Celestion ALNICO Celestion Gold Brochure - Page 3
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SPEAKER
QUICKBLAST
VOLUME, POWER & EFFICIENCY
A QUICK GUIDE TO WHAT MAKES YOUR EARS BLEED
There's a great deal of
■
confusion when it comes to
power and volume: put simply,
a 100-watt amp or speaker is
most definitely not twice as
loud as a 50-watt equivalent.
When buying a replacement
speaker, you should be aware of
a number of things to, help point
you in the right direction.
POWER HANDLING:
■
Measured in watts (W). The
maximum wattage the speaker
can take. If you exceed the
stated rating, you risk blowing
the speaker. A 100-watt
speaker on a 20-watt amp may
return a clinical feel. Conversely,
a 50-watt amp into a 50-watt
speaker is likely to cause the
speaker to distort more and
colour your tone.
IMPEDANCE: Measured
■
in ohms (Ω). Critically
important, because amps
are designed to operate
at a specific impedances.
Mismatching them with
the 'wrong' speaker load
may cause damage to the
amp. Be aware that wiring
multiple speakers in series
or parallel results in different
impedance figures.
OFFERS A SIGNIFICANT
TONAL IMPROVEMENT TO
ANY NUMBER OF AMPS
never sounds constipated or strangled,
though, like some higher powered
speakers can before they're working
hard. It's much the same story with
the other amplifiers, in that the 'sweet
spot' – where the amp and speaker are
working together best – comes at lower
power with the Blue, even if there's
not a huge difference in perceived
volume. We're dealing with a very
efficient 100dB (measured at 1 watt/1
metre) for both speakers, remember.
Upping the power, it's time to
disconnect the Blue and compare the
Gold with the more powerful drivers,
and it's here you start to hear a more
marked difference. Celestion's G12H is
a highly regarded speaker, but
compared with the Gold it has a less
vocal-like quality to the mid range;
less 'Brian May' factor is how it strikes
me. Its reaction under distortion is
48
GUITARBUYER
NOVEMBER 2006
EFFICIENCY: Measured in dB
■
at 1 watt / 1 metre (dB).
Nothing to do with either of the
above, but drastically affects
sound. Decibels work on a
logarithmic scale, meaning that
roughly for every +3dB
increase, the volume doubles.
You soon see the tonal
significance of two speakers
rated at 97dB and 100dB
respectively, though bigger is
not always better, Many people
like the sound of less efficient
drivers, while some players like
the direct power delivery of a
modern, efficient speaker.
CELESTION G12 ALNICO GOLD
As you can see, the Gold's alnico magnet is a
■
different shape to a standard ceramic magnet.
Measure your combo before you try to fit one
different too, in that the G12H stays
tighter, dare we say somewhat more
clinical-sounding than the Gold, also
very much the case for the Mesa C90
which sounds downright clunky in
comparison at low power.
Now we're into Marmite territory,
though – love it or hate it – because
the fact of the matter is that some
guitar players like their speaker to stay
tight, focussed and defined, and some
don't. For example, hard rock and
metal (and testosterone-fuelled blues
or country players for that matter)
tend to like high-power speakers. JBLs
were a popular mod for silver-face
Fender Twins, and 200-watt
ElectroVoice drivers have turned up in
amps from Mesa Boogie to Marshall
and beyond over the years.
Conversely, many classic rock and
blues-rock guitarists like an element of
break up and colour from the speaker,
favouring drivers like the much lauded
Celestion G12M Greenback, older
alnico-magnet Jensens and of course
the Blue. The Celestion Gold falls
squarely into this latter camp,
meaning that partnering it with the
All that glitters?
■
For the right kind of
amp, without a doubt
'right' amp is critical for your own
musical nirvana. That's to say only
you know how much you want your
speaker to colour your tone. To put
you in the ballpark, we'd say the Gold
is 'cleaner' than a Blue or a Greenback,
slightly smoother and more 'vintage'
sounding than the 30-watt G12H, but
not as 'clean' as a Vintage 30 or indeed
pretty much any other higher
powered speaker. My own personal
view is that the Gold is going to work
fabulously with Hand-Wired Marshalls
and amps of that ilk, particularly the
2061X head. I'd also bet a pair would
sound magic in a '65 Reissue Fender
Twin, too, or indeed on the end of
most 40-80-watt classic-style Fenders.
Higher-powered Voxes and their many
derivatives as well, for that matter.
CONCLUSION
The Celestion Gold is a fabulously
rich-sounding, highly musical driver
for classic rock and rock'n'roll, that
does exactly what it says on the tin: it
retains the tone of the Blue, but with a
higher power handling capacity.
Naturally, it takes more oomph to get
it singing, but once it is, the Gold
offers a significant tonal improvement
to any number of amps – assuming
you want speaker colouration in your
tone, of course – not to mention a kick
of extra perceived volume thanks to
that 100dB sensitivity rating.
Price is the thorny issue; alnico
magnet material and 'made in
England' means you need to be made
of money and, as such, it'll be a
painful outlay to upgrade something
like a Fender Blues Deluxe or, gulp,
any 4x12 cab. Boutique, vintage-type
combos and reissues are the more
likely targets, with this driver making
enough of their sonic complexities
and high quality components to
warrant the investment. Brilliant,
but only for the
discerning.
GB