Celestion G12H 70th anniversary re-issue

12" speaker, 30 Watt power handling, 100dB sensitivity

I own a Fender Pro Junior amp which comes with a 10" speaker. I like the tone of this amp and it is easily loud enough to play club gigs, but I was looking for a 12" speaker to add more depth(??balls??in guitar speak!)to the sound. So, I built myself a solid pine cabinet, grabbed my hat, and set out on my search...the first Celestion I bought was a Greenback(25 Watt capacity, 98Db sensitivity), but I found the sound too muddy, and not firm enough in the bottom end. Never mind, I took it back to the store, exchanged it for a Vintage 30, but had the opposite problem - the speaker was too tight in the low end, even though it was very loud. I??m sure the Vintage 30 was laughing at me, saying:"You call this volume?" The little Pro Junior just didn??t have the power to move the cone! So lastly, I tried the G12H 70th anniversary, apparently a compromise between the two, and VOILA! The sound was there with the first chord(which is always E in my case), and this translated into a softer ??feel??on the guitar. The low end distorts, but with that clean/dirty balance that sounds great with a strat. I use a drive pedal to give a level boost for a dirtier lead tone. So there you have it, search over. Also worth mentioning is that this speaker, being sensitive(100dB)is capable of being quite loud - my pro junior has been able to keep up with some demanding gigging situations when coupled with this speaker.

I??ve had this speaker about two years and so far no problem at all.

This speaker has really done the trick for me - the combination of strat/15 Watt Fender tube amp/G12H 70th Anniversary gives me the tone I??m looking for. I also used it in the studio, and if you like, you can hear the tones on my website, www.myspace.com/brendanmccann .

12 inch speaker with 16 ohms and 50oz heavy magnet

This is the best sounding speaker I may ever heard!
My favourite setup is gibson lespaul custom or fender highway strat, ibanez ts9 overdrive, boss ds2 in my 2203 jcm800.
As first approach, it's wonderful, with a LOT of bass, mid, presence and sustain, but not so warm as 70's models and breaks up "slightly fuzzy".
The trick is exercise the suspension for some hours, so gives the lows VERY punchy, incredible rich and warm when overdrived and the break up start to give "the balls"!

It's perfect for all kind of music styles cause it's a good speaker, generally I play country rock and blues and these speakers take me in ecstasy...
...just said, a friend come to me for try my new handbuilt 4x12, with his mesa triple recto (obviously metal player) and he wants one just after the two first chords!
It sounds too much better than his recto cab with vintage 30s, more bass as a kick in the chest, nicest break up, fat mids and detailed solos.

I own built my 4x12 cab, 120 watt, 16 ohms...
After a test with 150w mesa triple head, I had no doubt, this cab is forever.

I think there's some kind of speakers from celestion to eminence, but no one has this low end balls, break up, midrangey solos, warm and rich tone like mine "aged" H30 70th S.E.
The only advice I can get, is to go from tech experts for aging the cones as hellatone or anyone can do it without scratch these babies.

I bought 4 new speakers in july 2006, made in England.
I have a 1960AX, a 1960AV and a '69 London City cab with two G12H30 Heritage pre-rola.
I wanted try the 70 anniversary to know if really can be the good middle way between Greenbacks and v30's, as many sellers says.
Then I put it in a Behringer BG412S cab for this test.

Generally I use my "Behringer G12H" cab with '73 Marshall JMP100, and a '69 London City Dea100.
My setup was: '69 Gibson LP Deluxe (or '78 Ash body Strato, 1981 LP Custom Greco with Duncan SH55 pickup) > Ibanez MS10 > Fostex Reverb > JMP (or Dea100) > cab.

Initially I hated this speakers cause give me a lot of highs and larsen with my Les Pauls.
The bass is very good with the London City amp but isn't enough with the JMP, more defined than Greenback but not very punch as v30.
The middle range is very good, better than v30 (too much) but not sweet as Greenback...however has a better attack.

The difficult work is find a good setup for this speakers, cause is too much bright and tend to break the earrings, have larsen with humbucking pickups and hot distortions.
However is very sweet and warm with single coils in clean/overdrived blues rithms and leads.

The sound at lower volumes is unhearted, nothing comparable with old G12H speakers or greenback, however at high volumes is very beautiful and the cruch is very fat, with more defined chords and solos than the greenbacks and the v30.

After various attempts, I found the way to exploit the G12H features to my advantage.
I substitute all JJ tubes of my amps with EH to obtain the rich bass, I use a soft overdrive with the strato with the MS10, then i buy an shred master pedal (known as a dark distortion pedal) to use with the Les Pauls.
Now i have the same bass punch of the v30 in a recto cab, the warm cream when I use soft overdrive, a really good sound from the sweetest blues to the exagerate distortion.

30 abounding watts, I measure it can picks over 45 watts...
In a 4x12 cab, this piece can't die....

I never need the support yet.

I like the way that the v30's breaks up and is the perfect match for the true Les Paul tone, but sounds too much dark with the stratos or mini humbucker/P90 Deluxe PU's; kill the bright, the "SRV feeling" and the warm of spring reverb.

I like the way that the greenbacks sounds "3D" and warm in clean situations, from blues to hard rock crunch, but isn't able to handle too much power, heavy riffs and extreme bass.

The G12H 70TH anniversary has a good punch than the greenback and can handle extreme distortions, bass and power.
Very extended highs with good bright, I think too much but is very good with dark heads as recto or dark effects as shred master or rat.
Has also a perfect amount of middle range tone, the crunch is very good, the attack is wonderful.

If you want also the v30 breakup, the warm of greenbacks and a very good balanced bright.... well, if you want the GOOD sound between Vintage 30 and G12M, buy an G12H Heritage!!!
Cost twice any other speaker, but the G12H Heritage is the best speaker I never heard!

Its a LOUD speaker, only noteworthy feature is that a pair of these will have you at the Hospital getting your back sorted!!

Ok, from previous reviews its obvious that these speakers arent all things to all men, or even all things to all amps, however if you have a Laney VC30 2x12 do a couple of things, invest in some NOS ECC83 Valves, a Mullard in V1, a longplate RCA in V2 and some E84L's in the power stage, get your 7mm socket out, remove the stock speakers(more so if you have the one with the old HH invaders) and stick em on EBay or something, go and buy two bright shiny G12H 70th Anniversary models, spend an age scraping your knuckles squeezing em into your cab, then go plug in and listen to your new Boutique HOT Rodded absolutely amazing amp!!! Oh and say hi to the Bass player who now seems to be accompanying ya!! Sparkling shimmering ringing highs, overtones and sustain to die for, Driving Mids or not depending how ya want it, Enough Bass to knock your pictures off the walls should you want it that way!!! Overdriven they sound Just as great, nice Break up, early or late depending what you want, now all the amp controls work as youd expect, an absolute revelation, now my Legacy special sounds a different beast to my JS1200, everything you put in is reproduced in Technicolour.. And these havnt even broken in properly yet!!!

Use em and abuse em, long as you dont expect 2 of em to handle a 100watt head at full bore theyll last a lifetime.

Never needed em!

They wont be lost or stolen and I doubt theyll ever pack up either, but after weighing up the pros and cons between these/Greenbacks/red fangs/Century vintages and Vintage 30's I now know that for my amp and my ears that these are the Mutts Nuts.

More guitars here than you can shake a sturdy stick at and now with my modded VC30 they all have there own individual voices.

Been playing and listening subjectively to music for long enough to know what sounds good to me!!

16 Ohms, made in England (probably among the last batch before they started farming them out to the PRC), officially rated at 30 watts apiece, but could probably handle a bit more in a pinch.

I originally put one of these with a stock Vintage 30 in an Ashdown Peacemaker 60 combo, as I found that 2 V30s in an openback was a little too full-on in the upper mids. One of each worked well. I then replaced the remaining V30 with another G12H, but that made it a bit duller, espcially at low volumes, so I said f**k it & put both V30s back into the combo. I then did what I should've done in the first place: I put both the G12Hs into an oversized late 60s Marshall 2x12 cab that had been sadly shorn of its original speakers. Oh.My.God. These speakers sound unreal with my (non-master volume) Sovtek Mig 50 head. Unbelievably ballsy, round, fat, clear, defined and totally unyielding. Not a hint of compression, (think of Wayne Kramer's tone on the Kick Out The Jams album, Ron Asheton on Funhouse, Malcolm Young or pretty much any classic Hendrix, these were the speakers & THAT is the sound). 100dB sensitivity means these things are LOUD. In an oversized 2x12 they're noticeably louder than my (97dB)G12-65 loaded 4x12. More detailed too & just as much headroom. V30s can seem louder, but that's only because they're voiced for upper mids, which makes them more aggressive to the ears. They have nothing like the BALLS of these champs. Seriously intimidating when pushed, but never harsh. Also V30s & G12-65s only sound good with MV amps in my experience. For non-MV these G12Hs are the ticket as far as I'm concerned. WARNING I: Your mistakes will show. Warning II: As with non-MV amps, you'll need to turn up fairly loud to really hear what these speakers are capable of. You may go deaf, but at least the last sounds you hear will have ya smilin'!

Hell yeah, as long as you don't subject them to outright abuse. Any piece of gear will become a lot less reliable if you mistreat it. I've had these speakers for about a year & a half with no troubles whatsoever.

Have had no direct contact with Celestion other than when asking questions to Dr Decibel. He's always answered too.

As far as Celestions go I've tried and/or used both reissue and original Greenbacks (warm but don't cut through nearly enough & too muddy, especially with humbuckers), G12T-75s (only good distorted in a mid-scooped 90s way, sterile clean & horrible before break-in), Vintage 30s (nice in closed-back cabs when paired with dark-voiced amps but unpleasantly brittle before break in, quite generic sounding overall & not suitable for some applications), G12-65s (my other favourite, works best with MV)
The G12H30s are my pick. If lost or stolen, I'd replace them, but I'd probably go for the 55Hz Heritage version. I'd be willing to pay the extra $$ to have the versatility of a bass-compatible version that's still made in the UK & not China as these 70th anniversary reissues now sadly are.

?
They're Speakers!

I have 2 in a Carvin 50 watt Bel-Air.
When I bought the combo I was ready get rid of the G12H-30's
for some Private Jacks. The Celestions are staying in the combo.
I've been unhappy to say the least with Vintage 30's over the years
& the Newer Greenbacks. I wish I would have tried these sooner.
V30's fart out in the Low-Mid department & Greenbacks lack Bottom.
Not these! They Kick Ass!
I even sound tested the combo with my 2x12 cabinet with 1 Governor & 1 Texas Heat & the G12H's held their own. They sound different of course, but have a unique Great Tone

Who knows!
Celestion's always seem to last.

Not the best in this department.

These are Great Speakers! I would love to hear these & some Eminence Governors in a 4x12 cabinet. I would buy these again. They are superior to Vintage 30's by a mile.

I guess I can get back on the Celestion bandwagon again. The new Eminence Speakers are still incredible, but if you're gonna stick with
Celestion's buy some of these & nothing else. Greenbacks are still hard to beat in a 4x12 cab. I can only imagine 4 of these would sound better than 1 or 2!

30 watt 16 ohm speaker with ceramic magnet, made in England and not China. About 4 years old, I think.

I have an older Peavey Classic 50 (4 el84s) stuck in a vintage looking port-hole cabinet.
The original classic came w/4-10s. However, paired it down to a single 12 port-hole cab that gets a lot of curious looks. I have tried a wide range of speakers trying to search for a great tone in a small cab. I play in No Boundaries, a Worship Band and so volume is an issue. I play at lower volumes and never really pushed the other speakers into the ?Tonezone.? The last speaker was a celestion 70 watt. I bought this, finally, off ebay and stuck it in the cab and WOW! This has got to be the fullest range, awesome tone driver I?ve ever tried. Booming bass and sparkling highs, yet at a low volume. Since it is rated at 30 watts one does not have to peal the paint off the walls for great tone. I just lean it towards me, and mic w/ sm57. Good clean tones, awsome dirty tomes.
The music I play ranges from modern Rock and rock Praise to jazz, pop, Island, Nashville, Eagles and everything else, I needed a versatile speaker. The only thing this does not do well on is the scooped sound, but that is probably the amp anyhow. I play a vintage 70s Gibson Les Paul and a 2000 US Strat, plus various hollow bodies. This speaker does the trick for both meaty Humbucker and single strat sounds. I tried other speakers, but most of them had the ice-pick-through-the-forehead" treble effect, or they just sounded throaty with little definition. (jensens, pyles, Peaveys, etc.) Had a '56 bassman once with EVs that was fantasic, however in a weakness traded it for a Roland Jazz Chorus in the 80's(dumb move)

So far, after 2 months- great.
Never had a problem w/ celestions

All the celestions I've had have proven roadworthy so no contact w/ company was needed.

I have been playing for 28 years- since a kid. Played in various bands in most of the continental US and even toured with an English group- even opened for the Newsboys, Russ Taft, Rachel-Rachel, all before getting married. At one time bigger was better, however as my years increase, my idea is now: small is better- saves the back, and the ears of the congregation.
I have had good luck with other celestions in bigger cabs, but this is just what the doctor ordered for my praise and worship amp. I thought to get a small amp for worship that had a great tone, I had to buy a boutique amp. But the classic 50 and this celestion g12H. Hello boutique sound, Bye-bye boutique price.

Celestion G12H 70th Anniversary speaker, no features

I used an open back cabinet to test the speaker and compared it to my Vintage 30. I found the Vintage 30 to be louder not the G12H 70. The bass on the G12H 70 was not as pronounced and defined as the Vintage 30. The Vintage 30 seemed more focused. The g12H 70 on the other hand was pretty well balanced over all. The highs did not get spiky like the Vintage 30 can and the G12H 70 had a more forward midrange with highs that blended in well. The G12H 70 still seemed similar to a Green Back but clearer and not as muddy. I then tried each speaker in my Pignose G60V amp. The G12H 70 sounded great when the amp was cranked do to the mid range and the highs not being overy bright, I would say the bass was not that defined though (somewhat like a Green back). The Vintage 30 at lower volumes was more versitile as the bass was well defined and I was able to control the midrange better. I got better Jazz chord sounds out of the Vintage 30 and better crunch when I went to rock, At loud volumes the Vintage 30 was insanely loud and had so much more bass than the G12H that it shook the amp so hard I thought the speaker was going to fly out. The G12H having less Bass did not shake the the amp so hard and do to it's midrange it was very loud in the mids with a balanced bass (but not that defined). I think the G12H 70 may be better in a closed back cabinet where the vitage 30 does very well in an open back cab. I ended up leaving the vitage 30 in even though I have to deal with those spiky highs.

Very reliable

Never dealt with Celestion

I like what the G12H 70 can do but feel it's not right for every amp and depending on what amp or what cabinet it's going into will sound different than what one might expect. From reading these reviews I would not expect the vitage 30 to be as loud but I tested them side by side and the vintage 30 blew the G12H 70 away in the bottom end and the G12H 70 dominated in the mids.

Ceramic magnet, 30 watt rating, nothing else necessary.

This is the speaker to buy, forget the vintage 30(harsh), or greenback(too peaky). I bought a modified Anniverary from Dave at Avatar speaker. He calls the speaker a Hellatone(it's a broken in Celestion Anniversary). This speaker has the sweetest most even frequency response of all the Celestions I have heard and it really seems to let the amp do it's thing. I put this speaker in a Tone King Continental which uses a Celestion Greenback clone and I found the anniversary to be much better. The greenback has a peakiness to it which tends to get your attention but wears me out. I found I always had to run the treble a little lower then the bass, but there was something in the upper mids that I could never dial out. Once I made the switch I noticed the upper end harshness went away and the tone controls would sound good almost anywhere I placed them. If I turn the tone controls almost off it's less of everything and if I go almost full up it's more of everything, but it never seems to get too trebly or bassy, except at the extremes of the controls. I really like this speaker and I'm sure it will get better with time.

One thing I don't understand is the frequency curves posted on all the websites. If you go by reading the speaker plots you'll never know what to buy because they all look the same. I wish they could do something better for this but I guess listening is really the only answer. Too bad they couldn't let you do exchanges like Seymour Duncan does with his pickups.

Don't stick your fingers through it and it should last.

I dealt with Dave at Avatar speaker (good guy) he recommended this speaker and it is his favorite as well. $79 shipped to your house for the Hellatone how can anyone complain, it's the same speaker and it even has the little Celestion tag on the magnet.

Overall, I will give it a 10. I also have a Alnico Weber Blue Dog which is another great speaker. Both of these speakers are excellent products just different from each other. For the price it's a great product as I can't recommend it highly enough.

This is the G12H30 speaker from Celestion. 30 Watts power handling. I bought it in a 112 cab from Avatar, which I highly recommend. Sounds great for everything.

I bought this speaker in a 112 cab from Avatar to go with a THD Univalve amp. It was recommended because it has more low-frequency response. I love the sound of this speaker! It is my favorite! It filled in the low end of my Marshall amp and sounds fantastic. It sounds great for anything I play through it.
I have two 112 cabs from Avatar. One has a Celestion Vintage 30, and one has a Celestion G12H30. When I switch from one cab to the other, the G12H30 seems about 5 dB louder and has much fuller low end. The Vintage 30 is a great speaker, but I like the extra bass that is available with the G12H30. And--this is important--the mids and highs are just great on the G12H30 speaker too. The combination of the two cabs is really great. If you're tired of lugging speaker cabs around, get one or two 112 cabs from Avatar. You'll be glad you did!

I am careful not to exceed the speakers' power ratings, and I have never had one fail. Should last you a very long time.

Never needed it.

I've been playing 40 years. I have tons of guitars and amps. I would definitely get another G12H30 speaker. I love this speaker so much, I'm thinking about getting a couple more of 'em just for the heck of it.