Replacing speakers in old amps

Man oh man. What a revelation!

I have a pair of old practice amps that I enjoy using in my music room, but have always felt like they lacked the ooomph to use in live performances.

On occasion, (when I am sharing gear, and running short of available amplifiers for everyone) I have split the stereo signal from an effects pedal, and used BOTH of them live, in order to get the adequate volume.

One amp is a 25 year old Marshall Lead 12, and the other is a small Fender Sidekick 15 Chorus. I like to open-up the electronics every few years, and keep the connections and volume/tone pots rumble-free with some electrical contact cleaner and lubricant.

I thought to myself recently, "Well, the electronics are good, but the sound is muddy and crappy. What would happen if I replaced the old speakers in there with some modern speakers?"

Makes sense, right? Old speakers have cardboard cones that can get brittle, and the new speakers are composite materials, new and technologically superior.

Here's what I did. I ordered some new replacement speakers, and rolled the dice that everything was going to work out right. For the Marshall, I decided to replace the old Celestion G10-D 25 speaker with a new Celestion G10 Greenback.

The Fender Sidekick had an original 8.5 inch Fender speaker in it, and I could not find a compatible replacement. After some internet searching, I ordered a Jensen P84 D25W.

The Jensen speaker is due to arrive tomorrow, but the Celestion showed up last Friday.
I couldn’t wait to replace the amp speakers as a set, so I went ahead and took care of the Marshall first.

WOW. I cannot tell you how great that Marshall amp sounds now. The guitar sound clarity, volume, tone, and punch have all improved dramatically!! I would have to say that my $100 investment has rendered a 500% return in pure tone mojo.

I am very excited about this improvement in my music room set up, and cannot wait to hot-rod the Fender amp (hopefully, if the UPS truck shows up) tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out.

Hey! Very good I am curious to know what happened - did 'that truck' arrive yet?

Yep, it sure did.
The UPS man brought me that Jensen late yesterday afternoon.

The four screws that held the Fender speaker in fit the new Jensen perfectly, and I didn't even have to solder the wires on (the existing wire clips/sleeves fit exactly right).

Sure enough, it sounds great!
Incredible clarity, punch, and volume.
The tone is a lot better, though I would have to say the Marshall benefitted from the Celestion upgrade more so than the Fender benefited from the Jensen, tone-wise.

Still, all in all, this was a great investment. I probably spent $160 for both speakers, I kept my beloved amplifiers, and I got my money back in spades.
The Marshall is a tone monster now, and the Fender is super clear and super loud.

I highly recommend this course of action for those who have really old amps (with really old speakers in them).