Celestion G12M-70

Re: Celestion G12M-70

Worst speaker ever made. Big maistake. Even a ceramic Emi will bury them, and I'm not a huge fan of Ceramic Eminence.
Of course, i once said that about the G12T-75, and was apparently mistaken.
No, really, the G12m sucks, and sucks very badly.
 
Re: Celestion G12M-70

here is mine in a 50.00 PV cab that I opened the back of. Single 12 set up, running with a Hiwatt Dr504.
Then again.....it just takes the right player.....as said...and always holds water...there are no rules:D
Thanks for reposting that mad thing Kev!
 
Last edited:
Re: Celestion G12M-70

I see this is quite old, and I'm sure the O.P. has made his decisions and moved on, but just for the heck of it, my 2 cents:
The G12M70 Is a widely reviled speaker, but I think it's bad reputation has become a little exaggerated.

It's good for some things, and way better than a cheap crappy speaker, so if you get one free, or cheap, try some stuff with it.

It's a bit dark, and a little mid scooped, a nice upper mid peak (1.5k ?) nothing too harsh. It's basically pretty "transparent" and doesn't add a lot of character of it's own, and very high powered, so not much break-up or compression w/o insane volume.

- So it's definitely NOT good for any low-to-mid powered tube amp where the speaker is SUPPOSED to be a big part of the tone. I would NEVER suggest it as a single speaker in a Fender blackface, or tweed combo.. It can't give you any "chime" or "jangle" or bell-like qualities.

So; probably not the best to play "Lenny" on, but kinda awesome (perfect actually..) for "Godzilla"

- might be good for a modelling amp where you just mainly want it to sound like your model.
- it could be good for classic hard rock, possibly metal, some kinds of blues, or very clean sounds, and MAYBE jazz? (the kind where your tone control is rolled back..)
- Would be a good choice for SHOEGAZER rock.
It would work well in a closed back cab under an open back combo, where the combo has your more INTERESTING toneful speaker, and the G12M70 just adds some meat underneath.

- Also works pretty well as a midrange driver for PA! (Used to have a rig with a bunch of 18" subs, mid/high packs were a pair each of (2) G12M70s and a 1" horn on each side..)
:)
 
Last edited:
Re: Celestion G12M-70

Some of the original Marshall JCM 800 amps had G12-70 speakers. My Combo 2x12 (4104 modal) JCM sounded pretty good.

In 1987 Marshall Silver Jubilee Amps the came out. Some of them used G12M-70s. I think those amps sounded pretty good as well. When you switched to the clean mode it sounded ok too. I had the small box head cab. with the mini 2x12 half stack. I would not mind having that back.
 
Last edited:
Re: Celestion G12M-70

Some of the original Marshall JCM 800 amps had G12-70 speakers. My Combo 2x12 (4104 modal) JCM sounded pretty good.

In 1987 Marshall Silver Jubilee Amps the came out. Some of them used G12M-70s. I think those amps sounded pretty good as well. When you switched to the clean mode it sounded ok too. I had the small box head cab. with the mini 2x12 half stack. I would not mind having that back.

Actually, as I recall, the original Silver Jubilee amps were designed around the then new Vintage 30 speakers, but they changed after a while to the G12-75's (probably when they replaced the silver covered with the black covered cabs). I think Marshall was already past the G12-70 period by then.

Al
 
Re: Celestion G12M-70

I guess I should have been more clear. Yes they did use the Vintage 30s in some cabinets. But not all cabinets. They cabinets were labeled either A or B For angled or bottom or straight front and AV or BV for angled vintage or bottom vintage or straight front.

http://www.blamepro.com/mar1361.htm
 
Last edited:
Re: Celestion G12M-70

My silver Jubilee 4x12 cab came loaded with the G12T75s (it now has GBs). My Combo Jubilee came with V30. I once demoed a white 20th annivesary 4x12 cab and it had the G12M70s-Worst sounding, most sterile sounding, Marshall cab I ever played through. There was about a year between the G12-65s and the G12T75s when Marshall used the G12M70.
 
Re: Celestion G12M-70

After the 75s were brought out (very quickly) to replace the 70s in Marshall 4x12s, they relegated all the leftover M70s to combo duty...both Tube combos, and the SS combos. They were no longer offered in the 4x12s. I had a couple of the tube combos (4010? 2205 1x12, and whatever the 2203 1x12 was) as well as one of the 50W SS combos (5010? 5210? something like that) . But I ran the tube combos with my 800 series non M70 4x12s (one w/65s, later one with 75s)
 
Back
Top