What's in yer cabinet?! The speaker thred...

okay, I tend to be a celestion guy anymore because of the amps I play. When I was playing professionally I went back and forth between 12" and 10" enclosures or used a mix of both but have settled on all 12s lately. All older style celestions as of late.

Currently using:

2x 80s Celestion G12L-35 speakers in closed back, very inefficient and neutral for a celestion, tames loud amps (every 2 to 3 dB reduction in sensitivity will be like halving the power of your amp, so for my 50 watter using these allows me to play her at home without offending my neighbors too badly. Tight bass, compressed, can get muddy when pushed too hard, but overall is like a more balanced greenback with a more sparkly top end. Crunchy distortion but not remarkably detailed or clear. These speakers and their slightly more efficient cousins (G12L-50, G12S-50) are much maligned and can be had for a pittance. For some applications they are pretty good though. These speakers were mainly supplied to Marshall, Ampeg and Laney in the 80s and early 90s as OEM 4x12 drivers in cheaper cabs and are available in 4 ohms as well as Celestion's traditional 8 and 16. I have two 8s. These were replaced by the slightly more efficient Rocket 50 when Celestion moved production to China. I would not trust a Chinese celestion with 50 watts though, whereas these little 35 waters can take a beating.

2x 60s Celestion G12S (20 watts) in 62 AC30b, these were an OEM speaker with a magnet between the 60s G12L and G12M greenbacks, pulsonic cones, very similar to original 60s greenbacks, a little brighter and ore compressed than the G12M, a little less efficient with looser bass, sort of a compromise between a G12M and G12 Alnico in frequency response and breakup but not as loud as either. I can never bring myself to remove these from my vintage AC30 even though they are not original to the amp. They have really phenomenal midrange that is different than the blue alnico or the G12M. Crunchy yet smooth distortion. I've stuck with this pair of old Celestions the longest and I'm really fond of them. They can still be had pretty cheaply, especially the 70s ones with Kurt Meuller cones instead of the more desireable Pulsonics. Going rate is between $100 and $300 per speaker depending on condition and the seller. I almost bought 2 more on ebay recently but decided not to spend $200+ on speakers I didn't actually need right now. If you live in the UK, look out for these awesome silver-framed celestions in your solid state amps of the era. Investing in a vox solid state amp just to get a couple of these bad boys could be worthwhile if you want to equip a cab with real pre-rolas.

G12 Blue Alnico reissue (15+ watts) in AC30HW2 with another speaker... to my ear the reissue sounds just like an original 60s Vox branded G12 once it breaks in. These are very stiff from the factory and need to be professionally broken-in or gigged hard for a year to sound right. Extremely efficient, bright and chimey but never harsh, breaks up early in the upper mids giving even the lightest of drive tones fantastic presence. Tone is complex but low on bass in an open back cab. A pair of these will sound thin in an ac30 (giving the AC30 its reputation as a thin amp, not true by the way) and will start breaking up before the amp does. Very crunchy and detailed distortion. Pairs well with other very efficient speakers. Worth the buy-in. I prefer this to Weber's Blue Dog but YMMV

WGS Reaper 55hz (30 watts) clone of the 60s G12H30 bass cone speaker. Appears to have a 70s type Kurt Mueller bass cone with the cloth surround. Lowest resonant frequency of any vintage Celestion design. Very balanced, punchy deep bass with restrained but bell-like treble and aggressive midrange when pushed. Very efficient, late breakup, more grind than crunch. Very similar to Celestion's Anniversary RI of the H30. Sounds better to my ear and is cheaper than the Scumback and Weber Legacy versions. If I were planning on using 4 of these for the Page/Hendrix sound I would probably get a more accurate version, but I prefer this paired with my Blue as it gives more definition than the vintage H30 I tried first in this application. Killer all around speaker though, affordable and a total monster for a detailed, neutral british sound with fantastic definition on the wound strings.

more to follow, everyone post your speaker experiences

BUMP! no one wants to talk speakers?

here's some of my previous favorites:

60s and 70s pre-rola Celestion greenback G12M (pulsonic cones, not sure if the carious ones I ahd were ll 25s or if some were 20s with the paper voice coil former, but they all took a good pounding coupled with some G12H30s in various 4x12s and sounded fantastic, particularly close-miced for recording... one of my tall 4x12s got used for 90% of the tracks on the UYB record and we miced the best sounding G12M, and it sounded)

70s Rola Celestion blackback G12H30 (kurt Mueller all-paper lead cones, LOUD, well balanced and MEAN)

80s Fane Classic 50 (I have a Laney OEM version with a large dustcap like the Clestion G12-65s and one that was Vox OEM with a small aluminum dustcap that's chimier and tighter, but both have the ebst lower midrange of any speaker I've ever played, full but not muddy)

70s JBL E120

70s JBL K110

80s Celestion G10L35

80s Celestion G12-65 (large dustcap JCM800 series classics, fabuloud overdrive with gooey lower mids, rounded but chimey treble... played clean they are a lot like the Fane Classic 50 models fo the same era, but muddy, presented with drive they evelo and upper midrange spike the Fanes don't exhibit that helps the Celestions cut thru the mix at higher gain settings)

80s Celestion Vintage 30 (branded Marshall Vintage and way better sounding then even a well worn in late 80s or 90s Vintage 30... cuts the mix w/o modern V30 harshness, but can sound pretty moor if hit with less than 15 watts and by 15 watts I mean a cranked 15 watt amp or a 30 watt amp set right to the edge of distortion)

60s Jensen C12PS bass cone speaker from Supro cab

Jensen P10R reissue (surprisingly great, though nothing like an old one)

70s CTS Anico (OEM speaker for Kustom, some CBS fender and various organ cabs, handles 35 to 40 clean watts but has very early breakup, great with <30 watt amps needing extra treble and an extra layer of distortion)

some bad experiences have been:

recent Chinese made Celestion G12M35s

WGS Green Beret (these sound more vintage than any celestion G12M since the 70s, but they have TERRIBLE come cry when you use fuzz or distortion pedals even at low volume and their lows are can get farty like an old Jensen rather than fat and compressed when the speaker is hit with 20+ watts)

60s Jensen C12Q, (sounds great when only getting 5 watts, otherwise not so good)

50s Rola 'Heppner' Alnico (doesn't handle its rated 15 watts... or even 5 watts... sounds amazing while dying... my speaker was not just tired out, I've bought a number of these as they can be had for 5 to 20 USD... I will probably buy more as its fun to record with speakers you are destroying, sessin ends and you throw them out)

I have a celestion seventy 80 which was pretty nackered when I got my amp but have pretty much totally killed it today so looking for a new speaker but not sure which, just something with a lot of midrange cut.

Out of the few speakers I've had experience with I've liked V30s best but never owned one, just used them in borrowed amps etc.

my experience with the Chinese celestions is that they handle way less than their rated wattage whereas even the cheap UK made celestions from the 90s and earlier actually could be pushed a little past their rating....

if you liked the 70/80 you might want to look at an older UK made low efficiency celestion like the G12L50 or G12S50 or one of the lower cost, lower efficiency versions of the V30 from the 90s like the speakers guitar center used to blow out occasionally stateside (forget the model number, but they sound spectacular)... I have mixed feelings towards V30s as they like to be slammed with a good 30 or 40 watts before they deliver the goods and given their 100dB efficiency rating that's a lot of sound pressure... the 80s "Marshall Vintage" labeled V30s sound better at lower levels

you may want to check out the WGS Veteran30 and Retro30 speakers thata re based on the V30 but are said to have more range... I've not tried them but if my WGS Reaper 30/55 is any indication I would expect them to outperform current production Vintage 30s by most people's estimation... but YMMV, I still don't have a great read on what the Liam sound is