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Vintage threads from the first ten years

How do you rate Celestion G12-75?

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10/25/1999 11:40 AM
Stephen Conner	How do you rate Celestion G12-75? Hi folks, I'm thinking about building a 2x12" cabinet (pine ply naturally) My local electronics outlet has Celestion G12-75 speakers with ceramic magnets, for reasonable prices. Has anyone tried these and can you advise me on how they might sound with my 50-watt EL34 amp? I've not seen the US brands of speakers except Eminence %-P over here. Steve.

10/25/1999 12:14 PM

FWIW, I don't like the sound of the emineces I heard - bit boomy.
I use G12M70 Greenbacks (well, not the original ones, but thats what the G12M70 is). I like the sound of these.
Somehow, the 75 (heard one specimen) appears to have a bit more of a "direct, modern" sound, less loose. Might be periphals, or the agedifference in cones, or cabinet, though.
If you like to crank your amps (which is what a 2x EL34 is rather good at) you may also like to have some speakerdistortion in there. A 2x12 with those Celestions can take 150W, so the 50 will not really push them. If you want it tight, go for it. If you want it loose, try out lighter powered speakers.
Celestion has a CD out with samples of all their speakers that's pretty enlightening.
Hope it helps.

10/25/1999 12:20 PM
A.S	My Marshall cab has G12-75愀 and I like them a lot. The best about them is that they are very allround, works for everything. A.S

10/25/1999 2:03 PM
Steve M.	Stephen, FWIW, I don't like the G12-75. I had a couple that I tried in various amps and they seemed to have an "icepick in the ear" quality. Really bright and harsh sounding to me. Just my $.02 Steve

10/25/1999 5:03 PM
Stephen Conner	Hi folks, A range of opinions then, from 'good all-round' to 'icepick in the ear.' As long as you don't all agree they're crap, they can't be that bad. If they do turn out a bit bright I should be able to adjust the voicing on the amp. What kind of 12" would you recommend Steve M? My budget won't stretch to 'vintage reissue' Alnico magnet units. Thanks, Steve.

10/25/1999 5:29 PM

Stephen,

Well, since you asked

I'm going to assume that it is probably easier/cheaper to get British-made speakers since you're in the UK.

I currently use the G12M-70 in two 1x12" cabs, but I can't really recommend them as no one but me seems to like them

One of my favorite speakers is an 80 watt Celestion that Mesa/Boogie rebranded as their Vintage 90. I can't remember the exact Celestion designation, G12M-80 possibly. I don't believe this speaker is made anymore, which is too bad as they sounded really great to me. It might be worth your while to find them used over there in the UK.

I also had a 4x12" cab with the G12K-85 speakers in it. These sounded pretty good to me, although maybe a tad too "hifi" sounding for me. I believe the "K" stands for keyboard, so this speaker wasn't originally a guitar speaker, perhaps someone else could confirm this?

In addition, I've *heard* that the G100H speaker is good sounding, but have never played through one, so I can't confirm.

FWIW, I'm not a big fan of Emminence speakers, I've owned several of their 12" speakers and have not been impressed. But since Eminence makes so many speakers for various companies, it is hard to generalize about them.

Hope this helps,

Steve

10/25/1999 6:34 PM

quote:
"One of my favorite speakers is an 80 watt Celestion that Mesa/Boogie rebranded as their Vintage 90. I can't remember the exact Celestion designation, G12M-80 possibly. I don't believe this speaker is made anymore, which is too bad as they sounded really great to me."

I think that would be the Classic Lead 80. I like it, too.

I believe Celestion still lists it at their web site. I know I've seen it in a retail catalog recently.

Sound like I'm describing the same speaker, Steve?

-Dave M.

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