Celestion Gold - does the magnet cover come off?

[Steve Conner]

Hi folks

I've been tempted by a Celestion Gold ever since I heard about them. (They're not so expensive in the UK as they are in the States, either.)

But I'm not sure it would fit in my current amp, which is basically the guts of a Selmer T'n'B 50 squeezed into a 5E3 cabinet from Mojo. There's not a lot of clearance at all, and I doubt it would fit with the magnet cover in place.

Does anyone know if the magnet cover can be unscrewed/prised off these speakers, and more importantly, can it be put back on again in case I want to sell it? :eek:

steve

[Brad1]

I'm only guessing, but if it's like others...and you probably already suspect this...it probably has a screw in a center hole under the label, wouldn't you think?

If so, you'd probably have to try to peel the label off so it can possibly go back on intact, or else you'd just jam a screwdriver through the label and create a hole in it, like so many others I have seen.

It would be easy enough to tell if you could run your finger over the center of the label, or have someone who has one do it.

Or, you could contact Celestion.:eek: (Maybe you could also ask them to send you one for a discount. Those things are expensive!)

Brad1

[Enzo]

The plastic cover is either screwed or glued, but I never took one off.

I see no harm in asking Celestion either.

[Steve Conner]

OK, I asked Celestion and got an answer, so I thought I'd post it here in case anyone else was wondering.

Like Brad1 mentioned, there is indeed a bolt in a centre hole under the label, and they won't accept returns if the label is busted.

Dr. Decibel also said to twist the cover off carefully, as yanking on it like a fool could pull the whole magnet assembly off :eek:

[Steve Conner]

OK, so to cut a long story short, I bought a Celestion Gold and tried to install it. It actually fit OK, but the preamp tubes were clunking off the magnet cover, so I decided to remove it anyway.

There was indeed a screw under the label when I bust it. The magnet pot was also glued on with some kind of goop, so it took a fair amount of yanking to remove it. And once I got it off, I found a huge cylindrical magnet inside that more or less filled the pot, so taking it off only made about 1/2" of a difference. At least I know I got a couple of pounds of Alnico for my money! :D

I am slightly worried about having such a big, powerful magnet 1/2" away from the preamp tubes. I found some steel tube shields in my junkbox and put those on instead of the aluminium ones I had before, so hopefully that will help keep my electrons flying straight. The magnet cover was made of aluminium, so it wouldn't have had any shielding effect.

I haven't really cranked it yet, and it needs to break in, but it already seems to be opening a can of whoop-ass on the Eminence that was in there. (at 5 times the price I'd hope so too!) The clean channel sounds awesome, and as an ex-mosher I didn't think I'd ever say that ;)

[tubeswell]

Hi Steve

FWIW I asked that question about the proximity of a large speaker magnet to output tubes once on this forum a year or so back, and I reclooect that I was assured by most folks that it wouldn't hardly make any difference. So I tried it, and it didn't. 8-0

I also found out that some old celestions were solely glued on with a goop when I pulled one such magnet cover off (I had to turn it continually for about 1 minute), but I found that silicon rubber sealant worked okay to put it back on again.