Celestion G12H80's?

[jimijames]

So I'm selling my 4x12 cabinet and I can't help but wonder if it'll be worth more as parts... However the one sticking point is that I ordered it with 2 vintage 30's and two Celestion g12H80's, which the good folks at avatar had a limited supply of. They were originally made by celestion for line 6, and I guess the model of amp they were made for was discontinued and avatar bought up the excess. The idea is a speaker that doesn't color the tone too much so each amp model sounds authentic. When I asked them about how they'd sound with the vintage 30's, they told me they were a great match and excellent sounding speakers by themselves at any rate.

Does anybody have experience with these? How much would they be worth? My guess is the fact that they were made for line 6 is probably gonna diminish the value some, although I can't help but wonder...

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

I have a G12H80 (bought cheap from Avatar) in my 18 Watter clone, and I love it. I actually A/B'd it against a G12H30 (in a Bogner combo no less) and preferred the 80. I like the clarity and lack of break up. Back in the 80s I played my 2203 head through EVM12Ls for the same reason.

The G12H80 is very close to the Classic Lead 80, which a lot of people like. Don't advertise them as "Line 6" speakers, advertise them as what they are: a high-powered, heavy magnet, made-in-England Celestion. They are a great speaker for 30-60 watt combo amps.

However, many people will probably remember the Avatar close out deal, and that may limit their resale value to somewhere slightly below what Dave sold them for - about $50 IIRC.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

G12H80s are old speakers. They predate the Classic Lead and the V30. That's what came in the Marshall 1982A/B cabs in the LATE 70s early 80s. They were interchageable, in Marshall's mind, with G12H30s. They sound nowhere NEAR the same IMO.

I couldn't move my old 15 ohm 80s for 75 a piece and just had Weber recone them has heavy mag G1265s of a sort.

Luke

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

I have four G1280H speakers mounted in a Mitchell cabinet I bought in the early '80s. I was using a low end to mediocre solid state head back in the day so I really don't even know how good they sound. As Rich said, they were definitely manufactured by Celestion in England.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

I saved this description when I bought mine from Avatar. I can't remember if this was posted on their website, or part of my e-mail correspondence with Dave, but here goes:

They were made in England and are 8 ohm. They have a great tight bass, tons of mids with real glassy highs. The closest speaker in the Celestion line to this G12H80 for comparison would be the Classic Lead 80 except that the Classic Lead has a hair more bass while the G12H80 Special has a tad more highs. The G12H80 plays up to 5500 Hz instead of the Classic Leads 5000 Hz response. This great sounding G12H80 has a very neutral response over the entire guitar sound spectrum. They don't have lots of early cone break up like a Greenback or G12H30 Anniversary Special, but they do produce a real nice subtle crunch when you drive them hard. Great for all types of music especially those with high gain demands. Large Heavy (H) 50 oz. magnet.

 

[jimijames]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

Wow, that's really cool to know - I'm just weighing out my options right now as there doesn't seem to be much interest in a 4x12 cab either here or at the gear page. Tomorrow when I get back from the x-ray people I'm gonna post a listing on craigslist but if the cab doesn't sell within the next week or two I think I will part it out. How much do you guys think an empty 4x12 avatar speaker cabinet be worth?

I may end up selling 3 speakers and the cabinet and keeping the other one to make into a 1x12 combo for my epiphone vj...

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

I've got 1 of them in a detuned cab and love it. It's full and big sounding. It still sounds good at eeking low volumes and can get loud and shake the roof if you want it to. It has a nice cut to the tone, but it's not harsh at all. When I compared it to other speakers, it's a little deeper and fatter sounding. You need to pull the mids and bass back a little on the amp to get a nice clean sound, but the distorted sound is definitely killer. My only dig is that it might be a little one-dimensional in terms of being a little heavy and brash sounding, so it if you pair it with a bright and clean speaker; you'll have a really versatile combo (I used to pair a Jensen C12N with it and loved that pair).

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

Let me tell you, anyone with a Vox Valvetronix would love your cabinet. I have a Hughes & Kettner Triamp cabinet loaded with those babies that I used for my Line 6 Vetta head. It actually sounded better than the L6 cabs I guess because of the quality of the HK cab. When I sold the Vetta, I put my AD60VTX through it as it is an 8 ohm cab and OH MY GOD, the Fenders sparkle, the Marshalls roar and the Mesas rip your face off.

Anyone with one of these modeling amps would be doing themself a massive favor by contacting Mr. James here and taking that cab off of his hands. Just don't forget to set your amp to 16 ohms as the Vox amps are additive, not divisional when using a cab. (eg: normally two eight ohm cabs with a tube head would be set for four ohms as you cut the ohms in half, but with the Valvetronix you ADD the ohms so your internal eight ohm speaker and an eight ohm cab would make you set the amp at sixteen ohms.) Of course, this is assuming that his cab is 8 ohms mono. Cheers!

 

[jimijames]

Re: Celestion G12H80's?

The cab is 8 ohms mono but I do have a confession to make - I've been doing some work on the valve junior and haven't heard it through the cab... until today. I'm still probably going to part with it (when I got it, I was using it with a 2x12 combo, now all I have is a vj and a smittytone plexi copy w/ a scumback, so I don't have any amps that really need a 4x12), but I am definitely going to get a 1x12 with either a vintage 30 or a greenback for that valve junior - simply stunning.

Until I plugged it into the cab, I had just heard it through an eminence 8" and a weber 8", which suffice to say sound nowhere near as good as that 4x12.

But, as much as I like it, I don't need it and I've got my eyes on one of those blackpoole tele relics, hence why I want to move it.