For those about to Rock… An Brief Encyclopedic History of Guitar Speakers that I Could Buy

 

For those about to Rock…

A Brief Encyclopedic History of Guitar Speakers..

that I Could Buy

“new” vintage guitar speakers

At GuitarSpeakerStore.com, we sell both newly manufactured vintage speakers (new vintage), as well as their higher powered spin-offs – which match the original tone as closely as possible while offering modern power handling. We can get you any such guitar speaker you want.  Many of them are already listed on our eBay store for you to order now!

This is our main product line, and can be difficult to understand, so here is an outline explaining it, but the video link will hopefully induce you into an important historical, yet modern and relevant corner of the world of Guitar Tone: The world of New Vintage Guitar Speakers.

  • This YouTube video explains the benefits of newer high wattage speakers, by reviewing the:
    1. History of vintage Celestion Speakers
    2. Rationale behind increasing the power handling of newly designed and manufactured (new vintage) speakers over the years, while preserving vintage tone.

The battle of the Backs

  • Greenbacks (original) vs. Creambacks – After years of making the G12m 67s, the original Greenback, it’s 75, and 55hz variation in its pure form, Celestion also decided to offer the Creambacks.  Creambacks promised to match the tone of the m67 Greenback as closely as possible while offering a higher wattage modern speaker with modernized materials, like the cone.  They did not sound exactly the same, but they sounded creamy – and you could hook them to a more powerful amp which allowed you to add effects/pedals and such.
    1. Advantages of orginal vintage –
      1. Green – Speakers have become less efficient in terms of how much electricity they use.  If you play outdoor concerts- choose older watt-sipping hippy speakers.  You can buy these older models new because they are still being made.
      2. Tone – watts are low.  That is because back then the distortion is designed to be in the speaker itself.  Digital effects through pedals, amps, effects processors cannot reproduce the live sound, tone, resonation etc. of this process – as it is entirely different.
      3. Materials – in  my opinion, the original m-67 Greenback is more expensive because of the cone.  They are no longer in production.  I have some.
      4. Nostalgic Tone- They will always have the sound that defined late 60’s and early 70’s Rock.  The kind of Rock that every classic rock station ever played.
      5. Unique Vintage Tone and Feel – That tone of a distortion or breakup occurring within the speaker itself has not been duplicated by effects processors yet.  Also, guitar players say that they feel the feedback of it coming out of the speaker in their body, not just with their ears.
    2. Advantages of Creambacks and next Generations – Sometimes distortion is no longer desired to take place in the speaker – so watt ratings can be higher:  You don’t necessarily want to be on the edge anymore – if, for example you only like a clean tone.  Also, you may not want to risk damaging your speaker.  New vintage speakers such as Celestion’s Cream and Redbacks are designed to keep their tone as true as possible to the original while also offering more watts for these and other reasons:
      1. They also want distortion in the pedal or processor – and this require higher watts. At least it won’t damage your amp as easy as it may damage your speaker.
      2. Instead of buying a 4×12 cabinet with 4 12″ speakers, you could buy one or two new vintage speakers with high power ratings, like a Celestion Redback.  This will lighten your load for gigs, travel, and transport.
      3. You can set up your system to the desired amount of distortion in your speaker, if you want that, with a G12-M Creamback 65. It has less watts power handling than the g12H-75 Creamback, so it is likely  more true to original tone of the m-67, and easier to push with less juice. Just don’t blow the speaker.   The g12H-75 Creamback has the same Heavy magnet that the 55hz Greenback referenced above has, but its tuned to a higher 75hz frequency.  It ended up being a legend in its own right.

Choices

Both Celestion and Jensen are currently manufacturing new vintage speakers.  Jensen has had tone samples on their website for a while and this may be what is pushing Celestion to also now give away their tone samples. Try those before you buy.

Lineage

The speakers mentioned here are the Monsters of Rock when it comes to guitar speakers.   Most other speakers have a lineage that points back to them in some way.  They are listed on our eBay store for you to order now! Our listings tend to tell each speakers story.  Check them out!