Celestion G12K-85 Cabinet

It's a speaker.

I have played a HIGHLY modified Sundown through them, as well as my Peavey Ultra 120 Plus head, Marshall Jubilee 2553, and my Marshall JCM-800 2205. This cab has sounded great with all amps.Sounds fine distorted or clean. I think they are a little on the bright side. I play everything from 24 3/4" scaled humbucker guitars to strats and teles. My style ranges from early thrash and early british metal to neoclassical a'la Yngwie and progress/power metal.

At one time I also used an ADA Mp-1 with a Marshall Valvestate power amp through this same ACOUSTIC brand 4X12. I was always happy with my tone.

I haven't blown any with any of my amps.

Okay, I have been playing hard rock/ heavy metal since 1988. I have used an ACOUSTIC (that's the NAME BRAND) 4x12 with these 85 what Celestions for atleast 15 years. I have played a HIGHLY modified Sundown through them, as well as my Peavey Ultra 120 Plus head, Marshall Jubilee 2553, and my Marshall JCM-800 2205. This cab has sounded great with all amps.

I'm not sure what that Mike guy was thinking but the speakers he had were stamped "ACOUSTIC" because it was their OEM speaker. For everyone else's benefit I'll also let you know that these are the EXACT speaker Mesa/Boogie calls a 90 watt Black Shadow. They both use the same frame, magnet structure, and share the Celestion 1777 cone.

1989 Peavey 4x12(found year on a sticker on the input jack plate)loaded 16 ohm G12K-85's, looks like they used baltic birch for cab, plenty of dead space gives good low end. It does everything a speaker does, no more no less, gets a 5 i guess.

Reading the other reviews for this speaker has made want to speak out on it, as most of what i have read has been very biased or just compares the speakers to other celestions, which i don't find too helpful.

I used this cabinet extensively during my metal phase, at the time i ran a gibson explorer loaded with emg 81's -> sanamp GT-2 -> music man HD212(150 hybrid tube combo). I liked this setup cuz it rocked hard, period. the music man had TONS of ceiling(it could get loud without distorting) and the 4x12 cabinet had absolutely no problems keeping up with it. the G12K-85 does a real good job at maintaining the tone you want, meaning that if you already have your sound you like(ie: the guitar and pickups you like, the effects boxes, the amplifier...) then these speakers do an awesome job of reproducing that tone without drastically changing it. they don't break(distort) easily so that tone is uneffected at relatively high volumes, i am not saying the speakers don't sound good with distortion, it is just that they don't color the distortion with their own distortion(like V30's sound awesome cranked cuz they distort the signal even on a loud clean, same thing with greenbacks, the G12K-85 are more stable). these speakers also give you a firm low end and, imo, kept overly distorted tones from becoming too muddy, they sorta "tame the beast". i played with lots of distortion at very loud volumes with this setup and it kept it's composure very well.

some things i have read that i don't understand: I see absolutely no problems running solid state or tube amps with this thing, sounds great for both as long as you liked your tone going into this thing to begin with(and rated at 85 watts a speaker,340 watts a 4x12, you are going to be hard pressed to find a solid state amp that comes anywhere close to testing this things limits, to me it seems made for 100 to 150 watt tube amps). i really don't know about the whole "made for acoustics" thing, but these things handle distortion just fine, no mud or mush or whatever that some guy was talking about below. also, someone earlier said that they lacked the bottom end of a g12-80 or something, and then he said his G12K cab was open backed, open back cabs aren't as bassey period so if you want alot of low end use closed back cabs(made with birch with lots of space preferably). some other guy was using a 8 ohm head on the 16 ohm cabinet, yer probably gonna lose some tone with that. bottom line is you can't fault a speak for what setup lacks.

i don't personally really like this cabinet too much anymore, it has been sitting around for years with very little play. i have switched to lower wattage class "A" amps and have been prefering my orange 2x12 with V30's(mainly for that distortion thing i mentioned earlier). imo the G12K-85's are too sterile for my personal taste, there is not enough breakup for me with the tones i like now, and it doesn't have the feedback and harmonics i have come to prefer with my V30's. that being said, there is times i run it with particular people i play with, i'll match the V30's with them for the extra low end and chunk(sounds quite good really, i run an orange TT to the 2x12 and my THD bivalve to the 4x12 peavey) and my roomate loves to play out of it with his hughes and ketner(handles all that distortion he plays with and keeps things firm and tight, good good low end too)

this is an 89 cab, almost 20 years old, i have put it through about 8 years of hell and loud playing; the speakers look brand new even though the cabinet looks haggered.

this cab will outlast the company, no need for support. 5 i guess

most of my comments are above, didn't leave much for here.

been playing for about 12 years, i own a bunch of stuff that i don't need to list off. if it were lost or stolen i wouldn't really care other than sentimental value and the loss of a good cab, but i would probably get something with G12H heritage speakers to replace it.

conclusion: if you are looking for something to reinforce your low end a bit, gives you good head room, and wont distort much, but can handle distortion, then you'll be happy with this. i am guessing the G12K-100's are modern equivalent.

I hope this helps clear up some misconceptions on this cab.

i have several peavey speaker cabinets with celestion g12k 85's.
they are without a doubt the BEST speaker i have ever owned or tried.

these speakers are very clean , clear, and warm without( being muddy), and they are very efficient.

the g12k 85 is far better than vintage 30's , greenbacks, or even the g12t 75 .

i like the g12t 75 , but these seem to have more low end.
they just sound better.
they are awesome clean , or with extreme overdrive/distortion sounds.

dont pay any attention to people saying they dont work with tube amps.
that is pure b.s. !!
these speakers came stock in peavey cabinets made for the VTM series of amps. the VTM's are high gain tube amps (the greatest "unknown" amp ever...in my opinion)

i have done many a-b comparisons between my marshall 1960 cabs with g12t 75's and my peavy 412m 's with the g12k 85's.
the peavy wins every time !!

every amp i own sounds better thru these speakers.
here is a list of my amps : marshall 2205 jcm800 , peavey VTM60 , sovtek mig60 ,peavey triumph60 ,marshall 8100 valvestate, epiphone valve jr ,jackson jg2 ,and my rack which is a marshall 9001 preamp, art sge mach 2, and bgw power amp.

i have been using these speakers since the 80's...so far so good .

never had to deal with customer support.

i have been playing for over 25 years , and have owned tons of equiptment over that time.
i like to try everything i can get my hands on in my search for the best guitars, amps, speakers, effects that are out there.

so far, no speaker that i have found can beat the celestion g12k 85.
i have tried celestions, emminance,jenson,peavey,and many others.

i bought this peavey 412-ms cab loaded with these g12k-85's. this is a stereo/mono cab that i wired for mono 16ohm operation.

one word describes these speakers AWESOME! much better than the g12t-75

100 % yes

emailed and called and actually got a LIVE PERSON!

been playing off and on for a few years now. CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A GOOD JUDGE OF TONE. THIS ONE HAS IT!

It's a speaker, so no features. I would rate this higher if Celestion had more infor about their speakers and even better, calculation software for designing speakercabs. This is just a chassis where I am talking about, not the complete cab.

Again, it is just a speaker. You can really destroy the sound with the wrong cabdesign or wrong amp setup/adjustment. Many reviews are about this sucks and that is brilliant. A guitar setup is the total of all components. So don't blaim only the speaker for what you are hearing. It is no voodoo, just physics. A rig is a total of different charasteristics on top of eachother, change one and the tone can really suck. So, adjust and tweak with different setups if you are possible. In my case I needed a bit moren highs in a ADA splitstack with G12S50's. They sounded not clear enough for my setup. I tried the G12T75, but in this cab they have a lack of mid's. I had bought a pair of used G12K85's a few years ago. And now finally the come into action. In my setup the sound really great. Great articulation. Still have to gig with them.

They are surely not new anymore and still working fine, don't know for how long.

The lack of information about speaker chassis' is really a bad thing IMO. They have all these info. Why not share it with your customers like they do in hifi and high-end audio.

I use the following rig: Samick SAN 430 with seymour duncan humbuckers, ADA MP-1 pre-amp, ADA B200S solidstate power amp, ADA splitstack 2x12.
Compared the G12K85 with the G12S50 and the G12T75.
Really love the articulation and presence of the speaker. No sharp edges, just the sound. I wish it was still in production.

It's a speaker cabinet, so features are limited. This one is a Crate 212 which says it runs 4 Ohms in stereo and 8 Ohms in mono, while these are 2-16 Ohm Celestion G12K-85s wired stereo only, so I think someone has had some fun with this cab. The cab has a baffle in between the speakers to isolate each speaker, completely sealing it of from its counterpart. This is small for a 2X12 cabinet (16X11X30), so with the baffle, there isn't much bass. It's particle board and carpet-covered with front-loaded speakers. I don't particularly care for this cabinet design.

I play all styles (25 years), but particularly old school punk and American hard rock through my Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with a Duncan JB bridge and a '57 PAF in the neck. This all goes into a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 100 Head. I usually play through my JCM 900 1960 cab with four G12T-75 speakers, but I have plugged into this Crate cabinet and swapped speakers with the 1960 for comparison's sake.

I'll focus on the G12K-85 speakers for this review. They are similar to the G12T-75, but with more mids. This is probably where Mike picked up the "mushy" sound he heard. For really heavy metal, the heavy bass and additional mids in these speakers with humbuckers could get muddy. This speaker is more like a cross between an Vintage 30 and a G12T-75. They have the somewhat harsh sound of the G12-T but the mids and lows of a V-30. They do not sound as good to my ears as the G12T-75 with the Marshall.

Mike is also right in that these sound best with modeling or solid state amps. I have used this cabinet with my POD and my Roland Cube 60 and they sound great. This is probably due to the flatter response curve than either the G12T-75 (too scooped) or the V-30 (mid-heavy). They sound absolutely great with the "Fender Twin" setting on the Cube 60. For hybrid and modeling amps these are as good as anything out there, and I will review them in this context.

Never any problems with the speakers. I have played loud with them, but never gigged this cabinet. It is heavy due to the particle board.

No contact with Crate, but Celestion has always responded to my questions quickly and helpfully. "Dr. Decibel", who I suspect is actually an amalgam of staffers at Celestion, provides a lot of good speaker info for guitarists. I have called SLM on my ampeg bass amp and they have always been great, but never called Crate.

Overall, this cabinet is useful for its intended purpose, which is as a stereo cabinet for a solid state amp. The G12K-85s make up for the bass-light cabinet design, but they do even better in the 1960 cab. I don't like particle-board cabs, however. There is no reson not to use even cheap plywood. If lost or stolen, I would probably get an Avatar 212 cabinet with G12 Century speakers (Much lighter and smoother sound).

At $150 and in perfect condition, though, it was a good find.

4-85 watt 16 ohm speaks in a JCM 800 Marshall Cab.

These speakers can handle a 100 watt head with ease. I use a Carvin head. It's been modded to sound like a Marshall and it does through these speakers. It has nice highs and mids meaning your sound will actually be heard in a band, and more bottom than speakers with lower watt handling. Probably doesn't sound good with a 5150 Peavey (but those amps already come with 2 plenty good speakers, and why would you buy one in the first place?). Very good hard rock sound, and nice clean (but meant to break up.

Reliable if you have a good tech.

Buy a new one if you blow one.

I have 2 Peavey 412 cabs with the K85's loaded in them. One has the gold Peavey logo which was sold with the Butcher/VTM series heads. The other has the standard silver logo. I believe they were only sold for a short period between the Scorpion/Black Widow era and the Sheffield's used today.

I've read mixed opinions of these speakers on other posts, but I've been more than pleased with their sound and performance for all types of music at low and high volumes. I use one for clean tones powered by a 160 watt Peavey Mace. Nice, clean, punchy sound with plenty of low end. I use the other for crunch with a 120 watt Peavey VTM120. I won't part with these cabs for any price.

Been very good to me. Have had to really crank these up at times when no cabinet micing was available, so they've been pushed pretty hard. Have spilled numerous beverages on them, had pets relieve themselves on them, stored in damp basements to very hot trailers. Still going strong!

Have never been able to get much info on these, even from Celestion. Have no idea what years or how long they were produced.

I always have my eyes open for these cabinets, as I would snatch em up for replacements. But, to each their own. What one person likes, another doesn't and vice versa.

This is a review for JUST THE SPEAKERS that are Celestion G12K-85, 16 Ohms each that are in a Peavey 412 cabinet. I got the cab with these speakers when i bought my Ampeg V-4 head for $275.So i figured maybe i payed around $30 each for the speaker, i don't know.

These speakers are in a Peavey 412MS enclosure SS (that's just what it says on the back of the cab). It's a 16ohm 412 cab I got along with my 1976 V-4 100 watt head that has 2,4,or 8ohm output.I use an american standard fender strat or an epiphone les paul jr through a boss ds-1,jim dunlop 535 wah and uni-vibe rotary speaker pedal. I mostly just use the ds-1. I play anything from punk to blues.

The cab with the ampeg sounded allright on clean tones but couldn't really handle the bottom end the V-4 put out which is understandable. I haven't played this cab with these speakers through anything else but the V-4 so im sure it would sound good with a solid state head judging by what the other guy on here said. I bought a v-4 412 cab for the head and it sounded much better im guessing because it was the original cab and it was an 8ohm cab.

I can tell you I have played these speakers in the peavey cab with my Ampeg V-4 turned the whole way up and they didn't blow. I'm not sure if thats relevant knowledge but i figured i'd add that.

The cab makes a funky vibrating sound from the back cover when the decimals are loud and the bass is turned up so i'd say the speakers would probably sound better in a different cab.

n/a

With the right Head this cabinet with these celestions would probably sound better. I would advise using a solid state head with these speakers like the other guy on here said. My Ampeg V-4 head was too much bottom end for this cab with these speakers. The cab makes a funky vibrating sound from the back cover when the decimals are loud and the bass is turned up so i'd say the speakers would probably sound better in a different cab.

This is a review for just the speaker, Celestion G12K85. 16 Ohms with a 50 oz magnet.

Well, I have a White Marshall 50 watt 1-12 JCM800 combo and the original speaker was a G12-80. Very nice. I bought this speaker to replace it since I blew my other playing bass through it. I asked my friend from our speaker repair shop and he said the "K" series speaker was a very good speaker. I bought it and it is very similar to the G12-80 but not quite as much bottom end. It can take alittle more power before breaking up and is real chunky. I like it. I think
it is more musical for clean sounds than the G12-80, but lacks the huge bottom. Just turn the bass more and viola! My amp is of course open back, so I can't comment on how this speaker sounds in a stack, but I would say that it could handle it all.

So far so good...

I don't have a clue....

I think for half the price of a new speaker, this was a great deal. My setup includes 1967 Gibson SG Special, CryBaby Wah, Rat, Marshall.
I have been playing since 1985 and I think I know good tone. I have never gigged in front of an audience bigger than 5 people but I like to crank it up. My tastes run from STP,Pearl Jam,Who,Led Zep,311,Allman Bros,Hendrix,Pink Floyd,Van Halen,SRV,Clapton, Misfits,Metallica,Nirvanna, Foos...basically any good guitar music...

85 Watts, 8 or 16 ohm, 50 oz. magnet.

I had to post something when I read the other review below. That guy must have been smoking crack when he wrote his review. These speakers are designed by Celestion to be used with Acoustic Amps, that's why the word "acoustic" is stamped right into the metal frame of the speaker. They are NOT designed to be high gain speakers. I have had these speakers in a few different cabs and they make clean tones sound amazing, much fuller than the same amp and guitar sound through G12T's or Vintage 30's. If you plan on running a high gain signal into them it better be from a solid state amp. It can handle that type of signal very well, but when I plugged my 5150 into the cabinet it never sounded so bad. Clean it sounded very nice but as soon as I changed channels I thought I died and went to metal head hell. Keep in mind that I play very heavy metal, old school Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, etc. Having heard how good my little brother's Roc Pro (solid state) and a friend's Crate (also solid state) sounded through it I figured that the 5150 would like these speakers also. I later played some other high gain tube amps through these speakers with results comparable to the 5150 debacle. The solid state amps that I plugged into these all sounded bigger and beefier than they did through other cabs. For some reason, a high gain tube signal tends to turn mushy and fuzzy and just plain awful, at least with the setup I am using. If you're idea of a good heavy sound is blubbering and mushy then I guess these are good for metal. If you have ears and a brain then I think you will want to try something else for that type of application. They are good speakers, thus the rating, but I don't want any more people to be misled than already have by the clown below. The dude doesn't even know what punctuation is!!!

I have these in a few different cabs and I have never had a problem with them. Like all speakers, they will begin to degrade if they aren't properly maintained. Don't store them in a damp basement for a year if you want the cones to maintain their integrity. Use of common sense should steer you clear of any issues.

Celestion has a pretty nice homepage, but since they are in England getting a person on the phone or something of that nature is probably a little more difficult than if they were state side. However, there are Celestion dealers in all 50 states, so if you did need help you wouldn't have to go very far.

I picked up a couple of these for $50 a piece and like them enough to order more. I have two cabinets loaded with these guys and in the right application they are fantastic. I A/B between two amps for my clean and heavy sounds and these are in the cabs that I use for the clean side of my rig (pushed by a GK Micro Lead head).

Celestion 12" guitar speakers. 85 watts each, 16ohm.
i am using them in a peavey 2x12" cab, one open back, one closed.
huge magnets, solid construction, thick cones.

i didnt see any other reviews in here for the K series speakers so i thought id better speak up.
this is clearly a hard rock/metal speaker. i ran my preamp rig into this cab and the distortion is very very good. the speakers saturate smoothly and alike. i prefer open back sounding cabs.
the cleans stay pretty clean pretty far up the range.

i tried these speakers through my Fender Blues deluxe combo and yuck! it sounded like crap on the clean channel. the eminence is clearly a good choice in this case. the celestion was lifeless and felt hard to play.

i havent blown one yet, but if i do, id replace with the same speaker, if i can find 'em.

yeah right

remember, hard rock or metal. do not use this speaker in a blues jazz setting-you will be disappointed.