Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

[James Rock]

So I am quite happy with my 2x12 cab with WGS clones of a G12H and a Greenback but I want it to have a bit more crang and upper mid chime so I was thinking of changing one to a ceramic blue dog. My amp is a Frenzel HBX-AC15 based on a matchless hot box and ac15. Will it match well with a G12H or a greenback, am I maybe better to get seperate cab of blue dogs to mix or should I get an alnico to mix??
Opinions on how the blue dog deals with cleans and distorted (I find blues are so great at higher gains which is why I use ceramic speakers but I play alot of chimey clean stuff).

 

[Despair]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

Matchless default speaker mix is a G12M25/G12H30 mix (though they do some treatments, mostly doping removal/cone breakin IIRC).

Mixing a Blue Dog with a 1230 is a pretty popular combo. Silver Bell is also very most popular, and then the 1225. You can try two of the combos, then decide whether you'd rather just have an all Blue cab instead.

I'd probably go with an alnico, the ceramic is harsher. You'll have a ceramic speaker to provide punch anyways. Go for chime and sweetness from the alnico, would be my first choice.

If the money just isn't there, consider going to 30W to smooth out the ceramic a bit? Will lose a bit of air that way, but the ceramic is going to be grittier than the alnico. Definitely ask Weber what they recommend for power handling & doping options.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

So I am quite happy with my 2x12 cab with WGS clones of a G12H and a Greenback but I want it to have a bit more crang and upper mid chime so I was thinking of changing one to a ceramic blue dog. My amp is a Frenzel HBX-AC15 based on a matchless hot box and ac15. Will it match well with a G12H or a greenback, am I maybe better to get seperate cab of blue dogs to mix or should I get an alnico to mix??
Opinions on how the blue dog deals with cleans and distorted (I find blues are so great at higher gains which is why I use ceramic speakers but I play alot of chimey clean stuff).

I had one in a birch 1x12 cabinet.

It had no low end, sounded fizzy, and had no low end at all. And I hated it.

But I ran it with a 5 watt EL84 amp and some of that could be cabinet also.

But anyways, I would never buy one again.

 

[Despair]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

But I ran it with a 5 watt EL84 amp and some of that could be cabinet also.

A lot of the small single output tube EL84 amps have a pretty harsh fizzy tone by themselves, and count on a dark speaker to mask it.

Bright amp plus bright speaker tends to only be tolerable for those who have already undergone upper frequency hearing loss, not those who are still working on it.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

A lot of the small single output tube EL84 amps have a pretty harsh fizzy tone by themselves, and count on a dark speaker to mask it.

Bright amp plus bright speaker tends to only be tolerable for those who have already undergone upper frequency hearing loss, not those who are still working on it.

Great points to temper my recount of my experience.

My experience really shouldn't carry much weight - since I ran it with a low watt amp and a pretty small cabinet. You can hear that setup in action here, if you want to listen to it yourself (as well as anyone can through YouTube) :

 

[Despair]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

Great points to temper my recount of my experience.

My experience really shouldn't carry much weight - since I ran it with a low watt amp and a pretty small cabinet.

Low watt amp isn't necessarily incomparable... as long as the preamp/base tone are similar. If the cabinet is small for a 1x12, that would account for your low end complaint.

I'd still go for the alnico, though. But I'm more sensitive than most to harsh presence, and also a bit of a fan of Vox + Alnico Blue tones. AC-series without a Blue (or a Gold or Red Fang or other clone) just doesn't make sense to me.

TGWIF posted in the ultimate EL84 amp thread that Matchless designs their amps around the 25/30 pairing and don't sound good with Blues, but never described how it goes sonically wrong. Perhaps he'll chime in here with a description of what the problem is, rather than a vague dismissal...

 

[Stratman]

Re: Weber Ceramic Blue Dog??

I paired a blue dog up with a silver bell - very happy.