Reaction of 2-hydroxy3-methoxybenzaldehyde ( o-vanillin) with 1,1,1-tris(aminomethyl)ethane, Me-C(CH2NH2)3, or with N, N', N''-trimethylphosphorothioic trihydrazide, P(S)[NMe-NH2]3, yields two tripodal LH3 and L1H3 ligands which are able to give cationic heterotrinuclear [LCoGdCoL]+ or [L1CoGdCoL1]+ complexes. The CoII ions are coordinated to these deprotonated ligands in the inner N3O3 site, while the GdIII ion is linked to three deprotonated phenoxo oxygen atoms of two anionic [LCo]- or [L1Co]- units. Air oxidation of these trinuclear complexes does not yield complexes associating CoIII and GdIII ions. With the first ligand, the structurally characterized resulting complex is the neutral mononuclear LCoIII compound, while in the second case, oxidation of the CoII ions turned out to be impossible. The [L1CoLnCoL1]+ complexes behave as single-molecule magnets with effective energy barriers for the reversal of magnetization varying from Ueff = 51.3 K, τo = 2 × 10-6 s for the yttrium complex to Ueff = 29.5, 29.4, 27.4 K and τo = 1.3 × 10-7, 1.47 × 10-7, 1.50 × 10-7 s for the gadolinium ones, depending on the used counteranions. The energy decrease is compensated by the suppression of quantum tunneling of magnetization in absence of applied field, thanks to the introduction of a ferromagnetic Co-Gd interaction. Current work also shows that uncritical use of conventional spin Hamiltonians, based on quenched orbital momenta, can be misleading and that ab initio calculations are indispensable for establishing the picture of real magnetic interaction. Ab initio calculations show that the CoII sites in the investigated compounds possess large unquenched orbital moments due to the first-order spin-orbit coupling resulting in strongly axial magnetic anisotropy. Although the CoII ions are not axial enough for showing slow relaxation of magnetization by themselves, blocking barriers of exchange type are obtained thanks to the exchange interaction with GdIII ions.