Which G12H-30 are the ones to get?

peterc52

peterc52

Well-known member
Anniversary? Same ones as in the 1960 hardwired cabs?

I know they are cool with Marshalls. How are they with Mesa?
 
peterc52 said:
Anniversary? Same ones as in the 1960 hardwired cabs?

I know they are cool with Marshalls. How are they with Mesa?
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H30s are bright city...and I like bright. They are too bright for my tastes. But, I bought a few H30 Anniversaries a while back to put in a cab with 2 legit Pulsonic H30s. At high volumes the newer anniversaries sounded almost dead on to the legit 1972 Pulsonics. The newer anniversaries are now made in England again, and are less harsh than the MiC versions I previously owned. I have since sold the cab but I was surprised as to how close at volume the Annies were to the 72s.
I have no experience with the Heritage version.
 
It depends what kind of sound you’re going for, but I personally don’t like much the H magnet celestions, except early white voice coil 25H’s. They have more bass and highs, but hollow midrange. My approach has been more to use the M magnet celestions for their unparalleled mids and combine with something like JBL’s or Crescnedo’s, which imo are kind of the kings for everything but the mids where Celestion seem to rule above the others
 
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braintheory said:
It depends what kind of sound you’re going for, but I personally don’t much like the H magnet celestions, except early white voice coil 25H’s. They have more bass and highs, but hollow midrange. My approach has been more to use the M magnet celestions for their unparalleled mids and combine with something like JBL’s or Crescnedo’s, which imo are kind of the kings for everything but the mids where Celestion seem to rule above the others
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Yeah, agreed, apart from the odd outlier H30 that sounds great they mostly just sound too scooped, bright and stiff to me, especially compared to an M25. That applies to all eras and bass and lead cone versions of both
 
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...nch-30-watt-replacement-guitar-speaker-8-ohmsThese are the ones i got. Racerx and me dial in amps similar. So when he says they are bright that is true if you play a bright amp. . The trick is, you have to have an amp that is tight enough that you can run your bass a bit higher than you do with a v30. Some amps, you turn up the bass and it becomes flubby. But if you play a dark amp through them, it still sounds dark. Ask me how I know...
 
Nolly said:
Yeah, agreed, apart from the odd outlier H30 that sounds great they mostly just sound too scooped, bright and stiff to me, especially compared to an M25. That applies to all eras and bass and lead cone versions of both
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Exactly, once you try enough model celestions, you see there are certain characteristics of H vs M, 75 vs 55, etc, when all else is roughly equal. I still think my H25’s sound magical, but it’s from the white voice coils not the H mag. It sounds hollow still vs my M20’s, but vs other stuff still amazing to me
 
I agree about them being stiff and hollow. I think they make way more sense when they’re delivering way more volume than you’d typically use for most speakers, and probably made sense decades ago for people who were destroying the other lighter magnet celestions. I didn’t really “get” them until I turned my amps way past where I usually like them, they started feeling a bit nicer and the sound evens out a bit more.

I haven’t compared newer issues to my 76 Blackback H30 55hz but it sounds like the descriptions above apply for them all.
 
psychodave said:
I love the Anniversary H30's. They trick with them (and most speakers) is you have to break them in. I like them so much that I bought four quads of them and broke them all in at the same time. Took weeks to do it playing at insane volumes.
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The problem though for me is that inherently hollow midrange of the H mags. I mean given even my 55+ year old H25’s (that clearly have been played) still have those hollow mids then what do we need a century for that to go away? I just think it’s just part of the sound they have. I guess some don’t mind it, but I really don’t like it. It’s not the highs or stiff feel so much that bothers me with these H’s
 
braintheory said:
The problem though for me is that inherently hollow midrange of the H mags. I mean given even my 55+ year old H25’s (that clearly have been played) still have those hollow mids then what do we need a century for that to go away? I just think it’s just part of the sound they have. I guess some don’t mind it, but I really don’t like it. It’s not the highs or stiff feel so much that bothers me with these H’s
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I think this is a characteristic of the speaker that most like. Especially if you are playing a very midforward amp. The mids aren't hollow in the same way as the K100. I think it just accentuates the highs if you have a bright amp. If you play them, and want them to soound right, you may turn up the mids more than you would with another speaker. I know i do. If you do that and turn down the treble, the speaker is still present, but not as icepicky and can sound more balanced. I am a big fan of the speaker. I think stiff is a pretty good description of them too. Palm mutes are very fast to bounce back on you with this speaker. It really feels good to play palm muted triplets through. Immediate and right back in position for more punishment
Another good thing about them being bright is that you can turn down the treble and still keep the brightness. turning up the treble is always going to turn up the hiss on a high gain amp. If you use mids instead, you can dial in your brightness. And like Racer likes, keep that presence dimed.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
I think this is a characteristic of the speaker that most like. Especially if you are playing a very midforward amp. The mids aren't hollow in the same way as the K100. I think it just accentuates the highs if you have a bright amp. If you play them, and want them to soound right, you may turn up the mids more than you would with another speaker. I know i do. If you do that and turn down the treble, the speaker is still present, but not as icepicky and can sound more balanced. I am a big fan of the speaker. I think stiff is a pretty good description of them too. Palm mutes are very fast to bounce back on you with this speaker. It really feels good to play palm muted triplets through. Immediate and right back in position for more punishment
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I agree with everything you said, but I just feel for those qualities the H’s do better than the M’s, I prefer to go a step further with that and use my various JBL’s or Crescendo’s. They are even more hollow in a way, but also have more highs and lows and even better chugs (a lot better imo). Nothing chugs like a good orange frame JBL D120F. Imo it’s what Metallica should’ve been using. I think though the H’s can be a good middle ground for some of these 2 extremes, but I prefer the sounds I’ve been getting with these other combos. GB’s and JBL’s especially or JBL D120F’s with Blues are both glorious combos. The former EVH used to use. Crescnedo’s on bottom with blues on top is also phenomenal IME. Very complete sounds with those I felt
 
Smashedguitarist said:
That is very interesting, Sam. I am such a celestion slave, I have never explored outside of them. But there are a lot of speakers i need to try. Fanes are up there as well.
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I still mostly use Celestions. They have the best mids and are the most popular speakers for a reason, but there’s other cool stuff out there. It’s the vintage Fane Crescnedo’s that are special, but some of their current ones like the F90’s aren’t bad either
 
Smashedguitarist said:
Jesus, you snob, those are so expensive. J/k. I don't know why i will spend over 3 on an amp, but balk over more than 170/speaker
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Yes they are all not cheap stuff, but if you want that sound only those speakers do it. I also got them all before 2021 when things got so pricy. Unfortunately none of my favorites can be had at $170/speaker. The cheapest keeper speaker for me (and only non-vintage one for me) are the Alnico Gold’s, but they may not be your cup of tea
 
I have a Marshall 1960BHW with the Heritage G12H30's & with some amps i like those speakers & with others, not so much. They sound good with my Soldano Avenger but not great with my PRS Archon.
 
I like the Celestion Anni G12H30s, but they are bright, even after a good breaking in. Thing is in a band that top end is nice for cutting through, but not so much at home.

Lots of options if you are willing to go with another speaker that is not a celestion like the scumback H75, Fane H75 (kind of its own beast), etc
 
Anniversaries are my favorite speaker. Had mine well broken in by Scumback.

If I were buying new I’d go through Avatar and get their Made in England broken in version.
 
psychodave said:
I love the Anniversary H30's. They trick with them (and most speakers) is you have to break them in. I like them so much that I bought four quads of them and broke them all in at the same time. Took weeks to do it playing at insane volumes.
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Same, love them. They're my go-to in a 1x12 open back cab. Really opens up the sound. They are prickly at first, but settle into a very nice sound once battered.
The WGS Reaper 30 is a pretty good take on the G12h30.
 
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