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Old March 29th, 2008, 04:22 PM   #803 (permalink)
Guitarslinger1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidney Vicious View Post
I have an old vintage Jensen alnico speaker - an 8J11 - from a Harmony H400 amp -

(having owned a couple of the H400's I can tell you w/o fear of contradiction that the Jensen speakers are the best part of those amps) -

anyway, stuck it in my GA-5 - stock except for removal of the wire meshes and wood cord box -

and I like the sound of it very much!

Based on a quick test run I find the Jensen less efficient and the sound of the amp fuller and more articulate at a lower volume - does that make sense? The break is just as sweet - again, though, at what I perceive to be a lower volume than the stock Goldtone/Weber. With the Weber it seemed I would kinda hunt for a sweet spot in the guitar/amp volume settings. The Jensen sounds "better" throughout the dial.

Admittedly, the Weber is not broken in - the Jensen is 40 plus years old!

A few years ago when I had my first flirt with cheap Harmony amps I learned that the 8J11 was stock on some vintage Gibson amps - maybe something to do with it?

Anyway, I'll leave it in for now.
Is your Jensen 4 or 8 ohms? If it's 8 ohms, it will sound better and be more efficient if you switch the 8 ohm tap of the output transformer to the speaker jack.

I don't know what was typically used in Harmonys, but It looks like vintage Gibsons typically used 8 ohm 8"s.
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