Celestion G12H-80

80 watts, big magnet. what else can I say.

I have a 4 X 12 cab from the earlyy eighties. I used to own a JCM800 head. I eventually sold it because it was too bright. I knew nothing about speakers back then. I kept the cabinet and recently purchased a Straub Cantus 50. Harry Straub voiced the amp to be less bright. Not by my request. It was his personal taste. It took some getting used to but now I love the amp and speaker cabinet combination. No more excessive brightness typical of Marshall amps. These speakers sound wonderfully balanced. Cleans are pure - as much as EL34s can get. I don't play at screaming volume anymore. I use pedals for distortion. Every pedal I own sounds great in this set-up. I discovered that you can't always judge a speaker by one amp. Even the bass player and drummer feel this is the best combination they've heard. We've played together over 30 years. I would never consider replacing these speakers. By the way, if you love EL34s and want an amp that will kick and is not excessively bright, I highly recommend the Cantus 50.

Never a problem. But I don't gig with it anymore.

cant comment

I been playing Rock, Trower, Deep Purple, Santana, no metal .. for over 30 yrs. With the Straub Cantus 50, it is a great speaker in a closed back 4 x 12 cab. I am just beginnning a speaker journey. I bought a used V30 and Greenback for an Avatar 2 X 12 cab. I am going to replace the Hot GT-100s - too dark for my taste.

50 ounce magnet, 8 ohms, 80 watts. Very flat frequency response.

I use this in a Marshall JCM 2000 combo amp. It sounds very flat, but not grainy. Good for jazz, rock, anything clean. It lacks high-end sparkle, but that can be a good thing. If you hate that ice-pick tone when your clean channel is cranked and need some low-end chunkage, this baby will deliver. It might sound good in a modeling amp too. It will not be your best choice for high-gain stuff, For that, use a G12-75T or a G100T.

Never buzzed or rubbed.

I doubt Celestion would care if your speaker died. They are in England, so I would guess Customer support would be non-existenthere. Why would you need customer support for a speaker anyway?

Been playing 35 years, since I jammed with Jimi in 1970. If some one stole it, I would be pissed, but I'd get over it, I suppose.

Heavy duty Judy--plain, knows what to do and won't let you down, but doesn't make you jump and shout, either.

I use various Gibsons and Fender-ish guitars with a stock '68 Super, a 30 watt Laney, and a few other tops. This speaker is analagous to an overwound pickup. Those will typically give you more volume at the expense of tone (yes, I know there are exceptions). Same here--more volume than a lot of speakers, but they lack sparkle. I don't know exactly which frequencies are involved with "sparkle", but if your head is not great at providing them, this speaker will not help at all. I agree with the reviewer whose comments related the speaker to Line 6 amps, many of whose models have plenty of these frequencies. I often use a buddy's Line 6 on the British Hi Gain setting with one of these speakers, and it shimmers. But these speakers are dead toads with my Laney, and tend to de-sparkle my Super. I think I will try to select a couple of brighter and more articulate speakers (Greenbacks? Jensens? V30s? Fanes?) and pair them with the G12H-80s in a 4-12 cab.

I suspect they will give years of unsatisfying service.

Me not know, me not want to know.

Purchased at a very good price from Avatar, I would still recommend these speakers to the right user, most likely someone who plays more modern and aggressive styles at high volume. I like to produce clear tones (clean or dirty) for all sorts of styles from rockabilly to whatever I might find listenable among today's radio crapola. These speakers fail to deliver the fidelity I need, and the fact that they can deliver 70% of what I need at a higher volume or under a heavier load is of little value.

This is the speaker that came in the best Marshall 4x12 cabinets from the 70's. It is THE sound of 70's rock. If that is your bag, this is your speaker.

There is a review on the Watford Valves website, which is a major English dealer of Celestion speakers. I replaced a Celestion Seventy 80 speaker (a good speaker in its own right) in my Traynor YCV40 with this one, and it made a definite improvement all the way around, and added about 3 dB of volume at the same time. I'm driving it with a pair of genuine Tung-Sol 5881 tubes, and the sound is pure heaven if you are into 70's rock, or just about anything else. It does country equally as well on the clean channel. Don't form any opinions before several hours of break-in, with this or any other new speaker.

Too soon to tell. These were New Old Stock, and had been sitting around the Celestion warehouse for quite some time. I noticed a bit of mold growth on the cloth dome cover in the middle of the cone. It easily lifted off with gentle vacuuming. England is a damp place, and anything old is going to b a bit moldy. I expect it to last a couple of decades at least. I pounded it with my bass in an open backed cab, and it didn't cave in, so it must be tough.

Avatar Speakers was closing these out, as they bought the entire inventory of this discontinued speaker from Celestion. I guess the Classic Lead 100 is a very similar speaker, but I sure do hate to see this speaker disappear from the lineup at Celestion. The G12H30 is supposedly more bass heavy than this speaker, and is the replacement i the Celestion line, evidently for metal music and other modern styles needing more bottom, although this speaker has very strong and tight bottom end. It will work well in a bass practice amp and I shake the floors with only 40 watts in a home setting. Fo ronly $50 delivered, this was a steal and a great upgrade from any cheap 12" speaker.

Tries to do cleans and distorted well

Better bass response then other speakers I've tried, but overall kind of bland sounding. Doesn't add much character, highs are muted. Doesn't break up well at very high volumes (kind of shrill sounding). Doesn't seem to get very loud.

I've used weber and reverend speakers, I think I'll go back to the weber thames. Those have better chime, but the bass isnt as good, but that's what a bassist is for, eh? The weber costs twice as much, so it may be a 'get what you pay for' kind of issue.

Well, as has been said, it's a speaker, not many features to speak of, unless I'm using it wrong and it does tricks I don't know about or something. 8 ohms, 80 watts (I think), about 80hz to 5khz frequency response or so.

Well, I run an Ibanez RG7421 seven string into a Digitech Valve FX preamp into a BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer into a Carvin DCM150 power amp into a Legion Sound 2x12 cab. The Legion Sound cab is very cheap ($100 new) but a great deal for someone who needs a guitar cab on a budget. The stock speakers in it are crap of course, so I decided to upgrade one of them. I only use one 99% of the time becuase I don't currently gig out, I just record at home. I did some research on various speakers but Celestions are pretty spendy, so I was looking into Eminence, but then I came across Avatarspeakers. They came highly recommended and had a great deal going on this model so I snagged one.

According to some folks I talked to on the forums here at HC, the G12H-80 is supposed to be very similar if not identical to the Classic Lead 80. Whether or not that's true, Celestion says that it is a very neutral speaker which adds little coloration to the sound. Apparently it was designed for modeling amps so that it would faithfully reproduce whatever is fed to it. I'm not using a modeler, so again I can't verify or refute that assertion. But I can say a few things about it's performance.

It is a very neutral speaker, no doubt there. No cone breakup to speak of, even frequency response, not harsh, not overly smooth. It has a lovely midrange that is loud and present without seeming glaring or honky. I hate honky midrange, but I also hate overly scooped sounds, and this speaker is the perfect balance in my opinion. It is loud and ballsy, very responsive to playing dynamics and touch, and it has just the right crunchy tone to it that I love. It handles high gain amazingly well, the clean tones are less impressive but still good, but I do feel that it shines most for distorted rhythm and lead playing. It is not a terribly bassy speaker in my opinion, the bass just seems balanced with everything else. Not boomy or thunderous but tight and clear. It helped my sound immensely, like taking a blanket off my cab. I'll probably get another one if I ever get the dough to get a second upgrade, it's just the perfect speaker for me. Especially considering that I got this for $42 from Avatar, it's probably one of the best investments I've ever made for my guitar setup. I'd recommend this speaker to anyone, it's neutral response and ballsy tone are just great for anything you'd want to do. But if heavy, toneful distorted rock or metal playing is your bag this thing will do wonders for your sound. If you're on a budget like me. I guess if you have a two thousand dollar tube amp with V30's or something you might not need this, but for most of us who get gear on a budget it's a GREAT speaker for the money.

If you feed it the right amount of power and don't try to run subwoofer level bass through it it should last for a long time. Seems solidly built, nice heavy magnet, and hey, it's a Celestion. But I've only had it for a few months so I guess I'll have to have no opinion.

I like the Celestion website, pretty informative, but I've never dealt with them directly. Avatar, however, was great. I called after the purchase and they answered my questions thoroughly and politely.

Great speaker, especially considering the price. You know how sometimes you can get a piece of gear and really like it but you kind of think "If only it had just a TAD less mids, it would be perfect" ? Well, this speaker is just perfect. I honestly can't think of anything I'd change about it. I understand it's not for everyone, just like any piece of gear, but it's great for what I do.

80 watts, 8 ohms

I pulled the stock speakers out of my 5150 combo and stuck two of these in their place. While they were an improvement, they weren't exactly what I was looking for. I had read that these were like G12T's with more bottom end, which sounded good to me, so I gave them a try. Before buying them I emailed Dr. Decibel (the celestion guy/department that answers speaker related questions) to inquire as to how they stack up against the G12T's that I have in my Marshall cabs. He said that the G12H would probably sound a little sterile with a tube amp as the speaker was originally designed for Line 6 to be used in their amps and cabs. Upon getting the speakers, I agree with Dr. Decibel completely. While very nice speakers, the make my 5150 sound very lifeless, almost smooth, when in reality I was going for the chunky, in your face tone that I get out of the G12T's. Sure enough, when I plugged a Line Six Flextone HD2 into a cab loaded with these, it sounded great. So, for modeling amps, or even solid state amps, these speakers rock. For tube amps, it depends on your taste. Some people prefer the tone from these to the more biting tones of some other guitar speakers. If you like raw, stay away from these, they are not what you are looking for.

No problems, but if you treat speakers the right way, they usually last for a long time, especially celestions.

They will answer emails quickly, but I haven't tried to contact them in any other manner.

Dave at www.avatarspeakers.com will give you the best deal you'll find on these. Everyone else wants $80 per driver, plus shipping. Dave will have four of these at your door in a matter of days for $180 ($151 plus $29 shipping). He will also answer any questions that you might have. I swear by the guy, the only speakers I buy elseware are the ones that he doesn't stock.

these are 80 watt'ers with a 50oz magent. Good solid speaker construction.The speaker has an extra set of terminals to wire it up two ways if that is your wish. Doesn't mostly all 12 inch guitar speakers have the extra terminal??

Oh man great sounding speaker! As two others in this G12H-80 review, I replaced a crappy Peavey Blue Marvel Speaker for this G12H-80. I have a 45 watt all tube combo 1-12. The amp sounded good with the Blue Mavel at low to moderate volumes. When I would crank up the amp to higher volume levels the Blue Marvel's highs were very offensive, very grateing. I decided to try out the G12H-80 and wow what a great improvement. I thought the amp might sound alittle sterel at first, breaking in this new speaker. It wasn't sterel at all. Imedietly I noticed a vast improvment in sound. The bass response is alot tighter and the highs don't cutt your head off like the Blue Marvel. I give it an eight cause I know there are better sounding speakers out there butt their not going for $50.00.

It has good construction and high wattage.

I got this speaker through Avatar. Right now they are running a super deal on these speakers.

This is a great speaker. I wasn't sure how I was going to like the G12-80. I was afraid becuase of the speakers low price that mabey it wouldn't be a big improvment over the speaker I was using. Boy was I wrong! The sound is awesome even with only acouple of hours of playing time on it at moderate to high volumes. I would most definately recomend this speaker for anyone with a high power combo amp. It gives you the headroom you need and sounds crisp,clean & tight!

Although these speakers seem nearly like they're voiced for jazz, the smooth highs and very strong and tight bass make it perfect for high gain tones and luscious cleans too.

These speakers are rated at a 99db sensitivity level, a little louder than the old G12T-75 speakers common in older Marshall cabinets and 1 db quieter than the Vintage 30's common in Mesa cabinets. In comparison to those two speakers, the G12H-80 has much stronger bass and less graininess in the midrange than the 75's while it doesn't have the nasal upper-mids that the Vintage 30's seem to have.

These sound far better than the Crate drivers originally in the cabinet, with much better focus and more power handling. The G12H-80's beat out the Eminence and Jaguar speakers that I've used in terms of clearity.

These speakers have extremely heavy magnets, nicely constructed baskets, quality cones and surrounds. With the high power handling, I doubt that the cones, spyder or voice coils will take much damage from even high levels.

Over the past twelve years I've heard several speakers and these are the only ones that I've used that sound smooth enough for my clean sounds and hit hard enough for my distortion tones. I would definitely replace these speakers with the same if anything happened to them.

12 inch 80 watt speaker with a 50 oz. magnet. Solid!

I just put 2 of these in a 5150 combo. The bass is way tighter now and the highs don't cut your head off. Also, as below stated there is no mid-spike which is nice.

Don't think these will blow!

I got these on a clearance table for just under $100. I'm sure glad I discovered these. They were returns from the Rivera amp factory. They really need about 10 hours at least to break in but they sound wonderful so far. Great find!

This is a reveiw for 2 replacement speakers I purchased from E-Bay. I used them to replace the stock spaker in my Peavey Studio Pro 112 - the "Blue Marvel". Not sure who @ Peavey thought that one up...LOL.
they have a sensitivity of 99dB, a resonance of around 90Hz with response up to 5kHz. The design uses a 1.75" coil wound on Kapton with a 50oz ceramic magnet. It's quite a forward, modern voiced speaker and should give a versatile and dynamic sound. It is quite well suited to DSP type amps and multi FX, and has the ability to stay clean to quite high levels, and cope with low gain overdrive right through to screaming metal. overall the sound is tight and crisp, with treble crunch and bite and punchy bass.

It's a speaker...here is some info that I got from Celestion:

Man, what a difference these speakers have made!!!! The "BLue Marvel" - I laugh every time I say that - would really fart out @ moderate volumes - esp with palm mutes. The magnet on the Celestion is twice the size of the Blue Marvel. The Celestion is more balanced sonically, and VERY LOUD!!! I was able to crank the amp fully with no farting out and Damn, it was REALLY loud. It has great projection with a balanced overall tone without the mid spike some replacement speakers have. Cones are very stiff initially, but will loosen up after about 10 hours of mod volume playing. They just keep sounding better and better. There is a good range of music that the speaker will handle - nice sparkly cleans to full-on metal madness.

so far so good.

Excellent speaker for the money. Get them if you can find them..