Celestion G12M

First, you must understand, i'm writing this as a double review of two models of celestion Speakers. the G12M (greenback 25) and Classic 30, actually a 60 watt speaker. I purchased an awesome 2X12 cabinet from Steelsound.com, 2/3 closed back, carpetted, very nice cab to put this dissimilar combination of speakers in. I have a Nomad (nobad) 55 that lacked bottom end luster with the 1 12 celestion black shadow. Let me tell you something, i've hit pay dirt with this setup. The features are fine. Speakers are speakers as far as any frills. It's listed later about the sound

Ok. Nomad55 1X12 combo, EL34's, Black Shadow Celestion. Lacked bottom end no matter what i tried. Taking a lead from some of gibson's products i reasearched extensively regarding speakers of various designs and companies. All signs pointed to celestion. Ok. Needed bottom end. Classic 30 rated fine, but listings and specs showed a little harsh for my taste, BUT it did refrain from break up just a bit more than the G12M. IDEA: What if i put one of each in a 2X12 cab? HMMM???? ordered one each, 16 ohm, wired up for 8ohm cab. Plugged in...HMMMMM what's this? Sounds like i have a base player joining me on the low end. Heaven on the high end. Nomad is truly NO BAD now (unless bad means good-but when i grew up...bad sucked) but none the less, it kicks butt now. all 6 voices of the nomad are usable with any guitar i choose. I have been playing for a long time and for the first time in my life i've really outdone myself on purchasing. Picture explaining to your wife BUYERS REMORSE over a NOMAD!!! OUCH. It almost was sold on EBAY until this little 2 X 12 put together cab resurected the soul of the nomad. heres how it sounds. the 25 throws nice mids and bottom end chunk and starts to break up, the 30 stays high mid and bottom end..and cleaner to a point...then all hell breaks loose with just a turn of the volume knob on the guitar. spend 289.00 and buld you one just like mine.....you won't be unhappy..in fact, you'll send me money just cuz you like it so much!

hey, they're celestions...what do i need to write about here.

Not sure. if they are celestions...i'm going to beat the hell of the speakers anyway...why should i go crying to someone if i damage these things. besides....can you "break" a celestion anyway? Use the darn things according to the specs (ie; don't run 1000 watts into a 25 watt speaker-DUH)they will last a good 10-20 years.

Here's the deal. Any weak combo could benefit from this speaker array. Steelsound.com SSG 212 empty cab, 1 celestion G12M Greenback 25, 1 Celestion Vintage 30. you can email me for more details if you want. I'm not selling anything, or marketing, for any company. I'm a happy customer. This wasn't rocket science to read the celestions specs on 40 speakers to come to this choice but if you need a little 2x12 50 watt total cab, i've already got it designed for you free of charge.

25 watt, 16 ohm speaker. Seems well built.

I'm using this speaker with my Peavey Classic 30 which im my humble opinion is a great, very underated amplifier. Not perfect, but once you "season it to taste" it does a damn fine job delivering the goods. Betwwen the JJ Eurotubes and the Greenback this amp has done a total turn-around. The stock Blue Marvel speaker does a fine job in its own right, but I really like how the high end comes across with the Greenback. Seems to be more defined and more detailed with either a clean or distorted sound. The mids come thru very nice without that "barking" quality that some speakers have. As far as the lows go, I'm still doing a bit of experimenting, meaning this: due to the Classic 30 using EL84 power tubes the low end is going to be a bit compressed. You're not going to get those chunking lows out of it. I made a closed back cabinet about the some size as the C30's cab but the bass end was a bit much. Rather droney. I have another cabinet that I built (a 2X12 design using the dimensions of a Carvin Leagacy cabinet) and the bass came thru much tighter and not so droney. I think if I add another Greenback to this cabinet and experiment with the back-side of the cabinet (as far as how much of it should be opened/closed) I think I'll have real winner on my hands. Overall I think this speaker really added a whole new dimension to my amp. Both clean and distorted sounds come thry great and I'm very happy with the results. The best thing for me was once this speaker was broken in I could hear a slight shade of "plexi." Not 100 % (the amp does say Peavey, not Marshall) but just a shade.

As with any speaker, don't exceed it's power capabilities and do take your time breaking it in. Start off easy. When first trying it out just turn your amp on and leave it for about half an hour. Then start off playing at a low volume for a while and gradually increase the volume. You can't start off on 10 and expect all to be fine.

Everytime I've e-mailed them they've always answered within a day or two. Seem very helpful, but I have'nt had to deal with them other than that. I'll give this a 5 based on we'll see.

Again, overall I'm very happy with the sounds I'm getting with this speaker. It also sounds great when I use my Tonebone pedals thru it. (The Hot British delivers some serious crunch and chunk when you need it.)

I am really impressed with this speaker. The midrange response is excellent compared to other popular guitar speakers in general.

I can get very nice warm clean tone with my tele neck pickup and nicely defined crunch with my Les Paul / Marshall 1987x and Marshall 2204 setups.
I could not get that caliber of sounds with any other popular speaker in this price range.

No issues with reliability.

I have been playing mostly classic rock for several years. I like these speakers and I would definitely replace them if I had to.
I really like the midrange response and the classic rock tone that comes from these.
I've had 4 different types of popular Celestions in my Marshall 4x12. This is definitely my favorite of their newer line.
Unfortunately, I had a couple of originals, but sold them a while ago. I can honestly say I know the difference and these are not bad at all. I realize that it may not be fashionable to like these reissues, but I go by my own ears, and experiment a lot.

My rig: Fender single coil strat, Boogie nomad 45, realtube, crybaby.

Celestions really are the best. Don't crank massive bass into this. Your speakers should rate at twice your amp if you don't want to blow them. If you crank a 100 watt head into 4 of these, be warned.

I have 4 of these in a marshall cab. They sound great. Has the classic celestion high midrange response, they are probably much darker in an open back cab.

I'm posting this to clear up "celestionese" for people looking to buy one. These speakers do not have a tight low end, run huge bass into them and they will freak out. When celestion says "sweet high end" or even warm that does not mean "this is a dark speaker". They mean it won't put out super high trebles. It will still put out a bright upper midrange tone, but will not have huge lower mids, which is what I think most people want when they say warm. I have these vintage 30's, g12L-35's, and silver series g12-60's. The vintage 30's are much brighter and reproduce the bass better and tighter, and is all around a more versitile speaker. But if you run a strat into these things, man that lead sound is to die for. Its right there, that hendrixy live sound (with a british power section anyways). I have no idea what "woody means" but I will describe these as smooth, bright and focused. I mix the with vintage 30's and I love the tone, as the vintage 30's really pick up the low end and add a bit of sparkle. The vintage 30 is a harsher sounding speaker, but these have not been the least bit harsh.
These things are not as "quiet" as you think. These are rated at 97 db SPL, the stock fender speakers at 98. They also push almost no bass so what your getting is a serious dose of upper mids, right where you aren't eaten up by the bass and cymbals. The vintage 30 is louder, but in two cabs side by side you can certainly hear both. These have none of the irritating shrillness of the few stock eminance speakers i have collecting dust.

If you really want "warm" try the g12L-35's, they are dark and distort real easy, with not much high end. These are for high mid lead tones and they rule at that one task. None other.

Reissue Celestion Greenback speaker - 25 watts, mine is an 8 ohmer. Standard Celestion quality, which I think is usually pretty good.

Features? - how many can a speaker have? I purchased the speaker used but it was in excellent shape. I also bought this to replace the stock Eminence speaker in a Fender Blues Jr like the guy below did.

I purchased this speaker from Dave's Guitar Shop in LaCrosse Wisconsin - I have never gotten a bad deal in that store! - the speaker was used but was in excellent shape, and they even gave me a box to take it home in. Picked it up for $40 plus tax.

I think it made a tremendous difference in my amp - everyone I've jammed with since I installed the speaker has commented about how great the amp sounds. I play blues and classic rock and have used the amp for small room gigs and we just finished a new demo which I used the amp on. For what I am doing this seems to be the speaker for me. I just bought another pair of Greenbacks off Harmony Central and will put them in my '68 Pro Reverb - I hope the change is the same.

Current use is a 25 watt speaker in a 15 watt amp - should last forever, right? i think if it would somehow blow it would be a freak of nature type of thing. We will see how a pair of them holds up in the Pro Reverb

Never had to deal with Celestion and this is a used product so there is no warranty -

For $40 this was a great deal and enhanced what a lot of people think is a killer blues amp - I would obviously buy them again (already have). If this speaker blew up for some reason I would get another one for the Blues Jr.

I purchased a Celestion Greenback for use in a Fender Blues Jr.,
7/2001.

I gave the "features" rating a "3", because if you use a Greenback
as a salad mixing bowl, the cone gets all gooey. The Greenback also has a spider.

Guitars: 77LP(stock), 99PRS McC(stock);
HomeMade Tele(Warmouth/Vintage DiMarzios);
HomeMade Strat(Warmouth/Vintage Dimarzios).

All guitars sound pretty decent thru the BJr./Greenback;
much better than the BJr./Fender speaker- before the Greenback proved defective.

I rated the Greenback an "8" because althought it is somewhat muddy,
but it sure beat the pants off the OEM Fender speaker (sound-wise).

Greenback was never pushed, shoved, pounced on by gorillas,
flung into orbit by dwarfs, it was never sent to wander the desert
nor to hop like a bunny. It's life was relaxed. It was never fed excessive current. My left ear is shot - I cant crank anything up
anymore (is this more information than you need????)

Although it still works, the Greenback is useless.

It developed a "Metalic High piched shrill" overtone on what should of been Creamy Clapton-y creamy-clap.

I re-installed the OEM Fender 12" speaker - and voila`!
no useless overtones!

I rated Reliability a "2" because $100- for a speaker that's
hardly used, never abused, and that didn't even make it to the ripe old age of 10 months - is a bummer.

I've sent Celestion a couple of email's. Did You hear from them?
I'm in the US and Celestion is in Ipswitch, England. Any warranty
swap would have to be local.

The Celestion package, and product define no warranty terms or conditions. Therefore, the Warranty is Unconditional (without conditions). (Wish me luck with this one!)

I rated Customer Support "2" because their Web Site havs a nice
email Pop-Up - that doesn't work. I found the e-mail slot, anyway.

I have been playing for around 50,000 years - give or take an old Alvin Lee record (vinyl). Besides playing I build/repair/tweak twangers, as well as tend to amplification stuff. My favorite amp is a '78 MusicMan 210-65. I can't kill it. It's EL34's got a plate voltage that you can use as an Arc Welder. It's speakers are still the originals. Unlike the Celestion Greenback, my 2 MusicMan 10" speakers sound as good today as they did during the Protozoic era, circa 1978. The amp has never ever broken. Never required repair.
Yeah, sure I bias the amp when I re-tube - but chainging the oil ain't a repair.

I gave the Greenback a rating of "3" because, in my experience,
they caused me loss of time, labour, and money.

G12m is the celestion greenback 25 watter. These speakers came in a marshall cabinet that was made in 82 so im sure they are the early ones and not the re-issues. But since the older ones lasted me this long (still work perfectly after thrashing nu metal) i got a feeling the new ones must be even better. The fact that i have used this speaker for 20 odd yrs and still works fine tells me this speaker is extremely durable.

These speakers in a 100 watt 412 quad push some air. Im using a stock 78 fender into a marshall jcm800 (2204) to power the gm12 loaded quad and sounds really cool for 70's rock, heavy rock and bright cleans. The speakers produce great highs, solid mids and ball breakin lows (although not the best).
An example of what this speaker aint good for is if you hooked it up to a mesa rectifier and heard these speakers try and cope with the intensely abnormal lows produced by that amp, they dont work good for that (but mind u they still didnt break)

a ten easy because ive had this speaker for 20 yrs and they still put the best sound ive ever heard from a quad.
These speakers are really quite unique and undoubtedly the most used speaker by pro rock acts today

great speaker that is truly unique and has defineately shaped the sound of rock music to some degree through the times.

I love the people who submit reviews and say that something sounds like crap. Then you find out they were using some shitty guitar with some cheap ass amp and some store brand cables. What do you expect? How much perfume can one pour on a pick of shit.

I replaced my G12T-75 speakers with greenbacks. I want warmth. Anything that advertises warmth, I have to have it.

I just recieved them not too long ago, but I don't expect any problems

I have to give the greenback a 10. This makes up for the scholar who gave it a "2" or something.

The Greenback speaker from Celestion. As a user I changed out the standard 12" Fender Blues DeLuxe for this speaker. Low power rating, low efficiency (watts into dBs) and lower overall loudness.

Resolution a big improvement. Flatter response, less bass but higher definition. Great clean channel. Tips beautifully into crunch at lower volumes. Very 'easy' on the ears. Less of the 'fat' sound. Best speaker I ever heard for hearing the sound of the guitar. Not sensational, a sound you have to work for. Heavy distortion betrays limitations of Fender drive channel. For my style of playing, a very worthwhile upgrade. Although it in effect turns a 40 watt amp into a 20 watt perceived loudness, it brings a new dimension of subtlety. No swank, but if you like finesse this is worth a listen.

Ain't blown it yet

Took 22 weeks to be delivered to the dealer - that's too long for an off the shelf piece of kit

Playing 7 years - use two Axis Sports from Music Man - 2 X humbucker and 3 X single coil. Both would sound stunning through a tranny radio.

Reissue of the famous 25 watt greenback used by Marshall, etc. in the '60s and '70s.

Crap. Flat, harsh, unmusical. Used through my '70 50 watt JMP in an open back 2-12 cab, they sound NOTHING like what they're supposed to emulate.

Haven't done me wrong here.

DO NOT buy these speakers if you want to get the late '60s/ early seventies warm rock tone. I replaced these with vintage 30s.