth and "Green-like". Adding more volume and power tube overdrive, you get vintage British tone with a thick swelling of the lower frequencies.

The Private Jack is the perfect speaker for the Peavey Classic 30 EL84 1x12 combo.

Yup...

Yes...

Easy to find Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin, & Brian May tones. It's a SUPER value for the money. I can't find anything wrong with it. I noticed a small ghost note when playing a high A, at high volume, but nothing that would drown out the original note. Looks awesome in an open-back cabinet. Neat finish matches the cool-looking, 6-spoke basket.

Eminence always seems to produce high quality guitar speakers with heavenly tone for reasonable money. For it's low-end breakup, thick, warm mid range and balanced highs, I give it a 10. Completely satisfied.

50 watts, 8 ohms. twelve inches and growing. medium weight magnet.

eureka! this speaker is a treat. run with an orange ad30, sg w/ duncan custom in the bridge, an orange rocker30, an ampeg sj12t. this is eminence's refreshing take on the celestion greenback. better handling, noticeable esp. in the bass. chimey and warm mids. the bass breaks up if pushed, but it seems more powerful. distorted, it sounds nice and hairy like grandma's old couch.

extremely durable and well built. you can stand on it.

don't see the need.

if you want some hairy metal tones you can nail blues stuff like clutch or get that heavy fizz like on some soulfly records. a standard workhorse speaker for rock that can probly take more punishment. i'm keeping this in a 1x12 orange cab to see.

The humble speaker with the big heart: I think a speaker can have a lot of features. My understanding is that this is Eminence's take on a Celestion Greenback which is one of my favorite speakers. It features a lower price, higher power handling (50w rms/100w peak), higher sensitivity (puts more power to sound), minimal cone-cry! It has a cool textured paint job, it's light weight and has an enchanting rubber ring that goes around the ceramic magnet to keep it from getting chipped or worse. It's made in the USA!

I'm hoping that everything I have to say would apply to anyone interested in the speaker that is not playing metal (hell modeling) music. I play mostly Funky Blues and R&B here in Texas. I own a lot of amps and speakers. The problem I have been having with Celestion speakers is centered mostly around power handling and cone-cry. I'm trying to tweak in the one 12" speaker combo approach using a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a Reverend Slingshot with P-90's and no pedals. Until I heard a good dose of cone-cry it was hard to understand what people were talking about. What is it? I still talk to people in high places that don't understand it. Cone-cry doesn't mean your speaker is blown. Here's my take on it: Cone-cry is a ghost note or a double note that happens only on certain notes (usually high notes). This is a lot more likely to happen if the outer edge of the speaker cone is not doped. Doping is the coating at the edge of the paper cone that prevents the paper from splitting, etc. over time. From my experience Celestions in general are more prone to cone-cry from some reason whether they are doped or not. Cone-cry is all about "how much" because if it's faint enough it's not going to bother anyone in the context of a band playing. I've heard it so bad that the ghost note is nearly as loud as the actual note you are playing. I guess some people like it but I think most don't. The Private Jack has much less cone-cry. I think you are also going to hear more cone-cry if you are pushing an amp without a pedal and going for more of a wide open power stage tone. That approach puts more stress on the speaker as it's being asked to reproduce all kinds of wild things from a tortured tube circuit...more harmonics, etc.

Right out of the box the Private Jack sounds like it's had a few drinks and is ready to party. It's "open" and balance with a very musically extended high end. It think this would be a great replacement speaker for any 1-12" combo like a Fender Hotrod Deluxe, Blues Deluxe, Deluxe Reverb, Peavey Classic 30, Traynor YCV-40, etc. Sounds great clean, grinding or maxed out.

I haven't had the speaker long but Eminence speakers are known for being extremely reliable.

I've heard it's good but have never needed it which is even better.

I'm proud to be playing through speakers made in Eminence Kentucky. This speaker appears to be a big improvement on a great product that had some problems. Now the problems are gone and Eminence is selling them for a whole lot less. Celestions are assembled in China now from what I understand so it's nice to get something this good from the USA.

Same as what the other guy said. I wish I knew if the speaker was ceramic or alnico, I assume ceramic given the price. The guy at Avatar Speaker said it's Eminence's take on a Celestion Greenback. I installed it in my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in place of the stock Eminence speaker. My HRDlx has Electro Harmonix tubes in it at the moment, previous power tubes were JJ.

The guy at Avatar Speaker said it's Eminence's take on a Celestion Greenback. My first impression was that it did have the somewhat woody and reedy quality that Celestion claims for the Greenback. It is a definite improvement over the stock speaker. I usually play a Rickenbacker 330 through this amp, playing the college-radio type of music mid-30's age guys play. I had been unhappy with the sound of the neck pickup of my guitar with the stock speaker, but the Private Jack seems to make the neck cleaner sounding. Eminence claims that it is a very balanced speaker, and I agree. The clean channel is smooth and the overdrive channels sound a LOT smoother with this speaker, though that also seems to depend on the tubes.

Got it about two months ago, no problems so far. I don't gig a ton with it, so I would expect it to last longer than me.

Been playing about 8 years. Own a Taylor acoustic, various pedals. I would probably try a different speaker if I had to replace it in the future, but I am satisfied with it for now. I really like the overall evenness of the sound and how it makes my Rick sound better. Don't hate anything about it, but I sometimes wish it did have a more distinctive character. I compared it to Celestion and Jensen models, but I didn't want to pay more for those brands made in China or Italy when I could pay less for American. I would have liked a Weber but don't want to pay the dollars. Take my review with a few grains of salt: I haven't played guitar for a long time, and I'm not that good of a player. The Fender Hot Rod is the only amp I've ever played, so I can't say how this speaker would work in anything else. I can surely say that for me the Private Jack is a sure improvement over the stock speaker in my amp.

Eminence Private Jack 12 Raw Frame Driver... "Thick and Smooth, With Lots Of Mids and Extended Highs. Very Well Balanced Speaker. Classic British Flavor." The New Red Coat Series Of Speakers By Eminence Incorporate British Cone Technology & Made In USA Manufacturing. The Private Jack Features A 12 Inch Driver, A Power Rating Of Up To 50 Watts (RMS) and A 38oz. Magnet.

Specifications: ? Power handling: 50 watts RMS/100 watts max ? VCdia: 1.75" ? Impedance: 8 ohms ? Frequency Range: 70-5,500 Hz ? SPL: 101 dB ? Dimensions: A: 12.02", B: 10.97", C: 5.1".
Application: 12" Open or Closed Back
Configuration: 1, 2, or 4 x 12"
Thick and smooth, with lots of mids and extended highs. Very well balanced speaker.
Genre of Music: Classic British tone for Blues, Indie, Jazz

It all started with the British Invasion. That unmistakable sound that took America by storm from across the Atlantic to right in your face. And now Eminence puts it within easy reach with the new Red Coat series of guitar amp speakers. Engineered and manufactured in the U.S. with cones straight from England...making it easy to "Pick Your Sound." Seven-year manufacturer's warranty.

? pri'vate jack n. namesake of the famous British canine and one of the most recognized British tones for guitar.