Great video. liked the stock speaker. It has a fuller, balanced sound overall to my ears. I play at home so that would be better suited. The Jensen however would likely cut thru the mix in a live setting.
You have a perfect analysis! The Jensen was put in specifically to cut through in a live setting indeed. For at home I wouldn't see the point in changing the speaker unless it was for a specific recording purpose.
i agree with Geoffrey. Same situation (KT88) Mostly use the stock Seventy80, but also my fave - a 212 V30. Very very good sound, both. I like the Jensen. Thanks for a good video!
It just seemed like the right call since it's clearly going after a Fender vibe. If I had the KT88 I would have gone for a V30 or something of that nature.
I agree Ian and thanks! I think the thing about the brightness is it's just smoother now. WIth the stock speaker I had to be very mindful of where the tone knob was because it would turn even a humbucker guitar into an icepick if it was dialed in even slightly too much... pretty extreme!
@@AudiomoMusic haha oh wow - those terrifying settings its good to get rid of! reminds me of the pedal equivalent - there was a setting on a metal zone I really liked back in the day, but one slight turn of any dial whatsoever turned it into what can only politely be described as 'painfully offensive' haha!! definitely a great upgrade on that amp though :)
THAT'S EVERY METAL ZONE I'VE EVER PLAYED!!!! I genuinely laughed reading that, I simply have never gotten along with those and got a real life laugh when I read that
@@AudiomoMusic haha I knew you'd understand!! there's one, just one setting I could use but it required military precision and something to stop any of the knobs turning to keep there (and ultimately other pedals are better/more fun for me anyway but it was definitely a 'rite of passage' experience pedal wise!!!!) glad it gave you a laugh too!!!
Day one when I got my blackstar studio 10 6l6 I had an extra ET-65 and installed it. Put In Tung sols like you did. Sounds great. I only use the clean channel and I get dirt with overdrive pedal or boost. The Bogner harlow is especially a great pedal with that amp brings out the harmonic richness of the class A (pedal has a transformer in it). FYI though, the 70/80 is ceramic magnet, not alnico.
it takes drive pedals really well, the V4 sherriff worked very well in the effects loop AND in front of the amp which surprised me, and I'm a big fan of the Optimist through it as well. Great call with the Bogner, they make excellent stuff.
Not a fan of the cleans with the Jensen, but definite improvement in the overdrive. I’ve got a Creamback Neo in mine (the earlier Anniversary Edition Artist 10) which sounds killer
It definitely adds a different kind of character clean, and I actually prefer it because of the other amp I use for cleans when recording ( 70's MusicMan 212HD ), they compliment each other very well in that aspect with the cleans in this sounding a bit more pushed by comparison. Creamback is a great all around choice, and if this was the only amp I had I would have probably leaned more towards something like that or an Alnico Blue
I love this amp. Can not have the master that high due to living in an appartment. Got the KT88. Imo the stock Seventy80 suits the amp but i also use a 212 V30 cab. Awesome! Keep it pretty british mostly. Clean "channel" full gain is the plexi. Real good with pedals. Either use a Xotic SL-drive and just boost the already driven clean channel, or all clean with the same pedal or any other OD or dist. The dirty "channel" is perfect as well. All clean very close to a good Fender amp. Anyway, such a great pedal-eater so i can even make a budget multieffect-box as the Zoom G3 sound ace both infront of clean and in the loop.
@@chaskiandcie I can only speak for the KT88 as that's the one I own. I put The Swamp Thang by Eminence. It's got a huge magnet will add a bit of weight to the amp. But it really helps with low end that tends to lack in smaller amps. And has a very clean platform for pedals. Made all the difference in the world. Just a heads up with the ISF turned towards the American side (Left) it's bright but it sounds fantastic.
This is a video I really wanted to click on when I saw the thumb nail. My observations......I love Jensons I A/Bed the standard BJ celestion V type with the BJ tweed Jenson speaker it was like night and day to me....Jenson all day to my ears (now I own it). Your amp sounds waaay better too to my ears. Second I love how you have started talking about amps more since you fell out with the quad cortex 😂. Fickle 😛
Jensens are great! I've had these parts ordered for a while actually, has nothing to do with the QC. I just had the idea to kind of tie yesterdays video as a lead in to this one, a production tip I learned from buddies in LA haha... The reason I don't really do much with amps is because of how damn good the Music Man amp I have is. I've been so happy with that amp for the last almost 25 years I've never felt the need to get another main amp. One day I'll get a dedicated low watt brown style amp but it has yet to become a priority.
I have a Blackstar ht 20 that got in a trade valued at £200 but it came with a Eminence red coat governor , it sounds good, and it stops me from getting a similar priced amp , only makes sense to get something more expensive in order to get something as good
That's the best case scenario, a preowned amp for that kind of money with a quality speaker already swapped in. The gap from the mid tier amps like this to the high end is gigantic price wise, once you have one it's best to just kinda hold off until you want to spend big imho
It is interesting isn't it? Even with ZERO break in time the Jensen still sounded much crisper yet smoother out of the box than the stock speaker. Night and day in the room.
Really cool video, Jim. I also own a Blackstar and I love it. In my case, it's not a combo, but the cab already came with a Celestion speaker. Now I'm curios about how it would sound with Jensen speaker
No, not at all. Just play :) I have the KT88 version all stock. Effin awesome amp! Full gain on the clean channel and ISF/EQ at 2 a clock british. Very Plexi! Hurraaaah! I also have a VHT Special 6 Ultra - point to point, single ended (like the blackstar) 6v6. No need to bias.
I'm thinking about doing the same thing to my studio 10. In my area there are Jensen c12k and c12q available for good deals on marketplace. What is the difference and which would you recommend? Also, why did you choose those tubes over JJ or something else? Thanks!
Celestion V Type works really well in this series, that is what I placed in mine after several experiments. But really depends on your style of music...
@@markkosa1 Did any of those mentioned speakers tame the low end and added more clarity? I find the 70/80 has too much boomy low end and I want to tame that while adding a bit more high mids.
@@calyptratus187 The Greenback is very clear until pushed then breaks up nicely with not too much bass. I wanted a smoother balanced more vintage sound overall and got that with the V Type.
These Studio 10 ampos are fantastic.. the Stock Seventy -80 is just Ok .. but your Jensen made improvements in both clean and overdrive.. I also heard that speaker choice is a BIG issue as larger frame speakers wont fit where the power tube is mounted and that tube gets in the way.. the seventy -80 is a very short compact speaker.. less than 5" depth.. most are over 5".. so be aware of that.. I have the KT-88 version which I love but thinking of getting a Mojotone Slammins 1x12 with a watchtower greenback for additional sound reinforcement.. plus the slammins can be closed back or open and I can match the tolex.. happy day..
That is indeed a big thing to keep in mind with these amps but I purposely picked this speaker because I knew it would fit in with no issues. I should have mentioned that absolutely, and I had the KT88 too! I only sold it because we were moving across the country and we tried to bring as little as possible.
@@AudiomoMusic I watched your KT88 vid.. I never noticed the volume bump.. holy cow.. I dont gig with mine so never noticed it.. I am mainly on the gain channel with very low gain.. I have another amp for pedals.. the KT88 preamp is the series one version so it has the most gain in the Blackstar lineup .. I also have an HT5 mini stack which uses the HT pre.. I am digging the Blackstar stuff more and more bang for the buck to be honest.. great channel you have!
I currently use an EQ pedal in the effects loop and I'm thinking of doing this. The stock speakers sound like there's a blanket on top of it and I want less of the bass and accentuate the high mids and treble for cleans. I can hear a big difference but it's hard to judge based on RU-vid videos alone. Did it get closer to a Princeton Reverb?
Yeah the speaker in the room was completely night and day and I had the same feeling about the stock speaker. Maybe people who lived with the overdrive engaged it wasn’t so bad but for cleans it did sound like a blanket was covering it. I’d absolutely recommend the swap if you’re going for something more in line with a princeton
I was about to buy a Jensen. A c12n that has the same size as the celestion. However, My ears must be damaged but, as much as I like Jensen in cleans, in this test I preferred the celestion in all clean tests. The Jensen was overly bright. When it comes to overdriven, I liked the Jensen best. It is a shame I will not be alble to fit my jensen p12q which was my initial intention.
That's really interesting, I don't think there's anything wrong with that takeaway. It's just about preference and a good reminder that you can't always plan things based on how they might sound on paper, I personally wanted this exact kind of tone, but can definitely see why you'd be more interested in keeping the celestion in there.
@@AudiomoMusic Thanks for your response. I tried anyway and put a c12n in it. Good news: it fits. And it sounds gorgeous. RU-vid dompression may be playing a trick in what I heard. The overall clarity increases and, yes highs are more prominent but bass improves hugely.
Hi Jim! Awesome video! I’m also thinking about changing tubes in my blackstar studio 10 6L6. I’ve changed preamp tube a few months ago when it was losing volume. Now it’s losing volume again so I thought time to change power tube maybe. Do you have to adjust bias for power tube? Thanks!
These are Cathode Based amps so did not have to adjust bias, I would definitely give the power tube a change and see if it works or it might not be fully seated in correctly.
@@AudiomoMusic Thank you so much! I put a new power tube and pushed the pre tube more into the socket. No more volume loss. Also I think the new pre amp tube is making it brighter, in a good way :) the new power tube doesn't make too much difference.
Nice video, thanks for showing us the process. I have the same amp different colour (I got the red velvet cake version). Did you have to re-bias? Also which Jensen version did you get, 8 or 16ohm?
@@stevenlipe9232 did you figure it out? I did a quick google search and according to some forums, they said that 16ohm would give more highs and 8ohms would be darker....
So did you just swap the tubes and that’s it? I always heard you have to bias a tube amp anytime you swap out tubes and I’ve never understood how to do this especially on a Blackstar.
The blackstars are Cathode Biased, so I didn't have to do anything other than swap them directly in. For fixed biased amps, yep, you have to bias them.
It sounds like when you did the swap the metal casing that seats the tube wasn't properly tightened to the board, that would 100% be the culprit. I'd go back in and double check to be sure the screw caught, I remember them being VERY short when reinstalling that. I've never tried one of the EL34s, maybe one day!
@@AudiomoMusic Thanks. I did try it and it seems okay. It might just be the tube. The new ones do not have the 6th pin compare to the Ruby. It could be just an slight difference. Appreciate the response.
question: can you tell me if you know whether or not a greenback or a G12H30 would fit in a studio 10? i'm worried the closed-back design of the amp might limit my choices.
It would be extremely tight with the greenback, I had one here I debated throwing in it when I first had the amp and once I had the panel off said I'm not even going to bother. I know a few people who have bought speakers only to be disappointed they didn't fit this particular amp, it's part of the reason I ended up with the Jensen becuase I was sure it would
@@AudiomoMusic got the jensen dimensions. s'pretty skinny, more so than the 7080. now a GB's overall depth is 5.1 inches, which tech means it will still fit inside a stu 10. did the angle of the GB cone get in the way of the tubes or other electronics? is that why you didn't bother with the GB?
Didn't care for the tones of either speaker. Sorry. Maybe later over time. I have an old small practice amp I put a WGS speaker in. Amazing difference and better over time. Thanks for the videos!
No problem Glen! Part of me didn't even want to do an A/B because one speaker is clearly much more broken in than the other but I knew if I didn't people in the comments section would have complained i didn't do it 🤣
I mean its pretty self explanatory, you literally unscrew the screws. If there were any hidden or important things that weren’t extremely obvious I would have shown it but this was as straight forward as it gets 🤷♂️
@@AudiomoMusic so if you don’t mind me asking, you have to unscrew the chassis and slide it out and only disconnect the speaker wire? There’s also that black grate. It seems involved but hopefully as easy
Yep, the speaker cable disconnects without much force, then you just slowly remove the chasis and thats it. The grate is also straight forward, just needs to be removed for you to get the speaker out. If i do another video like this ill be sure to go further into detail for even these parts, sorry about that
A speaker and tube upgrade is a good way of making an average amp into a good one. I prefer the sound of Celestion speakers, but this Jenson sounds good. Why most valve amp makers fit cheap chinese tubes when their are far better ones is fustrating. The first thing i did when my H&K Grandmeister 36 arrived was fit decent tubes. Blackstar amps are designed by ex-Mashall guys here in the UK, but sadly make them with cheap tubes from China, they should know better.
For any amp that isn't a Fender style I agree with you about the Celestions, but I've just always loved either Jensen or the old Eminence speakers in Fender combo amps so this was a pretty easy choice for this guy. Blackstar aren't the only ones guilty of the chinese tubes but I get it kind of and they aren't the only ones. Tubes are on their last legs as it is, I can't see them being made for more than another decade or two before being phased out entirely.
I'm curious, if you have this philosophy ( and I know many others that feel the same way ) why would you click on a video where it's explicitly stated that it's going to be modifying the amp?
