Celestion G12 Alnico

Only one thing to say. ya got to wear them in a little. Don't give up until you play 25-30 hours medium to loud. I have one in a fender deluxe 5e3 type amp and it sounds great. It is bright but the mid range in nice and you get a nice bloom and grind in the mid range.

Famed Alnico Blue with the big price tag. 15 watt power handling; fairly hefty magnet structure; H777 cone; made in the UK.

My application was an extension cabinet for class-A tube heads (Epi, boutique, etc).

One word: Overrated - Period.

For this kind of dough a Weber (for less) or a Scumnico (a bit more) eats the Celestion alive. I don't get the hype with or without the price. But with the price, it's just insane. Good for one thing and one thing only: chimey lead work. Plenty of other speakers are sonically superior.

Don't know; won't have it that long. It's back on ebay ASAP.

Don't know.

I gave "The Blue" a chance. I played it every day for an hour or two in a closed back cab; granted, that may be a huge factor, but I've played Weber, Tone Tubby, Mesa (Celestion) and Jensen through the same cabinet and they offered more versatility.

This really comes across as a single purpose speaker, and I'm not totally sure of the purpose. A list of $300 US has something to do with it, I'm sure.

G12 ALNICO BLUE. I replaced the Fender speaker in my 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue with one of these. The Jensen Fender speaker runs out of gas quickly. Typical Fender distorted mud. I had to drill 4 more holes in the speaker to mount it as the baffle board has 8 screws holding the speaker in.

Sound quality: Good God. Before at 4 volume and above with my 57 Humbuckers everything went south. This baby is crystal clear even with full chords. For blues leads its like dieing and going to heaven. Read the other reviews. Its expensive but worth every cent in sound and tone. Sounds wierd but once you've heard Celestions I swear you can walk into a club and pick them out for sound.

Still breaking it in in a spitfire clone. (Matchless)

It is great. It doesn't hold up like a ceramic staying tight and clean. It gets harmonic and creamy quick. With humbuckers youzer. Single coils are sweet tool. Very country with lower gain. Very Grindy harmonicly rich in the mids and highs. shimmery. Only 15 watts though. This is the best speaker I have ever played. I've been playing 45 years. No speaker does it all but this one is special.

Don't pump in too many watts. 8 ohm model. Still breaking it in had it for about 2 weeks. Needs another 8-10 hours of varied playing I think to get it right. Still a little bright.

?

A very unique speaker. Probably the best sounding speaker for most applications I play. Blues and Blues Rock Psychadelic. The price is high for what it does. Alnico magnets.

G12 AlNiCo Blue, 12" Guitar Loudspeaker, made in England. For technical data refer to the Celesion website. Its peculiarity is the special Al-uminum/Ni-ckel/Co-balt league magnet, wich is the secret soul of its sound.

I replaced the stock speaker (Celestion G12H Greenback Heritage, not bad to tell the truth)in my Laney L5T-112 combo, with some tech problems since the Blue is much deeper than the usual Ceramic speakers: I removed the magnet cover bell and the power amp tube is 2 mm from the magnet!

Anyway, I won't bother you with more "mechanic" matters: the sound is FANTASTIC! This speaker really brought life to the amp: deeper and tighter bass, singing mids and musical top end; the high frequencies are well focused but less pronounced than the G12H, with sparkling harmonic overtones, but never shrill or ice-picking!

When overdriven, it tends to compress a little as any AlNiCo speaker does (that's why we love it, isn't it?), adding violin-like sustain and helping all your musical taste to come out of your guitar.
The "dark side" of this situation is that every mistake you play is unmercifully remarked: it sounds so definite and precise that it doesn't forgive YOUR imprecisions, so be careful...

A final verdict: the best sound I could hear in 30+ years of playing!

I never had a problem with Celestion speakers, so I can't see a reason why this one should give me troubles...

I wrote to Dr.Decibel about my problems during the replacement job and I got a fast, kind and helpful reply in less than 1 hour... Isn't this Customer Care?

If you read this final note, I suppose you already have read the Sound question and can't expect anything different; if you haven't, take a look up there and see why I give it a full TEN (I'd rate it at 11, if possible!).

Simply the best guitar speaker ever built, for my taste. Since nothing is perfect, I can honestly say that is a little bit too expensive, but it's worth every cent!

See earlier reviews for features & specs.
I just wanted to add my 2 cents:

Outstanding!
An interesting feature about these - less listening fatigue. After a month of playing through a 4 X 12" Avatar cab loaded with Blues, I keep finding that I can play for longer times at a higher volume (not always a good thing, but hey, I am a guitar player) without getting that "ouch" feeling. My bandmates find the same. They actually ask me to turn up now!

I play humbuckery guitars through a Lord Valve-modded Sovtek Mig-60. I am currently running the amp through a Tube Cube attenuator into this cab & a second, Celestion V30 & C90 - equipped Mesa half-back cab. I place the Mesa cab on the other side of the stage so my bass player can feel loved, too.

The Blues seem to handle the power just fine, although I haven't hit them with more than 60 watts yet. I am not eager to pay for a recone job, considering what these puppies cost.

We play loud hard/punk rock, and the Blues seem like a fine fit. Cleaned up, jazz and blues riffs sound lovely as well

No idea - good so far.

No basis for an opinion. The folks at Celestion are English, so they will probably be outwardly polite but passively aggressive, right?

30 years playing music live. Best speakers I've heard, and I've owned many. I wonder what these would sound like teamed up with some EV 12s...

I think the listener fatigue issue is interesting.

Value? Hard to say - ridiculously expensive, but probably worth every penny.

15w alnico magnet speaker, comparably quite a large magnet. Sexy blue colour.

Using these speakers with a Vox AC30 hand wired heritage edition 30w head with a fender american deluxe tele, ibanez sz720 loaded with emg pickups and a gibson flying V loaded with seymore duncan pickups. I play a vast range of different music styles, from thrash and 'hardcore' to hard rock, classic rock, blues and jazz, and although these speakers are more rounded than the sound I was after for metal genres, they provide an ultimate tonal clarity that shines through a mix within any genre. They are perfectly suited for hard rock, blues and jazz sounds, and with a bit of amp tweaking give an amazingly punchy clear tone for metal sounds.

As yet I've had no problems what so ever, touch wood.

Have not yet had any problems.

I've been playing for around 15 years, I have used a vast array of other celestion speakers including vintage 30's and greenbacks, as well as jensen speakers, all for various applications. Through all these speakers the 'blues' really shined through the first time I played them. Although you might not get the exact attack you are after, especially if you are playing metal, with a bit of amp tweaking you will find yourself with a sound that is fairly incomparable in regards to clarity and even though it mightn't be a sound you are used to or you expect, it is bound to blow you away.

Just to offer a different perspective on the Alnico Blues. This speaker has a unique sound but may not be good for people who like the classic Marshall/Humbucker sounds.

It does have a nice warm sound, but also has a high end sizzle that cannot be removed via any EQ efforts. This sounds nice when playing clean sounds but too sizzely for people who want thicker mid-range for their distortion (e.g Classic Marshall).

If you are playing humbuckers then you should buy these from a dealer that will allow you to return them. You may find these not suitable for your style. The Vintage 30s or G12-Hs may be better choices and are much less expensive. I prefer G12-Hs or G12T-75s.

I think this speaker would be excellent for Strat players who want to bring out the best in their guitars. This would be the speaker of choice if someone likes to play Eric Johnson licks and especially the chime techniques. These speakers are loaded with chime.

One thing that came to mind when I first heard this speaker, is that it reminded me of an old radio speaker from a long time ago.
That is not intended to be an insult, but rather the fact that is truly oozes with vintaqe sound. It truly sounds like something from the 1950's.

This is a special speaker with a unique sound. I'm sure in the right application it is one of the best guitar speakers ever made.

English made blue.In a custom made pine cab with closed back.Used with a tweaked out matchless spitfire clone head.Used primarily in the studio.Power wise it is perfect for the spitfire clone which is rated at 15 watts as is the speaker.In terms of versatility it does just about any style.Don't think it's worth using for thrash or nu-metal.Covers clean jazz,pop,blues,country and rock perfectly.

This speaker is truly deep.I was using an emminence red fang alinco which is about half the price and not a bad speaker at all.The blue just took it to a whole other level.The definition,clarity and overall presence of each note is amazing.I play a custom ASAT classic semi-hollow with a joe barden style modded bridge and the highs are creamy smooth and mellow ,not shrill at all,and the lows are tight and focused,not boomy.It is without a doubt the best speaker I've ever heard with the spitfire clone head.Play all types of music short of speed metal and this speaker handles all.Strangely enough when I used it as an extension cab for my Gibson Scout it did'nt improve the sound.Seems that a cheap jensen is the perfect match for that amp.

Hopefully it will hold up well assuming one uses it properly.

Hope I never have to find out.

Been playing for 30 years and have had some decent gear.This speaker is the perfect match for a vox ac 15 type amp.All the nuances and dynamics are beautifully articulated.I used to think it was overated nonsense until I compared it with other speakers.I would definitely replace it.I have'nt tried the weber blue dog,but it definitely is an improvement over the red fang.I only hesitate to give it a 10 because of the cost.I certainly don't regret getting it.

15 watt alnico speaker.

This speaker is so good, it makes me wonder why I bother with anything else. Perfectly clear and articulate treble but not painful to the ears, nice, balanced mids, and just enough bass to fill it out. Works great alone, or in combination. I have one in a 1x12 cab and one with a g12H in a 2x12 and both are just excellent.
I use the 1x12 with an 18watt Dr.z head with no problems, and it just works so well.

perfect so far

no problems yet

THE best guitar speaker for low wattage amps. I really love the sound.