# 8 inch speakers



## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

Any love for 8 inch guitar amp speakers out there?

Comparisons between Weber 8A150 versus Jensen Mod8-20 versus WGS G8C versus Celestion Super 8, etc?

Any thoughts, advice, or experiences you can share?


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Not much direct experience, though I did pick up a couple of 8" speakers from www.loudspeakers.ca (speak to Terry) to try in whatever I could. One sounded quite good in a small Traynor amp of a friend's. I can't remember the brand and the one I have left at the moment is packed up waiting for my house to be restored after last August's tornado. I was hoping to make a small extension cab with a trio of these (or 2 and a 10") just for variety.

Most 8" speakers sound like crap because they usually come in little crap amps. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Johnny (Nov 30, 2010)

I like small combo amps with 8" speakers. My first was a Gretsch 6150T (Valco made) and had a vintage Jensen special design (blue label) in it. That Gretsch is one of the coolest sounding amps I own. Then I got a '73 Fender Vibro-Champ and a regular Champ. The stock Fender amps are pretty crappy. I have used the Jensen MODS and I like them. They are inexpensive and sound good to me. I have also used the vintage Ceramic series Jensens and they are fine too. I've never used any of the other brands. I'm not a Jensen purist, but I have found they sound pretty good to me and have a nice price point.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

my very first amp was an old sunn tube amp with a 8x8 cab (jensen "special design" speakers")

i wish i had that amp today


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I love 8" speakers. They really need a decent cab to show their best, but then pretty much any speaker does. 

I think Mooh is spot on. Most people's experience with 8" speakers does tend to be in small budget amps. And those all too often tend to have smaller-than-needed cabs, in order to keep production costs low enough on amps where the profit margin is small enough already. Simply shaving an inch or two off the depth of a 10W practice amp cuts down on the wood needed, the shipping weight, the packaging, the warehouse space for inventory, and so on. Unfortunately, it also cuts down on the bass considerably.

I have a JBL2110 in my tweed Princeton that I've had since 1976. Sadly, JBL doesn't make them anymore. It is a fabulous speaker, though, with more bottom and top than the stock Jensen the amp came with. Ditched the Jensen shortly after I bought the amp, and never regretted it.

I have a 4 x 8" cab that I need to rebuild, and close off, to use as a bass practice amp. I'm pondering experimenting with a bi-amped approach where the 8's face front and a 4-6" downward-facing sub-woofer handles the big bottom via a separate power amp. I'm convinced one can get serious sternum-shaking tone without having to go the 15" speaker route.

Tip: Those 8" full-range speakers often found in ceiling baffles for PA purposes are actually pretty decent, and can often be found dirt cheap. That's why I have a wall of them.


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