Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

[Curly]

thumbs up on the Hellatone speaker from Avatar Speakers.

I tested the speaker in my blonde Fender Deluxe Reverb RI. I've tried several speakers in this amp - the original Eminence, a Weber C12N, a Jensen C12N RI, and lately an Alltone. They all sounded OK, but not quite there, so I kept looking.

I have to thank Lew, who has said several times that his favorite speaker in the Deluxe Reverb is the Celestion G12H30. Although his amp is vintage, I decided to give it a try in mine. Thank you, Lew.

I was looking at Avatar's site, and noticed the Hellatones. The Hellatone 30 is a version of the G12H30 that has been specially treated by Avatar to sound broken in. (The Hellatone 60 is the Vintage 30 version.)

The Reissue DR can sound bright, so the nice bottom on the G12H helps balance that out some. I gave it about a 30 minute test with a strat. The bottom was smooth as soft cotton. The mids were nice and a little crunchy - made me want to *CRANK* it more, although that will have to wait till the neighbors aren't around. The highs are a little bright, but I think that can be corrected with a little EQ. Overall, I like the balance, and at 30 watts, it breaks up just right in this 22 watt amp. It's the best speaker I've had in this amp, and I just wanted to keep playing.

Although this is my first Celestion, I can heartily recommend this speaker, especially for those who have been considering getting one but just weren't familiar with them.

My apologies for not providing clips. It's been a busy day, and I may be able to post some this weekend if the coast is clear.

much Peace

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Sounds cool! I've been thinking of swapping a Vin 30 in my Bogner 212, to get a G12H30, but haven't yet. Do you think I should get one of these Hellatone 30 or 60's?
I just want a tighter, bigger low end out of one of my speakers. As for neighbors...
I gave them a Marshall Jubilee halfstack on 7 tonight! LOL

 

[Curly]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Joneser,
this review was for you, dude!

just get one!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Alrighty then! ha ha ha

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

i find myself stuck b/t going with an avatar 4x12 with 2 regular vint. 30s and 2 regular g12h30s or the hellatone broken in version of the two...

-Mike

 

[Mike M.]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

I've been tempted to try one of these for my Classic 30. Worth a shot?

 

[Curly]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

definitely worth a shot!

I'm not sure what the power on a Classic 30 is though, so one thing to note is the power of your amp. The Hellatone 30, at 30 watts, was a better fit for my DRRI than the 50 watt Jensen and Alltone that just didn't "give it up" as soon as I would've liked. Of course, if someone was looking for more clean headroom, that would've been fine, and that's a reason we sometimes change speakers.
For instance, the Jensen C12N sounds great to me in my Blues Junior because of the nature of that amp.

since the Hellatone breaks up a little sooner, it also feels a little looser, which I personally like

I did ask Dave a few questions before I bought mine, and you might consider that if you have questions about your particular amp or application. Rather than just hype the speakers, he said I could check out reviews on HC and the gearpage.net.

for now, I'm looking forward to playing mine again the next chance I get!

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

I'm a little suprised that you said the highs were a tad bright Curly. My take on the G12H's were that they had bigger lows and smoother mids and highs than the V30. Do you still attribute the highs to the amp, or the speaker? Also, have you tried it in comparison with a V30?

With that said, I really like the idea of the speaker already being broken in....I'll have to give those a run.

 

[RockNRoling]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

...so many speakers, so little time! I am going to buy my 2x12 from Avatar next month, I was all set go load it with V30's and now I am conflicted about it! You b@stards! HAHAHA You said the Hellatone 60 is a V30, but broken in? Hmmm, I should get a cab with one of each, that way I can hook em up one at a time and really A B the two of them. ...but I am lazy so I probably won't.

Thanks for the review Curly

 

[Curly]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

I'm a little suprised that you said the highs were a tad bright Curly. My take on the G12H's were that they had bigger lows and smoother mids and highs than the V30. Do you still attribute the highs to the amp, or the speaker? Also, have you tried it in comparison with a V30?

they do have big lows
I attribute the highs to the amp. They're not as bad as the highs from the Jensen C12N - those were just TOO bright.

I think it will smooth out with a couple tweaks of the knobs and 15 minutes of playing time. This was kind of a quick test, and I left the controls where they were. I was trying to pay attention to the balance from highs to lows though. Also, on chords I felt the chords sounded balanced and almost rang as one note. Hard to describe, but I see some talk about having articulation on chords and hearing the individual notes. This was more like hearing the notes of the chords in unison.

I haven't tried the V30.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Thanks Curly....and that price Dave has on them is not too shabby either!

 

[Thames]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Im going to order two (2) Weber C1230 55hz pretty soon (with a special aging treatment... shhh dont tell it).

B2D got some recently. Let's SPAM him for a review

 

[Curly]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Lew's brother Bruce helped develop Weber's aging process

I don't know how Avatar does his, but Matchless was doing the same kind of thing back in the 90's with V30s

 

[Curly]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Thanks Curly....and that price Dave has on them is not too shabby either!

Dave also sells them on ebay, if you want to wait another 7 days and fight it out for $10 less.

 

[Kelsey]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

Bad Cat does some kind of seasoning of the Celestions in their amps, too, from what I understand. THanks for the review!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

I'm trying to understand exactly what a speaker aging process is? From what I understand, they treat the edges of the cone with acetone or something, just to mellow out the tone a bit.

 

[ledzepp29]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

curly if you make clips I'd love to hear your new 57ri through that!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

I'll try to add a little although Curly did a great job! Thanks my friend!

1. The aging process: My brother Bruce discovered that if you take a speaker, sit it cone up on your work bench, connect a signal generator to it set for bass frequencies, and then paint the edge surround with ACETONE that it will loosen it up and make it sound like a beautifully broken in speaker with deeper bass response and a fuller tone than stock. He just fills a little tin with acetone and uses a foam brush to paint the surround. The Acetone removes some of the edge doping and also soaks into the surround to soften the fibers a little. It's amazing - you can actually hear the speaker get louder, deeper, smoother and richer in tone as you do this process over 5 or 10 minutes of time.

He initially started doing this to the Jensen C10Q RI which is notoriously bright and edgy sounding. After Bruce gets done with them they much less ice picky and have alot smoother and deeper tone.

2. As for Curly's comments about the brightness of the G12H30: it IS brighter than a Jensen C12N or Weber's version of the C12N or than my old '66 Jensen C12N's that I've used in various amps over the years. The Jensen C12N has a buttery smooth tone and a smaller magnet than the Vintage 30 or G12H30. Both of those Celestions are more efficient and therefore louder than the C12N, IMO.

3. Compared to the Vintage 30, the G12H30 has more bass and more mids and less bite to the treble. If you're using something like a Jensen C12N or C12Q in your Deluxe Reverb, switching to a Celestion Vintage 30 will actually increase the clean headroom of the amp and give you a louder less flabby tone. At the same time the bas and mids will be clearer, even though the overdriven tones will be "better" and more Marshall-esqe.

 

[B2D]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

B2D got some recently. Let's SPAM him for a review

I have a full-volume crankage test scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon... I'm working or doing all school in the day until then. I'm not sure my neighbors or parents would like a howling MESA at 4am or so.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Celestion/ Avatar Hellatone 30 speaker report

hmmm i may have to look into one of these as i plan on changing the speakers in the cab i just got, well at least one of them. thanks for the thread curly