NSD - Celestion A-Type

Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

PS if I were you, I'd have raided a beater 80s cab off craigslist for $100-200 for oldies but goodies from the UK days instead of dropping $400+ on these things... and probably reloaded the OEMs into the scavengee cab, then flipped it back for net profit or zero sum

Rolling the dice on a beater cab not knowing what speakers are in it or trying to find a match price wise with the right speakers is way too much work. I tried different replacement speakers in this amp. I had a set of Celestion Seventy/80s in this amp but they just didn't gel with the amp. I put the Seventy/80s in a closed back Fender FM412 I have, they sound great in that cabinet. I gave the OEM Fender FM412 speakers to my neighbor's kid he and his Dad are building a cab for them.
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

What die roll? Look & verify

Hint: on many closed cabs, best accomplished by unscrewing a side handle and shining in a flashlight
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

What die roll? Look & verify Hint: on many closed cabs, best accomplished by unscrewing a side handle and shining in a flashlight

I get it but there are not a ton of 4x12 cabs out there with American style speakers. Most 4x12s have speakers voiced for metal or hard rock. Those are the type of speakers I was replacing. I also needed 16 ohm speakers. It would have been a hell of a search trying to find the right speakers at the right price on the secondary market. If I got lucky maybe I could have found an period correct Fender 4x12 but they are rare and would have cost as much as I paid for the speakers. I knew what I wanted and the A-Types work perfectly.

To your point I found a cheap cab years ago loaded with Celestions in a pawn shop for $80. That would had been way cheaper than buying replacement speakers. However, for the type of drivers I need it was simpler and less time intensive to buy what I needed.
 
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Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

Just as an FYI, when Celestion came out with the Classic Lead 80, they advertised it as their "American Sound" speaker. I put one in my brother's Super 60 and it sounded great in there. They stopped advertising it as an American-sounding speaker at some point, but the thing about them is that they don't have the typical Celestion mid-spike to them. I have also heard that many metal players like them in their 4-12's. So the A-type is not their first attempt at an American-voiced speaker. Another Celestion that worked well in a Fender 2-12 was the older G12-50S, when Celestion cut down the number of guitar speakers in their catalog, they discontinued them and they were heavily discounted at some stores who cleared them out. They were a bright-sounding Celestion that worked well at least in that Fender 2-12 (I think it was an old Bandmaster cab). There was also a 10" version of that speaker.
Al
 
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Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

Btw, wasnt Atype a newish model? Wasn't aware Celestion had any new-better-than-old product development since the early 80s, are they really back in the saddle? Or is it just a cheaper, mildly bastardized version of something from the usual suspects list?... I'd have raided a beater 80s cab off craigslist for $100-200 for oldies but goodies from the UK days instead of dropping $400+ on these things...

Celestion has had some pretty interesting new models in recent years. There's the high powered Alnicos and the Creambacks. I think it is great that are offering an American voiced speaker alternative, because finding proper vintage voiced speakers for Fender amps with high power handling is not always easy. The new Jensens don't really have the same sound. Other than the early Kendrick's there's not much out there with that type of sound and power handling. Plus from the review the A type sounds good.

Raiding a 80s cab could be hit and miss even assuming it still has the original speakers. It could be G12M70s. There were several different sounding versions of the G12-65 back then. Many had the G12T75s.... Fender cabs usually had the generic Fender Special Design.
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

I get it but there are not a ton of 4x12 cabs out there with American style speakers. Most 4x12s have speakers voiced for metal or hard rock. Those are the type of speakers I was replacing. I also needed 16 ohm speakers. It would have been a hell of a search trying to find the right speakers at the right price on the secondary market. If I got lucky maybe I could have found an period correct Fender 4x12 but they are rare and would have cost as much as I paid for the speakers. I knew what I wanted and the A-Types work perfectly.

To your point I found a cheap cab years ago loaded with Celestions in a pawn shop for $80. That would had been way cheaper than buying replacement speakers. However, for the type of drivers I need it was simpler and less time intensive to buy what I needed.

What's an "American type" speaker, anyway?? And wouldnt that be something you normally buy from Eminence?

Also, based on the Nazi-looking eagle graphic, methinks someone at Celestion UK thinks the whole idea of American-type speakers is a bit of a joke perhaps?
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

Just as an FYI, when Celestion came out with the Classic Lead 80, they advertised it as their "American Sound" speaker. I put one in my brother's Super 60 and it sounded great in there. They stopped advertising it as an American-sounding speaker at some point, but the thing about them is that they don't have the typical Celestion mid-spike to them. I have also heard that many metal players like them in their 4-12's. So the A-type is not their first attempt at an American-voiced speaker. Another Celestion that worked well in a Fender 2-12 was the older G12-50S, when Celestion cut down the number of guitar speakers in their catalog, they discontinued them and they were heavily discounted at some stores who cleared them out. They were a bright-sounding Celestion that worked well at least in that Fender 2-12 (I think it was an old Bandmaster cab). There was also a 10" version of that speaker.
Al

Yes.


And MESA/Celestion MC90's are cheap and plentiful on the used market for whatever reason (v30 love? older players splurging on neo's out of pity for their aching backs? Who knows)
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

Celestion has had some pretty interesting new models in recent years. There's the high powered Alnicos and the Creambacks. I think it is great that are offering an American voiced speaker alternative, because finding proper vintage voiced speakers for Fender amps with high power handling is not always easy. The new Jensens don't really have the same sound. Other than the early Kendrick's there's not much out there with that type of sound and power handling. Plus from the review the A type sounds good.

Raiding a 80s cab could be hit and miss even assuming it still has the original speakers. It could be G12M70s. There were several different sounding versions of the G12-65 back then. Many had the G12T75s.... Fender cabs usually had the generic Fender Special Design.

M70's get an undeservedly bad rap.

I'm pretty sure about 90% of it is due to the changeover years when marshall kicked the well-matched g12-65's out of the jcm800 companion cab, and people went "wth, the new ones don't sound right no more"
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

What's an "American type" speaker, anyway??

Typical music gear descriptors are American=Fender type, Brittish=Marshall type, not a hard and fast rule but typically on point. Fender used a lot off different speaker vendors over the years Jensen, JBL and others. One thing all of the speaker manufacturers had to be conscious of is Fender's open back design and voice the speakers to perform best in those environments.

Here is Celestion's description.

Inspired by our favourite modern American tones, the A-Type is a different kind of guitar speaker from Celestion. Of course, it still has the musical and revealing three- dimensional quality that is the heart and soul of a Celestion guitar speaker, however it features a more laid-back midrange which reveals body and complexity in the upper register, accompanied by full and rounded low frequencies.
 
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Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

Celestion has had some pretty interesting new models in recent years. There's the high powered Alnicos and the Creambacks. I think it is great that are offering an American voiced speaker alternative, because finding proper vintage voiced speakers for Fender amps with high power handling is not always easy. The new Jensens don't really have the same sound. Other than the early Kendrick's there's not much out there with that type of sound and power handling. Plus from the review the A type sounds good.

Raiding a 80s cab could be hit and miss even assuming it still has the original speakers. It could be G12M70s. There were several different sounding versions of the G12-65 back then. Many had the G12T75s.... Fender cabs usually had the generic Fender Special Design.
Ah yes the dreaded 12M-70. If you come across any, send them to me for proper disposal [emoji41]

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk
 
Re: NSD - Celestion A-Type

What's an "American type" speaker, anyway?? And wouldnt that be something you normally buy from Eminence?

Also, based on the Nazi-looking eagle graphic, methinks someone at Celestion UK thinks the whole idea of American-type speakers is a bit of a joke perhaps?

American sound means roughly the Fender type sound, like the lower powered CTS, Jensen, Utah, etc. and higher-powered Altec and JBL types of the past and many of the Eminence speakers (they now make a wide range of speakers, including British-sounding ones). It means at least no typical Celestion mid-hump that is characteristic of most of their speakers, possibly even scooped some in the mids. At the time the G12-50s came out, there were many more speakers in the Celestion catalog, including the 90 watt speaker that is now only made for Mesa, about 4 different 25 watt 12's with different magnets, even a 4 ohm 8" "Champ" type speaker. They trimmed the catalog down more than half to what it is today, some of those older speakers like the 50 watt also had less of the mid-hump, so they worked well in Fender and other American type amps, most of which were 6L6, 6V6, or 6550 powered.
Al
 
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