Celestion Alnico Blue Pair in 1962RI Bluesbreaker

ryanverbena

Hi everyone,

I managed to pick up an 1989 Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue and would like to consider changing in a pair of 15w celestion blues that I have to replace the greenbacks. This particular model (I think all the pre 1991 RI's have are labelled tremolo 50w on the back), however I've read into this and have come across informatioon that they are actually rated for an output of 30 watts.

Does anyone have any concrete knowledge about this actual output rating of these amps?

Ultimately, I'd like to know whether it would damage my speakers. There seems to be a lot of conflciting info getting around the internet.

Thanks!

RiftAmps

Using today's industry-standard measurements a JTM45/Bluesbreaker is rated at 30w clean but will produce nearly double that at full power.

ICBM

You will quite likely blow them.

As RiftAmps says, although technically both the Vox AC30 and the Bluesbreaker are rated at 30W clean, the Bluesbreaker is fixed-bias so produces substantially more power overdriven than the cathode-biased AC30.

Marshall had a lot of trouble with the early Bluesbreakers blowing the original alnico G12s in the 1960s, which is why they were changed to Greenbacks.

ryanverbena

This is exactly the answer I needed to hear, thank you both for confirming this. I shall definitely not try this speaker combination!

Very happy with the current set up so will put the blues away for another time, when they are suitable and not likely to blow up. 

Thanks again