A few questions about speakers.

[BigMikeD]

I'll probly have to replace the speaker (Fender #023044) in a recently aquired Silverface Champ. The Fender-recommended replacement speaker has a ceramic magnet. Other replacements under consideration; Jensen P8–25 watt; Weber Sig. 8 or Sig. 8S (don't quite understand the difference)–15 watt.
What are the sonic differences between AlNiCo and Ceramic magnets? Is there a perceptable difference between a 15 watt and a 25 watt speaker?
The sound I'm looking for is early '50s Willie Johnson w/Howlin Wolf, and I'll be using mostly single coils–Telecaster w/Vintage pups, or Les Paul w/P94 pups. Also, considering the nature of the Champ w/8" speaker, I'd like to hear as much bottom as possible.
I don't have the bread to experiment with alot swapping to hear what sounds best, so unless I really hate the sound, whatever I put in there will be in there for a long time.
Any suggestions about what will best work for me here will be sincerley appreciated. Thanks.

[fezz parka]

Get the ceramic 8 from Weber. $24.

If you want it to sound more 50's, lifting the tone stack ( or just the 15k mid resistor on the bass pot) will do more than putting an alnico in there.

[chuckocaster]

webers are the shit, hands down. i have alnicos and ceramics from weber and they both sound good. with the champ i would say go with the ceramic like fezz said. it won't compress as much as the alnico which i feel is important with a champ so it doesn't get mushy.

just my 2 cents.

[BigMikeD]

I'm a little suprised that you guys are recommending the ceramic magnets. I thought that most of the older speakers had the AlNiCo ones, and that AlNiCo would get me closer to a tweedy sound.

[Kap'n]

I'm a little suprised that you guys are recommending the ceramic magnets. I thought that most of the older speakers had the AlNiCo ones, and that AlNiCo would get me closer to a tweedy sound.

The tweeds did have alnicos. However, I'd recommend the ceramic for the same reasons the other folks did, sturdier bass notes.

Alnicos are cool for tweed and BF amps that move a bit more air.

[BigMikeD]

Well, based upon the sage advice and consensus of youse esteemed FF members (including a fellow He-Man-Curly-Hater,) today I order the ceramic Signature 8 speaker (the warm, crunchy one that'll break up early) from Weber. The guy at Weber said it'd probly ship today, so maybe it'll be under the Christmas tree in a few days. Anyways, I'll post the results as soon as I can. Thanks again for the advice.

[Kap'n]

The guy at Weber said it'd probly ship today.

"The Guy" is most likely either TA or Ted Weber, TA's Dad. Those folks wil do right by you.

[fezz parka]

Pound it for a while Mike and it'll really sound great. Once it breaks in, you'll see how great a champ can be!

[chuckocaster]

rock on brutha! with that low of wattage, low end integrity is key. and trust me, the weber ceramics are suprisingly smooth. i put some in an SF twin i had and couldn't believe it. 80 bucks a piece, they were the shizzle.

[BigMikeD]

Well, I put the Weber Signature 8F (ceramic) in the Champ and it sounds real good, certainly better than the old, Fender speaker that was in there. The Les Paul w/Burstbuckers 1 & 2 starts it to breaking up at about vol. 4/5, and the Telecaster w/Orig.Vintage pups won't start it to breaking up until vol. 7/8; which makes me wonder if the Telecaster would break up the Signature 8S (also ceramic) at all, because that speaker is advertised to be brighter with later breakup. I haven't plugged in the P94s yet, so I don't know where abouts they'll break it up, though I think it'll be sooner than the Telecaster. Anyways, I like the speaker and it'll stay in there.
And now the bad news. I replaced the speaker because I was getting a fuzzy sound sometimes as notes were decaying and I thought it was either the speaker going bad or a tube. I'd intended on replacing the speaker sooner or later anyway so I went there first. But the fuzzy sound is still there sometimes. Especially on Ds. And volume has nothing to do with it, playing softly or loudly the fuzz happens. So I'm going to replace the power tube and the pre-amp tube and see if one of them is the problem. I don't think that a rectifier tube would get fuzzy, would it? If it's still fuzzy after the tube swap I guess it goes into the shop because that's where my expertise ends.
Anyways, thanks again for the speaker advice; and youse guys were right, the low end stays pretty tight with the ceramic magnet.

[fezz parka]

You gotta pound that Weber to loosen it up. The first Weber I bought I was very dissapointed with. I didn't realize they really need to have the crap beat out of 'em before they warmed up. Ted builds 'em like a tank.:lol

As far as the buzz goes, you can try the tube swap, but somethin' tells me it's time to replace the filter cap can, and the cathode bypass electrolytics.

[BigMikeD]

Well, the fuzzy sound was from the pre-amp tube, an RCA 7443 in the socket where a 12AX7A is supposed to be. I've never heard of a 7443 and don't see it listed at any of the tube sellers sites, so if anyone knows anything about 7443s, please enlighten me. So I start to give the Weber a good and proper pounding with the P94s in the goldtop Lester which starts the amp to breaking up just a little sooner than the Telecaster, and I'm smilin' alot because the amp sounds good and there's no fuzz in the decay, and after about fifteen minutes, right when I'm rockin' out to some cd backing tracks, the amp just goes dead quiet! It did this once before, shortly after I'd installed the new speaker, just sudden dead quiet, but then after a few moments it was working again. Then I did the tube swap testing and started to pounding and now it's quiet again and I started checking connections and such, but no sounds. I'm going to put the old speaker back in and see what happens. If that doesn't work, it goes into the shop next week ASAP. I'm hoping it's just a loose connection that got vibrated loose. Oh well, the Champ saga continues. Truth be told, I still favor the Princeton Reverb anyways.