Celestion Alnico Blue, Ruby, Gold and Cream - HEAVY TONES!
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Celestion make four fantastic 12" Alnico speakers, the Blue, Ruby, Gold and Cream, but they are rarely used for heavier styles. After the success of our Alnico shoot out last year, we were repeatably asked "what do these speakers sound like for heavier styles and tones"..... we thought that would make an interesting and fun video, so here it is.
We talk through what we did and what we found with the sound samples in between. Please feel free to skip through to the sound sample. Let us know what you think.
Blue 2:24
Ruby 3:22
Gold 4:20
Cream 5:20
We used a Fatbaby 1x12, closed back to help with the lows and to keep the bass response nice and tight. Joe uses a Daemoness flying V, Mesa Stiletto and Strymon Riverside overdrive.
Our Alnico shootout video • Celestion Alnico Blue,...
www.zillacabs....
Standard Tune Low Tune
2:24 - Blue 2:53 - Blue
3:22 - Ruby 3:52 - Ruby
4:24 - Gold 4:51 - Gold
5:20 - Cream 5:50 - Cream
thanks!
I love the red one : very precise med-freqs.
There's a lot more love for the Ruby these days. It mixes really well with other speaker too, that is what I'm starting to find.
I am using a 50 watt amp with a Marshall 4x12 and running a turbo rat. I have considered the ruby for that cab. They are definitely darker than most. I have wondered how far down that high cut is. If it is more than you’d typically cut in a mix, or if the speaker is cutting the same highs that you pull of in recording anyway. I saw a great video that showed lots of different styles, including modern metal. They sounded great. But you never know how much processing is responsible for that sound. Anyway. I’d love to see some more ruby videos
Ruby all day long. I own one and it's got all the right ingredients: the way it compresses and melts to the texture of a high-gain amp, and, you can basically mic an M160 straight to the cap and it's good to go..there's your base for a heavy rhythm tone. If you want even more meat, you can blend in an Aston Element (basically a poor man's 4038--STUPID amounts of low-end, but still has a great upper mid). For heavy music, a speaker like this is major because you want that direct, isolated and focused sound of the cap position, without the harshness. You can always add presence in the amp, but you can't take it away from the speaker! Plus, in the room, the Ruby is really nice to the ears and fills up space.
I actually liked the way the ruby sounded with the down tuned heavy stuff. Overall the blue and cream were the winners for me though. Great video, thanks! - Jeff Brancato
Hi Jeff. Yeah me too, they are my favourites.
The Ruby takes off Fizz, with a lot of gain the Blue and Cream can probably get "fizzy". I agree, Ruby for "chug".
Surprising amount of difference between them. For me, the blue sounded fuller and had the best overall tone. Which is surprising as I seem to remember preferring the Gold in your previous shootout.
I guess it is different speakers for different jobs, each of these speakers has a place. The blue is a great speaker, it can be surprising how lower powered speakers can often lend themselves well to heavier tones.
I have to listen to this video with a really good set of headphones but I like the gold. The reason is because I am playing around with the thought of mixing alnico speakers in one of my 4x4 cab leaving two G12H 55s in there. I really don't want to upset the harmony within the cab however some player do a wide range of tone from doing this. From what I can hear the gold would add clarity to the mix. Thanks for making these videos.
Blue all the way, it sounds immense!!
There is a lot of love for the Blue!
Alnico Blues... Beatles, Queen, Tom Petty, U2... they ARE the sound of rock, at least to me. Even high gain in a 4x12 closed back cab, they snarl and chime. Perfect.
@@edwardx.winston5744 well said! Blue Alnico all day. I have weber blue dogs and blue pups in my cabs and man.. so so good
Golds and Orange amps might just be a winning combo, especially paired with a PPC412.
Agree, growl for days!
Alnico creams sound great. I’d love them in my amps but man they’re expensive
yeah they ain't cheap!
Cream. I have two of them and Ive played them through a Marshall 1960 A and B. Used a Splawn nitro with them which is essentially a modded Marshall 800. Also a dual rec, but to me, these ones cry for the Splawn. Sounds killer, but they have too much speaker break up for my taste. The best sounding cleans ever imo. Kind of a bluesy type of vibe.
Nice video. Subscribed!
I've got a Blue and a G12EVH in a vertical 2x12. It can go from Hendrix to Tool and Pantera in a heartbeat.
Excellent, that is about my favourite mix of speakers (three bands I love too)! Thanks for joining the team.
Cool. I’ve got a blue with a 35 year old v30 and another 2x12 with a heritage g12 and a v30.....both sound killer.
I also own an EVH, but find that mixing them is hard, because it only has 96 db sensitivity, so when you mix it with a blue, for ex., you end up mainly hearing the blue. What's your experience on that?
@@JoaoSilva-xs9dz I find that they both contribute something to the mix. I've got the EVH as the upper speaker in the vertical slanted 2x12, so it points right at me.
This just proves, really very clearly so well done (!), that power handling/magnet size follows a ratio of greater power handling: less fidelity.
There's a very good reason why in the age of lower stage volume, higher power amplifiers have died a death. They are not only impractical: they also sound measurably less pleasing.
I like the cream for smoother tones and the blue for vintage alnico midrange in this clip, the gold is always brighter than I expect it to be its more brighter than the blue despite it being higher powered I haven't heard a decent clip of the Ruby yet all clips sound dark or midrangey. The celestion frequency response charts seem to show them all pretty different, the closest the gold and the cream with the cream almost being the gold with a bit of a low pass filter.
By itself, the blue...in a live mix the gold
Good call.
Guys love the lane your in, so helpful and so many options. I. Just purchased 2 cream alinco 90 , I was thinking of
putting them in a Mesa cab with 2 V30s. That said, I have 5 cabs all with different things going on inside. I just figured I’d ask first.
just been switching out alot of speakers. Is there a speaker you would recommend pairing w the cream alinco. FYI I play only baritone
Great job, FYI good carpet guys in USA at least the sober ones make 100K a year . Had to laugh at the skydiving guys comment.
Every time we pay our carpet guys it’s in the thousands all day .
If you have the cream alnicos and a spare cab then definitely chuck them in with the V30s, we haven't done that pairing in a 4x12 to my knowledge but I can see it working well. The alnico cream works quite well with Mesa's (or at least I think so), so if you have the speakers it is definitely worth a shot. I think you may well find it smooth the V30s out a little and add a bit more warmth. Let us know how you get on with it.
Ruby sounds great down-tuned!!
Here’s an video idea for the metal folk, high powered speaker shoot out. Like G12H75, G12T75, G12K100, V30...
Do you do front loaded cabs? How do they compare to rear loaded cabs?
Definitely on that!.... I think that is a great idea. We can do front loaded cabs, we have done before. We were going to do a video on them as front loaded cabs tend to sound different due to their build.
@Violeta G12H75 is a 75W speaker. celestion.com/product/g12h-75-creamback/
I’m loving that Ruby! More mids than the Gold.
Cream and blue are top speakers for metal. Do like the G12K100 for clarity. Usually on a high powered head attenuated down. Need to cut through a mix. Ruby could be good for single use or maybe certain amps would suit it. Not metal, blues would be good with it in the right cab/amp.
I to keep going to the cream and blue. The other two do definitely have their place. We are filming a video for heavier speakers soon and the K100 is in that. I love it but do find it best mixed in with something else too, often a V30 or H creamback. Thanks for tuning in James.
I have a gold and i like it. I play rock styles, from 70´s to 90´s rock. But the Blue is awesome. One of my combo is a Laney L5T-112 with Greenback G12H. I’m curious to replace it with à Blue Alnico.
The Gold has a real classic ‘70s kind of guitar tone.
I blew the speaker in my Orange TH30 and I'm loving the idea of a gold for it.
I have a Gold that I used in a Vox AC15 that I never quite took a liking to. Then I used a 50 watt Traynor YBA-1, without any attenuation, and the Gold suddenly opened up with the most glorious tone ever. You just really have to push it hard to get the goods. Unfortunately, I rarely have the opportunity to push my amps that hard anymore without law enforcement being involved.
I run my orange b hinds thru a whs black and blue and it sounds awesome.
That's a cool speaker Mike. We had one in the studio a little while back. Thanks for watching.
I feel like Alnico speakers really handle mids very well for gain. Like I can completely boost or completely scoop the mids and be completely content either way.. Not to mention everything in between.
I guess afterall that is where a lot of the guitars tone is so it's handy to be able to sculpt the mids.
Totally true
@@ZillaCabs do you remember what the ohm ratings were for these speakers? Thanks for the comparison!
Hey, Zilla! Any insight into combining the Ruby with a Heritage G12H30 70th Anniversary?
I have used an old Utah alnico and gotten great tones. I would like to add an alnico to my 4 10 to sorta fill a gap
In order of what my ear liked best: Ruby, then Gold, with Blue and Cream tied.
That's really interesting, the ruby normally comes in last for most people. That's what is so great about guitar tones, there's something for everyone and no rights or wrongs. Thanks for watching
@@ZillaCabs You're absolutely correct! I'm used to playing through 10" midrange drivers from Parts Express. The Celestion Creambacks I bought recently (as a part of upgrading when I had a chance to)...I found to be 'too bright' and unreasonably unresponsive to EQ changes I made. I would have to make the jump to 12"s...
They actually all sounded good to me but the blue/cream would be my first choice, probably the cream for the power handling.
Those two are my favourite too. Thanks for watching.
I'd put the ruby in my 4 10 to fill in the sorta low mid gap right now I'm using a newer v30 on an open 4 10 I'd put the ruby next to the pmr hempopotomus. PMR is a little company in Ohio the speaker I'm talking about is in that high power American tone camp. There is a lack of options in the 10 inch range
Awesome video! What speakers (out of all the celestion range) do you guys personally use in your most played through cabinet?
The Rubies were my favorite out of the bunch….I play 80’s Metal/Rock…something about the midrange in the Ruby just sounds great without being bright..
Would a 2x12 with cream alnicos be safe to use with a JCM800 2203?
I would like to hear the gold with the cream mixed together and compared with the blue.
Chuck a cream and a blue in a 2x12 and it's happy days.
Unless you play a 50 watter ;) I'm with you there though, I love that mix of speakers. They are my two favourite alnico speakers and I think they mix great too. Thanks for watching.
@@ZillaCabs I use this combination on my AC30 it works very well :)
A Cream and a Blue together adds up to 105 watts. That's perfect for a 50-watt amp...unless your Cream blows.
The Cream is good for those scooped mids heavy tones
Good call, I think it being quite a smooth speaker helps too. Thanks for watching.
The Gold seems to suit this eq setting.
The Gold is my favorit,it's more balanced and has the most top end.
Question to Zilla Cabs:Do you know,why the Celestion Alnico Gold speakers can be found,in 2 different gold colors?
The one shown here,in this video,is the more brighter gold color,but the ones i own,have a darker gold color.
Ohms?
@@kosmicwizard 16 ohms version
@@jochemjonker3362 maybe they use different paint on the 8 ohm version? Or maybe it's an era thing? They used one paint until they found out they could save a penny by switching, and now they use a different one?
For me the gold sounded a bit like the cab was in the next room. The ruby sounded like it was in the next room with the door shut!
Once again, the Ruby is muddy compared to the others, and really only works if you have an overly bright amp. As with every other comparison of them, I still rank them Blue, Cream, Gold, Ruby. I honestly wouldn't touch the Gold or Ruby, because they just don't have any advantages I can see or hear over the Blue and Cream. The Blue still has the best tone, the most balance and the most bass and treble extension, but it suffers from its low power handling capacity. If you need more power, then the Cream handles more than the Gold and sounds better, too, so why bother with the Gold, at all, much less the Ruby, unless you have a particularly problematic amp that the specific response curves of the Gold or Ruby will tame.
HI Gemma, that is kind of where I am with those speakers. I am sure the Ruby has its perfect place but we haven't really found it yet.... and when the Blue and Cream sound so great it is hard to put the other two in. That said a lot of players who love the gold absolutely love it, so it does have its place. Thanks for the feedback, I think you hit exactly where I am with those speakers.
The cream seems like the safe bet ? Seems to do it all.
Yeah I think that is a fair comment. The cream seems to do it all.
GOLD sounds good to me!
Gold, I also love the blue, but no way would I risk blowing one up with a 50W amp into a 2x12
I may be crazy but I prefer Alnicos for gain. I absolutely love the hazy high end register and what alnico speakers do for high gain!
Alnicos can sound great with gain, I personally prefer the blues and the craems for higher gain.
Imagine a Blue with a celestion K100 :P hahah!
I'm not sure we've ever done that one ;)
The blue for me
Plus chaud et plus proche de son des vieux AC30
I think you are right there for sure, it is such an iconic sound with an AC30.
Anyone mixed a blue with a ruby?
We've got that video coming soon
I PURCHASED TWO CELESTION GOLDS FOR A 2 X 12 PINE CLOSED BACK CAB. 50 WATT PLEXI.. DISSAPOINTING.
You didn't like how they sounded? I guess it depends what cab you are putting them in and the kind of music you are playing ad what you are comparing them to.
Blue and cream are close. And killer.
Red is to dark and the gold is to upper mid heavy with no lowend
I know where you are coming from there, the blue and cream are definitely my favourites but I think the other two do have their place. The gold has a certain amount of grit that really works in certain situations.
G12-T75 and you can pray to the blues satan, metal satan, hmm everything hahaha
Are you a T75 kind of guy? It is a really useful speaker to love.
@@ZillaCabs yes i have 2x12 in cab
This video is for adults
Is that a good or bad thing ;)
Good hehe
You can use blues with 100w amp, FULL STACK!! 8 of them fuckers = 120W
Cream > Blue > Ruby > Gold
The Cream is most balanced. Blue is too bright. Ruby is too dark/muddy and Gold sounds thin and shrill. I once bought a Gold and sent it back 1 day later...
That amp sounds like doodoo
I didn't think so.
Don't quit your day job -- installing carpet.
Sorry I'm not sure I get that one, you can't see our carpet.
They work at Zilla dumb dumb
@@ZillaCabs i presume,he's looking at the roles of tolex ,in the background.
@@ZillaCabs he needs glasses. Lol
@@rockzilla5150 I strongly approve of your name ;)