Celestion S12-150 Sidewinder

Celestion S-150 - 150 Watt Speaker, solid cast frame. Not many features needed. Read about these in a book about Marshall amps written in the 90's. They recommended these for a combo amp so I put one in my Marshall 2554 and it made the factory Vintage 30 eat dirt. Speaker was probably made in late 80's but I'm not sure about Celestion's date codes.
I play Rock and Metal and this covers all the bases. Would probably work great for other types of music if you want your amp to control the sound instead the speaker being pushed to it's limits.

I play 1977 Gibson RD Artist, RD Standard with Gibson High Output Mark IV Pickups, 1978 Les Paul Custom w/Factory T-Tops, Guild S300D with Sheptone Tribute PAFs played through a Marshall 2554 Combo and Marshall 2553 with two 2 X 12" Cabs. This speaker handles everything I can throw at it with no problem. I've experimented with Vintage 30's, GT-75's, Celestion 70W, Celestion Greenbacks, Fane AXA-12's, Fane AX-12's Celestion 10" 35 Watt speakers. I prefer the Sidewinders because they are much more mellow and work better for the range of music I play.

I own 14 of these and I only had one that ever had to be reconed but I bought it used and I believe the guy played his bass through it a little too hard so I don't fault the speaker with that problem. I have never needed a backup at a gig with these so I would say they are about as tough as you're going to get.

I bought all my speakers used so I've never had any experience with Celestion and I expect any warranty has long since been gone so I have to say no comment on this subject.

I've been playing since 1974 and I have always loved Marshall amps and Celestion speakers. I played through a lot of equipment over the years and I only tried the Sidewinder as an experiment from the review I read and now it is my only speaker. I started using these in the mid 90's about the end of their production run. I really like these speakers and since they are no longer in production I buy them when ever I find them, that is why I own 14. If these were stolen I would definitely replace them.
The only thing I can say against them is that if you want to create distortion by overdriving your speakers these are not the ones to get. They stay tight and your amp or pedals will have to do the distortion if you want it but nothing really bad to say about them. I've paid from $65.00 to $150.00 for one of these and I always felt they were very much worth it, especially for the price.

Late 80's made loud 150 watts guitar chassis speaker,
16 Ohms impedance,
black mate frame,

This speaker includes a faning system in the magnet,
just like Mesa Black Shadows C-90.
(if you see one of a kind,
take a look at the center of magnet,
you will see a little round metal grill
covering the faning system).

It provides a loud but highly defined fat and shiny sound at the same time ... One of the warmest speaker Celestion made, but nothing to compare with EVM in my point of view, not the same features ...
I use it in a modified Marshall 1960A on left upper side with a Custom 90 on left down side open back (left side) + Two Vintage 70 watts Marshall G12 speakers on right side closed back (same setup as the Road King cab from Mesa in a way...) Heard this Sidewinder hurts a lot more than the Black Shadow and it suprised me a bit ... but...so.

Seems to be a really strong structured chassis, and no fear at all to push it very hard ... if keep a speaker out from extreme cold or heat, and don't expose it to moisture, so i think you can keep it a thousand years... but i wish to not last so a long time...

Never had to deal with ... But Electrohill provides a wide choice of good stuff ... and a smooth service too !

I play for an average of ten years, and i use a Gibson Les Paul PAF Classic Double Cutaway (through) > 6 band eq > TS808 (AnalogMan modified Maxon OD9) > 10 band eq > G. Dennis wah/vol > DSL100 Head (differents preamp tubes mixed)... For the last two years i begun to find a great tone system and i didn't want to spend a lot of money so, i sell the G12T75 and replaced the 4 speakers by high quality ones, including the SideWinder, and i know i had a really huge luck to find it NOS, in this shop, but will never regret having installed it into my 4x12 cab !!! Wish Celestion could make again sorta speakers ... ;??)

8 ohms 150 watts speaker with strong die-casted frame

It has a very well defined, transparent sound, tight bass and beautiful crisp highs. Absolutely not harsh. For my sound (single coil, self developed stomp boxes, marshall jmp 100W head), it lacks the low bass response a bit - i even tried 4 of them in a closed cab and still no deep bass. Therefore, I use 1 sidewinder (8 ohm 150 watt) in open cabinet parallel to a pair of celestion g12t75 (16 ohm 75 watt) closed cabinet. This combination is perfect, the sound is powerfull, warm and well defined - even when playing strange chords and using overdrive. Compared it to greenbacks, vintage30's, g12h's, ... but nothing as good as 1 sidewinder and 2 g12t75's. Only little backdraw in this setup is miking of my sound for pa systems, of course. 1 mic just in front of the sidewinder is the best approximation, maybe a combination of 2 mics or mic in front of the sidewinder and guitar di for adding bass.
Efficiency of the speaker is also good; just a little louder than the 2 g12t75's together.

no problems and it looks well built. On a 100W tube amp cranked up, I wouldn't connect only 1 sidewinder though but in practical situations, you would prefer at least 2 12 inch speakers anyway.

had no problem but is already out of production for approx 10 years now and pretty hard to find so I wouldn't expect to find recone sets if needed.

in combination with the 2 g12t75's, its perfect for me. If you don't need heavy bass its perfect anyway, just use 1 or 2 sidewinders in an open cab.
Second hand, if you can find them, the price will probably be comparable to vintage30's or greenbacks so good value for money.

The S12-150 sidewinder was made in the 80's to early 90's to
compete with EVM12L speakers. But instead of 200 watt speaker
the sidewinder is 150 watts. It also has the cone ridges for a
warm but fat bass responce. Also due the the high power magnet
the sidewinder has very tight Bass, great for many styles that
don't want speaker flab. These are getting hard to find, but one
of Celestion's best unknown speakers. If you can find one or two
snag them up! High performance speaker, one of the best....

Warmer than an EV. Mellower treble responce. Nice woody Celestion
sound, with less breakup than the lower watt models. A great well
balanced speaker.

Well it's 12-15 years old and looks like new. I have a greenback
from 68, one of the best speaker I've owned, never reconed-still
works great. I think that says alot.

Never used them..

I my opinion this is one of Celestions best speakers. Like SRV
I like to get my sound from the amp, I don't like alot of speaker distortion. I play 60's 70's Soul/Jazz Funk & Rock of that era. For
these styles the Sidewinder is tops. Well balanced and clear, tight
phat bass. Another great Celestion flavor....