Jensen C12K

Just a follow up to my previous review. I have put one of these speakers into a new amp, a Traynor Custom Valve 50 Blue, replacing the Celestion Vintage 30 that came in it. The V30 is a great speaker for some, but for me, this Jensen has once again saved the day. No more grainy mids, piercing trebles, fuzzy bass and double notes. Instead I get a fat, full tone, very clear and warm. The Jensen is a much tighter speaker. To me, it has really pulled the blues out of this amp. I knew it was in there, it's BLUE! I really can't say enough great things about the Jensen C12k.

100 watts, ceramic speaker

Very tight sounding and well balanced speaker. Breaks up late and can handle a lot of power without farting out. Highs are there but not piercing, and the low end is round and focused.

I replaced the speaker in my Tech 21 Trademark 60 with this Jensen C12K. For those of you who are looking to replace the speakers in the Tech 21 TM 60, (especially those with the pre-celestion speakers) listen up! It is tough to find a speaker that actually fits in this amp due to the limited space. Celestions work fine, but speakers with larger magnets like, say, the Eminence Tonkers and the like will not fit in this amp because of the space between the top of the speaker and the chassis. I wanted to emphasise the Fenderish tones this amp can get. I tried this speaker after a friend who had the same amp recommended it. (I had to rear load it and forego the t-nuts, FYI). Just go to a hardware store and but the right screws, nuts and washers.

This speaker has unlocked the tone in this amp. I mainly use this amp on the clean channel with two modified Tube Screamers in tandem for different gain stages. Tech 21 makes great amps, but I feel this amp sounds a thousand times better with this speaker.... At least for my tastes, which tend to lean towards jazz, funk, blues and country tones. Once this speaker gets a chance to break in, it gets a great balance of highs and lows, and the mids are perfect. I cannot picture using this amp without the Jensen. It did make the amp a bit heavier, but it's still very portable which is a huge selling point in the amp. It went like from 36 lbs to 40- maybe 45 lbs. It's worth it though!

It's been in my amp for about four years, with absolutely no problems. I've played loudly at multiple open air festivals and haven't even come close to overloading this speaker. No sign of blowing it up yet!

Haven't had to contact them, so I have no idea. It's a speaker, so if anything happened to it I would just buy another one.

Great alternative for those wanting something different than the Celestion sound, which is great but not for me. The Jensen will give you an honest sound, and actually helps with articulation in that it won't cover up your sound with a lot of breakup. Its warm and smooth with great clarity. A great overall speaker, and worth checking out if you have a Tech 21 Trademark 60, like I said before. Works for me.

12 inch ceramic speaker rated at 100 watts (mine is an 8ohm)

Tight and focused and has great clarity, highs are smooth (not excesively bright)and the bottom end is not boomy but full and tight, mids are well balanced. I find that the C12K is the best in the "C" series. The C12N (50 watt) was not as full in the bass and the highs thinned out. The C12K is used as the stock speaker in the Fender Deluxe Revereb, a 22 watt amp and it sounds much better than the C12N when compared. This speaker has great clean tones, classic Fender but it also handles massive amounts of distortion. It stays focused whith heavy distortion or overdrive. It tends to have a later break up. The highs stay richer and fuller than the C12N (which also breaks up sooner but in a bad sounding way). The C12K works great on low to high wattage amps. I use it in my Fender Deluxe Reverb, Mesa-Boogie
F-50 (really helps this amp sound good and helps tame ice-pick highs, much better than the Black Shadow C90) and it's great in my B-52 AT-112 and Reverend Hellhound. Since discovering this speaker I have moved away from Celestions and Eminence Celestion clones. If you favor the British sound and distortion character you may not like this speaker but if your trying to tame your amps tone or get a better handle on it, this speaker may do the trick.

Great reliability

never used them

Overall I find this speaker to handle a wide variety of distortion and overdrive and not get fuzzy or loose definition and yet it has great clean tone.

This came stock inside a '65 Reverb Reissue.

I am very impressed with this speaker. I like it's combination of high power handling warmth. This speaker is very quick and articulate. The mids come through very nice - not grainy a la Vintage 30, but smooth. Still, enough mids to cut through. It also works very well in both clean and distortion modes. The only other amp in which I've heard this speaker is the 65 twin reverb. Again - same results - very nice.

I would get this speaker aftermarket if I had a fender project or need for an upgrade.

I just bought the c12k for My 1981 PEavey Heritage.
The speaker is so clean at high levels. Thsi speaker is put in most fender amps.
A 130 watt amp with a 100 or more speaker is EXTREAMLY LOUD!!!!!!!! BE CAREFUL.
It has a thick warm sound good for country and blues.
Even the thins sounds are thick sounding.

PEavey amps never really did have that good distorsian. But with the C12K's the dis is a little better. same with the reverb.
I do have a clean channal but i combind both channals. That makes a EXTREAMLY clean sound at high voluems. For PEavey amps i would say keep the bass lower.

built like a tank.

Weaights 94 lbs

NONE YET. fheww

PLaying 3 yr but very advansded. Big Jerry Reed fan. Met him 3 times.


Good for clean sounds..

Loaded in a 2002 Brunetti dual cab 2x12 open/closed back mono/stereo. The speakers are heavy but not as much as the EV12 I am used to. 24kg is the total weight of the dual cab with to c12k. Guitars: Tom Anderson Hallow Strat, Ibanez as200, Heritage H575. Pearce G2r and Koch Twintone heads.

I use the open back variant in stereo mainly with a Pearce G2R transistor head and with a Koch twin tone head (mono). It works wonderfully with the Pearce for modern Jazz and fusion. Not quite as good with the Twintone wich I prefer with an Electrovoice EV12S SERIE II (s stands for short and is not the same as the L or M version). I like this ev12s version more than the mesa ev12l becouse it is a little softer on the top overtones and the overdriven texture is richer. Koch uses the same Jensen C12k speaker in their cabs wich I don't like so much with it becouse I think they don't deliver the richness and sustain of the EV. This may be very subjective as I love the sustain and the middle voice of the electrovoice. I find the Jensen kind of sterile with the Koch. With the Pearce is a whole diferent story! The sound is super balanced with great bottom, middles and top. Very clear and articulated, not too bright or dark....kinda Fenderish with a sofisticated attitude, great sustain too. Great with chorus and delay and verb if you like that stuff. The overdrive is very good but I usually run the presence and treble of the amp fairly low as the Pearce being a (great) transistor amp produces a lot of highs compared too many tubes. No problem in reaching the Holdsworth, Henderson kind of sustained lines or even the thicker blusier Ford/Carlton semi-overdriven sounds. I would give 11 with the Pearce and 8 with the Koch.....so 9 is a good compromise.

Great speaker for general use if you want to try something else than usual celestions or electrovoices. Work great with many effects (I use some lexiverbs, a little tc chorus and delay, sometimes a line6 dl4. Don't work great with fuzz type things (I have a Foxrox CC2 wich doesn't like too much the jensen cab!). Try it first in your combo or cabs if you have the chance. For Jazz and fusion I think they are great with high end transistor amps. For heavy metal or hard rock I don't know.

This is a high power Jensen guitar speaker. 100 watts witha SPL of 99 if i recall correctly. Obviously a speaker thats designed to deliver a vintage Jensens sound as much as possible considering the higher power level. I left the rating empty.......how do you figure whether a speaker has enough features? *LOL*

I've used this with a peavey hi gain amp that has a very hard rock to metal type of tone, and a peavey classic 30. Funny as it may seem, even tho it's a vintage style speaker it sounds great in a high gain modern sounding amp. It also sounds good in the more vintage style C30.

To describe the tone i would say it adds a lot of character unlike many speakers that let tha map create the tone instead of adding something to it. This is not to say thats good or bad, but depends on what the amp needs. It has an immediatly noticable early fender tone to it. But IMO that actually works great with non fender sounding amps. It has a more in your face tone than some speakers. fatter mids than most celestions. Very strong and punchy. I like it a lot. in fact, i just tried one of the new eminence red coat series speakers and i think i prefer the Jensen by a good margin. I've heard good and bad things about Jensen vintage series speakers, a lot of it bad, but they're mostly refering to the lower powered models. I think this one may just be the better choice. In the classic 30 i have an all-tone. very good speaker that is smooth and doesn't add a lot of character letting the amp's tone do the shaping. But i think i prefer the Jensen. Then i put it in the other hi gain peavey which i also had an all-tone in, and i MUCH prefer the Jensen. Vintage or not, this speaker to my ear works especially well in high gain amps !

Both amps are EL84 based amps by the way. I'll give it an 8, but only because there are so many speakers out there, most of which i haven't owned. The speakers i have owned are EV12L's, celestion vintage 30, G12-100, and probably 4 or 5 other celestions, all-tones, peavey scorpions, EV force 12, the original eminence made mesa black shadow, various fenders, carvin vintage, and probably a 1/2 dozen others. I think i'd rate the Jensen in the top 10%. in fact, it may be my favorite, but thats hard to say. I do however like it a lot. By the way, don't know how it would fare in closed back multiple speaker cabs, as all i use are 1-12" combos.

Well, it's still working !

no idea

I think speakers that have a lot of character of thier own like this one are hard to rate because it really depends on whether others would like this perticular tone or not, and it's hard to give a real accurate description of a speaker, at least i think so.
I play a fairly wide variety of stuff, but mostly classic rock and pop. Mostly use modern amps that are vintage voiced. Been playing about 30+ years. for me at least it's a very nice sounding speaker that adds it's own character but doesn't take any of the amp's tonal details away. i like the richness of the tone and the fact that it's able to really push my tone out there w/o ever getting mushy or soft, yet at the same time not sound harsh. A xlnt speaker at a good price, and i think a lot of people would like it in open back combos. It adds some richness and character to an amp's tone.