# Celestion Gold in a 59 bassman ltd?



## soulrebel (Jan 14, 2014)

Blew one of the speakers, so I figured why not upgrade. Just wondering about the difference in wattage and how that will affect the volume (the stock jensens are 25w and the gold is 40w). I'll probably only put in the one gold for now, possibly down the road I'll put another type of speaker in.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

The wattage won't directly affect the volume per se. The sensitivity/efficiency rating of the speaker will though. The Gold is likely a more efficient/sensitive speaker, so will overpower (ie. be louder than) the stock Jensens. For the actual ratings, check the manufacturers' respective web sites for specs.


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## soulrebel (Jan 14, 2014)

Thanks for the info. The stock Jensens are rated at 95 dB while the gold is 100 dB.


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

5db will be a huge difference in perceived volume. But since there's 3 of the Jensen's to 1 Celestion you might keep some of their personality in the mix. Really not sure what that'd end up sounding like. Gold's are perfection tho. I run a 4x12 with Gold's and V30's X'd and it's incredible. The 10 inch version is supposed to have the same mojo.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

soulrebel said:


> Blew one of the speakers, so I figured why not upgrade. Just wondering about the difference in wattage and how that will affect the volume (the stock jensens are 25w and the gold is 40w). I'll probably only put in the one gold for now, possibly down the road I'll put another type of speaker in.



I just cant see the point in mixing things up like that...
If you realy want that Celestion Gold sound then put 4 of them in.
If your happy with the Jensens ( and most people are), then replace the blown speaker with a Jensen.

I would be way more concerned on how/why that Jensen blew up.
There is obviously other issues involved and I would address those first.

G.


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## soulrebel (Jan 14, 2014)

The issue is leaving my amps at friends place and then they screw around with what they don't know haha. He paid me for the speaker so it's all good. Just thought I wanted to try a gold at some point and here was an opportunity.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Actually, there can be practical applications where mixing speakers is desirable/practical. Seems to me the OP wanted to try something different out without maybe blowing his wad on a set of 4 Golds - sounds legit to me. In live performance or recording environments, you open up a variety of tonal possibilities by mic'ing either the Jensen or the Gold alone or mixing the two. Notwithstanding the sensitivity/efficiency mismatch in this case, some people swear by the results they get from mixing different speakers together. One never knows until you try...


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

gtone said:


> Actually, there can be practical applications where mixing speakers is desirable/practical. Seems to me the OP wanted to try something different out without maybe blowing his wad on a set of 4 Golds - sounds legit to me. In live performance or recording environments, you open up a variety of tonal possibilities by mic'ing either the Jensen or the Gold alone or mixing the two. Notwithstanding the sensitivity/efficiency mismatch in this case, some people swear by the results they get from mixing different speakers together. One never knows until you try...


If I was going to blow that kind of money on a Celestion Gold, I would demand that I hear the quality of that speaker.
Placing that Celestion beside 3 Jensens and expect that result is silly at best.
If you can hear that Celestion from that mix then good for you. I know I would not be able to.
Thats all I was trying to say.

G.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

GTmaker said:


> If I was going to blow that kind of money on a Celestion Gold, I would demand that I hear the quality of that speaker.
> Placing that Celestion beside 3 Jensens and expect that result is silly at best.
> If you can hear that Celestion from that mix then good for you. I know I would not be able to.
> Thats all I was trying to say.
> ...


When you mic an amp (studio or live) you usually mic one speaker - that's how you isolate the tone. You might get a tiny bit of bleed, but it will be inconsequential. 

Thought this was self explanatory, but sometimes you have to spell these things out... ;^)


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

garrettdavis275 said:


> 5db will be a huge difference in perceived volume. But since there's 3 of the Jensen's to 1 Celestion you might keep some of their personality in the mix. Really not sure what that'd end up sounding like. Gold's are perfection tho. I run a 4x12 with Gold's and V30's X'd and it's incredible. The 10 inch version is supposed to have the same mojo.


Dropped a 10" Gold into my '62 Princeton...... +1 on "perfection".


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## soulrebel (Jan 14, 2014)

Only being able to mic one speaker at a time was definitely behind my reasoning. I can see where it might cause some discrepancy between what you're hearing out of your amp versus what's being heard through the pa, but I don't know if it would be a big deal. Certainly can't see why it would be a problem for recording. I like the idea of micing the two different speakers. Also I do this in my silver face twin, I have a ceramic weber silver bell and an alnico weber blue dog that work quite well together.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Although I don't do it, I can easily see the rationale supporting mixing various speakers also - the aggregate provides hybrid tonal "flavours". Mixing American and British-voiced speakers is not that uncommon - the Brit style speakers can often nicely fill in and complement the scooped mids of the American style drivers. 

In soulrebel's circumstances, I can definitely see the rationale in his trying out the single Gold also. While the single Gold stands to overpower the three Jensens considered singly, it might not be that much of a difference given that the three less-efficient Jensens are pushing three times the air of the single Gold. I suspect it might not be that much of a mismatch while still affording him the opportunity to isolate the tone of the two different types of speaker in a direct A/B comparison.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Mixing different speakers in one cabinet is a time honoured tradition. Some of the best hot-rodded amp mods were done exactly that way. This particular mix however, the Gold and the Jensens, may possibly be a bit mismatched and probably will be a little unbalanced sounding but the idea of mixing speakers is still quite sound as some have already suggested.

I had an Egnator Rebel 20 head with two 112 cabinets. I was not entirely happy with the way the stock "Special Design" Celestions sounded in it so I made some changes. 

Anytime I see those words or other words to that affect I cringe. Special design in guitar speakers usually means a well respected name brand but the cheapest P.O.S. drivers they can possibly make. Fender Special Design by Emminence are a prime example. Wanna make your Fender sound heaps better? First thing you do, change out that crapola Special Design speaker. (my two cents) 

But I digress. Pet peeves can do that to me.

Getting back to the Egnator, I ran two different Webers in it, one for each cab, and I was immensely please with the result. I mixed a speaker known to be deep and clear and fairly clean with another known to be midrangie and crunchy and the improvement was amazing. My Boogie Road King 412 cabinet comes from the factory with two Vintage 30s and two Black Shadows and it sounds gorgeous. There is absolutely no reason to fear mixing speakers so long as they are reasonably compatible regarding wattage and efficiency ... and ohms, of course. Naturally. 

That said, this mix of the Gold and Jensens is fairly iffy ... but .... it's not my amp so who am I to say? If you already have the Gold on hand then it won't cost anything to try it.


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