The Celestion 100
Meticulously hand-crafted in the UK, the Celestion 100 celebrates the world’s first purpose-built guitar loudspeaker which, in various guises, has voiced some of the most legendary and memorable riffs and solos of all time.
Invented in 1936 as a radio speaker, the general purpose ‘G12’ was used in many applications. Several versions including the G44, CT3757 and B024—all built with alnico magnets and in colours such as silver, ‘poly grey’ and ‘hammertone oyster’—were manufactured during the late 1950s as the speaker began to be deployed in the guitar amplifiers of the time. But as amplified music got louder, more robust speakers were needed to keep up with the demand for increased power.
In 1959 Celestion Chief Engineer Les Ward created a specially toughened version of the G12 to withstand more heat and mechanical vibration. This speaker evolved into the T530 Alnico Blue: the world’s first speaker designed specifically for use with guitar amplifiers.
Installed in Vox AC15 and AC30 amplifiers, the speaker was instantly recognisable with its iconic azure blue livery. Soon after, the toughened G12 was also adopted by Marshall Amplification, given a more traditional silver paint job and, as T652, used in legendary Marshall cabinets including the 1962 ‘Bluesbreaker’ combo amp and the early ‘offset’ 4×12 cabinet built for use with the JTM45 amp.
Referencing our own collection of early alnico speakers, the Celestion 100 is born of a painstaking research and development process, analysing, understanding and then replicating the very essence and tone of these exquisite collector’s items.
Each detail has been carefully considered to ensure the sonic character of the 100 is completely in keeping with those late 1950s designs. An all-new cone has been formulated and then benchmarked against our vintage cones. A carefully measured amount of thin and light edge treatment is applied to protect and enhance the cone’s operation which is then matched with a vintage-look dust dome for absolute authenticity.
Exceptional tonality is further assured with the development of a new voice coil based on Les Ward’s original T530 design, which has been re-imagined using today’s more heat-resistant materials to offer an enhanced power rating of 30W. A bolt-on magnet assembly with period-correct label completes a speaker that looks as great as it sounds.
To find out more about the Celestion 100, read the specification here.
