Ceramic Or Alnico?!? (Jensens + Cornell Romany Plus Tweed)

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Today...more guitar speakers! We'll be taking two (fairly) equivalent Jensen speakers - one ceramic, one alnico - and trying them both out in my Cornell Romany Plus tweed amp. What will the differences be? Are the characteristics that are often spoken about on forums true of these two? Let's compare the Ceramic JCH 12/70 and the Alnico P12Q :-)
What do you think? Ceramic or Alnico? Which one is for you? Comment below!
Guitar is a Fender Tele with a Monty's Retro Wind bridge & BKP Flat 50 neck pickups - recorded with an sE Electronics RNR1 ribbon mic and a 57.
joeperkinsmusic
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Vector images by freepik.com

[@bluesbondsman]

One of the better comparison videos I've watched / heard The alnico had so much more detail and sparkle

[@paulkielt9301]

To me Alnico has its own richness and character I can't get rid of. The P12Q is one of the best speakers I ever tried. It's even great for metal!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I prefer AlNiCo speakers over ceramics in almost all situations :-) I think Greenbacks in a Marshall 4x12 can be epic, but I'd generally go AlNiCo. Just my preference :-)

[@georgefromgreece4119]

@@JoePerkinsMusic mine too.

[@mojekh]

P12Q was stock speaker in first Fender tweed deluxe reissue (since 2006) and i love that speaker👍👍👍

[@RPSartre01]

The Jensen alnico is just a perfect match for the classic fender amp and strat. Form jazz to surf, funk to soul to R&B, and yes even Hendrix and early rock - and all the classics we love throughout the decades - the Jensen alnico can't be beat. Lot of fools out there complaining that the Jensen bottom farts out when overdriven - that's like bitching and moaning you can't get a good clean jazz tone from a Marshall stack. Judge the Jensen alnico for its intended purpose.

[@georgefromgreece4119]

Top comment!

[@robertwyatt4891]

Bravo!

[@moustachio334]

Best comparisom I've seen. I was looking away and knew which one was the ceramic. Ceramics seem to lack warmth played clean and alnicos sound undefined when played distorted. Thanks to your excellent side by side, i can now confirm this.

[@voxpathfinder15r]

Alnico is that sound where you’re straight down onto the little dust cap and it’s beaming at you with this unimaginable clarity. The ceramic sounds great, it sounds you took that beam of treble and distributed it more evenly in all directions, a less spikey warmer tone.

[@georgefromgreece4119]

Yes

[@commandhtf]

Lets wait for them to break in and then do a comparison later on! Awesome!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep - the alnico could definitely do with a bit of hammering! :P

[@benjohnson4810]

In the past few of your videos, i am prefering alnico because of the clarity, brightness, and volume. I am used to ceramic and it sounds fine, but alnico is the sound i prefer now. To think that i would never have known this if not for your comparison, Joe. Thank you for the content and professionalism.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Glad they've been of use mate :-) I'd definitely agree with you about the ceramic vs. alnico debate - might just be these particular speakers, but in general I'm much preferring the alnico tone!

[@robertwyatt4891]

I have Jensen's P6V in my Champion 600, P10R in my '68 Vibro Champ & now a P8R in my Vibro Champ XD. IMO, alnico Jensens just belong in Fender amps. I play 90% clean, so there is that. I put ceramic Celestions in my Marshalls. So I guess alnico for cleans & ceramic for dirty. That's how my ears like it anyway.

[@druwk]

Alnico has a chime and openness, and a rattle in the Low/Mid breakup. The JCH seems a bit warm, and indistinct? Of those two speakers, I would definitely choose the P12Q! Great, more to consider...😕 I have a Tweed 5e3 clone with a Celestion Blue, which has a lot of the character of the P12Q, but a different EQ curve. I’m not allows pleased with the flabbiness of the (amp, I guess?) breakup. I’m going to put a 50 watt Jupiter 12LC in there to try and tight up the Bass, Low/Mid response. It’s a very clear American voiced Ceramic, and I’ll be interested to see the difference? In a simple circuit like the 5e3, the speaker makes HUGE difference on the tone, projection, and feel.

[@charleshenry2157]

These sounds and playing make me smile ! Ceramic is so particular, maybe too much for a non-50ies guy ?

[@aleixcasademont]

Ceramic suits my taste better. Great comparison thanks!

[@bigdaddydoitall]

Well done

[@roberttower8059]

I thought they both sounded equally good UNTIL you started with the Wilko Johnson licks and that did it, alnico all the way! I've recently fallen in love with these Jensen alnicos. I recently put in the 6.5 inch model in an old Vox DA5 and have been completely amazed by it. Seriously, jaw-hitting-floor good! Now I want to swap out a 12" (P12R) in one of my combo amps but I'm trying to fight the urge ("the stock speaker is good enough, just leave it in") but I'm sure I'm going to lose that battle!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Aha, the tried-and-tested Wilko test ;-) haha!!

[@eyegrinder94]

For a second I wondered why you included that weird distracting whistling noise in the demo, then I realised there was a car alarm outside that was perfectly on beat with your playing.

[@gwEmbassy]

Great demo, nicely done. The alnico is the Daddy here, but the ceramic certainly doesn’t embarrass itself.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep, I agree - the two are pretty close :-)

[@robertwyatt4891]

Agreed. That's why I watched this video. Both speakers have a lot to offer. Alnico always seems to win out though, to my ears anyway.

[@fransvanhelvoort1083]

The ceramic sounds good, but when the alnico comes in the blanket is lifted from the amp. So much difference between these two. I did the same comparison with my Fender solid state amp (deluxe112) and hear the same effect. Much more open midscooped fender bell sound with the alnico. The feel is indeed different. The attack of the sound is different. It makes sound my solid state like a tube amp. lol. What I mean with the attack is very clear in Sultans of Swing from Dire Straits. Popping attack.

[@scott1lori282]

Agree. Sometimes I play through an old cheap Ibanez IBZ10A acoustic amp head hooked to my speaker box that has 2 Jensen RP10 s. I use a Digitech modeler & get amazing tones.

[@enricopallazzo8510]

Joe, i've recently read an old interview of Daniel Lanois (producer for U2, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young and many other big names), he's famous for using Vox AC30 but also Tweed Deluxe and he said that he likes the unusual combination of Tweed Deluxe with a Celestion Alnico Blue speaker. Have you ever tried to put a similar speaker into the Cornell?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Mine has a Celestion Blue in it...has done for a fair few years now! :-) Great speaker for a small amp like that...though I am tempted to try another Jensen in it just out of curiosity!

[@jdl2180]

I usually prefer the alnico speakers but as for as the sound goes in this comparison I would say they both sounded good. I just got a fender princeton reverb 65 reissue that came with a ceramic jensen speaker so I'm trying to deside if I want to upgrade to a alnico speaker. The original 65 PR probably came with a alnico speaker!😂 also I was hoping that the alnico speaker would cause the amp to breakup sooner.

[@profile_01]

AlNiCo's are so rich in tone but sometimes ceramics are the tool for the job

[@lionhead7497]

The ceramic reminds me of cassette tape tone where the alnico is more live sounding

[@scott1lori282]

that's a good analogy.

[@Alfredo78666]

Shoutout to all the leftyz inda houz!

[@jjdubois6101]

When you starting digging in there was a biiiiig difference. Alnico all the way!

[@karimemejia4968]

Alnico presents a good high end sound very charmy

[@joseluiscalerocasabona2168]

Depende del amplificador pero en este, Alnico quiebre desigual cerámica más continuo y regular. Alnico tono algo pasado de moda Cerámica es vintage pero es perfecto. Alnico lo he probado en un Fender super Reverb es mejor que la cerámica en este caso Así que mno solo es una cuestión de gustos sino también del amplificador. Gracias por la demostración, dedito para arriba

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Gracias, Jose :-)

[@georgefromgreece4119]

You almost gotta go for alnico if you play vintage genres (mid 60s and pre).

[@theobynight]

Ceramic all the way in this clip. Really wish i could try out a Cornell Romany, but dont think I can find any here in Sweden. If i order blind i still have to decide on 10 or 12 inch :/

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

In my experience, 12s have a bigger bass & 10s have a more punchy mid-range. So depending on the sort of sounds you're after, that's where I'd start. The Champ it's based on originally had (I think!) an 8" speaker so the 10 would be closer to that...but the 12 in mine does sound brilliant. So...see if there's any comparisons of 10 vs 12 on KZbin (in any amp) to get an idea of the differences :-) The Romany is brilliant though, such a mega little amp...oh, and the 12 has Reverb! ;-)

[@RobynCrest]

Dr. Feelgood!!! :)

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep! Love Wilko Johnson :-)

[@cgavin1]

Some really unpleasant highs in the P12Q. I hope those go away with break in?

[@Alfredo78666]

I liked the body of the ceramic better, alnico was mucho nasal

[@SalvvOrtiz]

What happens if I replace the 8" ceramic speaker in my Fender Bronco fo a 10" Alnico, will the tone improve?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

You'd need to modify the amp to do that, as it'd need a 10" hole and to have the fittings in the right place. Assuming the impedance is correct and it's an appropriate wattage it'd work with a 10", but personally I'd look at running it through a 1x10 external cabinet before hacking the amp to pieces. As to whether it'd 'improve' the tone...it'd be different, but not necessarily 'better'. Generally, smaller speakers have less lows and more mid range....so you'd likely gain some weight and get a slightly more relaxed mid. Whether that'd be an 'improvement' or not is entirely up to you :-)

[@SalvvOrtiz]

@@JoePerkinsMusic thanks, ,great info!

[@MrAnders1976]

very different speakers.. The ceramic jensen has a small 23 ounce magnet and the P12N has a large 29 ounce alnico magnet that correlates to a 36.5 ounce ceramic. (alnico is a stronger magnet type),, The P12N has an american type cone where the JCH is leading a bit more towards british celestion land. ,,

[@lillyeditable]

I know this video is old but why compare speakers from diffrent series?? A better shootout would have been P12q vs c12q, c12n etc

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

They were what I had available.

[@viktortulbya2107]

Could you put both in the same cab?:) best of both world

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I'm going to get a 2x12 cab next year and look into speaker pairings more closely :-)

[@yijiehe3966]

I want it to work with fuzz so I vote for Ceramic

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I love fuzzes with Alnicos - just depends how you use them :-)

[@hugomejia593]

I hate to say that but alnico speaker win every times

[@UnremarkableMarx]

The tele through the alnico would be great for Jeff Buckley

[@MartinS-es6dp]

Alnico sounds harsher or its my imagination?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Definitely brighter & more detailed 👍

[@MartinS-es6dp]

@@JoePerkinsMusic it's about magnitude of magnetic Flux, big magnet ceramic can produce such properties.

[@newtondelmar4416]

I play a Tele and those bridge pups are maybe the most UNFORGIVING in the world IMO...they require super capable speakers or they just sound way to bright and annoying...when I swapped my Fender originals out for the Jensen Alnicos I started using my bridge pup more than ever before:)

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

A combination of amp, speaker & the 'right' pickup - but yes, when you get the combination right, it's bloody hard to beat a Tele bridge pickup! :-)

[@scott1lori282]

Alnico sounds real & warm. Ceramic sounds a bit soulless compared.