Hi,
I know there have been various posts about this amp on here. I've read them but thought some specific comparisions might help me make a final decision. I know both will be a huge improvement over the stock speaker.
I have a Blues Jr. III with the billm tone stack, so I get enough bass, but I guess more wouldn't hurt. The problem mainly seams to be the upper mids and highs. The upper mids are pronounced and honkey, and make it feel hard to play through. The upper highs don't seem to have that pleseant Fender sparkle, but I do get an ice picky tone at what to my ears seems like a lower part of the highs. My single coils sound a little midrangy and get major ice pick, my front humbucker is definitely too midrangy and I can even make that ice pick if I dig in!
1) I've seen from the tone chart that the ET65 has less mids than the G12C/S, is there much difference between the two? Are the mids in the G12/S mainly lower mids, because Vaughn's demo of the G12C/S sounded nice and full but not too mid rangy.
2) I'm definitely into a more american sounding amp, would the G12C/S suit me more, or is the ET65 still good for that sound?
3) Is there any other info you can give me in comparing in these speakers than might help me choose?
The Blues Jr. III is missing a cap compared to the II version which tames the brightness, so if I like the new speaker, but its still a little bright I can put that back in, but I thought I'd wait to see which speaker I get and then choose a value depending on how much I think it might need to be tamed.
Thanks,
James
I was recommended the reaper,i went with the reaper hp because of the softened highs and the more headroom.I originally wanted the et-65 also...was told too bright...
saying that i had to try the c12cs as well...the highs were way too pronounced (not ice picky) and wooly (not for me)...for my ears and needs the reaper went back in and every guitar i throw at it is balanced,has enough sparkle (treble at 3).
Plenty of lowend...the mids and high's are to my ears somewhat scooped...i am very content with the choice...this thing has some big cleans now...wont be needing that DRRI after all.
Yes ... as you have found, folks have had good things to say about both the ET65 and the G12C/S in Blues Juniors for many years now ... and a couple are now reporting good results with the Reaper/ReaperHP. Personally, I can say that ANY of those will be a HUGE improvement over that stock ice-pick!
My 1st choice remains the ET65 ... for exceptionally warm and organic tones. 2nd would probably be the Reaper HP ... which will add in a bit more of an "authoritative" bottom end ... and I would only recommend the smooth-cone if you really want the amp to go in the soft and woody direction of a early 50's tweed Fender.
Which would have less mids, the ET65 or G12C/S, I definitely find the mids too pronounced at the moment.
I think the thing that makes me aprehensive is all the "British invasion" branding, since I've always like the American sound (Fender/Boogie) more than Bristish (Vox/Marshall)
As per vaughn's reccomendation...had to try the et65 as well...got to say it is really sounding quite nice...has more punch in the mids,highs are subdued enough.It does have a more organic/vintage tone...any speaker i believe will have a trade off...in the et65 i can see why he is so fond of this little gem.
Hi,
Took me a while to make a final decision, but evenutally got the ET65. I'm glad I went with this over the G12C/S since the ET65 is only just enough highs for me, so if the G12C/S is darker then it probably would have been too dark for me.
First impressions over the stock Fender Blues Jr. III "Lightning Bolt" spaker:
1) Definitely tamed the ice pick sound coming out of it. This was my main objective in changing the speaker.
2) The overall sound is definitely sweeter, especially the high end. There's greater clarity and sustain, I here every note better when I play and it sings more.
3) The speaker can take more bass without getting farty. I noticed this immediately on the lower notes, which on the old speaker could easily get farty and almost dead sounding. However I also noticed that the amount of bass with the controls at 12 is a bit less than the stock speaker, so I had to turn that up for my overdrives to sound the way I like them, especially at lower volumes.
4) I still get a little bit of a nasally/woody guitar tone, which was the other issue I was hoping to address with the speaker. I'm starting to think this problem is more my guitar (front humbucker does it the most) or the small blues jr cab, as the ET65 is already much clearer than the old speaker.
Overall I'm very happy and will probably post again after more time with the speaker. Thanks very much for taking the time to reply and for producing great affordable speakers.
Thanks,
James
Just thought I'd report back on the ET65 after a couple of months with. I definitely think I made the right choice rather than the G12C/S for what I wanted. I think the G12C/S would have been too melow. I like the high end on the ET65. It's a bit more glassy than shimmery like a blackface, but that might be more the sound of a Blues Jr.
A couple of other things I realised. On a Blues Jr. I need to scoop the mids, almost completely. I think I have midrangy fingers or picking technique, my guitar seems midrangy, and the Blues Jr. is a lot more midrangy than other Fenders.
I still think the stock speaker had more low end bass, but this isn't a bad thing. At home in my study at low volumes I noticed that pushing up 100Hz with a graphic eq, helped the sound be more full. Playing in a bigger room at more volume I found that I definitely need less bass to cut through and not muddy up (as expected). The ET65 is probably a better live use speaker than stock.
I'm happy to say I've now found "my speaker" for 1x12 cabs, after trying vintage 30s, mesa blackshadows and an EVM-12L (which I really didn't like, I think because of the mid range). But that's 1x12s, now what to pair with it in a 2x12????
I went with et65 and Retro 30 in my Black Face Amp. The speakers are in, the amp is out for a service.
Will report back once tested.
On a side note, I didn't like Retro 30 in my BF DeLuxe Reverb Amp .. because of some unpleasant mids it produced.