Jensen, MOD15-200, 200 W, 8 ohm speaker for Bass Cabinet

In the right cabinet.

 

The xmax is really small (2mm). I wouldn't use it for bass unless I was using a really low wattage amp, and even then I'd be concerned about blowing it.

 

I have to admit I wouldn't use a Jensen driver in anything.

 

I recall seeing a guy on kijiji once who said he was using it for a bass amp and it sounded good. Honestly, depending on how they measured that 2mm xmax, it could be a very conservative measurement and possibly outpace our expectations. TBH though I haven't seen anybody using Jensen speakers for bass in any parts outside of that one guy. I could hardly even tell you if they're good speakers for guitar, seeing as I've never seen any in the wild... except for once.

 

Long history of fantastic sounding speakers. Eventually they started being pretty popular for guitar.

Actually I think they were making speakers in the 40's. I know my Ampro cabs are mid-50's and they all had original Jensens. Interestingly one of them had a designation "PM" as opposed to the later (and possibly current) designation "P". I was told at some point that indicated permanent magnet. The same source also suggested that Jensen actually had been manufacturing speakers since before the fairly standard design of a magnet mounted to the basket came along. Way way back some actually had rod-piston motors moving the cone..... Or something like that.

Irrelevant to the OP, yes.

Nonetheless, as a company they've been in the game quite a long time. I'd fire it up in some software if there are sufficient published T/S numbers. Might be a good budget sleeper that's been flying under all of our radars.

*no real fact checking here. I could be totally off about my Jensen info.

 

Jensen Loudspeakers - Wikipedia

You might not be as far off as you might think.

 

Get something you know you will like instead of throwing money at something that may work but you have no clue now if you will like the sound and performance of the final product.

You will not recoup even half of your money back if you sell off your failed cab experiment. Home built cabs go for pennies if they sell at all because of too much unknown.

 

afaik, the current Jensen brand has no connection to the classic company.

The oldest Jensen I have is from ~1941, though it needs a recone after some questionable repair work from flood damage (ok, a friend glued it back together and it makes sound). It is a field coil speaker, so it uses an electromagnet. I think the coil doubles as a choke for the amp, but I could be wrong there.

 

You are correct Chris.
That is how they did that.

The current Jensen speakers are based on the original.
Maybe not exact copys, but close, using modern materials.

They would not be my first choice for bass speakers.
If you just had to have a 412 or two they might work out OK in sealed cabinets.

 

It would work.....kinda

Be alright for practice levels.
Sensitivity is not very good
And the brand is extremely over priced.

I'd pass

 

Yeah, considering it was started in the 1920's, it's a pretty safe bet that none of its founders are still employed there

Looks semi-interesting to me as a bass speaker, might work in a smaller cab with a fairly low power amp, but no way in hell I'd pay $157.66 with Eminence.

 

He's not wrong, though.

 

We have some very knowledgable professionals who chime in here, and 'work as a bass speaker' is a very broad question. We could be more helpful if we knew what kind of cabinet or combo amp you were considering using this driver for. We think of speaker cabinets as systems that work best or are designed to work together with a given driver, and generally just not installing any 15" speaker in anything that would accept one.

 

That's not the right cabinet for a bass driver.
Open back cabs aren't appropriate for bass. It's like having two cabinets with reversed polarity. Bass frequencies that come out the back cancel those coming out the front.
Closing the back on that combo wouldn't be a good size for any bass driver.

 

With all due respect, I don't see how you came to that being a consensus. The vast majority of responses to that thread was that:

1. It's the wrong cabinet for bass.
2. Those that had tried it said is sounded awful.

But if you've already convinced yourself to disregard those parts of the thread, then this thread is meaningless.