Celestion Vintage 30

New.

Because the Vintage 30 will break your foot, if it falls on your foot,
I have to rate it a 10.

I put a Vintage 30 into a mediocre sounding Solid State Peavey
Studio Pro 112. It no longer sounds mediocre. Smooth and chimey.
If the the Vintage 30 can make even a Peavey sound good...

Dependable.

(Very poor as a chamber pot.)

Celestion is imported into the 'US of Hey' by
Group One Importers, some place in Long Island, NY.

Had to deal with them once, about a Greenback with a coil rub.

The 'job' got done, but dealing with them was like
trying to get a Pep Boys Service Manager to
work with you after you've paid.

Nifty speaker, albeit a pricey one.

The stock Vintage 30's that you can buy from a Celestion dealer are 60 watts. What a lot of people don't realize (like David, two reviews below this one) is that Celestion makes custom Vintage 30's for Marshall that handle 70 watts per speaker. That is why the Marshall 1960 Vintage cabs are listed as 280 watts.

Having owned cabinets with both the standard 60 watt variety and the custom 70 watt version that Celestion makes for Marshall, I would have to say that the tone from the 70 watt version is little more "raw". The projection on these drivers is amazing. I have a 1960 cab with G12T's and one with Vintage 30's and the one with Vintage 30's stomps all over the other one in terms of raw volume. Whether they sound better or worse than the G12T's depends on your amp, I've found that each amp I own likes one more than the other, at least in terms of tone. For sheer volume, if they are both plugged in you really only hear the one with the Vintage 30's. The other one get's totally overpowered. A friend of mine plays a full stack loaded with G12T's and when we plugged his amp into my 1960 loaded with Vintage 30's it was much louder even though it was only one cabinet. The Vintage 30's can handle all the bottom end that you can send to them, but they still maintain the crisp top end you would ever want. They aren't quite as clean as the G12T's, they have a slightly fuzzy texture to them that you will love or not depending on your setup. The also have a lot more mids than the scooped tone you get from G12T's.

Never had a problem, but they are speakers. If you use them correctly you shouldn't have any problems. These things are industry standard, the quality shouldn't be an issue.

They have a nice homepage and they answer questions via email very quickly.

I play heavy metal, old school Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, etc. These speakers are right up my alley. They sounded either good or great depending on what amp I ran into them. They break up a little too early for some people's taste, but that is a player preference more than anything.

dunno what year this was made. must have been in the last 3-6 years.
crate tv112 closed back birch cabinets with 8 ohm vintage 30's. i guess this would be a review on the cab and the speakers, because the closed back definitely gives a much more pronounced low end and mid-range. i use 2 of these cabs in stereo and they have 2 ports. very versatile,and handles a LOT of volume. these 2 1-12 cabs are just as loud as a lot of 1/2 stacks that i have played along with.

i use a les paul classic, a carvin dc 127 and a couple of other no-name jobbies with this. i'm running a gsp-2101 pre w/ electro harmonix tubes(BIG difference) and a carvin t-100 tube amp and occasionally a morley wah/volume. alternatively, i do run a dg stomp as a backup if i'm sh**ing bricks or i want to run 2 different types of amps/effects in stereo. ANYWAY. about the speakers. when i first got these speakers, i was used to the g12m70 and g12t75 type celestion and was disappointed because i thought these were too middy, bassy, muddy etc. these have a large amount of midrange and can sound very dark especially with the closed back cabs. the beauty is that with the proper amount of e.q.,you can always cut this back and get rewarded with a very smooth--- not grainy-- mid sound, with very smooth (as opposed to harsh) highs (like you would definitely get with the modern leads and 12-75's.)i go back to these cabs who had tremendous "detail and clarity" ( which they do...in spades)and i feel like someone stuck a friggin' icepick in my ear. the v30's have a much more toneful and mature sound than those speakers (in my opinion) and ultimately more versatile. for instance, you can always cut bass or mid and still have a smooth sound. with the others (12-75 & g12m70)you will be hard pressed to find the sweetness even when you think you have finished adjusting back and forth on treble and bass. very sweet clean sounds, and very smooth to brutal distorted sounds. and yes, you can definitely achieve a classic 70's rock sound with these.i would like to hear these in open back as well, but it definitely suits all my musical styles.hard rock, metal,jazz,funk whatever!!

solid speakers. never fart out ( well...you can make any speaker fart out with enough bass and volume. but these go the distance)never a problem.

no warranty. i did e-mail the dr decibel dude. they (he?) replied very quickly, and was very helpful. of course he told me for fusion-ish hard rock ,metal needing balance and detail to get the classic 80's. so i did not really listen to him. anyway.sorry dr.D.i appreciate the help anyway. i'll give an 8 for this, but i don't know that if there was a problem how they would be to deal with.

been playing 18+ years. if stolen, i would probably get a combo and load it with these if i wasn't happy with the existing speakers. very balanced and smooth! probably not a bad idea to mix and match these with a more trebly type of speaker in a multiple speaker setup ( 1/2 stack,2-12 combo etc) to acheive different sounds....although they may project so differently that you would get a bad sound...but i really couldn't see that happening. check them out.

60 WATT v-30's in a Marshall JCM 900 1960A. Only things that suck are the handles on the cab as they rattle from the TREMENDOUS sound Im producing from the Vintage 30's.ALL YOU GUYS WRITING THESE HANDLE 70W neeed to visit the celestion website.

I play thru ESP LTD M-307,Digitech RP 300,Crate SPA 200 and I run it stereo.These speakers are SO LOUD.I play w/ lots of dist. and low end,and the v-30's just eat the room ALIVE. A little bit midrangy,but thats what eq's are for. As for the guy who said G12-75's are more reminisent of Metallica,dude,Hetfield uses V-30's.

Im pushing about 160w in stereo,and it doesnt sound like anythings going to blow.

No dealing w/ the company.

Been playing for 13 yr.Id definately replace these if something were to happen.I love the presence and the definition.A bit midrangy.But I play heavy music and Vintage 30's sound good to me.Dino of Fear Factory uses them,so I know Im not the only thrasher who prefers them.

Vintage 30


? Modern guitar loudspeaker designed to handle high output with vintage tone and style
? Tight and responsive single note definition, with masses of volume and sustain
? 100dB sensitivity makes the Vintage 30 ideal for use with high gain valve amplifiers
? The first choice for many modern rock guitarists

Power Handling 60W
Impedance 8 / 16 Ohm
Sensitivity (1W @ 1m) 100dB
Resonant Frequency 70Hz
Frequency Response 70Hz - 5kHz
Magnet Weight 50oz

I got this straight from the celetion site, no more 70 watt crying
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Les Paul std, custom, classic, and special. all with seymour duncan Alnico II pro's. Fender strats with seymours as well. I play all styles and these speakers are great. I always get complements from sound men and from other guitarists.

no problems so far

haven't needed them

I would by these speakers again. My band opened for another local act. I knew the guitar player and he let me use his cab with G12-75's the cabinet was so bright I had to turn the treble all the way off on my marshall (DSL 50, another excellent product).

It is a guitar speaker.

I bought a pair of these for my two cabinets. My amp is a Music Man HD-130 Reverb Head. I was expecting a real major difference over the Celestion V12-80's I already had. There was a major difference. The vintage 30's were a little louder, which was nice. However, they are to midrangy and get pretty muddy on the bottom. Like another reviewer, I could get a satifactory tone with tweaking of my effects. This is a nice speaker but In my not so humble opinion, I think the word "Vintage" just added about $40.00 to each speaker. I know I am in the minority here but this speaker is not the "holy grail". I have not found one that is. I wouldn't buy htis speaker just because I wanted teh "Blues" sound. That is so easy to get from almost any speaker with the right amp or overdrive pedal. Buy this one if you want to pay the extra for that little bit of nostalgia word "vintage".

Celestion is great about answering emails, and giving advise. I have used their speaker for two seperate applications. This one, and the other for replacing bad speakers in a Fender Super Reverb. I was given great advise by their Dr. Decibel. Both times the Silver Series was the recommended speaker.

Amps Music Man HD130 Head, Tech 21 Trademark 60. Guitars 1983 LesPaul Spotlight Special, 1965 Harmony 3PU Bigsby Rockabilly Ax, Martin D35, Martin 0017. Music mostly Blues, Vintage Rock, Rockabilly, and my least favorite Sunday Praise Team Contemporary Christian Pop.

These are 12", 70 watt speakers that are loaded standard in the newest mesa recto cabs and some other top of the line manufacturers guitar cabinets.

Quite possibly the best all around speaker for rock guitar. A wide range of luscious tone drips from these speakers. Huge low end, round mids and crispy highs, not too loose like the greenbacks but not too tight like the standard gt70's.

These speakers are amazingly durable. I've blown 100 watt carvin 12's some stock 50 watt crate 12's, even Soldano's stock 12's!! but never any Celestion's. Celestion is known for their quality speakers and I think the 30's are the best by far.

I've been playing guitar for about 11 years now and I've played through just about every guitar speaker out there and blown most of them. The vintage 30's in my opinion are the best choice for guitar. Definitely give them a try before buying anything else.

This speaker is a recreation/modrn version of the original Celestion G12H-30 speaker. By using better components they get a 70 watt power handling rating. This speaker was originally used in Marshall's Studio 15 amp with an open back cabinet but is popular in closed back 4x12 cabinets, too. I use it in mostly 1x12 combos.

This speaker is really good at getting an easly 70s type of lead sound. The clean sound is also very nice. It is really the ultimate "Classic Rock" speaker in a British voice. For 80-90s metal, industrial or Foo Fighters, you might like a G12T-75 more. This speaker seems really good at blues, rock and classic R&B sounds. It is a nice punchy sound, especially when used with an EL-34 equipped amp. Nice and fat with humbuckers, very chimey with single coils and edgy (in a cool way) with P-90s.

Haven't blown one yet.

Love the web site.

I love these speakers. I can put them in almost any combo or cabinet and get a good sound. These are very popular as stock speakers in high end combos. A very good upgrade for any amp, if you're looking for Classic sounds.

Fender Strat plus with 3 duncan ssl-1's. Mesa boogie Nomad 45. Fender Twin Reverb 65 Reissue. When you must absolutely rule the upper midrange with an iron fist, this is the speaker. Loud and cutting, punchy, distortion tones to die for.

No problems yet.

This is the rock star speaker (although I haven't had a chance to try the g12H-30). These are designed for stacks. Run them with 6 other speakers in closed back cabs, the tight bass emerges. I have never played or heard a better lead guitar speaker. If you play a Strat with single coil pickups, These will give you a boost where the strat is strongest. Perfect for 50 watt heads. One day I will have a wall of these things. My whole rig is made in USA except for these (and the tubes). Classic vibe with modern cut. If you want scooped mids, buy the GT12T-75. These are not for the faint of Heart. If you want mellow, try greenbacks.

vintage 30, 60 watt power rating, playing through a fender hot rod deluxe and a fender strat.

nothing but floppy bass to my ears.And nothing but bass!

crappy sound kept coming out of it no matter what, so I guess it was reliable in that aspect.

I e-mailed celestion probably 4 or 5 times and they alway responded promptly and were always helpful

This speaker was nothing but a big dissapointment for me! I was hoping for a classic celestion sound and got nothing but bass and bassy mids. This thing belongs in the trunk of a car not a guitar amp. I play clean to mild overdrive through a fender amp and when I swapped out this vintage 30 (after trying to be open minded for several weeks) with a greenback, I was blown away with the great smooth even sounds that were coming from my amp, my little 40 watt fender sounded decent with the stock speaker, horrible with the vintage 30 and pure heaven with the greenback. Maybe I just got a bad one or maybe you need a triple rectifier to make the vin. 30 sound good but I was not happy with the one I got at all.

bought brand new...8 ohm speaker...solid design, semi heavey (could be worse) rated for 60 watts per...but some say 70...either way, unless your running a dual head setup into 1 cab does it really matter?

Ive switched over to Vintage 30's for thier "old style" tone, without the honk and farting out that greenbacks gave me. The trade off is a fizz thats common with the 30's, and makes the tone sound more accelerated in the mid-highs and highs, but if your running this head with a high gain amp which is what thier best with, you shouldnt notice much. Im playing with a Mesa Mark IV and Les Paul and its just beautiful. The balance of the 6L6 clean is exactly what these speakers are built for. the bottom end isnt super tight, but rather, just there and solid, and the highs are just sparkling without brassiness of my former speakers, but they do break up just a hair when pushed, but its is so natural sounding, you dont really know if its your preamp clipping or the speakers. As for dirty, great tone over all, just alot of high focus and fizz, which can get annoying if a more overdrive based tone is desired.

its a speaker, if your a retard, youll break it

never dealt with them

beautiful cleans...SEARING LEADS...find a great 6L6 head and turn it up with 4 of these underneath, its like santana and dave ghrol had babies

Great tone. That's the only feature.

100% incredible. Made an unbelievable difference in the sound of my amp.

Used the Vintage 30 for 15 years. Never blown one yet.

Replaced the Mesa Black Shadow in my Mesa Recto-Verb Single Rectifier 50W combo with the Celestion Vintage 30. It was a tremendous improvement.

12" Vintage 30 16 ohm speaker

I absolutely hated this speaker, when A/B'd and compared to my Celestion 12T-75's. I play mostly early VH to Alice in Chains type of music. Without any sound adjustments, this speaker is nothing but massive midrange and highs. The low end lacks tightness. The T-75's have more of a "scooped" sound, which is reminiscent of Metallica.

However, I was able to get a very cool tone once I incorporated the Boss GE-7 EQ into the effects loop. The settings were as follows: 100K @ +5db, 200K @ -2.5db, 400K @ -10db, 800K @ -15db, 1.6K @ -2.5db, 3.2K @ 0db, 6.4K @ 0db, and line level @ 0db. I also used a Marshall Jubilee (tone controls set flat) and a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Deamon Humbucker. Of course tone is very subjective, and I have chosen this for my leads only.

This speaker is suited for more bluesier type of players in my opinion, and not the Metallica type of players. Due to the overwhelming midrange, this speaker is good for lead work though.

If you're a younger player and are looking for today's contemporary tones reminsicent of Korn, Metallica, etc. Then this is not your speaker. Stick with the Celestion 12T-75's, especially for those chunky tight bassy rhythms. However, when the signal is modified with an EQ you can achieve some great tones suitable for early 80's type of lead work. I would say this speaker is better suited for bluesier sounds, but still needs some EQ to cut some of the piercing highs.

This is for the benefit of people who dont know how what the rating in watts RMS for a "Vintage 30" celestion speaker is.A person reviewing a mesa recto cab provided incorrect information.A "Vintage 30" is rated at 70 watts RMS making the total RMS rating for 4X12 loaded with these speakers 280 watts.But dont believe me go to the source->celestion and inquire.

Sounds good if you like its "sonic print"

12 inch, 60 watt, ceramic magnet, guitar speaker

These speakers came stock in my Fender Tonemaster 2x12 cabinet. At first I was disappointed with their sound. They had a floppy low end, with a lot of mid-bass honk, and too much treble. I was confused - the demo cabinet in the store sounded amazing. So why did my brand new cab sound like this? In short: these speakers need to be broken in! After about a month of gigs and rehearsal, these babies just smoothed right out. Now the low end is tight & punchy, the mids are fantastic, and the highs are just right. They sound warm and round clean, and they sound fantastic when driven hard. I love 'em.

I've never had a problem with Celestion speakers. So I expect these to last for many years to come.

I emailed celestion, for tone advice about their speaker line. They responded within a few days, and were very helpful & informative. (Thanks dr_decibel)

I've tried Celestion G12T75's, Greenbacks, and Vintage 30's. They are all great speakers.

The G12T75 (in a Marshall 4x12 cab) has a very tight bottom and minimal cone break up, so they stay cleaner at high volumes - great for jazz, 80's rock, thrash, speed metal, or any style that requires tight bass and definition.

The Greenback is all about midrange break up. It is great for classic rock & blues, in low to medium gain amps. It gets too compressed and biting with high gain.

The Vintage 30 is louder than the other two. In fact it sounds about twice as loud at the same power level. It has tight bass, fat mids, and a smooth, harmonically rich top. It's great for warm cleans, fat & reponsive medium gain, and modern high gain sounds.

Hard to detail features for a speaker but, came with a gasket (which is nice) mounting holes are proper distance and evenly spaced.

Switched out the stock "Made for Marshall" piece of junk in my DSL 401 and put this baby in. At low levels it was hard to tell the differance. But when pushed, WOW. The sutain is two to three times better out of the Japan Strat with stock middle and neck pickups. The S.D. Hot rail sings like it should. I knew I should have been able to get a better sound from this amp.

So far so good.

Don't know yet.

Been playing off and on for 5 years. I have a JCM 800 50W but have no cabinet to play through. I will build my own cabinet and will probley use the Vintage 30's. I can only imagine what four in a cabinet sounds like.

This ones are new, and I think it has everything a speaker needs. I guess otherwise it wouldn't work, right? 60 to 70 watts of output, depends on who you trust, manufacturer (Celestion says 60) or companys making cabs (majority of 'em say 70). Nice big magnet, weights 50 oz., paper cone, vintage, what can I say?

Well, I have to say that there is nothing like Vintage 30. I mean there are some expenciver and better speakers, but this one is being used for THE THING it was built for. And that, my friend is to be extremely LOUD. Did I say loud? And to handle distortion levels at which other speakers would only melt. I'm a sucker for Neurosis, Sleep, High On Fire, EyeHateGod, Isis, Crowbar, Iron Monkey... sound. What can I say; all of those bands use Vintage 30 speakers in their rigs. Vintage 30 is THE sound of the modern aggro rock, or metal sound. In my opinion you can use this speaker for scooped mids, but it really works best with open mids. You can get fantastic 70's rock sound and add all the bass and all the overdrive you want, and you have a growl that can be compared only to howlin bear when he's very, and I mean very angry. You can play some smooth cleans on it, but I think it is a bit to bassy, but when it comes to distortion, whooa, man, run for a shelter. Bottom line; a lot of treble, a lot of mids, and a shitload of bass. Be aware, and if you have some cardiac problems, I suggest something more subtle.

I have made my box with the knowing help from my friend, and I expect it last almost forever. The speakers themselves seem robust, but you have to keep an eye anyway. I didn't put sheet in front of 'em, but grill, so I am almost sure they will last a long time.

well, I wrote to them and they seem knowledgable, maybe even to much for me. I hope I never have to deal with them, because it would mean they (speakers) died.

My search for speakers seems to be over. The Vintage 30 speakers are great. I can not believe how easily it handles any amount of bass and distortion. Rock til you die.

Fairly heavy speaker with paper cone. Handles about 60 - 70s watts easily. Loud and British. A speaker that will improve any mid-priced combo or cab.

I use it in a Valvestate single 12" cab (closed). I use a Marshall JCM600 valve head with it. Sounds very British and punchy. It has a lovely mid-high bias that sings the English blues from the 60s. No Mesa / Rivera tones here.
- Bass is tight but not too present, just the right amount.
- Mids are there but the upper-mids over take from the the rest. Tickles my ears in a very nice way.
- Treble sing happily yet it doesn't rip as much as the Greenback.

Well made. Fairly sturdy and up to Celestion's reputation.

no idea

If you like the tones of early Clapton, Mick Taylor or Peter Green this is the speaker for you. A lot cheaper than the Alnico version and not that different. Also power handling is 60 -70 watts so you can use it with most combos. The Greenback is just too brittle to my ears. Good price for a more than decent speaker.

Said that, people like it for everything -including metal- but it'd be happier singing the blues.

The Vintage 30 was developed as a less costly(and more reliable)alternative to the original alnico magnet G-12. Alnico reissiues cost $350 a piece and only handle 15 watts. Celestion says it handles 60 watts but Marshall says it handles 70. This speaker uses a ceramic magnet. It is rated at 100 db sensitivity but this speaker is so loud that I wonder if this is not a conservative rating. It will make a fifty watt amp as loud as a 100 watt amp- no problem.

I have many different speakers including Altec alnicos, Jenson alnicos, and a Kendrick Black Frame speaker(also a ceramic designed to sound like an alnico). One of the charcteristics of Alnico magnet speakers is sweet singing sustian with a warm smooth midrange break up. The Vintage 30 has this and more. Compared to real alnicos the 30 has a more aggresive and fatter midrange, particularlly under distortion. The lower midrange response is much like the H30 greenback speakers from the early 70's. Is this why Celestion named it the Vintage 30? If you like big fat distortion sounds with singing sustain this is your speaker. Clean sounds are also very good, detailed but rather round, much like Black Faced Fenders. Is this why the Fender Custom Shop uses this speaker? Since this speaker is so loud and punchy it can be a bit unnerving at times. If you like to vary your pick attack to soften your tone the Greenback or Kendrick may be better for you. This speaker doesn't have the upper midrange "ripp" of the Greenback or Sheffield either. I don't like that "ripp" myself, so the 30 is perfect for me.

Absolutelly bullet proof, Handles twice the power of a G12H-30 and 5 times the power of the Alnico blue

Friendly people that are very Knowledgable about giutar speakers and are very willing to help.

If you like lots and lots of sustain with a BROWN distortion sound you should check out this speaker. This speaker sounds very close to an alnico but cost about 1/3 as much. The Kendrick sounds warmer and rounder but not as punchy, nor as loud. This speaker is more cost effective than seeking out original Greenbacks, that have recieved who knows what kind of punishment over the decades.