Postby billy » 08 Feb 2018, 14:03
I use a pair of 12" Celestion Golds in a 2x12 closed back cab made by Zinky with all my amps, including my JVM410H-JS. To my ear, the Golds do everything well. They seem to let me hear the distinct and unique character of each amp, including my Dr. Z's, Marshalls, Mesas, Avatar variants, Blackstars, Bugeras, Fender Mustang 3, peavey Miniheads, and a few others. For years prior to the Golds, I relied on my ElectroVoice/EVM12L's, which are almost as transparent. I put a 10" Gold in my Mesa 1x10 Express and it was like taking a blanket off that amp; it is now a keeper!
And its good to be aware of wattage handling and I test for that too. After HJS arrived and I finished checking it out, I played it full volume through the 2 golds with OSHA rated industrial headphones on for about 30 minutes, which is all my ear could take and the Golds came out unscathed. I don't expect to repeat this test again as the industrial grade headphones couldn't even keep the sound level of the HJS down to anything tolerable. My Golds are 2nd, maybe 3rd year production and rated at 50 watts, so do check the rating for the speakers you decide to keep.
Make sure you break in the Golds to get their full value.
Also please note that since owning the Golds, I have stopped looking for other speakers, so I have no direct expereince with the Creambacks or some of the other newer Celestions.
Since Amazon started selling speakers a number of years ago, I started buying my speakers from them through the Prime program. All brands, kinds in most price ranges. Sometimes they cost a little more, but Prime speakers have a 30 day return policy and since I am in Alaska, my ability to check out speakers in person was severly limited, so Amazon worked well for me. Plus, they often have great speakers discounted in the Amazon Warehouse deals section. Again, if you want to experiment, buy speakers sold through the Prime program so you can play them for 3+ weeks and then return them for free and a full refund if you don't find they are as advertised.
My other thought on speakers is that most speakers, to my ear, do one or two things well by adding their own coloring to the amp sound. This is what some players look for, but I much prefer and enjoy the Golds becuase they let the unique character of each amp shine through. And the HJS has many, many unique and beautiful and brutal tones.
As a side note, I retubed and rebiased one of my HJS's with a Quad of new JJ 6CA7's and I was stunned by the increased clarity and range and other sound improvements I cannot describe in words, that the 6CA7's offer over the various EL34 Quads I had tried previously (Amazon Prime and Warehouse deals is good for tube experimentation, as well).
Trust your ear. You'll find the right speakers for you.
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Ceriatone British Style All Access Plexi 51 Head
Boss Katana Artist MKII
Mesa Vertical 2x12 cab with Celestion Golds
ESP KH-602 w/ EMGs
ESP-LTD PB-401 w/ Stock SD P-Rails
Boss GT-1000