New Celestion G12H-75 Creamback - evaluation.

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vmaxvmax
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New Celestion G12H-75 Creamback - evaluation.

Post by vmaxvmax »

I have recently taken delivery of a Celestion G12H-75 Creamback. These are new speakers that supposedly capture the 12h 30 watt speaker sound but with the higher 75 watt rms power handling.

I fitted it into my 1 x 12 Mashall style 18 watt combo cabinet. The cabinet is similar to an original 1 x 12 cabinet except mine is around 100 mm deeper.

My amp is basically a Lite IIb. I have the volume set a little over halfway around 2 'o' clock. I run the amp into a dummy load and feed a line out from the OT into another amp. This allows me to get the sweet spot at whatever volume I want - lower or higher than original. I find this better and closer tone wise than using an attenuator or VVR. It also means I don't have to always rely on the PA guys... I like a decent 'crunch' for rhythm which cleans up on the guitar volume control. For a bit more gain when soloing, I sometimes use a booster.

The speaker does indeed sound in the 'ballpark' of the original G12H 30's (I have small collection of originals from the late 60's and early 70's).

The biggest difference in tone is a slightly smoother, more 'syrupy' midrange. Possibly because the my 18 watt clone doesn't push or stress the speaker so hard as it does a 30 watt one due to its 75 watt handling.This is not a bad thing as the 12H 30 could sound a little harsh sometimes. I do occasionally miss the slightly 'harsher' or more 'gritty' edge of the G12H-30's.

This speaker also has more bass - not bloated or excessive but a bit more 'thump'.

The other big difference is that the new Celestion encourages harmonic feedback somewhat earlier. At a recent gig whilst trying this new speaker out for the first time, I found myself damping the strings more often in order to keep feedback under control. Nothing excessive but nonetheless there. It does sing nicely when you let it go though.

No doubt the speaker will bed in some more as up to this point it has only had about 30 hours of playing in.

All in all I am very happy with this speaker and will definitely be getting more.
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johnatgburg
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Re: New Celestion G12H-75 Creamback - evaluation.

Post by johnatgburg »

That sounds very interesting. Could you elaborate on how you feed a line out from the output transformer while running the amp into a dummy load to feed into another amp? And what kind of load are you using, purely resistive, reactive? Could you give specifics?
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vmaxvmax
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Re: New Celestion G12H-75 Creamback - evaluation.

Post by vmaxvmax »

Hi,

I use a standard line out similar to the Weber load line. Having control over the output level is important when feeding this to another amplifier.

The dummy load is resistive. If you use a valve amp for re-amplification you get reactance at the final stage anyway. For SS amplification I did try a reactive load (to a speaker in an isolation box) to see what the audible difference is and found that the difference is very small and did not justify going to the lengths of making a reactive dummy load box. In fact it is easier to place an eq device between the line out and the additional amplifier if you feel it necessary to tweek the sound - it is a well documented method. Look up how EVH re-amplifies.

Reactance gives a slight rise to treble and a bass lift at around 100 hz and maybe some 'air' but in reality hardly noticeable, if at all.

In the end, after months of messing about and testing, I use a SS amp that sits in the bottom of my 18 watt combo cabinet, It's not noticeable and add very little weight to the combo. I did use a valve amp to re-amp for a while but the sonic advantage was so small and virtually unnoticeable.

I have a switchable insert between the 18 watt line out and the SS amplifier. This allows me to place delay (eq too if you wish) etc post 18 watt power amp distortion if you want to.

The advantage of this is that you can find your sweet spot on the 18 watt amplifier and then use the external amp to control your volume - louder or quieter than the 18 watt amplifier. It gives much better results than either VVR or an attenuator.

The only difference in tone is now dependant on how the speaker is being pushed and how the brain and ears react to different volumes.

I hope that helps to describe my method?
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lionpotato
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Re: New Celestion G12H-75 Creamback - evaluation.

Post by lionpotato »

Could you elaborate on your dummy load wiring, etc? I know there are many different versions.
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