Celestion G12 Century Vintage

Neo 12 inch 8 ohm. I tried with a matchless clone spitfire. Sounded ok. I tried it with a mesa boogie dc3 4 el84s. It sounded great. Now it's also lighter.

It does sound more alnico then ceramic. It sounds like a blue about 70 %, a vintage 30 about 20 %, , 10% Neo (a little grindyscratchybrite, not a bad thing just a neo thing). You can adjust for the grindyscrathybrite sound with your eq. With the DC 3 you have the 1st channel with less gain then the second. With a vintage 30 it is very smooth and mid humpy. With the neo it is more even all eq but a little easier to break up. The second channel with the neo and a V shape eq it gets close to metal just need a little more gain with a pedal like a Fulldrive ocd. The bass is all there the mids are more even. The highs can be a little bright, stingy but it can all be eqed properly for a great sound.

60 watt speaker RMS. My amp is 35 Loud watts. dynablast. Should be fine.

I don't know I probably would go to Weber if I had a problem. I have tried and have many celestion (vintage 30, and blue, 70/80, greenback, and Jensens and eminence.) All great speakers depending on the amp and eq. This is a great speaker for certain amps. Probably someone looking for a lighter weight amp and a slight alnico sound.

Again nice for some amps.

neodymium magnet, 60 watts, 98 dB of sensitivity. it weights about 1/3 of a regular Vintage 30 and sounds a lot like it.

the tone is very close to the v30 like Celestion states, but it handles more bass and has a bit less mids. it sounds more defined and doesn't have the gritty and muddy mids of the v30's. the highs can get a bit ice picky on the cleans as it is very responsive to your picking. the bass sounds just a bit bigger and tighter than a v30 (after you break it in, of course), but it's definitely brither. it has really fast attack, nice articulation, clear and honest tone. I prefer the tone of my Greenbacks, but this one sounds better than the Vintage 30. I just wish it had a smoother top end.

built like an ovni! lol! neodymium is a very volatile and fragile magnet if exposed, but this speaker is VERY well encapsuled and the magnet is placed inside the coil, instead of the regular ring shape, so I bet it will last decades.

well, i bought it used.

I tried it with a Mesa Single Rectifier, a Peavey Rockmaster preamp and a Leadvox Leadmaster (Soldano SLO preamp clone) through Tubeamps Gemini power amp (2 x 6550) and now I mainly use a Framus Cobra.
I use it in a handmade 1x12. I made plans to swap the G12M's of my Cobra 4x12 for 4 century vintages, BUT I like the Greenbacks better soundwise, specially for this amp. if Celestion starts selling neodymium versions of Celestion Greenback and G12H30 I won't think twice!

light weight

Horrifying ... these neo magnet speakers have a huge increase in top end response over traditional guitar speakers ...
the highs were so intense It was like I had a piezo acoustic pickup instead of a humbucker ...I tested the speakers with a humbucking equipped PRS CE 24 ... with this speaker the guitar had no bottom end and was shrill and clanky

celestion needs to go back to the drawing board on these and warm them up

Run away from these speakers as fast as you can they are brutally useless for electric guitar playing, worse with added distortion!!

I've been playing for 20 years and have a large assortment of Marshall cabinets loaded with various celestion 12's I've sampled most of their designs and these are 1000X more brittle than the legendary & horrifying early 80's 70 watt celestions

You've been warned

Bolt it in fire it up - nothing else.......... Very well made and new looking

This is an interesting speaker - recommended to me by Watford Valves in the UK. I wanted a tighter sound than from the Jensen P12n that I fitted to my Rivera M60. To be fair the Jensen was underrated at 50watts and had 'farted' it's way through a couple of high volume gigs - one particular in a Marquee, notorious for sucking volume. I called up Watford and had a long talk with the sales guy there. We settled on the G12K 100 as it had a less treble cut than the other contender a G12T-75.

I wanted to keep some sparkle and this does that, it also has a tight sound right the way from the bass end so sounds a little constricted at medium volumes compared to the looser Jensen - not so at high and low volumes, where it seems at home. Surprisingly sparkly at low volumes which I like a lot

What it does well is converting your sound into something rich and very dynamic. I particularly like the Strat neck pickup up around the 12th fret - this is sublime and worth the price alone(reasonable @ around ??50). It also excels at Steely Dan type lower register bridge pickup sounds, easily delivering up harmonically rich and biting lead sounds - really excellent.

I would prefer a little more looseness and less strict control but that comes with any single speaker asked to deliver 60 Rivera valve watts

Totally so far - I cannot imagine this will ever blow but I killed the original Rivera fitted Eminence when i dropped a screwdriver through the speaker cone so I am capable and culpable

Watford Valves are a national treasure and should be honoured in the appropriate Hall of Fame.

Been playing around for 30 years but electric for 6. Have had a character building relationship with all kinds of 'Fab' gear rated by others and wasted on me. I have settled with My Rivera M60, a 74 Tele, Warmoth Tele with USA Strat pickups and a Bill Lawrence HB (original) at the bridge. These are great instruments and play as good as me.

SO far have tried Celestion Lead 80 - too strident, Jensen P12N too weak for this setup and this G12K ...... getting there - I suspect I should have a 2x12 with G12Hs but I wont do that any time soon

fantastic light.

2x Century Vitage, ?? 16 Ohm, in a Diezel 2x12 rearmounted cab. They replace 1x V30 and 1x G12T-75. Before the replacement the sound was very bassy, with lots of mids and not enough highs (with my Diezel VH4 and Einstein 100, both with EL34). With the CV's the sound is now as it should be: enough bass, little less mids and little more highs. With other words: it is perfect! No harsh highs or lack of character, only a fantastic sound with less weight. I could not be happier!

only a little more expensive than V30, V25 or other celestion speakers.

I have tested a lot of celestions over the years, Vintage 30, Vintage 25, G12T-75, Rockdriver, Marshall Gold, G12H-30, 16 and 8 Ohm (big difference!!!!!), but the Century Vintage are the best of them in my opinion (clean, blues, SRV, rock, heavey-rock and metal)

I don't know what to say - can a speaker have features ???

Sound - hmmmmm. Well I have to say this sounds to me like a celestion greenback 25 watt had sex with a celestion alnico 15 watt and gave birth to a mutant light weight speaker ???
It has a real nice vintage warmth and a bottom that does not get that fuzzy bass thud that greenback get. The bottom is good like a perfected alnico, as I think that most alnico lack some bottom end warmth. I think it sounds more like an alnico than a ceramic magenet speaker which I usually prefer.
I installed this is a Richie Plexi 36 watt - 4 el84 tube amp and a JTM-45 1 x 12 combo. It is an amazing speaker. So much more shimmer and chime. Like I said it's a cermalnico speaker - if there was such a thing.

So far so good - (knock on wood)

I love the speaker - I do love the reduced wieght but I see this as a great development in the speaker world. When I played my amp at the 1st band practice after I installed it everyone remarked at how awesome it sounded. So it's not just my ears. The price is cheap I think you get alot of the alnico vibe for a lot less.

Get's a rating of 10 here as it's made with neodymium and shaved 7 kg off my combo weight. It's about the only feature a speaker can have!

An excellent speaker. I bought a pair of these to put into my Orange AD30R combo as I was replacing the Vintage 30s.

I liked the V30s for rocky sounds, although they sounded a bit quacky and sluggish on cleaner sounds. This is partially a function of the fact that my amp is quite dark in nature, and partially the speaker.

However, after finding the CVs a bit bright initially, once they had broken in nicely, I started appreciating them more and more. I've now had them for more than a year.

Sound - compared to the V30s - is that the mid hump is smoothed down, and the top and bottom ends are more defined. The whole speaker is extremely articulate with lots of clarity through it. They crunch very nicely, and i'm ever so pleased with the clean sound which is smoother and glassier than the V30s, which had a sort of cardboard quack to it.

At 99dB, they're a touch less efficient than my old V30s, however, the speaker response time is nice and quick, which I think is a desirable characteristic in any speaker.

They're also have a clarity and articulation that borders on alnico, and this means your mistakes are reproduced with alarming clarity. Nowehere to hide with these things.

No problems so far.

NA.

I play a couple of G&L ASATs, a G&L Comanche or a Gordon Smith GS1 through an Orange AD30R (mainly) and have used that setup with the CVs for a number of gigs.

I've run the gamut through rock, pop, alternative, funk, blues, soul and jazz, and they have turned their hand to whatever i've been playing very nicely. No metal as of yet... I don't do metal.

They are alternately sweet sounding, or down 'n' dirty when you push them, and they have been entirely unflustered by anything i've thrown at them. I know precisely what i'm getting with these speakers: I haven't come across anything they've been uncomfortable with, and to cap it all off, they're light... and pretty good value for money. Still made in the UK, unlike some of the other Celestions now...

I think they're top rate speakers. I like to be able to hear my guitars and my amp sound: however, if your gear isn't good enough, or you need a less articulate speaker to hide the flaws in your action, then you might not get on with this. As I said, you can't hide as any errors you make are distressingly evident!

I disagree with the guys who said it's too bright. They obviously haven't spent enough time playing with their guitar tone control, and too much time spent turning their noses up at newer speaker technology!

Bring on the neodymium revolution, that's what I say. I've already got a Beta 57 mic with neo magets in, and think it's fantastic...

I bought the speaker new and only kept it for a few weeks. The big plus is, of course, the light weight. You can't believe how much easier it is to carry your amp around! I play professionally and used the speaker in a Peavey Triumph (a 112 tube combo amp). I was replacing a Scorpion that I really liked but was tired of carrying. I went from an 18 lb. speaker to 3.8 lbs.! The Century Vintage seemed very well made and handled high volume easily.

This was where I was dissatisfied. It wasn't that the speaker sounded bad, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. It brings through the pure sound of your amp without coloring it. That isn't bad or good, it just depends on what you like. It made the cleans sound too thin and almost solid state sounding to me. I hadn't realized how the character of my previous speaker had affected my sound. The distortion was good, but a little too smooth for me.
As to whether it sounds "Vintage" -- I'm not really sure what that means anymore. It sounded too crystal clear to be what I would call Vintage. To be fair, the speaker might not have been fully broken in yet, but it would have had to change quite a bit to suit me.

I ended up going with a Texas Heat and really found the kind of crunchier sound I was looking for.

I didn't have the Century Vintage long enough to comment on it's reliability, but as I mentioned earlier, it seemed to be well made and could handle high volume with ease.

I've been playing for almost 30 years and heard my share of speakers. The Century Vintage is a very nice speaker; I wouldn't want to talk you out of it. I just want you to know what you're getting so you can decide if that's the sound you're looking for. I WISH it had worked out for me because I LOVE the light weight, but it just wasn't for me.

New Neo magnet .wonderfully light weight good power handling .. vintage sound (no, really)

one of the tests in this catagory was a bit unusual and has to do with the light weight of the speaker. . I carried my amp, a trace elliot velocette 12r with the speaker, installed up stairs to the back door in my left hand and tried to open the door using my left hand without putting down the amp.. I was unsuccessful .. BUT I could hold the amp with my ring and pinky fingers while reaching for the knob with my thumb, index and traffic fingers which does confirm that it is very light in weight....I may have eventually been able to get the door open but I was stopped by my wife who said I was beating up the door with the amp and 'requested' that I stop ( !!! ).

CONCLUSION (put this first for the sake of your time) .. the speaker is WELL named as VINTAGE.. if your amp will produce that magic texture of cleanish grit with sustain and a smooth transitional envelope from overdrive to clean.. (vintage tone) this speaker will put it out like none I have tried.. not greenbacks( new or old ), not vintage 30?s not Altec or JBL alnico stuff, not jensens .. .. this would be the one for the SRV COLD SHOT sound.. it has a distinct element of Jensen like bark but not as big a bark as a Jensen. It will produce a good big low end and the mids are very celestion like ..if I was to use persentages?s I would say 70% Celestion Vintage 30 and 30% Jenson ceramic from a good twin .. as a vintage speaker for vintage players it is wonderful.. but you need a GGOOODD amp ...the speaker will NOT do it alone... and if your amp gags you will really HEAR IT . IF you want a speaker that will help achieve a good Leslie West, Billy G or Angus (and beyond to shred city ) this one is probably not it.. it is too accurate and you really can hear the non pretty things an amp does when it is in saturation ? although it sounded great at low volume with an overdrive and echo

what I did to the speaker

Day one-
in-stalled the speaker in my trusty blue trace elliot velocette 12r .. I turned the amp on at low volume and bingo a sound came out..
immediate impression was that the speaker, although used, had less than 15 seconds on it as it was tight and boxy..surely not the sound that celestion would put their name on.. so i plugged in my Gibson EBO bass tuned it to 'drop d' and played for about an hour.. at which point the speaker was STARTING to loosen up (I think it has the 444 cone like a vintage 30 ??) .. after that it sounded MUCH better on guitar and I expect it to improve (loosen up) more over the next few weeks..

..Can you say in your face .. I am not really sure how a speaker with no apparent peaks and seemingly even response can sound so UP FRONT.. .. it has that JBL/ALTEC/EV in your faceness and responsiveness without having the high frequency spike or buzz highs that come along with these speakers ... so far I am only playing clean and at rather low volumes ( not that a 15 watt amp will get that loud anyway)

DAY TWO
I took the amp to rehearsal and ended up playing the amp ( big 15 watter)'wide ass open' as the rest of the band was so loud I could not hear my amp very well .. I plugged straight in ( no pedals) using a les paul deluxe with baby HB's ( 7.6K from an OLD Epiphone?not as bright as gibson's and 44years old so they are ?aged? .) .. I noted a smooth extended top end as I noddled before we started but once we got going I could not hear the amp well enough to tell what was up... I figgered that this would help it break in so I turned I wide open and played a lot of low register stuff .. during the few quiet passages with the guitar turned down and the amp cleaned up the sound was LUSH and I suspect that if the amp is capable of putting out a good sound the speaker will do a great job of putting it out..... ALTHOUGH... I was surprised that it did not cut through as well as the vintage 30 in the same amp in similar situations .. the speaker gives a feeling of super high efficiency when played at lower volumes but apparently is not as efficient ( loud ) as the vintage 30 when things get going.

DAY THREE
I left the amp in the van overnight so the cone would grab some humidity and cry a bit more ...part of the non patentable accelerated aging process called 'normal abuse' .

A few weeks later.. plugged and played a modded marshall ( STRONG 20 watts 2 xEL34 in triode mode ) thru the speaker and played it loud for a while .. sounded still looser after about ten min of thrashing? this was to date the hardest work it has done.. After doing this and re-attaching it to the trace ( 15 watt 2x EL84 ) .. and it may be a little looser but seems to be about where it is going to be.

again

I have never blown a celestion ..

I have been playing 40 years and can play with my eyes closed and my head leaned back while smiling ..I have more fun every year .. I play about three times a week ..I am a blues based power rock kind of guy

I have the trace velocette 12 mentioned above and a couple of 70's marshall combos.. 2 les pauls a strat 3 tele's other odd balls lots of pedlas ..but really like just plugging a les paul in a marshall

I was hoping the speaker would sound like a vintage 30 ..it is close but has a little bit more jensen bark ( quack?) not perfect but the weight savings is huge.. I have a 50 watt 1x12 marshall combo now that weighs less than 37#..the vintage 30, though sounding better, puts it near 50# ..

As mentioned by the others. The factory brochure says, it has an instantly recognisable vintage tone. true.

A very good speaker, but did not fit my taste. It is what it states, vintage sounding. But too much for me. I have the feeling that I bought a broken-in speaker. I don't like this feeling, many people dig it. The speaker has a limited high frequency response, helps to make a weak solo sound make stronger. It is also fast for a vintage one, and is quite articulate. So a lot of + -s, definitely a very good speaker. Only thing is that it does not fit me, it's like getting a present, your favourite T-shirt wonderful cotton, excellent threading, the best image in the world, but the wrong colour.

Sould work for ages, like a Celestion has to. As it is already vintage sounding, don't expect much of a change in the sound with the passing of time.

Thanks God no experience.

Be prepared for a speaker that seriously defines your tone. yet it defines the sound with a very good taste, is musical, and really vintage. It is also very fast, so the sound doesn't get boring. Please note, that as in many cases, here also Vintage means the loss of chime-like super brilliant high end.

I was suspicious because they are so incredibly light - The weight and the voicing gives it a 10 rating - tight bottom, sweet mids and crystalline highs, plus Chime factor.

1960 Strat loaded with vintage Fralins and a Les Paul loaded with Duncan antiquity humbuckers, plus a Cornford MK50H Head. The Cornford Cabinet comes with Vintage 30's - my box crapped all over the Cornford box - these speakers do it all with a good amp - very 3 dimensional and sound great at any volume.

Seem sturdy enough, I love the lightweight nature of them - they have saved my back.

No Comment. Al at Chandler Guitars in London is great, he introduced me to them - very helpful and true to the facts.

Been playing for 30 years, I am a Tone FREAK, try these speakers if you want versatility they will do it all. I play a variety of styles and these speakers have helped push to a new level. They are pricey hence me giving them an 8

I bought this about 2 monthes ago. I've been playing over 30 years. Mostly rock, country rock and blues.

I put this speaker in a Limited Edition Fender Tweed Blues Jr.. It did wonders for the Amp. It quieted down the slight noise problem and it allows for smooth sound shaping. I usually play a Deluxe Strat, Ash with the Noiseless Pickups. With this Speaker the lows are wonderful and the highs are no longer irritating. Their pure and lush. The Fat switch now works correctly and the reverb is useable at very minimal settings. In addition, I can get a little distortion out this Amp. or a very very Fat sound. I normally play a Badcat Hotcat and it is a fantastic Amp. The Blues Jr. with this speaker makes a wonderful small Amp. for an investment of only $700.00

I'm sure it will last for a long time.

I would like to put two of these in an extention cabinet and the weight would still be comfortable. I would definately buy these again. I would reccomend buying a regular Blues Jr. or Blond for less than I paid for the Tweed and try one of these speakers. You can't go wrong.

12-inch guitar speaker with neodymium magnet.
Handles 60 watts & has less than 1/3 of the weight of comparable drivers.

Here is a copy of my inquiry/response from celestion:

Q:
I would like to know how the G12_Century_Vintage compares to the Vintage_30. I own a Soldano 1x12, 50-watt, tube combo amplifier, which currently has a Vintage_30. I like the cone break up of the Vintage_30, but wish it had a bit less mids. I tried a Classic Lead 80 in its place, but it sounded too clean & sterile to me. How does the Century_Vintage compare? I'm interested in buying one, but I have no way of demoing it here in the US. Also, I couldn't find any sound samples of the G12_Century_Vintage on your website.

A:
Tonally the Century Vintage is very close to the Vintage 30 but can handle more bottom end so you can boost the LF a bit producing a balance that is lower in the mids. The Century Vintage is tonally close to the Vox neo dog that you can hear in some of their cabs.
Best regards
The Doctor
drdecibel@celestion.com

I've owned several Celestions guitar speakers & never had a problem with them.

I plan on purchasing a Century Vintage to replace my Vintage_30. I believe it will give me the tone that I'm looking for, based on the response I received from drdecibel@celestion.com. I hope it does the job, because it would also reduce the overall weight of my amp by several pounds. I will post an update in a couple months to let you know what I find. Any ways, I thought this info would be helpful for now.

I Bought a pair 16 ohm Century vintage for my Zentera a few weeks ago. I had formerly installed the Neo's, and am a lot happier with the tone of Vintage. Like the last reviewer said, it's like a sweeter version of the V30 ceramics. I purchased them from Avatar.com (they have super prices, and great service). When i installed them in my amp, i probably knocked off 20 lbs in weight, which made a big differance. I was considering selling the amp, because it was really a lot to lug aroung, but now I'm going to keep it for sure.

I play a Zion strat with bardens, a Yamaha 1200ES (L5 knockoff), a taylor 710 LTD with the fishman system, and just snagged a used Cordoba FWSE gut string (holy crap what a nice guitar!) With the neo's, i could never get the perfect tones that H+K were shooting for in their models, but when I installed the Neo vintages, they NAILED it. I was just experimenting with the Cordobo, and am really happy with the acoustic amp models. before that, i was jamming with some Corea Electric Band charts for fun, and was blown away with the hot fusion tone I could get. Celestion has hit a home run with this speaker for sure. the highs seem a lot sweeter than the V30's, and the mid curve is just right. I don't really use any outboard gear any more, the Zentera pretty much does it all.

They seem like typical celestions, can't imagine blowing one out, unless you're a nitwit that puts way too much wattage into them. I guess I'll go with a 10, because of their reputation.

Haven't ever had to deal with Celestion, I guess that's a good thing, Means they always work.

I have been playing off and on for 30 years, just have getting back into it semi-seriously the last 6 monthe or so. If stolen, I would replace them 4 sure.

THIS IS REVIEW FOR THE CELESTION CENTURY VINTAGE SPEAKER. IT IS RATED AT 60 WATTS AND HOUSES THE NEW NEO MAGNET WHICH IS EXTREMELY LIGHT IN WEIGHT BUT HEAVY IN SOUND.

THIS SPEAKER IS VERY SIMILAR IN THE SOUND OF THE VINTAGE 30. THE LOWS ARE A LITTLE SWEETER, THE HIGHS ARE MORE AIRY AND THE MIDS ARE VERY GOOD BUT NOT OVERPOWERING LIKE THE VINTAGE 30'S ARE. I WILL SAY THAT THIS SPEAKER IS NOT AS LOUD AS THE VINTAGE 30 OR CENTURY 80 WATT. I THINK IT IS RATED AT 99db. NEVERTHELESS, IT HAS A NICE CHUNKY SOUND TO IT AND SWEET LOWS AND HIGHS.....KIND OF LIKE A TAMED VINTAGE 30. IT SOUNDS GOOD CLEAN AND CRUNCHY AND SEEMS TO HANDLE LOTS OF POWER, JUST NOT AS LOUD AS THE ORIGINAL V-30.

SO FAR SO GOOD....I HAVE HAD A SET IN MY 4X12 AND THEY SEEM TO HAVE THE RUGGEDNESS OF ANY CELESTION, JUST A COOL/DIFFERENT MAGNET !!!!

I HAVE TO SAY I AM IMPRESSED WITH THESE NEW NEO SPEAKERS......MY ONLY WISH THAT IT AS LOUD AS THE V-30 BUT OVERALL, IT IS A MORE TAMED/SWEETER VERSION OF THE VINTAGE 30. GOOD JOB CELESTION !!! I WAS THINKING OF MIXING THE CENTURY AND THE CENTURY VINTAGE IN A 2X12 FOR MY SLO-100.....