Tube Amp Archive

I just wanted to say that as I get older I tend to be more open to new things..... And at the same time I realize that I missed some obviously good things along the way. Case in point: These Celestion speakers.

The slightly used 65 Amps cab is loaded with two somewhat broken in G1230H Chinese built speakers. It's pretty close in size to the Vox 2/12 speaker cab, not overly deep. After an hour of play after getting it home, I thought it sounded great but with two reservations. Number 1, it was just too chunky. Number 2, the treble strings on my Tele sounded too thin in comparison to the lower four strings. (This is playing into it with a Tweed High Powered Twin with two 6L6s pulled.)

So. I decided to pull the top back panel off, the one that has the speaker jack on it just to see if this would improve things. Wow, this was a great improvement! The strings now sounded even, with the treble strings seeming fatter. (And I'm not sure if this is just the anomaly of removing the chunk, but, well, the treble strings DO seem thicker. Eh, I'm probably more of an open back guy, for that matter...)

OK, in conclusion, I wanted to say that I have avoided these speakers for as long as they have been produced, and this was stupid on my part. These are great sounding speakers!

[ Note: I originally posted this saying these were ENGLISH made speakers. My bad, these are CHINESE made. I still dig them and have since played them with my AC30/Rocket build as well. ]

I'm learning, like you, that the cab has a lot to do with it.

xtian, yes. I have somehow developed a sense for the bass end of a cab, what it will add. My best lesson learned is that if the cab is too deep, say 13-16", and, even if you remove all the back paneling, you will still be left with a particular bass frequency node that can't be removed, particularly in a single 12 box, but a 2/12, as well.

For example, I have a Mesa 1/12 cube that's maybe 18X17X16 and after trying a number of speakers and various back combinations I have decided I don't like the box. It's just too deep. It's a beater cab and one day soon I plan to put it on a table saw and start cutting down the cab depth. I'll start with two inches and see what the does. Haha, Ill let you know.

I really noticed when testing Jensen speakers in 1x12 open back cabs. I had three similar cabs, but speakers sounded significantly different when swapped between cabs.

Yeah, I think the 1/12 cab may be a true test bed of a speaker in a box. My results are that the shallower the cab, the brighter the speaker. I also think a very small open back 1/12 cab can present some crazy midrange as well, if the speaker is willing.

The 2/12 can somewhat blur what is obvious in the 1/12, that's another thing that I have run into. Case in point, an older V30 in a small Fender PR box with an Express had a crazy Albert Collins kind of thing with my Tele on the bridge pickup. I married it to another speaker in a 2/12 Vox cab and it's hard to understand that it behaved as it did in the PR cab. It's weird. Haha, in my case, finally I pulled all my speakers out when loading that 2/12 and tried everything. It's not predictable in a 2/12 open back for some reason. This said, I think most ppl would figure out that this 65 cab is loaded with G1230H speakers, ha.

I've got a G12H30 Anniversary, the Chinese one, in my 18-watt combo clone, and I think it's one of the truly great guitar speakers. It's warm without being dark, and it's got good "hifi" note definition even when you're pushing it. I've connected my blackface Fender Deluxe-Amp to it too and it sounds huge.

Hey there. After further testing and playing through these speakers in this cab, here's a few things that are true. In stock form, the two back panels add bass to the point of making the high notes thin. It doesn't matter the speaker, it will do this with a variety of speakers. So it is one back panel for me with this cab. And BTW, one back panel is two inches shorter than the other, they are not uniform panels. (I originally pulled the top panel (the taller panel) and kept the bottom panel and ran with this. After a few weeks now, I pulled the bottom panel off and swapped it for the top panel, placing the top panel on the bottom. This is markedly better.)

Ah, but there is more.... I swapped the G1230Hs for a Weber 50 watt alnico Blue Dog and a Scumnico 65 watt alnico. I truly loved the G1230Hs tone, but finally, after comparing it to my other boxes and gigging with it one night, I realized they were just too efficient/LOUD. I did not see this coming. I think they are best in a closed back 4/12 or a single 12 combo, YMMV. Haha, what a ride.