Celestion Classic Lead

12" speaker, 80 watts

Update to previous review, cranked this speaker up loud and played it for an hour or so and broke it in a little and this really changed it's character. The high volume brought out the bass and this helped balance out the tone (this speaker is not like a Vintage 30, in lets say, a 40 watt amp played a low to medium levels, where you get lots of bass). This speaker likes higher wattage amps and high volume and when it gets it it really shines to it's true potential.

Never had problems with Celestion speakers

Never used support

Has that classic Celestion midrange tone. It's different than the lower wattage speakers like the G12H, Green back and Vintage 30. It's highs are distinct and stand out and stay quite focussed.

12 inch speaker rated at 80 watts

No bass in this speaker, midrange similar to G12T-75 or G30H. The highs are clean and pronounced and lead runs stand out almost to a fault, not buried in overtones. Sounds best with distortion or overdrive but when played clean the tone is lacking, this may be due to the low bass output. This speaker does NOT have a nice full body range. I had to turn the amps bass full up to get some out of the speaker and even then it was not a great bass tone. It works great with mid to high distortion and when driven this way chords and lead runs are very articulate and stand out through the distortion.

Reliability is great

have never called them

I like the sound I can get out of when using distortion as the lead runs are pronounced and focused not fizzy or buried in overtones. However it's pretty bad when used for the clean tone and this was a disappointment. I did not find it very versitile and it seems like a one trick pony type of speaker.

Basically a vastly improved version of both the G12T-75 and G12H-80. The voice coil specs are virtually identical to the Vintage 30 as is the 50 oz. magnet assembly. The dust cap, vintage paper cone, and surrounds are visually identical to the G12T-75 or G12H80.

The Classic Lead is the ideal front mounted 12" speaker for a dual-ported 1x12 cab such as the Bogner Shiva cab or the poor man's version. the Crate TV112 which I use the Classic Lead in now. The TV112 came standard with the Vintage 30 which was a poor choice as this speaker is almost impossible to front-mount without adverse buzzing and ringing coming off the frame that would otherwise be smothered by the baffle board when rear mounted, no matter how well the speaker is mounted. Since this is a very versatile speaker it will get a 10 from me.

Incredible warm and clear sounds all across the spectrum with the Classic Lead with virtually no background hiss when compared to the Vintage 30. A lot smoother and rounder when compared to the V30 as well and other speakers that are similar and at least critically acclaimed to be superior to the Classic Lead such as the Jensen C12N that lack that certain something that the Celestions have.
The Jensen C12N and Classic Lead are more similar than disimilar however so it boils down to nuanced feel for mids or bass, the highs are very similar and too close to call.

Bass; absolutely stunning and pronounced without being harsh and hard and, obviously, this is where the 50 oz. magnet's sustaining power comes into play because the Classic Lead's lowest Hz range is at 80, just enough for an openly voiced cone to where the V30's is lower at 70 Hz and overpowering with its decidedly more closed and tighter cone opening.
The highs cap out at 5000 Hz for both the CL and V30; very pleasing range and sound from both.
Where the Classic Lead's superiority lays is in its very clear and open mid band width and, it is far from just being sterily clean sounding even though it has great head room for cleans.
When overdriven and pushed hard, they push right back with a fat, controlled and complex distortion.
Agreed with the reviewer below that it has lots of complex, swirling harmonic content for both 6L6GC and EL34 driven amps and that the emphasis falls squarely on the mids makes it very agreeable to both types. If I was pressed to make a definitive statement on the main difference of the 2 Celestions that I'm comparing here with the obvious favorable nod going to the Classic Lead, it would be as follows:
The Classic Lead is voiced from the mids out which gives it the impression that it has a larger, more complex band width to where the Vintage 30's dominating harder sounding bass being perfect for hard hitting music at high volumes becomes very difficult to e.q. a pleasing balance with mids at lower volumes, especially considering its characteristically more nasally sounding mids. If you play many types of guitars, it will become apparent to you that the heavy bass of the V30 will be almost imposssibe to e.q., especially with hollow body types.
So...Classic Lead voiced from the mids out where the meshing of bass, mids and treble are in good balance, and Vintage 30 voiced from the bass/treble into the more nasally but pronounced mids that almost sound compressed at lower volumes and more piercing in effect with the hard bass as you go up in volume.
Again, the V30's highs are very pleasing but the mids offset an otherwise very clear and open upper range.

Celestions are truly some of the most reliable speakers on the planet and the fact that the company is dedicated to combine vintage voiced know-how with more reliable modern handling ranges makes them hard to beat. Both the Classic Lead and V30 are made to last a very long time

Celestion has a very friendly and helpful customer support department and a great interactive web site as well. I've been told by reliabe sources that the really stand by their products and offer good places to turn to for repairs, guarantees, etc, and I look forward to that if and when that time arises.

Ive been playing my Crate TV6210 with NOS tubes exclusively with my 2 main guitars, a Floyd equipped 3 pickup Gibson Nighthawk Custom and my Yamaha hollow body jazzer AEX1500, for nearly 3 years now.

I was looking for a speaker for the TV112 extension cab that would be a favorable blend along with the 2x10 parallel wired Celestion 60w Vintage 10s in the 6210 combo that I also wrote reviews for, in fact the Vintage 10 and Classic Lead compliment each other perfectly.

If it wasn't for the Classic Lead, I would have given up on the TV112 extension cab with the V30 which I have taken painstakingly futile measures to clean up its buzzing and ringing; the V30 cannot be front mounted to a dual-ported cab...it was that simple after all.
The Classic Lead relieved me of all that heartache in a matter of moments after it was mounted. I have to say too it is one of the best bargains I found on Ebay but I would have gladly paid the full price sooner if I knew better and read the Bogner and Rivera studies on why the V30's don't work well in front mounted in cabs sooner as well.
From my perspective and in hindsight with aural memory in mind, if you will, I was completely deaf to how irritating the bass and mids relationship was with the V30 with the type of vintage sounding amp, tubes and guitars I play, even with the speaker/cab mismatch of the TV112 cab considered. The Vintage 10's were able to cover up a lot of that and now the Classic Lead is in perfect harmony with them instead of competing with them unfavorably.
The Classic Lead is letting its huge presence be known with its clear, open and warm tone all across the spectrum...after all when it concerns electric guitar, a lot of the 'magic tone' emerges from understanding just how complex and pivotal the mid band width is when all is said and done.
I highly recommend the Classic Lead and in all fairness, the V30 has to be mounted properly to sound its best.
If I ever decide to get a proper baffle board fabricated to mount the V30 to an open back cab or to occasionally swap it out of the 6210 combo itself or get a TV60112 with the same tube setup, no doubt I will have a fairer account of the virtues of the V30, harder bass, nasally mids and all.

This was a great find and I didnt know about it till I went to Celestions web site. This has a 50 0z magnet like a Classic 30 for loudness and the Range of 75 to 5hz of the GT-75W Celestion speaker, Instead of it's 35Oz magnet. So it gives the versitlity and Loudness.

I wanted a speaker that gave a greater range than the Vintage 30s, but I like the loudness of the Classic Rock Sound of the 30s. The Gt-75 wasnt brittle like the Greenbacks for 6GL6 type tube heads. I also play through a Marshall Jcm 800 and a Sunn t50C combo and some accoustic too. The Classic Lead filled the Bill because it gave me the broad range of the GT-75s with the deep sustain power of the Vintage 30s. To me its the ultimate combination of both speakers, because the addition of the larger magnet of the Classic lead 80 took the Gt-75 from a flat level at lower volumes and raised it to more of a vintage 30 level without sacrificing range. For me it was the ultimate solution for El 34 marshall amp heads and the Sunn 6Gl6 heads combo that I could utilize with both and get tremendous sound from both at the same time. In this way I didnt have the conflict of two different speaker types trying to overpower each other. Also this gave me a tremendous balance with the distinct characteristics of each amp.

I have had Celestion Speakers for years and the older ones still sound great unless you store them in extreme humidities and temperatures they should last forever.

A great website for listening to soundfiles of speakers, The people are responsive to emails. Seem very helpful.

I have been playing classic rock since I was in High School and Im 50 now. Im not really into super heavy metal but these speakers will fill the bill and work great with classic rock also. I dont have an acoustic amp but use a preamp DI and these sound great because of their range(not as wide as Acoustic speaker,but the widest for guitar speakers). I would say Classic Lead 80Ws are beefed up Gt-75Ws and are the most versatile speaker from Blues to Rock to molten metal IMO for any type of amp. If you specialize in a particular type of music then go with another speaker, but if you like play different types of music through multiple amps, then believe me this is the speaker for you!