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I'm tuning up an Ultimate Chorus (Fender JC120 copy AFAIK). Looking to swap out the stock speakers to make it sound 'better'. 12", 8Ohm, ~65 watts per channel. I've never messed with amps and thus don't know anything about speaker brands/flavors/whatever. What should I be looking for? Recs please.

Thanks!

I like Eminence. They sound just as good if not better than the more expensive brands.
They have a huge selection too. What kind of sound are you going for?

Not really sure, something that will play nicer with fuzz/distortion.

What sounds do you want out of them? Darker, brighter, thick mids, scooped mids, softer, warmer, more present, edgy, neutral, vintage, contemporary? Plenty of speakers work good with fuzz.

What are you looking to spend?

How loud do you want them to be?

And what ohm load do you need? (This can be very important, some speakers are limited to certain ohm ratings)

MEC wrote:I like Eminence. They sound just as good if not better than the more expensive brands.
They have a huge selection too. What kind of sound are you going for?

I liked my Wizard, but I like my Fanes, Celestions, and EV's better. Which is why I just spent the dough for two alnico EV SRO's, a vintage Fane Medusa 30, and a new Fane Crescendo prototype instead of buying Eminences of similar voicings.

The better speaker manufacturers have trademark feels/tones to their certain models and lines, and then the 2nd tier tries to copy those feels/tones to varying degrees of success.

Don't want to be a drag but that is a highly illogic step I think.
The Fender Ultimate Chorus is pretty much one of the worst amps ever made in my opinion, I should know because I've been playing one for years and years always wondering why I couldn't get a decent sound out of it, it's got that sorta sound to it that will most likely never ever sound good with fuzz, I'd say get a different amp, sorry dude.

The Mad Titan wrote:What sounds do you want out of them? Darker, brighter, thick mids, scooped mids, softer, warmer, more present, edgy, neutral, vintage, contemporary? Plenty of speakers work good with fuzz.

What are you looking to spend?

How loud do you want them to be?

And what ohm load do you need? (This can be very important, some speakers are limited to certain ohm ratings)

The stock speakers are 12", 8Ohm, 65W. I'd like to spend less than $200 for a pair. I'm not quite sure on the sound (I've never been good at assigning descriptors to tone), but probably something between warmer and neutral to tame the typical Fender brightness.

Tristan wrote:Don't want to be a drag but that is a highly illogic step I think.
The Fender Ultimate Chorus is pretty much one of the worst amps ever made in my opinion, I should know because I've been playing one for years and years always wondering why I couldn't get a decent sound out of it, it's got that sorta sound to it that will most likely never ever sound good with fuzz, I'd say get a different amp, sorry dude.

Hmmmm maybe I'll try modding the thing first before dropping real cash. I got the amp for free and want to do !SCIENCE! on it. Have you tried different speakers?

Upgrades like guitar pickups or amp speakers usually mean getting just a slight improvement by spending a relatively big chunk of cash. Especially with cheap crappy amps/gtrs, it's just not worth it imo. Don't know if the the Fender Ultimate Chorus is the worst amp ever, but it's definatelly in my top five together with a couple of Marshall Valvestates and maybe a Fender Performer or something.

I'd just sell the amp, and use the money as well as your speaker budget, to fund a nicer amp

Tristan wrote:Don't want to be a drag but that is a highly illogic step I think.
The Fender Ultimate Chorus is pretty much one of the worst amps ever made in my opinion, I should know because I've been playing one for years and years always wondering why I couldn't get a decent sound out of it, it's got that sorta sound to it that will most likely never ever sound good with fuzz, I'd say get a different amp, sorry dude.

frigid midget wrote:Upgrades like guitar pickups or amp speakers usually means getting just a slight improvement by spending a relatively big chunk of cash. Especially with cheap crappy amps/gtrs, it's just not worth it imo. Don't know if the the Fender Ultimate Chorus is the worst amp ever, but it's definatelly in my top five together with a couple of Marshall Valvestates and maybe a Fender Performer or something.

I'd just sell the amp, and use the money as well as your speaker budget, to fund a nicer amp

I highly disagree with most of this, except the part about getting a better amp. I say add a cab with good speakers first, flip the amp and use that and some other small savings to buy a decent inexpensive tube head, ala Peaverty Classic 30/50 or some shit. Maybe a lucky score on a Ampeg VT40 (fucking amazing amps), or even one of the newer Reverberocket heads.

Speakers and pickups are the two transducers on either end of your signal chain, and as such have some of the greatest overall impact on tone. Pickups are the voice box of your guitar, and speakers the voice box of your amp.

I have a shit load of different speakers to verify this.

Speakers I'm currently holding:

2x Fane AXA12 alnico
1x Fane Crescendo reissue (prototype for a speaker line that's not going to be released, basically a 300 watt Fane Studio 12L with metal dustcap and beefier voice coil)
1x vintage Fane Medusa 30
2x Celestion G12H(55) Heritage
2x Celestion Mesa OEM V30's
2x EVM12L
1x EV SRO12L alnico (and another one I just bought is at Orange County Speaker getting a re-cone)

I've also had a Weber 123055 a clone of the G12H(55), a WGS ET65, and a couple of WGS Vet 30's, and a Bogner 4x12 loaded with V30's, and a Celestion G12H100.

They've all for the most part had significantly different sounds with the same amp pumped through them. Even the different V30's sounded different. The Mesa's definitely have a warmer smoother tone than the normal V30's, and the 16 ohm models had a different tone then the 8 ohm models. Cab's also have a bit to do with it, and a better cab might help him out too, plus adding speakers will fill things out more and if the amp is stereo increase the spread.

You can get a great cheap tube head, and a used cab and have baller sound if you take the time to hunt. Look for old Traynors, Ampegs, Sound City's, etc... Or look for clones of shit like JTM45's etc... such as Ceriatone or Metro cheap on the used market.

Shitty amps will still sound shitty through good speakers.

Muff_Diver wrote:Shitty amps will still sound shitty through good speakers.

A good set of speakers will improve the sound. It's not gonna turn it into a Tweed Tremolux or any shit like that, but adding a 2x12 loaded with nice warm clear speakers, like say 2 WGS ET65 or a ET65/Vet 30 combo, would definitely sound better than the amp's shitty stock speakers. He should be able to score a WGS loaded 2x12 on the cheap somewhere, and then save up a little over time, and then get a better amp too.

Now if he can come up with an extra $250-$350 dollars, then by all means bypass the speakers and get a new amp now. Maybe a combo loaded with better speakers. I know of a VT22 for sale for $600, already loaded with 2 good speakers right now. I'm sure if he hunts he can find something, but it takes some $$$.

Also, I've never played a Fender amp, SS or tube, that I couldn't get a good sound out of. And most of them took drive/fuzz pedals just fine. I have not played said amp, so maybe it's an anomaly.

I just installed a pair of Weber Thames (Fane Crescendo clones) in a meek-ish tube amp. It went from fizzly meh! to massive wall of sound. Fair price and if the amp still sucks you can use them for anything that need some power.

The Mad Titan wrote:

Tristan wrote:Don't want to be a drag but that is a highly illogic step I think.
The Fender Ultimate Chorus is pretty much one of the worst amps ever made in my opinion, I should know because I've been playing one for years and years always wondering why I couldn't get a decent sound out of it, it's got that sorta sound to it that will most likely never ever sound good with fuzz, I'd say get a different amp, sorry dude.

frigid midget wrote:Upgrades like guitar pickups or amp speakers usually means getting just a slight improvement by spending a relatively big chunk of cash. Especially with cheap crappy amps/gtrs, it's just not worth it imo. Don't know if the the Fender Ultimate Chorus is the worst amp ever, but it's definatelly in my top five together with a couple of Marshall Valvestates and maybe a Fender Performer or something.

I'd just sell the amp, and use the money as well as your speaker budget, to fund a nicer amp

I highly disagree with most of this, except the part about getting a better amp. I say add a cab with good speakers first, flip the amp and use that and some other small savings to buy a decent inexpensive tube head, ala Peaverty Classic 30/50 or some shit. Maybe a lucky score on a Ampeg VT40 (fucking amazing amps), or even one of the newer Reverberocket heads.

Speakers and pickups are the two transducers on either end of your signal chain, and as such have some of the greatest overall impact on tone. Pickups are the voice box of your guitar, and speakers the voice box of your amp.

I have a shit load of different speakers to verify this.

Speakers I'm currently holding:

2x Fane AXA12 alnico
1x Fane Crescendo reissue (prototype for a speaker line that's not going to be released, basically a 300 watt Fane Studio 12L with metal dustcap and beefier voice coil)
1x vintage Fane Medusa 30
2x Celestion G12H(55) Heritage
2x Celestion Mesa OEM V30's
2x EVM12L
1x EV SRO12L alnico (and another one I just bought is at Orange County Speaker getting a re-cone)

I've also had a Weber 123055 a clone of the G12H(55), a WGS ET65, and a couple of WGS Vet 30's, and a Bogner 4x12 loaded with V30's, and a Celestion G12H100.

They've all for the most part had significantly different sounds with the same amp pumped through them. Even the different V30's sounded different. The Mesa's definitely have a warmer smoother tone than the normal V30's, and the 16 ohm models had a different tone then the 8 ohm models. Cab's also have a bit to do with it, and a better cab might help him out too, plus adding speakers will fill things out more and if the amp is stereo increase the spread.

You can get a great cheap tube head, and a used cab and have baller sound if you take the time to hunt. Look for old Traynors, Ampegs, Sound City's, etc... Or look for clones of shit like JTM45's etc... such as Ceriatone or Metro cheap on the used market.

I put it a bit strong I guess, I do actually agree that speakers or pickups CAN make quite a difference. Though speakers more so than pickups imo. But with the saturated gtr/amp market and the countless available products, it's usually just more economical to replace your amp/instrument with something that's closer to what you want straight from the factory. And as an always undecisive gear slut with the attention span of a 6 year old, I personally have to keep the flip-ability of my stuff in check. We all know that your pricey upgrades will hardly affect your resale price...

Which is why it makes sense to be on the other end of that, and buy something that's already modded/upgraded, or slightly damaged or whatever

Having said that, the reason why I'm thinking of ignoring my own theory: For the money, there's actually nothing out there I can think of that could replace an AC15 with a speaker/tube upgrade. That's probably not even an exception to the rule. So far for my theory
Also, as far as speaker cabs go: It's not like you could just go to a store and buy a 4x12 cab of your choice, in the right color, size, of the right quality...And also expect it to be loaded with say, two vintage Fanes and a pair of nicely broken in EVM12L's

So bottom line: Finding your dream rig just isn't meant to be 'economical'

leaves turn wrote:

The Mad Titan wrote:What sounds do you want out of them? Darker, brighter, thick mids, scooped mids, softer, warmer, more present, edgy, neutral, vintage, contemporary? Plenty of speakers work good with fuzz.

What are you looking to spend?

How loud do you want them to be?

And what ohm load do you need? (This can be very important, some speakers are limited to certain ohm ratings)

The stock speakers are 12", 8Ohm, 65W. I'd like to spend less than $200 for a pair. I'm not quite sure on the sound (I've never been good at assigning descriptors to tone), but probably something between warmer and neutral to tame the typical Fender brightness.

Eminence Cannabis Rex.