Three Celestion G12 Speakers compared

[odourboy]

Hi all,

I conducted a short A-B-C comparison of three Celestion G12 speakers at the request of fellow AmpGarager Greiswig. He thought it would be 'enlightening' to share it with the rest of the AG community, so here goes:

The three speakers I compared are the G12-65 Heritage reissue, the G12 Century (neo) and the G12 Century Vintage (neo). I recorded three tracks and posted them on SoundClick so you could judge for yourself how each of the speakers sounded. The guitar went into a 50W non-HRM d-clone, and was recorded through a pair of inexpensive condenser mics. I did not change any settings - only the speakers got changed. I did not process the signals (the reverb you hear is from the amp). I did NORMALIZE the recordings to make comparisons easier. Each speaker is in a TL806 cabinet (I make no claim that any of these speakers work optimally in the TL806 cab and YMMV if you choose to go with another cabinet design).

I used a 'raw' guitar recording played so that the playback through each speaker would be identical. By 'raw',. I mean the signal coming straight from the guitar was recorded so the guitar could be re-amped for comparative purposes such as this test so that there would be no variation in playing between takes. Credit to Stelligan and his ES-345 for providing me with the raw track. Initially, the amp is on the clean channel. At about 0:35 I switch to the OD channel and at about 1:00 I kick in the PAB. If you want to seriously compare these, it may be best to downlad the tracks and cut out shorts bits of interest so you can more directly compare. Here are the tracks:

G12-65 Heritage Re-issue: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7574229
G12 Century: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7574235
G12 Century Vintage: http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7574238

It's hard to capture the nuances of various speakers through a recording, but in some ways this is also the acid test. They sound ridiculously close in the recording. Being in the room, I can tell you this: All three speakers have a similar 'tonality' - they sound more alike than different or than anything else I have. Also, they're all pretty great sounding speakers. Compared the the G12-65, the Century has a more pronounced upper-mid hump. That results in more presence and a more 'open' sound. It's quite dramatic sounding though it's possible that it 'could' get fatiguing. It is also audibly more efficient that the G12-65 (spec says 5dB). The Century Vintage is a little further from the G12-65. It has less bass and/or lower mids than the Century but retains the upper mid hump of the Century. The Century Vintage falls in the middle with efficiency - a little less sensitive than the Century, but more than the G12-65 (and I believe closer to the Century than the spec says). I like them all!

Hope you found this interesting and enlightening!

Cheers, Brian

[greiswig]

Brian, thanks sincerely for doing this. I really think reamping is the only way to properly do this kind of comparison, since it controls one of the main tonal variables. So this is a really good test to my mind.

Appreciate the effort! (and you already heard my take on the speakers)

-g

[dehughes]

I LOVE THIS KINDA STUFF!!!!

Thanks for doing this. Super cool. I wish someone would start a "speaker shootout thread" or something. At present, I'm super curious about the differences between the reissue Jensen P12N and the Weber 12A150 (P12N)...

The Century Neo has more "air" on top...more cut.....the Vintage is closer to the G1265, but still has more upper-mid "hash". The G12-65 is my favorite....but then that's what I went in hoping would be my favorite...so no objectivity here...

[billyz]

On my little speakers the 12-65 sounded the best of the 3. The century had a glare I found irritating, but I found the vintage century less irritating. But it was a good comparison test , thanks.

[Structo]

Great test.
I liked the 65 the best as well.

I would have loved to hear the reissue EVM 12L Classic in that test.
Since that cab was designed around that speaker, right?

I just scored another one from Audio Depot for $147 shipped!

Now my 2 x 12 is complete.

[Bob-I]

I was really hoping I'd like the Neo's best, fail I guess my back will have to lug the heavy stuff a little longer.

That said, I found all the clips too bright for my taste, nothing wrong, I just tweak my stuff for a mellower tone.

Thx for doing this.

[odourboy]

Great test.
I liked the 65 the best as well.

I would have loved to hear the reissue EVM 12L Classic in that test.
Since that cab was designed around that speaker, right?

I just scored another one from Audio Depot for $147 shipped!

Now my 2 x 12 is complete.

Good score! I have an original EVM 12L here. Maybe I can muster the energy to try something like this again with the EV in the mix... and try use a dry clip that's a little less bright for Bob-I ...and use my good ribbon mic (which is more natural sounding than the cranked treble on the condensers I have but is unfortunately out on loan right now).

Glad everyone enjoyed this!

[Kregg]

Thanks, those were great samples. I liked the 65 best overall. Though I liked how the Century Vintage broke up when pushed and how it handled the low end run beginning around the 17 second mark. Very nice.

[jamme61]

Thanks this was great test ! Do you think the neo's could be eq to sound as sweet as the 65 ? I'd love to save the weight.

Sorry old post anyone out there?

[billyz]

Thanks this was great test ! Do you think the neo's could be eq to sound as sweet as the 65 ? I'd love to save the weight.

Sorry old post anyone out there?

I actually like the jensen jet tornado , they sound great clean or overdriven. Takes a few hours to fully break in.

[dobbhill]

I just bought a Century Vintage on sale at Parts Express. I really like it, but then I like Vintage 30's. It is quite articulate clean and dirty.

D

[rp]

I actually like the jensen jet tornado , they sound great clean or overdriven. Takes a few hours to fully break in.

Billy, did you like these in a specific circuit, Marshall? BF? Tweed? Or did you find it a good all-arounder?

Lots of positive buzz on this whole line (Tornado, Electric Lightning, Blackbird) on the internets, whatever that's worth, but I had already decided the Tornado would be the next speaker I try.

It's good to see these companies making new stuff rather than just beating the retro/vintage horse to death.

[Bombacaototal]

I currently own a 2x12 with G12-65 and a Alnico Gold.

I am thinking about getting a second 2x12 with the G12 Century Neo (not the vintage) and a Alessandro AHEP Neo 12".

Has anyone tried those AHEP's?

[tubeswell]

My vote is for the 65 in those clips, the other ones have some or other element of harshness and the 65 is pretty smooth in all styles.

But it would be interesting to hear a clip where the neo speakers shine more, like clean single coil axe with a bit of wet spring reverb

[andresound]

FWIW.. I have a old EVM and both the 806 cab and Dumble 1x12 (from Mark Fowler posts), and the Dumble cab definitely has a more 3D quality. My 2c