Vox Blue speakers

spark240

So I had this cab at my parents house for about 20 yrs, thought I best do something with it.

I took the back off just to check what was in it and found these 2 Vox Blues, now Im not sure exactly what model these are, so can anyone help?

I must say I didnt measure them but I always thought they were 10". 

http://1drv.ms/1ntksWO

Cirrus

They look like 12" vox- branded Celestion Blues to me, though it's hard to judge the diameter in the photo I'm just going on the proportions

spark240

Cirrus said:

They look like 12" vox- branded Celestion Blues to me, though it's hard to judge the diameter in the photo I'm just going on the proportions

Yeah, I was thinking that , but the Celestions i have seen previously have had Celestion on them?

They seem to fetch good £££.. 

Pigknows

Yep, look like '60s 12'' Blues to me. They look in nice condition. If you're looking to sell, and they're original, haven't been stored anywhere damp, and work as intended with no issues, I'd be interested as I could use them for my old AC30. 

spark240

Pigknows said:

Yep, look like '60s 12'' Blues to me. They look in nice condition. If you're looking to sell, and they're original, haven't been stored anywhere damp, and work as intended with no issues, I'd be interested as I could use them for my old AC30. 

They are not at my house at the moment, they have been in the porch at my moms house for years,  but shouldnt have been damp, I should check they work properly before i agree to sell them to anyone, I will note your interest thanks, 

Pigknows

No problems, thanks

spark240

Well..I haven't tried them working yet but they look fine, the date stamp is 15KH and 14KH which suggests they are Nov 1963 Blues I think?

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks,.

57Deluxe

/\ chances are they have popped then...

spark240

57Deluxe said:

/\ chances are they have popped then...

Err....well, they have worked in the past, and they aint been anywhere since, .

ICBM

Just be very careful with them if they've been stored anywhere potentially even slightly damp. If you crank them up before the paper voice coils have had a chance to thoroughly dry out you may damage them. Run them at low volume for a long time before you give them a blast.

NervousJohn

spark240;294738" said:

the date stamp is 15KH and 14KH which suggests they are Nov 1963 Blues I think?

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks,.

From the rather excellent Stephen Grosvenor's Service Engineer's guide to AC-30s the date codes are the 14th and 15th October 1963. "I" wasn't used between 1963 and 1967.

As @ICBM says keep them somewhere dry for i.e. indoors for a while and run them up gently.

spark240

NervousJohn said:

spark240;294738" said:

the date stamp is 15KH and 14KH which suggests they are Nov 1963 Blues I think?

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks,.

From the rather excellent Stephen Grosvenor's Service Engineer's guide to AC-30s the date codes are the 14th and 15th October 1963. "I" wasn't used between 1963 and 1967.

As @ICBM says keep them somewhere dry for i.e. indoors for a while and run them up gently.

Thanks, that sounds good...unless I am mistaken, a pair of these just went for £950 on EB ?

spark240

So I got these home at last, tried them out at low volume...sound good.

Question is....if I were to keep them and put them in a 2 x 12 cab...what amp would you pair them up with?

NervousJohn

Is there any other answer than "an AC-30"?

Go on you know you want to.

ICBM

An AC30 . Certainly something preferably cathode-biased, with no NFB and in the sub-30W range. The further you get away from that, the less suitable a match the Blues are, to me. They sound absolutely great with that kind of amp when they're pushed a bit, but they're very specific to that and don't handle heavier distortion or bottom-end well, in my opinion.

I know a few people who have tried them with JTM45/Bluesbreaker circuits, but that would make me nervous even though the amps are supposedly only 30W as well - actually they're capable of blowing the Blues, because their full-on distorted power (which you just know you're going to try) and bass response is far greater than an AC30.

Cirrus

ICBM said:

don't handle heavier distortion or bottom-end well, in my opinion.

Agreed - what I found is that they fill the same amount of mix space with less gain vs say a greenback or even a V30 style speaker, and you take the bass frequencies as they come. If you try to tidy them up it'll sound thin, and if you try to push any serious punch it just gets flabby and has horrible sound ramifications right up into the midrange (and even more horrible ramifications if the thing blows!)

I've heard they sound good in lower wattage fender amps - not really au fait with the range but things like little tweed deluxes etc? That's what Daniel lanois seems to have used a lot.

ESchap

ICBM said:

I know a few people who have tried them with JTM45/Bluesbreaker circuits, but that would make me nervous even though the amps are supposedly only 30W as well - actually they're capable of blowing the Blues, because their full-on distorted power (which you just know you're going to try) and bass response is far greater than an AC30.

Eh, hands up to that.  I found that with the Blues in, the Bluesbreaker had "chimier" cleans, very sweet sound more "open" than the G12M's.  However, moving them into distortion, (I didn't have the bottle to take them up to full blast!) there really wasn't much in it compared to G12m's, in fact so little that the Blues are now out of the Amp as it was inevitable that I'd have blown them eventually.  It sounds great with the G12M's anyway, so no loss really.

ESchap

Cirrus said:

ICBM said:

don't handle heavier distortion or bottom-end well, in my opinion.

I've heard they sound good in lower wattage fender amps - not really au fait with the range but things like little tweed deluxes etc? That's what Daniel lanois seems to have used a lot.

I've been trying the pair I have with a copy of a mid 50's Fender 5C5 Pro that I built.  Octal preamps, Cathodyne PI and cathode biased 6L6 output, probably low 20's watts.   They sound absolutely fantastic with that circuit, all the way up.

Also great with old WEM amps I have which are cathode biased EL84 in the output.  Nominally a 15 watt amp, through a pair of series wired Blues it sounds more like 30 watts!  They handle overdrive very well with that amp.

57Deluxe

sound clips if you please...

ESchap

57Deluxe said:

sound clips if you please...

oh dear, do you mean me?

spark240

NervousJohn said:

Is there any other answer than "an AC-30"?

Go on you know you want to.

Yeah I do....but I'm just not an Amp & Cab bod, and the prospect of getting good £££ for them is more appealing !

I have a Vox Valvetronix already which is good enough for my needs.