Any benefit in running a Gold with a Blue?

SunDevil

Clearly you've compromising the power handling capability of a 2x12 mixing a Gold and and Blue together, rather than running 2 Golds, but is there any benefit in tone in doing so? I've got a Gold already, so the 'two Blues' option gets more expensive

ICBM

The Gold is quite a bit chunkier-sounding than the Blue, so they may sound good together. I've never tried it but I'm sure there's an amp maker who did it, although I can't remember who.

Try it. The worst that can happen is that you don't like it and have to sell the Gold to fund another Blue. (Or a different speaker.)

hywelg

I built an oversize 2x12 for a mate and we put a gold and an EV in it. Sounds brilliant.

I have an Emi Red Fang and an EV in my oversize 2x12 cab and I love it. Little less aggressive than the gold, a little more neutral. EV handles the bottom end brilliantly.

Cirrus

I didn't really like it that much when I tried it, because both speakers are so different (which is kinda surprising considering the marketing but hang with me here...) The gold is a lot brighter and has a very different character, so I found that I could either run the amp a lot darker and basically have a muddy blue, or I could run it brighter and have a bit too much high end zing. Felt like it was always a compromise for one speaker or the other. Also, the blue has a lot more mid mids; the gold sounds positively scooped in comparison (though I don't think it is).

Anyway, that was just my experience; yours may differ!

ICBM

Cirrus said:

I didn't really like it that much when I tried it, because both speakers are so different (which is kinda surprising considering the marketing but hang with me here...) The gold is a lot brighter and has a very different character, so I found that I could either run the amp a lot darker and basically have a muddy blue, or I could run it brighter and have a bit too much high end zing. Felt like it was always a compromise for one speaker or the other. Also, the blue has a lot more mid mids; the gold sounds positively scooped in comparison (though I don't think it is).

Anyway, that was just my experience; yours may differ!

How broken-in was the Gold? They're one of the speakers that seems to take quite a lot, and they do start off very bright and a bit scooped, but they end up less bright and with more low mids than the Blue overall - almost more like an 'alnico V30'. The Blue has more upper-mid 'jangle' and a bit more deep/loose low-end.

I agree about Celestion's marketing though…

Cirrus

Well broken in, you should have heard it to start with.  )

I've had three golds and 5 blues overall (check me, I'm a fancy man!) and at least in my ac30s the golds have always had more happening up top than the blues at least in terms of how the high end treble draws your ears to the sound. It can be difficult talking about speakers of course because terms like "midrange" are pretty broad strokes! I agree the golds have more low mids, they're thicker and more solid sounding, the blues have more mids higher up in the mid mids to the point where in comparison they sound a bit honky, and the golds are also more mellow in the upper mids - so depending on the voicing of the amp I could easily see how a blue could sound brighter than a gold. It's just above that that upper mid peak that I think the gold is louder.

Anyway, always a pleasure to dance about architecture with you @ICBM. ;

>-

ICBM

Yes .

I think you're right, we're probably hearing the same things but with different amps and cabs. The high-mid/treble area is very sensitive to that, which is why some people hear V30s as "bright" or "harsh" whereas others hear them as "dark" and "middy". Same speaker, different reference…

I'll go with your opinion on mixing them too - and I can return the favour and say don't bother with a G12M-65 and a Classic Lead 80, if for any reason you might! I like them individually, and both paired with some other speakers, but together… dreadful.

koss59

I'm pretty sure the Z Wreck had this combination.

ICBM

koss59 said:

I'm pretty sure the Z Wreck had this combination.

Ah! Yes, I think you're right.

But given that I've hated every Dr.Z amp I've ever heard I may have just blanked it out.

koss59

Yeah, I tried to love Dr.Z but there's something in the top end that grates on me that I can hear even on Brad Paisley and Buddy Whittingtons albums now.

Modulus_Amps

yes the Z-wreck cab has a gold and a blue, sell the gold and buy a Cream Alnico, that is a great speaker, I have a blue to match it with here ... when I get there

SunDevil

@Modulus_Amps - I'd forgotten about the Alnico creamback - how does that compare with the Gold and Blue?

..it's it even tougher to break in than the Gold?

Can't help but agree on the Dr Z stuff - always comes across as harsh and pushy to me

Gassage

Modulus_Amps said:

yes the Z-wreck cab has a gold and a blue, sell the gold and buy a Cream Alnico, that is a great speaker, I have a blue to match it with here ... when I get there

^ this. Exactly as per my Tone Kings- a blue and a cream.

Modulus_Amps

There are a few comparisons of the creamback vs the gold on youtube, obviously it will sound different with every amp, in a direct comparison creamback alnico appears to handle distortion tones better without too much fizz, is sounds so good with clean sounds too, really balanced, I like it anyway and defo worth checking out if you can.

p90fool

ICBM;971925" said:

Yes .

I think you're right, we're probably hearing the same things but with different amps and cabs. The high-mid/treble area is very sensitive to that, which is why some people hear V30s as "bright" or "harsh" whereas others hear them as "dark" and "middy". Same speaker, different reference…

I'll go with your opinion on mixing them too - and I can return the favour and say don't bother with a G12M-65 and a Classic Lead 80, if for any reason you might! I like them individually, and both paired with some other speakers, but together… dreadful.

Interesting, I have a 2x12 with a Classic Lead 80 and a G12-75t and that works very well.

I don't know what a G12m is like in comparison.

ICBM

p90fool said:

Interesting, I have a 2x12 with a Classic Lead 80 and a G12-75t and that works very well. 

I don't know what a G12m is like in comparison.

Very different. The G12M-65 Creamback is very like a slightly tighter-sounding G12M-25 Greenback. Both the 75 and the 80 are quite scooped, although the 80 has a tighter/more solid low-end and is more sensitive.

The problem with the G12M-65 and the CL80 together was that it exaggerated the differences - the 65 sounded 'stuffy' and the 80 'metallic' - and they sounded 'separated' instead of 'blended'. The sensitivity difference was very obvious too, the cab was noticeably louder on the 80 side.

Swapped the 80 for a G12H-75 Creamback - another 100dB speaker, similar to a higher-powered G12H-30 so in theory not *that* different from the Classic Lead - and it sounds perfect… balanced and blended, and without an obvious volume difference.

So sometimes you just have to try it!