Guitar Gear Review: Celestion G12H Anniversary 30W Speaker

The G12H?  But, Darth, that’s a speaker!  Yep, it is.  Strap yourselves in while we engage into a new territory with my first ever speaker evaluation!

You’ve probably noticed over the past few months that there have been a few new additions to the Imperial arsenal.  Firstly, a few new cabs.  Now that they are broken in… or rather, I’m broken in to them… I’m going to try to roll some speakers through there from time to time.  First up, the Celestion G12H Anniversary.

When guitarists think of speakers, the Celestion brand is generally on the short list.  There are several staples of the Celestion offerings, and I hope to work through them.  Be not afraid, gentle readers, there will be other brands covered as well.

For this review, the G12H is loaded in a X-pattern in a Peavey 6505 4×12 slant cab.  The 6505 comes with 12″ Sheffield 16 ohm speakers which are commonly considered to be an approximation of a Celestion G12M Greenback.  The sort of speaker/cab put into action by acts ranging from Montgomery Gentry to Ted Nugent.

When it comes to the G12H, it’s the selection of players from Jimi (psychedelic) to Iommi (bone crushing) to Erik Turner (pop metal).

Right away, I like how the G12H Anniversary fills out the space.  In an unaccompanied setting, the character of the lows mids is the first thing I notice.  Based on that, I find myself expecting a softer attack and more polite high end.  Yet that is not the case.  There is a precise flavor and a high end that has nice amount of bite to it.  I ran a series of guitars through the G12Hs with pickups voiced from classic and vintage to aggressive and modern.

As much as I’m liking what I’m hearing, something unexpected happened when I put the G12H Anniversary into a mix.  I’m discovering that it blends right in to a range of different styles of music and playing.  It strikes me as a consideration for a “team player” setting, providing the guitarist the versatility to ease back without reducing volume.

Take a listen to a video from Celestion of the G12H Anniversary facing-off with the Celestion Vintage 30:

G12H Anniversary Specs
Speaker Size:  12″
Voice Coil:  1.175″
Magnet:  50 oz Ceramic
Power Handling:  30 W
Resonance:  85 Hz
Sensitivity:  100 dB

For reference, this evaluation was conducted with my old trusty amp, as well a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+.

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Darth Phineas is a long time music industry insider who provides his readers with unbiased reviews on musical instrument and guitar gear. You can read more of his reviews and check out industry news on his Facebook community Darth Phineas, Twitter or his website is darthphineas.com