by wyatt » Mon May 19, 2008 10:54 am
The most obvious difference is going to be tighter, punchier bass from the ceramic magnet.
The magic of the AlNiCo is how it compresses when pushed hard. But the modern Jensens aren't real clones of the vintage ones and have higher wattage handling, so pushing one hard enough to compress with a 5E3 may be hard.
The Q is generally considered more ideal over the R for a 5E3. The 5E3 is a inherently dark sounding amp and the Q is a brighter speaker that (vintage-wise) had a much fuller tone.
There are other options. People love the sound of the Vox-style AlNiCo's in the 5E3. The Vox was the first speaker ever specifically voiced for guitar and compliments the the tonal curve of the 5E3 well. You do give up some of the that "cheap," lo-fi tone and grit of a Jensen speaker. The currently Celestion Blue reissue has also be designed a little more for modern tastes...louder and brighter than originals and really helps give some volume and brightness to the 5E3.
If you were in the States, I would say to take a look over at WeberVST. Weber was the first to put out clones of the vintage Jensens (the 12A125-A would be the closest thing to a vintage P12Q) and tries harder to be truer to the originals than the modern Jensen reissue. He also make hybrids...want the brightness of a Q cone and the big bottom end of a P12N...that's the 12A150-T...need a smooth coned P12Q for a more raw, explosive lo-fi blues tone...12A125-O. he also makes a Celestion Blue style speaker...Blue Dog. Tons of variations. Normally, I wouldn't recommend weber to a European poster, but with the dollar so low, it could be an option.
Picking between the Jensens, I would go P12Q. But the Celestion Blue, Weber 12A125-A or Weber Blue Dog are all speakers I would also buy.