MY LONG REVIEW:
Let me just start off by saying that my setup can be described as "somewhat unique", so this may or may not help anyone trying to decide whether the Jensen "Vintage Ceramic" series speakers will work for their specific purposes, but I do feel this information can provide some food for thought if you are trying to dial in your sound.
I currently have two setups for live performance: I own a Mesa Boogie TA-15 TransAtlantic head (25 watts) and a Mesa Boogie TA-30 TransAtlantic head (40 watts). Obviously the TA-15 would be used for smaller venues and the TA-30 for larger clubs.
I have mostly been running my amps through the Mesa Boogie Widebody extension cab with Celestion MC-90 Speaker (as mentioned earlier) with excellent results, but lately I began thinking about doing something with the old Gibson Invader GA-30RVT amp cabinet I had sitting around (also mentioned earlier). I was originally planning to have either a dual amp setup for live performance or maybe even combining the two speaker cabinets together for better coverage.
I have used the Gibson cabinet on and off for about 20 years with various 12" speakers but never added a 10" until now. After researching speakers I decided that the Jensen C's seemed to fit the bill. I chose to get them in the 16 ohm configurations since I wanted the pair to end up being 8 ohms (when wired in parallel) to match my amps' base speaker outputs.
So far I have been mostly using my Mesa Boogie TA-30 amp for these Jensen speaker tests. The Mesa Boogie TransAtlantic amps are harmonically rich and voiced superbly for guitar, so I knew my TA-30 would make an excellent test platform for this review.
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After playing through each speaker individually to get a good feel of how they sounded on their own I wired the C10Q and C12Q together and gave it a go. Although they still had the same character together - as opposed to separately - I definitely liked them better as a pair than alone, probably due to the fact (not surprisingly) that they fill the room more adequately this way. They also match each other extremely well so that was very encouraging.
I continued to play them together like this for a while, really digging the vibe I was getting. The low end, while lacking some fullness, still had a nice thud and the notes rang clear and bright across the frequency spectrum. The midrange was certainly apparent, emphasizing the sweeter side of "twang" in my 2003 Fender AVRI '52 Telecaster in a nice way. A similar thing occurred regarding the "quack" in my 2012 American Standard Stratocaster, so if you're missing some "Swing" in your "Sultans of Swing", this will definitely inject an extra dose of it.
But, what really caught my attention was the rich, juicy, sparkly picking attack that set off the sound - whether playing single note solos and arpeggios or full on chording. I did have to back off the volume on my guitar when hitting the strings harder (strumming in particular) to keep the sharper edges from splitting my ears, so playing dynamics are a must to avoid pushing people out of their comfort zones.
The middy Jensens also gave my solos a more pronounced "vowel-like" tone, allowing my guitar to sing out musically with profound feeling and soul. As the overdrive increases the highs smooth out, warming things up without sacrificing crispness and clarity, which may be the ticket for those players who can really appreciate and exploit that attribute of the Jensens.
I eventually decided to plug both this cabinet and my Mesa cab in at the same time. I utilized the 4 ohm outputs on the back of my TA-30 (since the two 8 ohm cabinets connected in parallel would equal 4 ohms), and got what I'd consider to be some of the most perfectly balanced tones I've ever had the pleasure to conjure up on my many guitar gear adventures! Note: YMMV!
The Mesa cab, with its well-seasoned Celestion MC-90, reintroduced some of the missing bottom end girth and fullness that was missing in the Jensens (not to mention its deliciously harmonic mid and top end), while the Jensen loaded cab projected an infectious serving of gloriously sweet, midrangy magic to the mix.
Plus, due to the Jenson's lower efficiency, the Celestion MC-90 still retains its title as being the primary voice in this setup, with the Jensons acting in more of a supporting role - i.e.: the Jensens simply compliment the tone as opposed to redefining it. In other words; Although there are two Jensen's and only one Celestion, the feisty pair of subordinates do not have the wherewithal to overwhelm the lone reigning sovereign, an arrangement that works fantastically well in my case!
That, in a nutshell, is what makes my setup rather "unique", since there probably aren't many 3-speaker guitar setups with two speaker cabinets (one being a very idiosyncratic type with both a 12" and a 10" speaker in it), so trying to recreate what I have may not be so simple to replicate, but not impossible either I'd venture.
So hopefully, with some ingenuity, perhaps there are many applications that can benefit from this basic formula and I suppose that is the main message I'm trying to convey in this article. Of course there are always exceptions to the rules...
One last big test I did involved my 1991 Gibson Les Paul Studio with its stock 490R and 498T pickups. What I was going for here was all-out high gain distortion mayhem! The results were actually varied and it seems that you could go either way when it comes to this; The Jensen cab provided a clear, bright and articulate tone that really cuts through the mix. If you need more bottom end fatness, adding the Mesa cab really fills in the sound, but it can potentially get too fat as well, especially if you play in a band that already has a heavy bassist and drummer, so some people may prefer to run the Jensens on their own to keep things from getting murky.
Obviously, if your sound is defined by a "scooped-mids" tone, then you may wish to steer clear of the Jensens. Of course you will most likely lose some output volume with them as well, but when it comes to distortion, sometimes less is more (to avoid causing your ears to bleed for instance), so the Jensens may work great for those Metal-Heads who already have plenty of power but also likes having a clear, sharp, biting edge in their sound.
You should also keep in mind that the Jensen "Q" models are only rated at 35 watts, so they may not be able to handle the raw power of some high output amps if used individually. But in a two or four speaker cab they would equal a combined 70 or 140 watt power handling respectively. Since my TA-30 is only advertised to be 40 watts I should be relatively safe - although peak output can overwhelm these speakers if pushed too hard for too long - so some care should be taken to avoid blowing them up!
Without going into any great detail, I did plug in a couple other amps to see what would happen and a couple of these amps actually sounded the best with just the Jensens (with the Mesa cab adding too much bass to the sound). This is proof, to me, that you really have to match these up to whatever works best...
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CONCLUSIONS:
So, the million dollar (I mean $60) question is: Can the Jensen Vintage Ceramic "Q"s stand up on their own tonewise?
The short answer is (imo) "Yes... but!"...
The "but" qualifier goes something like this:
The Celestion MC-90 is great "but"...
The Celestion Greanback is great "but"...
The Eminence, Electro-Voice, Weber, You-name-it is great "but"...
In this case I would say that the Jensen C10Q and C12Q are both great, BUT (like most any speaker option I suppose), it depends on a lot of things - such as cabinet design, amp voicing, guitar choice, effects used and ultimately HOW it will be used (for instance; clean or dirty, quiet or loud, live or recording). I can only describe the Jensen's overall quality and tone as being at a "professional" level and, besides mentioning their perceived output and pronounced midrange, all I can tell you is that you just have to try them and see (I know... I suck).
I personally love my Jensen speakers for what they add to my sound and, even when used on their own, they definitely have a charm that is worth considering. That said - if I MUST be painfully honest with you - I'm not entirely sure if I'd be personally as happy with the Jensens on their own (as it pertains to my specific setup of course) and I might still be looking for something else if I didn't have the Mesa MC-90 cab.
My reasoning is this: First keeping in mind that the Jensens I've been testing are practically brand new while the MC-90 is thoroughly broken in... Although the Jensens have a great sound in their own rite, the lack of some bottom end richness would be sorely missed and the midrangy hump could start to grate on my nerves without the MC-90's warmth to offset it.
On the other hand, now whenever I play my Mesa cab without the Jensen cab I definitely feel like something is missing, so I guess I have to admit that I've become quite dependent on this setup for total sonic bliss.
On the other OTHER hand... it's also easy to imagine that dragging an additional speaker cabinet around in order to get a certain sound can definitely start to grow old in a hurry. Plus, as you might expect, setting up mics for three different speakers in order to recreate that tone for live sound reinforcement or recording would no doubt complicate things as well. So clearly my setup is not without its pitfalls.
Which brings up another consideration: What to do when I'm only able to take one speaker cabinet? I guess I can only say that it depends on the situation. For instance, I own one of those little Fender Mustang "Mini" modeling amps. The Mini is battery powered for portability but the puny 6" speaker is fairly useless for any quality performance, so I modified mine by adding a switchable external speaker jack. This has become an invaluable solution when playing in areas where no AC power is available (in smaller settings of course). My point is this: the Mustang Mini sounds absolutely awesome with the Jensen enclosure by itself and actually stands up extremely well (tone-wise) with my $1000+ high end amps!
Although I haven't tried it, I see no reason why a 2-speaker cabinet loaded with one of these 10" or 12" Jensen speakers (along with a more efficient speaker of your choice) wouldn't garner some satisfactory results and would clearly be a much more manageable solution than mine. The same might also apply with a 4-speaker cabinet. Either way, I'm sure we'd all be interested in any of these bold experiments and, should some fearless person decide to take it on, please enlighten us on the outcome...
My final word (maybe):
If you have an already dark amp with plenty of bass OR perhaps a little too much output OR if you just need something that will help you cut through the mix OR if some sweet, juicy midrange is missing from your life, then the Jensen C10Q and/or C12Q may be a perfect match for you!
Good Luck!
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