How much power can a Celestion Blue handle?

[ettepostkonto]

I'm putting a Celestion Alnico Blue 15 watt 8 ohm speaker in an extension cab. How much power will the speaker handle?

Do you guys think i can run these amps though it?

1. Epiphone Valve Jr (5 watts)
2. Gibson Goldtone GA15-RV (switchable between 7 or 15 watts)
3. Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue (22 watts)
4. Peavey Delta Blues (30 watts)
5. Marshall Silver Jubilee (switchable between 25 or 50 watts)

I'm pretty sure it'll be OK with the first 3 - but how about the last two? If I don't dime them maybe, and don't play for hours and hours?

[CapnCrunch]

As a general rule of thumb you should use a speaker that is rated at twice the output of a tube amp. The outputs you have listed are for clean output power prior to distortion. When you push a tube amp into distortion, it can put out roughly twice it's clean output power. In other words, your deluxe reverb has the ability to put out about 40 watts peak.

Blues are rated at 15 watts. I think you're fine with the lower watt amps (i.e. 10 and lower) There is no way I would run a single Blue in my Deluxe Reverb if I were going to run it at anything over about 3 or 4, and the same goes for any amp over 20 watts. I suspect the Blue can handle more then 15 watts because I've seen them do it. However, I would not risk the speaker on higher watt amps if I was going to run them full tilt. If you have to, put two of them together, either parallel or in series.

[ettepostkonto]

Thanks for your input CapnCrunch!

I e-mailed the Celestion support guy "Dr Decibel" though and he said they sold a lot of Blues as replacement speakers for the DRRI - so you must be able to play louder than 3 or 4 on the volume dial...

And what about the Vox AC15? They've got Blues in them and must be able to handle those amps at full tilt.

I would love to buy two but they cost an arm and a leg here i Sweden - around $475 each!

[Tubetastic]

The Spec is on the site - 15Watts :

Celestion


Celestions 'Power Handling' is listed under the Basics link :

Speaker Loading --- although I agree with the Cap'n, it puts out more when distorting.

[M Fowler]

I have a Vox AC15 with the blue and I can guarantee you that it will not handle 20 watt amps for very long. Use it for 15 watt and under amps.

If you are trying to get one speaker to handle the amps you listed then you need to go for a much higher wattage rating on the speaker.

Mark

[CapnCrunch]

I thought that the Blues were expensive here in the high $200's. At $400+ I personally would not run them in my Deluxe Reverb. I know people who do, but I run my Deluxe full out. Like I said, I've seen people do it but I don't think they're past 4 on the dial. Also, my experience and ear tells me that the DRRI puts out more power then the AC15 by a fair margin.

I have tried a 30 watt Weber alnico blue in a DRRI. It sounded pretty good, and I ran it for a practice and a gig (probably about 6 hours). End result, speaker fried. I switched to the higher wattage version of the Weber Silver (which by the way is far superior to the Weber Blue in the DRRI IMO). No more troubles. I also blew a 30 watt Alnico Silver in a Mesa Subway Blues, which is a 2xel84 amp rated at 15 watts. CAVEAT the speakers above were Weber speakers, and as I said before, I think the rating on the Celestion Blue may be a bit conservative.

You gotta do what you gotta do. You can obviously run the Celestion Blue in the DRRI. It just comes down to how much risk you're willing to take. $400 + is a pretty good sized bet as far as I'm concerned. You could almost build a Wreck for the that price. The blue won't give you the quintessential Deluxe Reverb sound either. It will sound good, but there are definitely speakers that will complement that amp better then the Blue. I really like the Weber Silver Bell with the DRRI it has more low end, and a sweet high end, while still pushing the mids a bit. Just my .02.

Good luck on your quest!

[CapnCrunch]

Double Post

[dehughes]

I personally like the vibe of a speaker/amp pairing where the ratings of each are nearly equivalent...that is, the speaker being rated for about 20% more than the amp's RMS rating. Granted, I don't usually crank them, and don't use crazy boost/overdrive pedals, so that gives me a bit more leeway in the speaker's rating. If I used lots of gain and cranked the amp and used lots of pedals, etc...then I'd go for a larger difference between speaker rating/amp RMS rating.

That said, I've pushed Blues, Greenbacks, G12H30s, multiple Webers (alnico and ceramic) in low-wattage amps, and never have blown one.

[paulster]

The Peavey Delta Blues should easily be able to kill a Blue, as will the Jubilee.

The Delta Blues uses a quad of EL84s in fixed-bias mode if I remember correctly, so will be able to comfortably make 30W and probably more like 50W when you push the output stage.

The Jube should be able to make the best part of 80W when pushed, although the FX loop does somewhat constrain the output stage, but 50W will be easily achievable.

Bear in mind that healthy AC30s can still kill a pair of Blues. It might not happen immediately but there can be cumulative damage from voice coils overheating and expanding or the former distorting until you get enough coil rub that the coil is broken.

Get a Gold if you have the chance. And don't run the Jube through it either way because it'll sound nasty with both of these!

[CapnCrunch]

You gotta love when you ask "how much power will Speaker A handle?" and you get a bunch of advice on other speakers. Sorry for going a bit afield. Paulster brings up a good point, however, which makes me wonder if you are looking for one speaker to handle all of the amps you have listed.

If that is what you are trying to do, then I think you could get two different speakers for less money then one Blue and they would work with your various amps much better then one Alnico Blue. I don't know how much Weber speakers are in Sweden but they have some good offerings the 50 watt Silver bell is a great speaker with British voiced amps, and is really good with the DRRI. I would think that the G12H30 would be a good choice (I like it a lot with my 18watt and my AC15). Some of the guys here can hopefully chime in on some of the higher watt Celestions, I'm not very familiar with them.

[FunkyE9th]

Maybe check out the Eminence Red Fang? It's 50W and more affordable.

[collinsamps]

Paulster is spot on. Playing style and volume settings aside, I've even seen continued use in 5E3 tweed deluxe biased at exactly 12watts kill a celestion blue.

There is no "magic" in that speaker that can't be had with other similarly constructed low watt alnico speakers costing half as much.

[ettepostkonto]

Here's the deal: I'm planning to get into recording more and I want to have different options to try out.

I was in a studio recently and had a chance to try out a few different cabs and I really liked the idea of mixing and matching to find the right tone for a certain song or a certain guitar part...

I figured I'd get two different 1x12s:

- One with a Celestion Blue
- One with a Greenback

Mainly because I really like how these two speakers sound - and how different they are (good for different things). But also because If I want the Vintage 30 sound or the Jensen sound - I'll just hook up any given amp to the internal speaker of my Gibson GA15-RV or the DRRI.

Voila! Lots of nice options!

(By the way I'd obviously only run the Marshall in the 25 watt mode.)

[Structo]

I haven't had much luck in the tone department running British voiced speakers on Fenders.

But you never know, you may hit on something that sounds real good.

It's all so subjective anyway.

I would just be concerned about the power handling.

[paulster]

Why not get a Scumnico 100W and an M75-XHP from Scumback then?

Even with the shipping and VAT you'll probably find the prices competitive.

Then you can use all of the amps safely at full power (including getting the Jube running in pentode mode which sounds much better than triode mode). And you'll probably have spent no more than the corresponding Celestions (which won't offer 100W power handling).