Celestion G12T-75

The Celestion G12T-75 sounds smooth and the frequency range that comes through is wide. The speaker emphasizes the lower mid frequencies and lets very high frequencies through. It lacks pronounced upper mids and can lack presence and could potentially prevent your guitar from cutting through a complex mix but it still sounds great by itself. The speaker sounds good when pushed and does not begin to sound harsh when played loudly. To me this speaker definitely prefers to be used in a closed back cabinet. However I have used it in an open back Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue and it can work good there as well even though it takes some of the “fender“ out of the sound. This speaker is the classic choice for 70s heavy rock sounds. It sounds great in a closed back cabinet with 70s style distortion playing through it and delivers a warm meaty bottom end. I have also used the speaker along with a Celestion Vintage 30 in a Marshall cab. These two speakers compliment each other well because the Vintage 30 produces the upper frequencies that the it lacks and vice versa. Together they provide a full wide frequency range. I have also compared this speaker to the Celestion G12t80 which is found in countless stock. I've learned that you never know what will work best with each particular combination of guitar/amp/cab/and speaker. When I play my semi-hollowbody Triggs 2 guitar with Alnico humbuckers through my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue with volume on 10 through my Marshall 4x12 cab, the side of the cab with the G12T80s sounds better for some reason than the side with the G12H30s and Vintage 30. For clean sounds through the cab with a Fender amp the opposite is true. If I were playing through a Marshall amp I might feel differently because of that amps natural E.Q.. It is one of my favorite speakers.

These are the other half of the vintage 30. Basically, when you buy a cab without caring what speakers you get in'em, if they're not vintage 30s, you'll most likely get these. The G12T-75s have been around for quite some time, probably longer than the vintage 30 and they have a very different character to them. They're bright, quite bright. This is not to say that they sound bad! I believe every guitar speaker is usable in some context. The G12T-75 to me is a brighter speaker and would most likely suit straight cabs as such. I've found slant styled cabs to always, always be brighter and if you add an even brighter speaker in the mix you're doomed! However, I've never actually been a big fan of the angled cabs anyhow, they've always seemed to be mis-projecting the proper sound of the cab and guitar sound to me.

Anyhow, back to this speaker, it's definitely brighter and I think would sound great for downtuned guitars to keep the tone tight and not too flubby. It's also got enough headroom so early speaker distortion is nothing to be worried about, unless you want something of that sort, then you may want to try another speaker. This is still, however a great speaker even for standard tuning if you EQ the amp right. I’ve found these speakers to be just as good, but different sounding from the vintage 30s, again brighter, more presence and high end sparkle and not so much of that midrange girth you’d find in a vintage 30. I do like the sound of both speakers and have seen others mix and match both the vintage 30 and 75 to get a very good balanced sound. I have yet to personally try this myself but it definitely does sound good on paper.

The Celestion G12T75 is probably today’s most common speaker. It comes in nearly every standard Marshall JCM900 cab, so I assume most people have tried this at one time or another. It can handle 75 watts of power, is 12’’ in diameter, comes in either 8 or 16 ohm format and has a ceramic magnet.

Yet again, people were looking for even more power than the Vintage 30 could deliver. This time, they made the G12T75, and it’s pretty much the exact opposite of the Vintage 30. Where as the Vintage 30 has some very aggressive midrange, ths G12T75 has extreme bass and high end. The midrange is, therefore, pushed back a bit.

For me, I could never really get along with this speaker. It was simply too scooped for me. I know it works well with some Marshalls, but I usually prefer using Greenbacks or even Vintage 30s compared to this. The bass was big, but I also found it to be a touch flabby. It didn’t seem as tight as the Vintage 30. The highs were also a bit too harsh for me. Recorded, they seemed to sound flat and not have much life to them like the Vintage 30 does. They’re quite a bit harder to record, and I find they’re much better for mixing with another speaker than running them straight. What I mean is, fill half the cab with the G12T75 speakers and fill the other half with Vintage 30s. That seems to give a very even response overall.

If you’re looking for a high gain heavy metal speaker, I still recommend the Vintage 30. I could never get along with the G12T75, so I can’t really recommend it. Still, there are some that love it, and that can’t be denied. Thankfully, these speakers are so prevalent that you are sure to find one at your local music store to test out.