Blue + Greenback

tbm

I've one of those handwired AC30s with Greenbacks, and I love it. There's a guy near me selling a Celestion Blue for a reasonable amount of money. It's something I always intended on trying one day - namely throwing a Blue in there too - but I have a few concerns, namely:

 - Will these speakers work well together? There's plenty of folk online who say they will, but I was wondering if any of you lot have experience of a Blue and a Greenback in the same amp
 - The Blue is more efficient, is there any danger it'll overpower the Greenback? 
 - Should I be overly concerned with where the Blue is made? UK v China? (I don't know at this point.)

Ta.

ecc83

I have not heard a Blue but I HAVE heard a Gold!

Them's loud. The Greenback is only 2dB behind the Blue and Gold which have a sensitivity of 100dB but it SOUNDS more than that!

The Alnicos have a reputation for being very loud, I doubt a Greenback will live with one?

Dave.

ICBM

It might not be very balanced, but try it - the tone of them is fairly different, and that tends to make the difference in sensitivity less important.

Make sure the Blue is 8-ohm - if it's 16, the impedance mismatch will be the wrong way round because the AC30 has the speakers in series, so the Blue will take 2/3 of the power and may blow, as well as sounding even louder relative to the Greenback.

Assuming it's the right impedance, the worst that can happen is that you want to buy another Blue .

tbm

It's an 8 Ohm alright.  If I can get it for cheap enough I might just risk it, and as you say @ICBM worst case scenario I'll want to get another Blue. I won't be able to afford another one for AGES though.

lustycourtier

Ive done it and it sounded brilliant. I ran this set up with both an AC30 and Laney Lionheart.

musteatbrain

I have Blues and Golds in several cabs. They sound very good in anything Voxy and come up relatively often 2nd hand for about 120 I've been lucky and had no problem with any of the 2nd hand ones I have bought. I've had greenbacks as well and prefer the blue, but don't see mixing them would be an issue

57Deluxe

No - this could sound shrill and muddy at same time...The heavy mid tone of the green will cloud the rich harmonics of the blue so your ears will focus only on the extremes of both...

musteatbrain

Fair point. I guess there's only 1 way to find out though.

tbm

lustycourtier said:

Ive done it and it sounded brilliant. I ran this set up with both an AC30 and Laney Lionheart.

57Deluxe said:

No - this could sound shrill and muddy at same time...The heavy mid tone of the green will cloud the rich harmonics of the blue so your ears will focus only on the extremes of both...

This is largely what I've encountered, i.e. extremes of opinion. More people think it'll sound good than not, so I've gone for it. It's a UK made blue, a year old, €130. It's an good deal i reckon, defo worth the risk at that price.

crunchman

At that price you can sell  the Blue on if you don't like it so there is very little risk - as long as you don't put a screwdriver through the cone when you change it.  I did that the first time I changed a speaker!  Thankfully it was only the stock Peavey one in a Classic 30.

tbm

Ok tried this and it sounds fantastic. More chime but no flubby low end. They work great together.

musteatbrain

Excellent. Good to see you are happy with that combination