Celestion Blue Vs Greenbacks

[astrozombie]

I'm interested in a Vox amplifier and have noted that AC30s come with either configuration.

To my knowledge, i've only had experience with the models that come with greenbacks.

any comments on what the differences in tone are are welcome.

[mwalluk]

I would go with Celestion Blue personally. Moreover, the retail for twice as much. So if you don't dig em, you can always sell em.

[mwalluk]

Just a quick internet search for ya..............

some common generalizations would be:
greenback: midrange bark, woody, crunchy, dark when played clean, sometimes muddy, marshally etc.
blue: presence, depth & detail, chime & grind, honk, notes jump out of the speakers. does not cloud the notes as much as a GB. more efficient than a GB.

I have several amps/cabs with GB's: AC30CC2, Marshall cab 4x12, Marshall clone cab 2x12.

And several with alnico blues: AC30CC2X, AC15H1TV, Victoria 20112.

My take......

Greenbacks- better/tighter bass notes, more lower and middle mids (I think some call this a midrange 'notch'), creamy highs (due to nice breakup), somewhat less efficient speaker so a bit softer sound (nice way to control volume in certain venues). I call this the 'organic grind friendly sound.' Nice on the ears and pleasing to the crowd.

With all due respect to Bugman above, I have not noticed any muddiness. Of course, these speakers will break up sooner than some speakers out there, so if you drive them hard you will lose some note distinction/enunciation. Yes, these are the speakers which replaced the alnico versions in the early Marshall cabs, so their tone is closely associated with what some will call the Marshall sound.

Alnico blues- bass notes not as tight but acceptable, very nice mids and great upper mids, great highs esp when overdriven (overdrive very sweetly), very efficient speaker so they sound louder (I have a pair of Victoria 20112's, one with a Celestion Blue and one with a Weber Signature Alnico; when I want a louder small combo, I will take the Vic with the Blue), great note enunciation esp given the great upper mids and highs. I don't know if this term is correct, but I think of this as the 'hi-fi' sound.....serious clean but warm sound that would please the sound engineers back at Apple studios in the 60's. (...or-right, boys, that's a take....)

IMO, these are two great speakers. It comes down to personal taste. Like Tele's vs Les Paul Jr's/Specials.

FWIW, Celestion speakers are fantastic with Fender amps. (except the Blue doesn't quite mate with a DR for some reason...?)

[jeremy]

i dont agree with the blues not working in dr's. a friend of mine has a '64 dr with a blue and it sounds epic

[Ash Telecaster]

Can't speak to the Celestion blue but I have a Vox ac15c1 which is Greenback loaded.

15 watt, relatively inexpensive amp but it sounds spectacular. At least if you are going for that edge of breakup kind of tone as opposed to full on metal.

It is a warm speaker. It really tames my strat.

I like it so much I bought one to pair up with a 5e3 I'm building.

[astrozombie]

the "blue" speakers are much more articulated to my ears.

[the guy who invented fire]

Blues and Greenbacks are my fav 2 speakers...

Greenbacks have better bass and more of a honking midrange crunch to them where the Blues have a peaky upper midrange bark to them, a tighter more controlled low end and that alnico sing that almost every good alnico speaker out there has...Blues are also a LOT louder than Greenbacks.

[astrozombie]

i read somewhere alnico blues are more efficient.

[the guy who invented fire]

i read somewhere alnico blues are more efficient.

They are, that's why they are louder...

The db ratings on old ones are a little different than the new ones but for comparison a new standard Greenback is 97db and a new Blue is 100db.

To maybe help understand that in real world terms if you have 2 97db Greenbacks they together produce about 100db so 2 Greenbacks are as loud as 1 Blue.

I know 3db's doesn't sound like much but in that range (high 90's to 100) 3 db is a big volume jump.

[astrozombie]

They are, that's why they are louder...

The db ratings on old ones are a little different than the new ones but for comparison a new standard Greenback is 97db and a new Blue is 100db.

To maybe help understand that in real world terms if you have 2 97db Greenbacks they together produce about 100db so 2 Greenbacks are as loud as 1 Blue.

I know 3db's doesn't sound like much but in that range (high 90's to 100) 3 db is a big volume jump.

i kept playing greenback ac30s and ac15s and wondering why it didnt sound as "jangly" as it should in my head.