Guitar Gear

Personally, I dig the stock speaker in my BOSS Katana 50, BUT I also dig Jensen speakers, especially the Jet series speakers, which are installed in all my cabinets. So when I got a press release from Jensen today announcing the new addition to the Jet family specifically designed for digital amps, I had to spread the word. Here’s the press release:

Jensen Jet Full Range Digital “D” Speakers

Jensen Loudspeakers is excited to announce the upcoming release of the new Jensen Digital “D” Series with full range tone for the digital guitarists. The C12D (Ceramic magnet) and the N12D (featuring the Jensen exclusive Neodymium magnet design) are 12” speakers dedicated to amplifying the “quasi-full range” output signal of the digital, modeling, profiling and IR-based guitar systems, and acoustic instruments amplifiers.

Both models retain the core elements of the traditional guitar speakers with lightweight cellulose cone membranes and integrated paper surrounds. Additionally, they feature a specially developed horn-like loading in front of the voice coil that grants a frequency response extended well beyond 12kHz. This ensures a clear, transparent rendition of the reverbs, delays, and all other time-based effects, as well as of the rich harmonic
spread of a high-gain lead sound.

Headroom and dynamics are delivered by the 2” voice coils, for a power handling of 150W AES (300W Continuous Program Power).

The organic, full range tone of the Jensen D Series speakers does not rely on complex, expensive two-way systems and crossovers, but rather on a finely tuned acoustic design and directivity pattern. The Jensen Ds are easy to use and install and as convenient as a traditional guitar speaker. They ensure a familiar feel and response while providing excellent tone for the next generation of players.

The last paragraph of the press release is the salient point, and which is why I have had such a deep appreciation of Jensen as a company for so long. With respect to the new speakers, they relied on their design expertise as opposed to compensating with complex – and expensive – systems. As an engineer – albeit software, but an engineer just the same – applying good design and engineering principles to solve a problem is the way I think, so what Jensen has done with the new speakers totally speaks to me.

Thought I’d share the frequency response chart for each type of speaker:

C12D Frequency Response Chart

N12D Frequency Response Chart

Fairly similar response shapes with the C12D and N12D speakers, though the N12D have a little more mid- and high- range output and a lower high-end drop-off than the C12D. Based on the graphs, the C12D seems more my cup of tea, but you really never know until you try out the speakers.

Availability

The speakers will not be available until May 2019, so I will just have to wait to do some tests. But if my past experience with Jet series speakers is any indication, these should be great replacement speakers for any digital amp.