DRRI - Celestion Gold .. worth it ?

[Wally]

John, I didn't mean to imply that the Gold was not made in England.

 

[vanguard]

i've got all 3 celestion alnico speakers. i think i like the g10 gold the best of all of them, but the g12 gold is still better than any non-celestion speaker i've ever tried. it's voiced in a way that, when it finally breaks in, it is a very warm and versatile speaker. i love it with brown fenders, EL-based amps, and tweeds with tone controls in particular.

the gold has some competition now, but nothing sounds just like it. other alnico speakers i think are great:

-scumback scumnico: similar to the gold, but clearer in the upper mids with less treble and less lows. it's pushed in the low mids with all other frequencies falling back. very nice alnico chime and compression. if the gold is too fat for you, this is a good alternative.

-tayden makes some REALLY cool new alnicos.

-WGS: G12a and the british-voiced alnicos are both great. all clearer sounding than the celestions.

 

[uriah1]

I have a Celestion Gold, which BTW is made in UK, and it's an amazing speaker for my type of, mainly blues style playing.. There seemed to be something missing that I was getting with whatever the stock speaker is, so I swapped them back.

I still love the Gold in the Torres cab and the DRRI as it was when I bought it

hmm probably a tad darker than the ceram that came with the DRRI..? which could be good or bad.

 

[uriah1]

Uriah, my apology. I left off a couple of letters that better identify the specific Eminence LEgend to which I am referring. The Emi Legend that FEnder used in the DRRI prior to the JEnsens would of course be the 'clone' of the vintage Jensen C12N, I would think.
The Eminence speaker I am referring to is the LEgend GB128....it is a British cone speaker. The Eminence Private Jack is the 'Red Coat' version..possibly the same speaker with a higher price tag. The two spec out very simularly.
I have been using the GB128's since long before Emi came out with the Patriot and REd Coat series of speakers. I discoverd the GB 128 when I was looking for a higher efficiency speaker to replace the low-efficiency OXfords in a late '60's PRo Reverb. Fender BF/SF circuits seem to love this speaker, ime.

thx..not sure...I have not had luck with EMI's 12'ss..good luck with their 10's..I will look up gb..did not know cone was diff

 

[johnreardon]

John, I didn't mean to imply that the Gold was not made in England.

I know that Wally. Just pointing out to those who may think all Celestions are made in China

 

[johnreardon]

hmm probably a tad darker than the ceram that came with the DRRI..? which could be good or bad.

Yep. To be honest, I haven't quite adapted to the extreme cleans of the Fender yet. I always plug straight into valve amps and achieve the level of 'distortion' I need by just driving the amp. With the DRRI, I have had to resort to using a tube screamer as well , which really upsets my beliefs

 

[Jared Purdy]

I'm going to be checking out a Gold in my Mesa LSS.

 

[uriah1]

I'm going to be checking out a Gold in my Mesa LSS.

Post your results...if you can

 

[Jared Purdy]

will do

 

[pedalcr8z]

Yea, but, I have been through about 9 of them..

No offense intended but I would not invest that kind of $ for a stock DRRI. The fact that you've been through 9 speakers should be indicative that the amp won't ever be what you're after unless you gut it and hand wire it. Last weekend I went to the local GC with my Nocaster in hand all excited to audition the new limited edition blond DRRI (I have coveted a blond DRRI forever) and I was thoroughly disappointed with every aspect of the amp especially the reverb which for some reason bloated every single note I played and that was with the reverb control at 2.5. It was simply horrible. Bear in mind I was fully prepared to buy the amp on the spot. In all fairness I have been living with world class benchmark reverbs in both a Carr Ramber and a Tone King Imperial and before I get mugged here I certainly wasn't expecting the DRRI reverb to equal either the Carr or TK but I certainly did not expect it to ruin the sound either. Perhaps it's not the amp for you either.

 

[moondogz]

Put a G10 Gold in a 59 Princeton clone.
Replaced a Jensen Ceramic.
Worth every penny to me.

 

[MickM]

I'm going to be checking out a Gold in my Mesa LSS.

A match made in heaven. I had one in mine until getting it ready to sell it. (the LSS that is) The Gold also sounds amazing in a Li'l Dawg 8W 5f1 Tweed Champ combo in an oversized cab and ditto for tweed princeton and Deluxe clones which all have a wide range of sounds at 3/4 volume using the guitar to tweak them.

Also have 2 amps which are basically blackface deluxe circuits which sound good with the Golds (or great, depending on your taste). But I like the Weber silver bell 30w alnico for these. Best combo for my taste is one of each but if you stick to one, try a silver bell and a gold if you can before you buy.

 

[blargfromspace]

The Gold is a nice speaker but doesn't work with every amp. I've tried it in four different amps and have had extremely variable results. It was nice in a 5E3 (although not as nice as the Weber 12A125A....) but sounded really bad in my current amp. It is a helluva lot of money for one speaker, but I got back what I paid for it within ten minutes of posting it up for sale.

 

[uriah1]

No offense intended but I would not invest that kind of $ for a stock DRRI. The fact that you've been through 9 speakers should be indicative that the amp won't ever be what you're after unless you gut it and hand wire it.. Perhaps it's not the amp for you either.

That is always in my mind also...but I guess I am the eternal tweaker.
.
I am going to make another post about 2x10 drri..since I love my super..

I have been through many amps, and the drri has the basic fender thang..going....my bandmate had one of those Carrs and dumped it pretty quick, since it was a 1 trick pony. (for him)

 

[C.J. Sutton]

just out of curiosity, why have been through so many speakers? what have they all been lacking?

as pedalcr8z mentioned, it just might be the wrong amp for you.

then again, the right speaker will make any amp immediately better.

 

[pedalcr8z]

That is always in my mind also...but I guess I am the eternal tweaker.
.
I am going to make another post about 2x10 drri..since I love my super..

I have been through many amps, and the drri has the basic fender thang..going....my bandmate had one of those Carrs and dumped it pretty quick, since it was a 1 trick pony. (for him)

Do yourself a favor and test drive a Tone King Imperial as it has many tricks ie., awesome blackface and from tweed to Marshall depending on where you set the mid— bite control, awesome reverb and tube bias tremolo. An incredibly fun amp to play, I prefer it to the Carr.

 

[uriah1]

Do yourself a favor and test drive a Tone King Imperial as it has many tricks ie., awesome blackface and from tweed to Marshall depending on where you set the mid— bite control, awesome reverb and tube bias tremolo. An incredibly fun amp to play, I prefer it to the Carr.

Nice looking amp, but, if I am going to fork out $2k for an amp, I would probably go through a lot of boutiques before I found the one. Maybe that would be it.

 

[uriah1]

just out of curiosity, why have been through so many speakers? what have they all been lacking?

as pedalcr8z mentioned, it just might be the wrong amp for you.

then again, the right speaker will make any amp immediately better.

You know, I am not sure...maybe more organic, not too dark..not too middy, not too grindy, not too spikey....

 

[MickM]

Do yourself a favor and test drive a Tone King Imperial as it has many tricks ie., awesome blackface and from tweed to Marshall depending on where you set the mid— bite control, awesome reverb and tube bias tremolo. An incredibly fun amp to play, I prefer it to the Carr.

Good advice! If you don't find your pot of tonal gold with a new speaker the Tone King Imperial will probably fill your needs. Like the man said it's blackface on 1 side and goes to tweed thru marshall at the click of the foot switch with the STOCK speaker!

Sorry for jacking your thread but if the speaker thing doesn't work out, the Imperial will!