American vs British Guitar Speaker Comparison - Jensen C12n vs Celestion G12m Creamback - US vs UK 

Wow thanks for all the comments! Just to be clear, while the current reissue Jensen speakers are based on the design and sound of the original U.S. Jensen models, they are currently made by those lovely people in Italy. So when I say 'American' or 'British' speaker, I'm talking about the tone and design of the speaker, not necessarily the location they're currently manufactured in. Thanks!

I wanted to like the Celestion better on the drive/rock samples but I actually prefer the Jensen!

Clearly the answer is a 4x12 with one Jensen, one cream back, one green back and an alnico blue with 4 mics.. .

The Jensen was a natural sound. The Celestion sounded "musical" like it had a character all it's own.

Both sounds killer (probably courtesy of the player), Jensen is to me more "I have pretty much all the sonic space in mix as I want" and Celestion is "no matter what, you will hear me"

Cool! I prefer the Jensen in every style, although the last "rock distortion" with the Les Paul at least gave this Celestion a chance. That particular Jensen model just sings with this amp. Thanks!

The sound difference between the two speakers is MASSIVE! Great demo! I have a preference for the Jensen!

I liked the Jensen much more for almost any application. Have to get rid of my Creamback 😉

Kudos! One of THE BEST speaker comparisons on the Tube! Truly showed the tonal characters of each speaker with all guitar types. Brilliant work!

What suprised me in this clip is that the archtop sounds better to me with the celestion. It seems to me the Jensen is voiced too similar to the archtop - big low end and bright top but misses the mids and the celestion brings the mids out so nicely. Also makes me wonder how these compare in the mix.

Excellent review :) I wanted to pick a winner but....they both sound terrific...maybe a 2x12 cab with 1 of each would be the greatest sound ever !!!

Such a stark difference! We spend so much time comparing amps and overdrives and the whole EQ could be changed by the speaker.

I liked both. If I had to pick just one.............Jensen

Both sounded great! I’d be happy with either. Considering that an amp can sound different just by moving it around a room, I’m sure most players could coax a usable tone out of either of these.

I absolutely LOVE how tamed and clear the jazz sound is through the creamback!!! I ordered a g10 greenback for my vox vt30 just yesterday, can’t wait to noddle around with an improved clean tone! Thank you for this comparison

Both are nice but I like the Jensen best.

Great comparison, I wanted to prefer the Celestion but I prefer the Jensen in every scenario. I am pretty sure it would work better in a band situation as well.

incredible demo and beautiful guitar playing friend. best regards!

This video is amazing, thanks for putting it together! The Jensen definitely excels at clean tones, but gets kind of harsh with overdriven tones. The Celestion does everything well to my ears.

I liked them both. It would depend on which side of the bed I got up on as to which I liked best. Jensen is brighter and Celestion is a little darker and mellower. Would love to hear them matched in a 2 x 12 cabinet.

I have a Deluxe Reverb, Like the American speaker for it. Want it sound the way it intended. I have AC30 and a Plexi for the British voice stuff.

Dude, high quality video! All around, literally every aspect! Including your riffage, brother!

Excellent demo. Clean and the funky the Jensen wins, but with a little durt, the Celestion is my favorite

Wow. Great Demo. Concise. I LOVE the Creamback. Probably the best single speaker there is. V30's mix well with Greenbacks and T75's, but alone, the Creamback 65 dominates IMO.

I really like Jensens. I use mostly C12k’s and C10q’s. I was surprised that the Celestion caught my ear when you were playing jazz. I think I preferred the cream back for jazz. Thanks for the demo!

Great video, thanks for your work. I prefer the Jensen, that’s the vintage Fender sound.

In the living room the Jensen sounds great. In a mix with the band the mids in the Celestion make it a better choice. Bedroom tones and band tones are two different worlds. Thats why an EQ pedal is a must.

For anything clean like jazz, country, and funk I choose the Jensen anyday of the week, there's a reason most iconic Fender amps use it. For blues , at first I liked the Jensen, but when I heard the creamback I immediately prefered its thicker rowdier tone . For anything overdriven or distorted, whether single coils or humbuckers , I choose the creamback anyday of the week. And I'm really not partial in this case, since I'm an Eminence guy.

History of Jensen® Loudspeakers Peter Jensen Peter L. Jensen dedicated his life to innovation and today's Jensen® musical instrument speakers continue the essence of that innovation. Peter L. Jensen was born in 1886 in Falster, Denmark and came to America in 1909. In 1915, working alongside Edwin Pridham, Peter Jensen developed the "Magnavox", the first loudspeaker. Magnavox speakers were predominantly used for public address systems, famously first used publicly in 1919 to amplify President Woodrow Wilson's speech in San Diego. In 1927, Peter Jensen founded Jensen® Radio Manufacturing Company and began producing speakers for both military use and radios. The company later began to produce commercial loudspeakers for public use. In the mid-1940s Leo Fender developed one of the first guitar amplifiers and chose Jensen® speakers for their excellent tone. Throughout the 1940s, 1950s and most of the 1960s, Fender®, Ampeg®, Gibson® and all the other major amplifier companies used Jensen® musical instrument speakers. Jensen® ceased production of their loudspeakers in the late 1960s. In the late 1990s, under a licensing agreement, SICA Altoparlanti, an Italian speaker manufacturer, commenced production of the legendary Jensen® speakers. These Jensen® "reissues", after intensive research and analysis, are made to the same specifications as the original Jensen® speakers used by Leo Fender and others. Following the success of these reissues, Jensen® has released new speakers utilizing the same quality design as the original Jensen® speakers, but dedicated to modern music, including speakers in the Jensen® Jet Series. The Jensen® name is synonymous with classic vintage tone, and is the pioneer in modern state-of-the-art speakers today. I am just posting for those that might be interested to know the history of Mr. Jensen, the creator of the first loud speaker.

Thank you, Michael! Love your product reviews/comparisons. Jensen the best to my ears. (and the quality of your playing and sound samples is fabulous).

I liked Jensen for clean tones, Celestion for anything with overdrive / distortion. Great video!

Great demo, the differences and similarities are very clearly evident. What ultimately is the dilemma, then, is how does any one particular tone work in the mix of the band? Very often, less range, or less bottom, or less mids work best to not crowd the others, especially vocals. So I suppose the choice comes down to one's willingness to maximally exploit whatever tone it is you've got, to make it work best in whatever situation it's placed. Adapt, improvise, overcome! 😎

Interesting how the type of music being played really does suit different styles. Thanks for this.

Wow that transition during the rock overdrive segment really summed up the us/uk difference perfectly. Great playing too, solid vid mate👍

The clean and funk and blues drive through the Jensen sounded sweetest The Celestion for overdriven stuff As everyone would expect

Came here to decide which speakers I want but shiieet, now I need both speakers and another amp.

Great video. The Jensen spanks the Celestion on clean sounds but the Celestion kicks ass as soon as overdrive is introduced.

Celestion Creamback its my favourite xD i have one and i love how it color the sound of everything , but the Italian is a legend and a very sweet speaker too ;) , Happy new year for all you people ! xD

Jensen for sure for this demo. Great pedal platform as well. Having said that I do love my Marshall 4 x 12 with Greenbacks using a Friedman PT22 to rock out.

To my ears it’s the Jensen for cleans and cream back for dirt. However if I only had the choice of one speaker it would be the cream back as it gives the cleans attitude whereas for me the Jensen does not do the same for dirt.

Really great video! Your recording technique clearly captured the difference. I thought the Creamback sounded best with the higher gain but for cleans, definitely the C12N

it's amazing how much the speaker impacts the tone, more than actually changing the amp. to me, the jensens sound flatter and more neutral overall, with smoother highs - i love that about them. i prefer the celestions for a clean tone with a little bite, exactly for that midrange, although - or maybe because - they sound a lot more scooped. i don't like it that the scoop isolates the lows and that makes them feel a bit out of control, even though there's less of them, and also that they're a bit harsh, but overall i think the mids make up for that. a combination between them would make for the best speaker. or a 2x12 with one of each. i think the celestions would work better on a 2x12, anyway, where the mid-lows would be filled back in a little more, whereas these jensens were designed to balance a 1x12 just right. a humbucker would also have kind of the same effect on the celestions, plus subduing the treble a little. a subtle hint of chorus would focus the mids a little more on the jensens. for jazz. blues, and rock distortion i prefer the jensens, and the celestion for the rest. but i don't think it depends on the generic genre, as much as on the specific tone you're going for. great comparison, and nice playing!

Interesting! Often with shoot-out videos I find I naturally prefer the first option in every case and whilst I thought the Jensen sounded nice, on every occasion I preferred the Creamback

Both great. I actually thought the creamback was holding its own in the jazz example! Great video

Great comparison video thanks for sharing! It’s really all subjective to each listener. However, I prefer the Jensen as it sounds more transparent and open allowing for the tones to ring through.

The only answer is the Jensen in the combo and a 1x12 cab with the Creamback. I like them both. I bet the Jensen cuts through a mix a little better.

The greenback/creamback works better for a closed back cab as the Q value is lower than the Jensen type speaker. The resonance frequency of the celestion is 75Hz,, It can sound a little bass shy in an open back cab as most of the guitars bass range is from 85Hz to 150Hz. You want the trapped air of a smaller closed back cab to act as a spring/damper on the speaker cone, raising its resonance frequency ... In general a low Q value around 0.5 should be placed in a small closed back cab.. Around 0.7 or higher is where eminence start recommending using an open back cab.. The celestion greenback/creamback works nice for an amp with some high mids in the signal (1KHz to 1.7kHz),, This is where the celestion creamback has a big gapping hole in the frequency response graph.. The Jensen is this clip is much more present as it has these high mids..

For my single coils; the Jensen C12n. For my humbuckers; the Celestion G12m creamback! Glad I own 2 Fender amps.

Amazing demo and great playing as well. Thank you.

Well done! Great comparison and playing! Listening on my Air Pods and with that amp, I preferred the Jensen. Going to have to listen on my studio monitors tomorrow and see if that’s still the case. I’ve actually been considering both of these speakers, so this is perfect!

Nice job Michael!! I play Jazz, Swing, Country, Blues (Chicago, before they put the distortion in) and several other genres, and am trying to figure out what speakers to use. It's almost impossible to find comparisons that are not totally distorted or jangly for cleans! Your video helped a lot, as you actually PLAYED some Jazz and clean stuff, where almost all other folks test equipment with big distortion or with 63 digital pedals thru their tube amps!! THANKYOU!!! And nice Zephyr Regent BTW! I had '51 Zephyr Deluxe Regent & Triumph Regents, among several other NY & Kalamazoo Epi's

Good comparison. They are both good speakers, just different. Excellent playing!

Great video bro. Great comparison and some beautiful playing as well. I just ordered a C12N to replace the stock speaker in my Champion 40 😁

Overall I prefer the Celestion G12m Creamback but like everything when it comes to guitar, its completely subjective.

Jensen all the way. I put a Jensen Special Design into a Peavey Rage 108 and wow, what a difference. Now this little 10 watt practice amp sounds good.

I got three quarters of the way through this video and then I subscribed! Fantastic demo! Thank you!

Great demo man ! Sounds and looks awesome !

I have much experience with the Jensen C12, and I respect its quality, but I tend to prefer British speakers like your example. This is because the American speakers tend to have excess energy in the 1.5khz to 3khz octave and the American speakers (esp. Jensen) tend to be deficient in the 200hz to 400hz range like Fender amplifiers are and the combination makes a thin sound that is deficient in body (when combined with Fender). But the C12 is a quality speaker, and I know a number of jazz guitarists who love it.

The Jensen rappresent the classic american sound but it's made in Italy.

Clean: Jensen C12N Rock Overdrive: Toss up, both sounded good, just slightly different flavors Clean Funk: Jensen C12N Blues Overdrive: Jensen C12N Rock Distortion: Celestial G12M Creamback Jazz Clean: Jensen C12N

Great review! I just ordered a pair of the Jensen's for my 62 blonde Bassman restoration. I was going to have the original Oxford's re-coned, but opted for what I think will be a sure thing with the Jensen's. I'll retain the originals in the event I sell the amp.

I go with 2 amps, a jensen one the right and cream back on the left, panned at 10 and 2 oclock : i feel the jensen has a better driven tone and celestion has more bass on the cleaner side, so they complete each other perfectly

After hearing it, I bought a Jensen but sent it back after a day test on my princeton ...Went back to my celestion.....feel it warmer and cozier

Nice review and chops. So yeah the Creamback has the forward midrange that Eminence (American) is also known for in many of its offerings, the major difference before Eminence decided to market itself beyond an OEM supplier is that Celestian invested in very expensive test equipment for the very reason of understanding and tuning speaker breakup and distorted source material. Now Jensen is a very hi-fi flat sounding speaker by comparison and Fender was always chasing cleaner cleans since the early years and the Jensen was a good choice. As a side, I kind of like the Utah speakers in some regards for sounding a bit more like the Celestian midrange but they will crash when pushed and there is the higher wattage Eminence Fender OEMs that excel in clean loud Jazz or Country but it’s no Swiss army speaker either it breaks up a mess when pushed too far. The Jensen almost pulls off everything well and some mid bump can be coaxed with an EQ but Celestian often wins on the heavy distortion and cutting through the live mix. So many factors to consider overall as different amps and tone stack arrangements along with cabinet design, all add up to a different flavor. Green backs, for example sound pretty bad to me and many others with heavy distortion from Bassy American tubes (6L6, 6550, KT88) especially in open back cabinets where they don’t have back pressure to keep the cones from losing control but put them in a 4x12 and run a Bright Vox amp (EL84), Marshall or my favorite Laney (EL34) into them and it’s a match. I would prefer the Creamback over the Green with the Quad EL34 amps because I don’t like too much speaker breakup and compression but who am I? Two Greens sealed with a Duet of EL34’s could do well for Britt Blues. We all have different ears and I would probably enjoy both the Creamback and the C12N in a larger sealed closed back cabinet with lots of internal bracing and polyester batting all around and possibly a low pass filter on the Jensen; in that case make it a X configuration 4x12 🥳 staggered tall and deep cab! Mmmmmmm crank it up. Rule of thumb- Ribbed stiff but light weight cones reproduce the amp sound more faithfully until they lose control at high volumes Smooth Cones will flex more and avoid the farting and buzzing but will also impart much character. It gets much deeper than that, Celestian often utilizes a mesh dust cap which is great for efficiency and voice coil cooling but I prefer something that blocks that beaming high end. My own design mods include some hi-fi tricks like felt on the pole piece, baskets with a Urethane coating, venting from the sides of the voice coil and so on. None of which is traditional and not going to sound so either. Wow, I wrote a book here, well just remember to roll back the bass as you crank up a tube amp in general because they are not often linear like solid state and exponentially increase bass harmonics from soft clipping. Rock on Glue Tubers 🥳

Great video, helped me understand the difference. Prefered the Creamback.

I really loved the clarity of the Jensen. The Rock Overdrive example sounded great. Thanks for an enjoyable video.

Thanks for a great video!! With that amp I preferred the Jensen by a long margin. My experience echoes yours too. I was thinking about my own amps... JTM45 through the Celestion Greenbacks? Glorious! Princeton tweed through the American voiced speaker? Great. The latter reminds me of Eric Clapton's Strat tone in the Riding with the King album. Fabulous tone! I was trying today the Princeton with my favourite cabinet, an open back 2x12 cab with Heritage speakers G 12 M and G 12 H and whilst it sounded okay but it wasn't anything to write home about. I plugged the tiny 8 inch American voiced speaker back (Jupiter 8SC), and the tone returned. I guess the JTM45 wouldn't sound its best through American voiced speakers but haven't really tried.

The Jensen's pedigree through the 60's into the 70's and beyond is equal to anything else that was/is around. All gash no flash. Im putting 2 in an open back cab to run with a 15 watt tube amp.

The best comparison I have seen here. Thank you so much.

Preferred the Jensen right up until Rock Distortion when the Celestion killed it with that tone. Thank you for showcasing the speakers under different styles.

Great comparison! Celestion is a winner for my ears in every style, Jensen was very good at funk and blues but still prefer warmer Celestion sound

The rock distortion through that celestion was gorgeous

Thanks for a very useful video. The Jensen sounds livelier for clean tones, but the highs when distorted become unpleasantly piercing. The Celestion tames the upper harshness much better. I am experimenting with a two amp setup with one of each type of speaker. (Vox Ac 30 w/gb speakers is mostly one half.)

This really helped me make decision on my next amp, thanks!

I installed a Jensen c12r in my 65 reissue Princeton 1-12. I can’t imagine a better tone, yet I still want to try more Jensen speaker.

Really clear difference between the two in your video. That is helpful. Thanks!

Tasteful playing. Loved that. My choice would be the Celestion as an overall better speaker, to my ears. I like that it's not harsh on the ears as opposed to the Jensen. I don't say that it's not a useable or good sound, but the celestion is way warmer.

Jensens kick Celestions ass. Celestions sound best clean to me.

...nice job fella. Nice sound quality and it shows you know how to mic.

Absolutely lovely playing dude. Both sound very good when talent flows through them. 👏

The Celestion cream all day! I was suprised, since I built a 12 in speaker box with a Jensen MOD in it, and the MOD sounds good with a hint of vintage to it.

Awesome video, man. Thanks for doing this! Such a unique sound to each of the speakers, and they both seemed to coax out a different vibe in the playing. Can't say that I preferred one to the other, just different Well done.

I have a 2x12 with those Jensen's. Nothing sounds good into it unless it's a Fender amp. Which is why both speakers sound good in this video; you're using a Deluxe Reverb. I've run everything I own into my Jensen loaded cab - Hiwatt dr103, 69 Super Bass 100, vox ac30hw2, Dr z Mazerati, Greer mini chief, mesa tremoverb, 81 JMP 50 watt. The Jensen's sound horrible with all those amps. If I plug my hand wired Deluxe Reverb or my 61 Tremolux, they sound great. With the Celestion loaded cabs I have, everything sounds good.

Thanks for the effort of making this comparison! Good, quality video. But it would be good to compare this speakers in the mix, or during a gig ;)

I prefer the Jensen, it sounds really amazing, I'm definely gonna buy one in the near future

Nice comparison. Good job playing different styles.

I'm liking the Jensen the most.

Lovely, lovely. The only thing I was left wanting was a Left Right split of the two. You see, I have Creambacks in my 2 HRD's and the Jensens in an old Fender Speaker cab. The two together is where the magic happens by some ears.

Replaced the stock Eminence (American Voiced) Speaker in my Fender Blues Junior III with a Vintage 30 and it gave the amp a completely different character. The thing with the Hot Rod/Blues series amps is that the amp circuits are a combination of Fender and Vox circuitry (all of those amps use EL84/EL34 power tubes instead of 6V6/6L6s), so experimenting with British and American speakers in those amps is a really good idea. I got the idea to use a Vintage 30 because the Limited Edition Blues Junior III had it as its main speaker. I almost considered the Greenback, but then I thought I'd want something with a bit more power. Definitely prefer the quality of the sound of that speaker to my stock Eminence, but it does change the mid-range characteristic a bit. My friend has a Tweed Blues Junior with a Jensen C12N and it sounded 10,000x better than my stock speaker, so If I wanted to experiment with more American sounding speakers, then Jensen is the way to go!

In a weird way the Jensen has that DI driven through a tube mic pre sound, sounded awesome for the funk riff and gave the first Rock riff some presence in the top. The Cream Back had alot more dirt to the sound and had that classic jangly mid range on that Blues riff, the extra mids and more rolled off highs gave the first Rock riff more punch and attitude than the Jensen but I could see these speakers working well in a 212 or 412 cab (the Cream Backs are often combined with a V30 or similarly voiced speaker to give a more full range sound). The interesting thing is during the Jazz section it seems like the differences between the two speakers is more negligible, probably because Traditional Jazz tones tend to be rolled off and using the Neck Pickup, so in that case it's more a question of what's more available to you in your area. The biggest difference in tone is when you switch to high gain, the Celestion had a less harsh top end and more present lows for those palm mutes, and the Jensen started to get shrill and a touch lean in the lows (less of an issue when you're potentially starting to high pass the guitars during mixing). For high gain at least, a mix of both speakers could be a cool alternative to the typical "V30 57" tone, the high end presence of the Jensen and the lows and low end punch of the Celestion. In my use case I'd go for the Creamback but I can definitely see some potential uses for for the Jensen.

Both are great nobody's in life are the same allways thats why we need both of them

The rock stuff with the Lespaul and celestion was well defined and chunky love it.

I love the Jensen for the cleans and the celestion for the dirt.

This just confirms what I always felt deep within. I hate Celestions. They have 1khz peak that just ruins the entire sound for me. For those that don’t know 1khz is the part for the bandwidth that gives you that tiny speaker in a tiny box sound. It’s not musical like the frequencies between 400-800. The Jensen is scooped in the mids but sounds great clean. This is why I ended up choosing Fane type speakers in the end because they have a dip at 1khz, musical mids, but do the nice clean Jensen tones as well. Thank you for making this video. I thought it was just the Vintage 30 I hated but it seems to be a signature sound amongst the brand. Also, I use a TS pedal for boosting and with a Jensen or Fane, this sounds huge but on a Celestion it just brings out more of that small speaker sound. Going to save up for some Alnico Jensen’s and Fanes now. Thanks.

Hey, that was fun! Can't remember which was which but I think the Brit speaker edged out the US on by an eyelash. You were right, the style makes the difference. That Jazz guitar has it's own posse following it around!

The obvious mid focus of the Celestion was there in most every playing example but the lower volume clean. The Jensen had the hi-lo buttoned down pretty good. If I had to pick one it would be Jensen. However, both speakers compliment each other - I prefer both speakers together. The Celestion is too mid dominant as an all around single speaker but fills any sonic mid range a Jensen may lack - mid range is essential for me so long as it is balanced against hi and low. The Celestion did not have much bottom compared to the Jensen.

Nice video. And nice playing...Thanks

Jensen. I prefer the creamback H over the M. Seems to have a tad more bass and upper mids than the M has. Try some WGS Reaper 30 watt.

Jensen more articulate on the light stuff and a pleasing grind when played hard.

As a American l chose the Creamback mainly because that’s what I purchased to put in my Marshall DSL40C and I prefer the British sound.