Do I want a pair of Celestion G12-35XC's ?

Ignored Member

Ignored Member

Neutered male
There's a local ad on craigslist for some Celestion G12-35XCs.

I'm a fan of the Mesa/Celestion Black Shadow C90s which are apparently derived from the Celestion G12h80. I had good luck buying a pair refurbished from a guy in Texas who sells them on eBay. Unfortunately, they are 16 ohm and now I need a pair of 8 ohm.

I can get the craigslist Celestions for about the same price as the refurb Black Shadows.

They would go into a large open-back 2x12. The amp would be a Peavey Classic 30 or Classic 50. I care about cleans the most.

By clean I mean clean, not the slightly breaking up sound most youtube demos call "clean".

I've just about talked myself into it. I just need somebody to tell me either they suck or they are awesome.
 
There's a Pete Thorn demo of them:



Unfortunately, I don't think Pete ever puts out a demo in which anything sounds bad. It's also about 75% crunchy when I need more clean examples.
 
Mounted. Need to re-do my wiring harness to be series instead of parallel. Then they should be ready to fire up.

IMG_0660.JPG


Just from looking, they aren't going to sound like the Black Shadows. They are noticeably lighter and the dust cover is much smaller.

As you can see, the 2x12 cab is on the huge side. I'm hoping these don't sound like a transistor radio in a garage.

The condition is really good. I don't think I got ripped off unless they just don't work. Whether I will like them is a different question.
 
Wired up. Review time. I started with the Telecaster.

First thing I noticed: They are clear. They have a very articulate sound. If you have fret buzz or finger squeak, these are going to expose it.

I turned up the bass a bit and found these can really hit in the chest-thumping range without getting muddy. Some of that may be a byproduct of the big cab. Either way, there was a lot of "whoomp" on the low E. It was kind of fun playing solo but I would probably dial it back with a group.

My Colossus fuzz did not sound very different. It had a bit more bite than before but still wasn't harsh.

I'm not sure these are real efficient. It seemed like I had to turn the amp up a bit more to get the same level. Some of that might be the 2x12 being on the ground versus my regular cab being at chest level. There might be a psychoacoustic thing going on, too -- I wanted to hear more.

I would like more mids. I can compensate with the amp EQ but I still wanted a bit more "butter" in the sound.

I also tried my Godin Fifth Avenue archtop. This guitar loves clear-sounding amps. It didn't disappoint -- sounded huge.

If I had it to do over, I'd probably go with a set of Black Shadows because that's what I'm used to and like. Still, these aren't bad at all.

Video demo:

http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/threads/celestion-g12-35xc-demo.69357/
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top