Why not to buy vintage speakers - Celestion Alnico Blue

[@BrewerShettles]

Playing starts: 3:46 5:58 8:57 10:40 12:31 - Great playing - so clear and with bite!! Like the Alnico Blue sound.

[@JustinoAndTheDifference]

So nice to find a comparison video with a good player. Thank you. 🙏

[@ZillaCabs]

Joe is a great player. Thanks for watching and for the kind words.

[@paulburland8278]

Just bought a Blue to replace the Vintage 30 in my Gibson GA15-RV. Really can't wait for it to arrive now (already got a pair of V30s in my Zilla 2x12)! Nice vid, great playing.

[@ZillaCabs]

Oh yeah I love those amps, it should sound great in there. Let us know how you get on.

[@paulcowart3174]

Nice choice for the Gibby amp

[@paulburland8278]

Been playing this a lot and it’s just great with a Strat, especially in a split position (to my ears, anyway) with a touch of reverb and the occasional bit of tremolo.

[@alastairtilley3585]

I bought a Carlsbro 2x12 "cab" (read: combo that had been butchered into a cab) that had a pair of 1975 Greenbacks in it. After opening the cab and removing the first speaker, i turned my attention to the second which wouldn't budge despite no hardware being still attached. Finally as I prized the driver from the baffle, I looked down and saw that a sizable chunk of the cone and surround had stayed behind, still stuck to the baffle. I still get chills.

[@ZillaCabs]

We bought two Pulsonic H's from a Carlsbro cab/combo...... they were to be in this video. Sounds like our experiences are pretty similar here.

[@MrTee-hw7mp]

The clean tones you can get playing a Strat through a Celestion blue are nothing short of stunning.

[@vincentl.9469]

what is the wattage rating on an alnico blue?

[@MrTee-hw7mp]

@@vincentl.9469 15 watts. However, that’s a conservative rating. Some people use them in Deluxe Reverb amps that are rated 22 watts and they do fine.

[@dragutin.guta.jakovljevic]

Maybe it's just me, but I've never heard you sounding as good as in this video. Blue is maybe not as wide as others, but man it sings.

[@ZillaCabs]

It was probably his frustration of not being able to play the vintage speaker ;). I will tell Joe.

[@dragutin.guta.jakovljevic]

@@ZillaCabs please do so! ☺️

[@abc123gpl]

often you find hints on a speaker wich side was up the last 60 years. Dust on the lower side of the membrane and so on. turn it the other side around. dust side up and see if gravitation works for you for another 60 years . cheers from germany.

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah that is a good spot. It often amazes me how dust gets in the back of cabs, I've never understood how that can happen to the extent that it does.

[@Mundproductionfunkhaus]

I have an older alnico blue, no trouble; it was put into a Mesa

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks I'm glad you like it. Ported cabs are designed for specific speakers but there are no rights or wrongs, if it sounds good it sounds good. Thanks for watching.

[@nicksburson1]

The blue sounds amazing

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah it's a great speaker. Thanks for watching.

[@nmc9x23]

Realistically, 50 yr old speakers have had their shiny worn off. That is why they were sold. I know all the vintage folks love to assert that vintage equals better but that is rubbish as the mass produced speakers of yesterday are just that - mass produced to generate the highest profit. If anything the "better" they assert is only the familiarity with the tone.

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah I hear what you are saying but I've got plenty of 50 year old speakers that sound great. I double checked with every seller that the speakers were working perfectly. For the old Celestions we were more interested in how they sounded with the Pulsonic cones, when their factory burned down they had to switch manufacturers so that is more the interest in the old speakers.

[@Fletcher883]

A good vintage speaker works fine, and the wear to the suspension combined with the lack of doping that happens with time does mean they sound different even considering two identical drivers (think G12M Heritage vs a 74 Blackback for example). When you get to different materials (think Pulsonic or RIC cones) there is even more of a reason for them to sound different to current offerings of the same type. I actually think now is the ‘golden-age’ of new production guitar speakers but there is value to old speakers that work correctly.

[@garygallagher7341]

My vintage JBL D120F is the best speaker I've heard. Took me 2 goes to buy one that worked, but worth it.

[@JimijaymesProductions]

I love the later silvers, biased because I grew up playing an AC30 with them, never could figure out what year the speakers were because the amp seems to be a weird transistion model from dallas arbiter but they are definately celestions made for vox. Unlucky that these are wrecked because the compression from the alnico silvers I've used is awesome. THis cab sounds great with the modern blue though, from everything I have heard the alnico silvers (the latter ones the greys are the same as blues without paint) they have a bit less upper mid range cut and a bit different low end never heard a proper shootout of mint speakers though.

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah I'd love to get my hands on a nice pair of 60s Alnicos. Maybe an excuse to buy an AC30, I've never owned one and it would be a good addition to the studio. The newer speakers (actually most things post the Pulsonic factory going down in 73) don't quite seem to have that smooth/warmth that some of the early speakers had do they..... although that said some of the older speakers are shockers too ;)

[@somebodyelseuk]

My Dad has had a couple of '63 AC30s with 'Blues' in them... As far as I understand it, the 'Silver' was basically a 'Blue' painted silver. You have to remember that back then they were just speakers, so the 'mythology' and so on wasn't a thing. I think they changed the paint colour around '64/5. It's become a similar thing to the 'P.A.F.' sticker versus 'Pat #' sticker on early Gibson humbuckers - same thing with a cosmetic difference.

[@JimijaymesProductions]

@@somebodyelseuk That is true, but they did change the models at some point so that most silvers (late 60s models) are different to most blues (early 60s models) only slightly though. Also age and conditions they were in make more of a difference.

[@MKonig-ug5lg]

Who said an Alnico Blue is only great for edgy cleans? This Speaker is an amazing Rocker!

[@jcwear89]

Amp sounds ace with the blue 😊

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks, it is a good combination I think.

[@paulcowart3174]

Hey guys Happy Holidays Hey I have an older Peavey Classic 4/10 cab probably 90's w ceramic speakers and was wondering how much of a difference or how much would you hear of an Alnico blue swap in one out of the 4 speakers The wattage in the blue would be lower I would think So might be a little sonic difference there but as a whole how much difference would it make ?? Thanks fellow's 👍

[@Finger-in-the-Noise]

Fu****g great sound. The VC15 is a real Nice little amp. I have 4 Laney at home and all of them are really amazing. And on my Lionheart L5T-112, I Wonder if I'm going to replace my Greenback G12H with an Alnico Blue. I like the actual sound but it sounds a little bit muddy in crunch tones. I guess the Blue will give me more clarity. And with a 5 watts all tube amp, this 15watts speaker will be sufficient. Nice video.

[@levijessegonzalez3629]

are those Laney VC amps basically a AC15 / 30 clone?

[@MarchPancake]

Why no silver comparrison??

[@bluesful]

That sounds damn good.

[@MrBossei]

That amp sounds wonderful and so does your playing, as always. Is it the Laney VC15 combo model (with the 10 inch speaker) connected to your cab? Amazing tone 👌

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks, glad you liked it. Yeah it is the VC15, it's a great little amp and actually sounds great as a combo with the 10" speaker too.

[@adamsteelproducer]

Shame about the duff speaker. If you do end up getting a good one, maybe do a video comparing good to bad so we can hear the differences? Good tones anyway Joe 👍

[@ZillaCabs]

The bad ones are going back, that's for damn sure! They were described as working perfectly ;)

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

Vintage gear is a nightmare most of the time for me. The amount you have to spend to it them to sound and play properly is a money pit.

[@ZillaCabs]

It can be, especially mixed with ebay ;) sometimes you get some jems though.

[@rocker8692]

Play some Freebird

[@ZillaCabs]

The three minute long solo for each speaker ;) I love a bit of Freebird.

[@andyrichardson9039]

I've got a pair of Audiom 61s (not quite so valuable as your Silver Bells) that I got on eBay for £50 for both. They are as good as any speaker I own, except for the puny 20W power handling. But, just to troll the Yanks, they're marked up at as 20W UK, 40W USA... I also got a pair of Blackbacks in a 2045 cab, but they were rubbish. Rub and cutout and all sorts going wrong. Replaced with Taydens - if you ever see any, those are great speakers.

[@MrBossei]

Which Taydens? I have the ACE 25. Great speaker!

[@andyrichardson9039]

@@MrBossei Yes, I've got an ACE 25 in a Deluxe-style combo. Also got a couple of High Brits (the 50W M-magnet Greenback-type thing) and a Great Brit (which is the H-magnet one). The speakers are really good, but I had a few problems getting any sense out of the Tayden company at the time of getting them. It's a shame they aren't still in regular production or available from a stockist.

[@MrBossei]

@@andyrichardson9039 Thanks! Yes, very hard to find information about Tayden but they seem to be out of business. Not easy to compete with a big muscle company like Celestion 😢

[@ZillaCabs]

I'm a bit late to the party here but we have an ACE 25 here and it is great, we'll have to get it in a video. We used to use some Taydens around 2008/09 but had terrible reliability issues with them, which is a real shame.

[@andyrichardson9039]

@@ZillaCabs and Bosse: I haven't had problems with the speakers themselves, only the terminal tab being a bit shady (it melted under the iron). The speakers sound close enough to good old Celestions to be in the ballpark, and close enough to new ones to not sound weird. But the fellas that made them came across as not having much commitment to the business, so it always felt like a huge challenge to get any sense (or, indeed, speakers) out of them. My M and H magnet Brits came from Lean Business who had mucho stock at the time, and I do regret not buying more. Recently, though, I got a Modern 2x12 from Zilla in (black-on) Green with the salt-and-pepper cloth, and I found a pair of Fane AXAs to put in it. That's an absolute monster of a cab now. It almost makes up for the fact that my 4x10 (in the same colours!) got covered in crap at the bottom when our studio roof leaked. It's fine sound-wise, but it sort of ruins the aesthetic!

[@DunderHead.5000]

Recone.

[@ZillaCabs]

We could do but it would be reconed using parts from the modern Blue and we have stacks of those.