Fender Excelsior - Question about factory speaker

[gmm52]

I recently picked up a Fender Excelsior, and so far I like it. I read somewhere that two different speakers were used in these amps, and one was purportedly better. I can't find the source of this information on a second search. Anyone know anything about this speaker claim?

 

[W.L.Weller]

The regular brown Excelsiors had an OEM speaker with an Excelsior sticker on the magnet. The Excelsior Pros came with an Eminence 1518 speaker.

 

[Bucster752]

True. The Excelsior factory speaker has an 'Excelsior' label and only came in brown covering while the Excelsior Pro has an Eminence with a brown and gold Fender label and was available in blonde, sonic blue and surf green.

 

[gmm52]

Thanks for the replies. Any major differences in tone between the two?

 

[RoscoeElegante]

The Eminence 1518 is considerably louder, clearer, and cleaner. A great speaker in a fun amp.

 

[Willie Johnson]

I put the Emi 1518 in mine last week and I like it a lot. I put some old RCA Victor 6k6 power tubes in and a JJ 12ay7 in v1 and with the louder speaker it's a very goldilocks combination for the amp. Have fun with it.

 

[gmm52]

Thanks for the replies. Tube swap is coming.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

The Eminence 1518 is considerably louder, clearer, and cleaner. A great speaker in a fun amp.

I had the Excelsior Pro amp for a couple of years and it sounded amazing. My finances were different, and my thoughts about it's lack of reverb were incorrect as well so I sold it.

I think I'll try to pick one of those up soon--it sounded great. I remember preferring it on the "accordion" setting--it just seemed to "punch thru" better.

 

[Dacious]

Thanks for the replies. Tube swap is coming.

Just watch out for V2 - that's a cathodyne phase inverter stage like the original Tweed amps this copies. It's best to keep a Shuguang (stock) or JJ tube in that position. Most modern tubes the grid will overheat after 20 minutes and the amp will intermittently cut out. Eventually the tube will be destroyed. That tube doesn't affect tone.

Here's my mod thread

Thread 'Late to the party - in praise of the Excelsior' https://www.tdpri.com/threads/late-to-the-party-in-praise-of-the-excelsior.743187/

 

[stormsedge]

HNAD! I have a 1518 in my Excelsior and it made a world of difference. I still have the OEM 6V6's, but have rolled V1 to a Genalex Gold Lion ECC83 and V2 to a JJ ECC83S. I recently participated in an afternoon jam session, running the amp for a solid five hours with no issues. The Excelsiors are fun and great sounding amps.

 

[uriah1]

I remember those having 15s. Dont see too many 15s.
Buddy of mine put a Big ben in his Sewell ..
Dont think they make anymore.but prob same as other line.
I know Celestion came out with Fullback...Too bad JBL and EV arent around anymore
Wish you luck

 

[gmm52]

Just watch out for V2 - that's a cathodyne phase inverter stage like the original Tweed amps this copies. It's best to keep a Shuguang (stock) or JJ tube in that position. Most modern tubes the grid will overheat after 20 minutes and the amp will intermittently cut out. Eventually the tube will be destroyed. That tube doesn't affect tone.

Here's my mod thread

Thread 'Late to the party - in praise of the Excelsior' https://www.tdpri.com/threads/late-to-the-party-in-praise-of-the-excelsior.743187/

I've have about 20 old 12AX7's, mostly Philips. I trust they're robust enough for the phase inverter?

 

[donnyrocker]

I remember preferring it on the "accordion" setting--it just seemed to "punch thru" better.

Good to know.

I bought one, and still have, when the Excelsior first came out; it helped me discover 6V6 chime (vs all of my EL84 amps). Post-Covid, I've begun gigging this awesome little amp (curiously, still too loud for a number of venues). I just got a second (brown) one that I'll pursue speaker swap etc.

 

[Carlsoti]

Back when Philip McKnight still had a brick and mortar music shop in AZ, the original Excelsior was just coming out. He's buddies with one or a few of the guys at FMIC in Scottsdale, and relayed this interesting tidbit about the amp to me. It was originally designed for a 12", but the 15" was CONSIDERABLY cheaper, so they redesigned the whole amp to accomodate!

 

[ReverendRevolver]

I've always wondered how the Weber 15f150a would sound in an excelsior. Theyve stated for awhile its good for said amp in the product description. Obviously nobody with a pro model would need to check, but they go for roughly what a 1518 does and I've had good luck with Weber in the past (frankly I tried having something else made last time, and tried buying used UK made speakers, but went with Weber anyway).

I suppose I'll find out if I can get my hands on one this year.

 

[W.L.Weller]

	Weber 15F150A	Eminence 1518
Magnet	50 oz.	58 oz
Voice Coil Size	1.5"	2"
Power Rating	50W	150W

Wish Weber had a little more info available, like sensitivity. Please post if you do get the Weber, the Emi is a personal favorite (even though I don't have an Excelsior) and the transition to owning more speakers than guitars happened so gradually I didn't notice.

 

[marshman]

That stock speaker was very honky/‘middy’, in a good but very “one-trick” sorta way. I replaced mine with a vintage P15R and am very pleased with the results.

I tube-rolled with the stock speaker and ended up with a 5751 for V1, JJ 12AX7 V2 and some very tightly matched RCA 6V6GTs for maximum headroom…I tried a few other vintage pairs of 6V6 and they got progressively “dirtier” as they drifted apart in ”matchiness”.

The 6K6GTs I tried were a perfectly matched NOS pair and sounded like Neil Young…on the edge of melt down in a good way, but that was about all they sounded like.

I set up another Exy for bass…12AY7 in V1, JJ12AX7 V2, JJ 6V6S for power and an Altec speaker. Hella heavier but sounds great. Unfortunately it sounds like doodoo with the piezo in my acoustic electric bass guitar, which was my ultimate goal.

 

[Dadzmad]

I have the EX Pro Model with the stock Emi 1518. Remember that these were originally part of their "Pawnshop" series. The original brown ones had a low-fi garage band character (nothing wrong with that and some prefer the original speaker). So many were being modded with the 1518 speaker that the last colored "Pro Models" came with the 1518 installed - has big, loud, and kinda/sorta clean sound. I won't say one is better than the other but for sure the 1518 makes it a different beast than what was originally intended for this model.

The simplicity of the amp appeals to me. The bright-(middle)-dark switch adjusts for the instrument and the three inputs provide preset jumping off points. I don't plan to mod this one beyond the chicken head knobs. I adjust the tone with the guitar, which keeps me from fiddling with knobs on the amp.

I have swapped out the tubes for a pair of Sylvania Green Leaf 6v6 and recent Svetlana 12AX7 tubes. Had to post this picture as I liked seeing Bucster752's Blush pair.

Enjoy your amp!

 

[Willie Johnson]

I switched mine to 6k6s and a JJ 12ay7 in v1 and made both changes at the same time, but I tried a 5751 that I had in there initially, and think I like that better, a little more clarity and different gradation between clean and drive, and boy howdy, the dBs sure went up. NO NO I SAID THE AAAMP IS LOOOUDER. And look how sick these knobs and white lamp Jewel look:

 

[Mike Eskimo]

The regular brown Excelsiors had an OEM speaker with an Excelsior sticker on the magnet. The Excelsior Pros came with an Eminence 1518 speaker.

The Eminence 1518 is considerably louder, clearer, and cleaner. A great speaker in a fun amp.

I’ll play spoiler, but I do know good tone when I hear it.

I bought an excelsior off of craigslist about a month after they first came out.

Didn’t like it at all/didn’t give it a chance, so I passed it on to a bandmate.

He played analog/modular synth through it for about three years. With all the super low lows, and super high highs that go along with that stuff.

Then we started practicing in the room above his garage, and I saw the amp after I had forgotten about it for three years.

So next practice, I didn’t bring my amp and I played through that - and it was amazing !

Original crap fender, excelsior labeled speaker. That had seen serious abuse and playtime for three straight years.

It sounded soooo good.

I later got excelsior that had the Bill M mods done to it and the upgraded eminence speaker and - it left me cold.

So there’s one vote for the original junky Excelsior with a junky Excelsior speaker.