I've just put a new version of this vid out including their new Ruby, if it's of interest :-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gdqk1dSINJ0.html P.S. Have heard great things about your cabs! :-)
Well analyzed. The more I listen to these shootouts, the more the GOLD takes the gold, for what I need. It is just so much more dimensional than the other two. I have a 25 watt Weber 12A150 Alnico I want to slide into my '77 Deluxe Reverb to see ... how it do! If it don't DO, I see some GOLD in my future.
I’m surprised how close they got the gold to the blue. I have a Swart 2x12 with golds that is my favorite, but I’m looking for a 1x12 with blue or 1x10 Gold for low volume and home recording.
SUCH a good demo! I'd use them all. The blue is complex and classic with balanced dynamics, the cream is nicely "vintage" voiced in a beautifully relaxed yet compressed way, and the gold is totally clear with full dynamic range. I love how there doesn't seem to be any offensive upper harmonic content in the Gold. Might put one of those in my Tone King, hmm
Thanks Andrew :-) I'd agree with your analysis - they're all amazing speakers. To be honest, I'm running all three at once nowadays and the sound is unreal :-)
I liked the Blue best, and it can stand more abuse that one would think. In the mid 60´s I had a VOX AC 30 Top Boost, and at rehearsals we were putting both the lead guitar and bass through the same amp, with very high volumes, and the speakers survived it. But it has less lowth, than the other 2.
These three are fairly close in sound to each other. But remember that the Blue is only 15W and in this demo it was in a 36W amp running at half power, so out of the three it's the one that couldn't be used. I made another video last year comparing these three to the new Celestion Alnico Ruby - which is a very different speaker altogether!!!
That Lava Lamp - one of the most iconic studio decor items - has to be the friggin biggest Lava Lamp know to man. Bravo on your bold, Lava-ness, sir. Rocketh on...
Wow, I can’t believe how much better the blue is. They all sounded good clean but the blue was definitely the most dimensional and “big” sounding. Overdriven there was no contest, the blue had that vintage Celestion alnico crunch while the Gold sounded muffled and the Cream lacked grunt. There’s a reason why the alnico Blues are a classic and have endured since the 60s
They really are spectacular speakers! One reason why it likely sounded 'bigger' though was that it was working really hard compared to its maximum power rating...the other two were only really ticking over, especially the cream. But yeah...it really does sound magic, especially with the cleans :-)
Nothing sounds as good as the blue, particularly when it's pushed. However, I can understand people wanting to opt for the Alnico Creams, because 15 watts is a really low power rating and Blues are too expensive to risk blowing.
Top video thanks........they all sounded good..........my pick is the Blue........a speaker for all seasons except maybe in really high powered 1x12 combos, then one of the others will do just fine.
Firstly, great review. Secondly, appreciate watching a fellow lefty guitarist doing said review. Thirdly, massive kudos for resting the guitar in your lap the correct way. Fourthly, Blue destroys everything else in this comparison (really high gain might have been a different matter).
That was super helpful. Thanks a ton! I've always used the blue and the gold - I think I'm going to try a cream now for what I'm doing now. (not Metallica in the 80s!)
The G12 Gold Sounded great in my blues deluxe reissue! '56 Les Paul Gold Top w/P90s, '09 Fender American Standard Strat and a Spanish Classical guitar with under saddle pickup. They all sounded fantastic. Go for it!
I own all three. The cream is by far my favorite when you turn it up. The treble in the blue and gold bothers me when turned up. I am currently using the cream by itself with a Marshall 20 SVc and it sounds amazing with the V jr. in the combo. The low midrange in the cream just sounds amazing the more you turn it up. The blue and gold have more upper midrange and get harsh and don't sound as full to me. Sold my blues and golds. Not missing a thing.
I think the Cream is my favourite also :-) That said, I run the other two in my other recording amps (I run all 3 together) and they compliment each other very well indeed!
You know, when you listen to audio comparisons over a set of questionable computer speakers, it's iffy at best. All things equal, each of these sound fabulous. I've always liked the sound of the Blue, but the low power rating would require 4 or more to safely handle a 100 watt amp. I bought 2 Celestion Gold speakers to go into a vintage 1980 Carvin 100 watt, all tube combo. The amp was equipped with Mercury Magnetics transformers and choke, and sounded great with factory speakers. Though pricy, It doesn't get any better.... Great sounding Telecaster, by the way.
All three sound very good. I lean towards the Gold and Cream. based on this video the Blue sounds great for lower volume settings and similar to the Gold, but as you said it gets fizzy in the midrange when it was pushed.
I think I’m going to go for 1 gold on an ac30 which has 2 greenbacks already, and see how they mix. I like how the blue sounds , until it starts breaking up. They both sound very similar. Way different and more voxie than the greens.
Hi! Great comparison! I have a 5 watts Epiphone Valve Junior amp. I would like to upgrade the speaker in the cabinet and am really hesitating between the 3 Alnicos. Given the fact that it is quite a small amp, would a blue be a better fit than a good from your perspective? Would be great to have your view since you have experienced the 3 speakers. Cheers. Yann
Personally I'd go for the Blue with that amp - sounds wonderful, and speakers generally sound better when they're being pushed relative to their power rating. The Cream would only be being tickled by 5W.
@@JoePerkinsMusic Hi Joe. I very much appreciate you taking the time to answer! Thanks a lot for the tip and congrats on the great content you produce.
I could only notice differences in sound while using the diagram. When I tried to use just my ear, I thought the differences in tone were just from your playing style. That being said, these all sounded very similar to me as a spectator and successfully give you a quality tone. I would have to guess that in the room, these speakers give you a different playing feel, and that is where this shootout would matter most.
Thanks mate! The blue is a special speaker indeed! I'm thinking that I'll keep the Blue in my Cornell Tweed amp, then switch the Cream from my H&K into the Z, and then try one of the new Celestion Ruby speakers in my H&K when they're released......will see if I can afford the Celestion once they're shipping them! :P
Hey @joePerkins I have a 35-watt blackface type amp and 35-watt Two Rock. I have one cab loaded with a Celestion Cream, What would you recommend the other cab speaker to be? Im looking to offset frequencies for a full sound.
What actually raised my attention here is his fashion style. Hard to describe what it is, but i would call it a Brit mix. A combination of Elton John's pants, Grand mom's self knitted pullover and a Hard Rock Café T-Shirt, haha... Ah yeah and regarding the speakers, got no clue which one i would prefere. I 'd need to hear them all in clean mode to decide.
I've sent some emails...doubtful that I'll get one on demo at the mo & can't really justify buying one as it wouldn't be ideally suited to any of my amps. But....fingers crossed! :-)
I have a Voxac15 hand-wired. Was going to upgrade to Blue, as its a 15-watt amp. But as you pointed out, it will drive it right on that edge, whereas the gold will play cleanly with easy. I thought your Gold sounded better, but that maybe was the fact that it been used more. Has been scratched out?G reat video to find whilst in the middle of my high-class problem :-)
The Gold had had a bit more use, yeah. I guess it depends if you like the sound of speaker distortion or not? And also - what volume are you playing at? At low volumes, I'd wager the Blue would sound better as it'd be working harder - but cranked, it'll crap out sooner than the Gold would. Personally, I really hate speaker distortion so I always like to make sure there's some spare wattage! I run the Cream in the Dr Z now - so a 90W speaker in a 36W amp. Really love the dynamics of that...some people say it's not 'right' to do that, but it works for me!
@@JoePerkinsMusic ha! Someone who likes the same sound from a speaker. Most low volume. But I can crank it up due to the other volume control. It allows the tubes running hard at low volume. Even on the 7.5 watt setting. I play opening tuning blues. I don't nerd a speaker to sound like it's giving birth, about to die. I like a tiny bit of dirt, even the famous Vox ghost tones, but nothing more. The greenback it comes with is a 25w speaker anyway. The gold just will take longer to break in. I might have to get both 😂 The gold first thou
I was so disappointed when I bought the gold... haven't found any amp or guitar I like it with. The blue is an incredibly expressive and well-balanced speaker. Put a pair in a 2 x 12 cab (to handle power) and it sounds great with Fender, Marshall or Vox style amps.
Cream sounded best, then Gold, then Blue. But then, the speaker is only one third of the chain, the next two being the amp and the guitar (which then breaks down into humbuckers or single coils). The speaker is always the most neglected part of the rig-people rave about CABS, but 90% of the time they're loaded with Vintage 30's! I went from a 4x12 cab with V30's to either a 2x12 with Neo Creambacks or a 1x12 with the Cream in this demo. Both sound more detailed and less hairy than the V30.
I noticed that your picking hand compensates for differences in tone to bring out the style of playing you want from each speaker. You can almost track which speakers have more highs and lows based on your hand placement.
Being a 15W amp you could run either; personally I'd go with the Blue, but it depends if you might want to put the speaker into a higher powered amp in the future!
This video confirms my long-standing opinion that the Blue is still the best at *every* gain level, the Cream is the best alternative, and the Gold just fails to live up to the Celestion AlNiCo legacy. That being said, the Gold sounded better to me in this video than it has in many other videos. The Blue just has the most full and even response across the frequency range, the Cream sounds slightly mid-scooped compared to the Blue, but that's workable. The Gold, however, is seriously lacking in treble response compared to the Blue and Cream, but it might be suitable in, say, a Marshall amp, which I always find to be insipidly weak in the bottom end. A driver weak in treble might help tame a Marshall and make it sound heavier.
Personally I'd go with the Blue - but I think they'd all sound pretty sweet. The Cream is _maybe_ a little overpowered for a 15W amp but could still sound ace :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic seen that I already have a cabinet with 2 celestion vintage 30 which I use with an orange ad 30, I followed your suggestion and I ordered the blue to replace the speaker on the ac 15. Thanks :)
All of them sounded rubbish to me, but it was probably the tele and the amp. Would like to hear the same comparison with humbuckers and maybe a marshal amp.
Well, it depends. I heard them all and I have to say that between Alnico Blue and Gold his very very close to each other, they are good for more cleanish sounds but Alnico Cream is great for overdriven sounds, to my ears. Great demo! Keep it up ;) So Cream for crunch sounds, Gold for clean and Crunch and Blue for Clean
AC15HTV1 is a 15W amp, and the blue on its own is a 15W speaker; so running the two together won't blow anything in that sense. You'll have to make sure the impedance is correct (I'm not sure what outputs that amp has) depending on whether the speakers are wired in series or parallel, but in terms of wattage you'd be comfortably within that. I'd say it might possibly be better pairing something else with the Blue though, as the Gold is voiced fairly similarly to it; so pairing it with a different speaker might have more of a sonic difference. That said though, the Dr. Z Z-Wreck is my favourite amp, and the 2x12 cab that pairs with the head version has a Gold & Blue wired in series...so that pairing can certainly work!
@@justin0185 The Ruby would have more sonic difference - and might pair brilliantly with the Blue for a more full-frequency sound overall - but I'm no big fan of that speaker on its own. Personally I'd go Gold & Blue, but that's just because I like a lot of clarity in my sound....all personal preference :-)
The gold doesn't respond the same way the blue does. I guess that makes sense if the blue is at its power limits as it's only 15w. The cream has its own thing going on.
@@JoePerkinsMusic I am thinking to upgrade stock ceramic speaker on my Tone King Imperial MK II amp. Mark Bartel last year personally told me Celestion Cream would be best, but is rated 90 W, new Ruby 35 W. :)
Sounds perfect!! That said, I run the Cream in my Hughes & Kettner Puretone....so, a 90w speaker receiving 25w. It sounds beyond amazing, so I don't think the power mis-match would be an issue for you with the Cream. But....that Ruby.....so much want!! :P
@@JoePerkinsMusic hey man yeah i am good also. i did get a swollen pickle fuzz for my b day. sounds good. have any new fuzz demos coming? nice to chat with you for sure!
Ooh nice! How is it?!? I've got the Analogman Peppermint and Williams MkI Tonebender to demo soon...but I'm working on a new track at the moment which is crammed with fuzz pedals! Hopefully it'll be out in a month or two...just waiting for my mate to come play bass on it! There'll be a video series documenting the whole thing :-)
Celestion speakers are so superior to and years ahead of all those speakers that try to convince you that they are better than the real thing. This results in guitarists wasting thousands of dollars on the promises made by speaker companies that their versions of Celestion speakers are so much better than the real thing.. Give me a break.. Save yourself the heartache and your bank balance will thank you..
The Fig-8 ribbon mic picks up a lot of room sound as well as the direct - and, the room mic (you can see it on the floor to the right of me in the playing footage) is always blended in pretty high too. I try to give the most accurate representation of what the amp/speaker/guitar sounds like in the room by balancing the close & distance mics.
@@JoePerkinsMusic I can appreciate the effort, but honestly I'm better off with just the sound picked up by the video mic because it's at a better distance for what I'm listening for. I need to know how well a speaker spreads its sound around in a live-playing situation. I've encountered different speakers, both sounding great close up, but sounding very different from the other side of the stage. As in, one was clear and the other was almost inaudible. I now take that effect into account when trying out guitar amp speakers.
