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Celestion Celebrates their Centennial Anniversary with Release of the Celestion 100 Impulse Response Collection

Ipswich, UK (February 26, 2024) — Celestion, the premier designer and manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers, well-known as the “Voice of Rock and Roll” behind many of music’s most memorable guitar performances, proudly introduces the Celestion 100 Impulse Response Collection. This downloadable library of impulse responses meticulously captures the tone of the Celestion 100 loudspeaker — recently introduced in 2024 commemoration of the company’s 100th anniversary — for any digital music production platform. Whether in a DAW for recording or a modelling amplifier for performance, these impulse responses (IRs) place one of the most iconic and historically significant Celestion sounds within arm’s reach of any musician, recordist, or producer. The Celestion 100 IRs are available for audition and download at celestionplus.com.

The Celestion 100 speaker traces its roots to the original G12, a general-purpose 12-inch radio speaker that was later fortified to meet the rapidly evolving demands of electric guitar amplification in the 1950s and ’60s. This iteration became the T530 or “Alnico Blue,” which worked so well that it was installed in the Vox combo amps (a favorite of The Beatles) that powered the “British Invasion” of the early 1960s. Today’s hardware Celestion 100 delivers the tone of those early alnico speakers and its many descendants and variants, but with more durable materials, state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, and precise tolerances — akin to a collectible automobile that has been not merely restored but tastefully modernized.

The Celestion 100 Impulse Responses digitize these sonic characteristics via a meticulous recording process, beginning with studio-quality, go-to guitar cabinet microphones such as the Royer R-121 ribbon, Shure SM57, and Sennheiser MD421. Each IR thus offers a variety of mic type and placement options and can be loaded into any IR host within a DAW or into stand-alone amp modeling hardware. The result is an authentic speaker emulation that sounds every bit as outstanding as its hardware counterpart.

With the Celestion 100 IRs, musicians can expect a blooming low end and bell-like treble coupled with a sweet, shimmering midrange. When overdriven, the IRs compress gradually and musically, softening the notes’ attack in the exact same fashion as classic Celestion alnico loudspeakers.

The complete Celestion 100 IR Collection includes five cabinet configurations:

  • 1 x 12 open-back
  • 1 x 12 closed-back
  • 2 x 12 open-back,
  • 2 x 12 closed-back
  • 4 x 12 closed-back

These reflect the most widely used setups for studio recording and onstage use across single, dual, and four-speaker cabinet sizes. Each of these can also be purchased and downloaded as a single impulse response, though the full collection represents a significant cost savings compared to buying IRs individually.

Paired with a DAW and IR loader plug-in, modeling amp hardware, or amp-top load box, the Celestion 100 Impulse Response Collection provides authentic tone alongside lively and dynamic response, all without introducing latency. These benefits create a playing experience that is as credibly vintage as any speaker can achieve, but with real-world performance that is predictable and reliable in today’s most demanding recording and performance applications.

The Celestion 100 Impulse Responses join an extensive family of acclaimed Celestion IRs, including the Shades of Greenback Collection, G12-50GL Lynchback, Neo Creamback, Copperback, Hempback, Vintage 30, and many more.

The Celestion 100 Impulse Responses are available for downloadable as individual IRs and as a complete collection at  celestionplus.com..

About Celestion Digital

The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition, and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. Celestion’s own SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs) for the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.  Celestion Plus.

About Celestion

With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture high-quality professional audio loudspeakers and compression drivers for sound reinforcement, premium guitar and bass guitar loudspeakers. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres and other venues the world over. 2024 marks Celestion’s 100th year, please join us in the celebration. celestion.com

A century of sound book

An Important Milestone

In the year of our 100th anniversary, we celebrate an extraordinary history that takes in the birth of radio, the early days of public address, the development of the world’s first dedicated guitar speaker, making HiFi quality sound available for every home, helping to pioneer the modern festival sound system and capturing the unique sound and response of Celestion speakers in a suite of IR digital downloads.

A century of sound
A Century of Sound: The story of Celestion

It’s been quite a ride, and you can read all about it in the new book: ‘A Century of Sound: The Story of Celestion’, now available to buy online.

In the USA: Sweetwater

In the UK: Lean Business Audio

In Germany and the rest of the EU: Tube Amp Doctor & TLHP

The Celestion Interview: Brian Weafer, Yorkville Sound

(Pickering, ON) — Canada’s Yorkville Sound has come a long way since its beginnings in the back room of the original Long & McQuade music store in downtown Toronto where, in 1963, co-founder Peter Traynor built the now-iconic Traynor DynaBass bass amplifier as a rugged, reliable alternative to the models of the day.

Today, Yorkville Sound designs and manufactures a full line of professional PA systems and loudspeakers, instrument amplifiers, installed audio systems, studio tools, microphones, and accessories under its Apex, Traynor, and Applied Research, and Technology (ART) brands, with 220 employees at the company’s 150,000-square-foot facility in Pickering, Ontario.

A leader in instrument amplification and a pioneer in loudspeaker horn and cabinet innovation, Yorkville Sound also distributes dozens of iconic pro audio and MI brands including Gibson, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Universal Audio, and Manley for Canada, and HK Audio and Hughes & Kettner for North America.

In a remarkable career spanning 36 years, Yorkville Sound VP of Internal Affairs Brian Weafer has played a key role in propelling the company forward. His background as a musician and engineer, complemented by his dedication to championing a close-knit corporate ethos that puts the needs of musicians first, has been pivotal in shaping the company’s path.

We sat down with Weafer to gain his insights into music, Yorkville’s trajectory, and the ever-evolving industry landscape.

What is your favorite album of all time, and why?

The two greatest influences for me are Todd Rundgren and Joni Mitchell.

For Todd Rundgren, it’s always going to be Something, Anything. All the songs were so good. He played all the parts himself, he recorded it all himself. It was one of the very first of those kinds of albums, like Prince did and Stevie Wonder used to do.

For Joni Mitchell, it’s Hissing of Summer Lawns. First of all, Joni Mitchell is Canadian. She used to perform in a street called Yorkville in Toronto; it was the Haight-Ashbury, hippie neighborhood. The original music store for Long & McQuade—which we’re all part of the same company—was on Yonge Street, right at that corner of Yonge and Yorkville. Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, all these people used to hang out on that street and play for nothing in those days.

When our founders, Pete Traynor and Jack Long, started the company, they went outside and looked at the street sign, it said “Yorkville,” so they called it Yorkville.

What got you interested in music and audio?

I was a jack of all trades when I was young. I played trumpet, French horn, guitar, lots of different instruments. I built my first guitar amp when I was 13 with my dad because we couldn’t afford to buy one. And you know where my dad got the schematic for the amp? From Pete Traynor, the guy who started Yorkville with Jack.

How did you get your start in the industry, and with Yorkville?

Well, I played guitar from a young age, but I also studied as an electrician. I was a quality-control tech for a big wire company. And then I was a touring musician for 10 years. When I came off the road, I saw a job in the newspaper that said that a company was looking for somebody to test guitar amps and things like that. So, I joined, and it was a good fit.

What’s your current position and how did you get there?

Within a very short time of getting the job, they asked me to go into purchasing. And then a short time after that, they asked me to be the warehouse manager, then the purchasing manager. Then I was a vice president of this and that. It didn’t take me very long to move up. Now I’m Vice President of Internal Affairs.

How did your background influence the job you do now, and the company overall?

I was a musician; I had the quality control background. I had an electronics background; I had a computer background when nobody even knew what a computer was. When I was on the road, I studied computer science at a correspondence university. I was building my own gear, tinkering, all those things. I think that tinkering and doing things yourself is what makes good companies into good companies

In the music business, for equipment to tour and be used in these harsh environments, you have to build it almost from the ground up yourself in order to maintain the quality at every level that can withstand the rigors of the road. Because everybody will tell you that it’s okay for somebody’s stereo to have a particular circuit board, but that would not last in a guitar amp, because it’ll just vibrate to death; or in a PA cabinet, where it will just break apart. So, the company has always been quality-minded from day one.

Yorkville is legendary in the industry. In your viewpoint, what’s the main reason for that?

I think we fought tooth and nail to stay true to the vertical integration, all in one building. To this day, everything is made in the building. The metal and wood are brought in and made into things. The electronics are all built in the building. The designers are in the building. It’s been that way since day one. There’s such a push to keep it that way, to keep Canadian people at their jobs.

It’s a culture. And it is very family. I always tell people, we’re an international company who’s managed to maintain that sort of early ’70s culture. That’s hard to do because you’ve still got to compete.

What product do you consider your company’s most innovative?

Yorkville innovated a lot of things over the years. The wedge monitor was kind of invented by Yorkville. Affordable, powered compact mixers. And then Bass Master amps. We had converted Fender-style amps, changed the front end a bit so that they would handle a bass guitar signal.

What do you think is the single most important technological achievement in the industry?

It’s very hard to say what the most defining thing in our industry has been. I think people would say the invention of powered speaker cabinets has been a pretty big thing. And Bluetooth, obviously.

There’s always been a great amalgamation between consumer and high-end consumer products that merge into pro sound, and vice versa. If you had asked me a long time ago if Bluetooth would ever be part of pro sound, I would’ve said no, because why? But then consumers were using sound products for their house parties. And they wanted to be able to run their Bluetooth through their little speakers, like they do their stereo. So, lots of companies started adding all these features, and eventually there’s a merger between what’s considered consumer electronics and what’s considered a pro PA now.

What is the accomplishment that you’re most proud of?

Oh, it’s all the friends I made here over the years, for sure. It’s like family.

Tell us a little about your company culture and your philosophy in leading the team.

I don’t think you’ll find anybody in management in this corporation—and it’s big, now—who hasn’t had some background in music performance.

Some people have had a career at Yorkville for 45 years. The mentality today is that people don’t realize that it is possible to have a forever job. You can have a job that pays you every single week for 45 years, and you can get married, raise kids, buy your house, and put your money away, knowing that that’s there for you. It’s like being in the same band for 40 years. Like the Rolling Stones.

How is your company poised for the future?

We’re not super mega-rich when it comes to investing in things because we’re always about sustainable growth. We’re still big believers in brick and mortar; we support our music stores, and now we’re up to about 100 music stores, so the business grows hand in hand, and it’s quite sustainable.

I’m sure everybody benefits from e-commerce. But in the end, you wouldn’t want to buy a multi-thousand-dollar guitar without sitting down in a store and playing “Stairway to Heaven,” you know? It’s a hands-on, tactile industry.

What music do you enjoy these days?

I still play guitar; I’ve recently switched over to swing jazz and finger-style jazz. My line has been, I used to play three chords for 3,000 people. Now I play 3,000 chords for three people.

##

 

 

Celestion Adds the Lynchback to its Collection of Digital Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs)

Ipswich, UK (June 06, 2023) —Celestion, the celebrated manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers and professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement applications, is proud to announce the addition of the G12-50GL Lynchback collection to its offerings of  Dynamic Speaker Response (DSRs,) the next-generation digital speaker responses that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear responses to deliver the  greatest tonal detail. The new Lynchbacks join the extensive collection of Celestion DSRs designed especially for use with SpeakerMix Pro, the self-contained studio-grade DAW plug-in offering ground-breaking levels of detail and stunning guitar and bass speaker tones. The complete Celestion digital collections of IRs and DSRs, as well as the SpeakerMix Pro plug-in, are available for download at CelestionPlus.com.

Created to meet the exacting standards of iconic metal guitarist George Lynch, the G12-50GL Lynchback speaker delivers the legendary and much-celebrated vintage tone of a G12M Greenback with the additional capability of producing a harder, more aggressive sound on demand. Not just for high-octane shred-metal, the Celestion Lynchback delivers responsiveness, clarity, and superb dynamics.

The new Celestion Lynchback Dynamic Speaker Response collection, available exclusively for use with the company’s ground-breaking SpeakerMix Pro plugin, enables users to achieve stunningly realistic guitar tones in their DAWs with ease. Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs) running in SpeakerMix Pro react to the dynamics of the signal hitting the speaker to create the most authentic micro-dynamic sound of the real speakers for the next generation in digital tone, with all the life and three-dimensional feel of the real thing.

The Lynchback DSRs have been recorded by the company’s expert sound engineers using the same meticulous techniques as all of Celestion’s best-selling IRs & DSRs. Captured with three pro-quality studio microphones – the classic Shure SM57, a Royer R-121 ribbon mic and a Sennheiser MD421. Each of these mics were recorded in six different positions – named within the speaker response files as Balanced, Bright, fat, Thin, Dark and Dark 2 – as well as a rear mic position for the open back cabs. The addition of a Neumann TLM107 room mic provides the user with a huge number of different mic mixes and a range of unique tonal options.

The files for the Celestion Lynchback DSRs series are available individually or as a complete set. Explore the full range of sounds for this classic speaker, at a considerable saving over buying the individual files. The Lynchback DSR set includes five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

As a host program for the new Lynchback and the entire line of Celestion DSRs, SpeakerMix Pro presents the genuine next-generation virtual speaker solution. More than just a top-level IR loader and convolution engine for hosting impulse responses– it offers pristine sound, mixes up to six channels of different responses into a stereo or mono track and even fixes IR sample rate/project mismatches.

With SpeakerMix Pro, users can:

  • Discover Celestion’s proprietary Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs), the next generation in Impulse Response technology that captures the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear response for even more detail and realism.
  • Integrate their personal library of Celestion and third-party Impulse Responses to make the most of the tones they already own. SpeakerMix Pro uses its unique DSR algorithm to make existing IRs more dynamic sounding, enhancing their tone with even greater feel.
  • Incorporate Celestion’s superb room responses (or add your own) into your mix for an authentic ‘live’ sound. Add room delay for further ‘depth’ and ‘size.’
  • Deploy the unique Z-curve function to closely model the dynamic electrical coupling between amp and speaker.
  • Fine-tune the mic position, enabling the user to adjust the position of the microphone across the speaker until they’ve found the tone that’s just-right (DSR-specific functionality).

The free 14-day demo of the SpeakerMix Pro plugin is available for download and automatically installs with 10 free DSR speaker cabinets curated to give users a broad tone experience across the Celestion range of guitar and bass speakers. Users can upgrade to the full version of SpeakerMix Pro at any time during or after the trial period. Simply purchase the full version of SpeakerMix Pro and select 10 free DSR cabs (choose the preferred DSRs from the available range on Celestionplus.com during upgrade).

About Celestion Digital
The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition, and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. The introduction of Celestion SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses launched alongside the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.
Celestion Plus.

About Celestion and Celestion Guitar Speakers
An important element to essential British guitar tone since the birth of Rock & Roll, Celestion Guitar Speakers are famous for their lively and vocal midrange character with plenty of sparkle and chime. With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture premium guitar and bass loudspeakers, and high-quality professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres, and other venues the world over. Contact Celestion at: info@celestion.com and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/celestion.
www.celestion.com

Celestion Introduces the Neo Creamback Digital Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs)

Ipswich, UK (May 15, 2023) —Celestion, the celebrated manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers and professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement applications, is pleased  to announce that the Neo Creamback collection is available digitally as a  Dynamic Speaker Response (DSR,) the next-generation digital speaker responses that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear responses for even greater tonal detail. The new Neo Creambacks join the extensive collection of Celestion DSRs designed especially for use with SpeakerMix Pro, the self-contained studio-grade DAW plug-in offering ground-breaking levels of detail and stunning guitar and bass speaker tones. The complete Celestion digital collections of IRs and DSRs, as well as the SpeakerMix Pro plug-in, are available for download at CelestionPlus.com.

The Neo Creamback is every ounce a Classic Celestion, delivering all the magical tone from a traditional Creamback at around half the weight. When it comes to Speaker Responses of course, the speaker’s weight doesn’t matter in the slightest. This specially designed magnet assembly results in a speaker that easily delivers a Creamback-style tone and adds a little extra magic all its own.

Now available as a Dynamic Speaker Response (DSR) this highly accurate digital representation is voiced to be “in between” the celebrated G12M -65 and G12H-75 Creambacks. There is still the low-end punch, warm vocal midrange, and sweet refined highs the Creamback is famous for: push it hard and enjoy the ‘race-car growl’ that sets pulses racing! And the Neo Creamback adds to this the shimmering presence that a player would get from an Alnico guitar speaker as well as some additional note separation thanks to the powerful forces of the neo magnet.

Now the Celestion Neo Creamback has been faithfully captured in digital form as Dynamic Speaker Responses. Recorded by the company’s expert sound engineers using the same meticulous techniques as all of Celestion’s best-selling IRs & DSRs, the Neo Creamback DSR was captured with three pro-quality studio microphones – the classic Shure SM57, a Royer R-121 ribbon mic and a Sennheiser MD421. Each of these mics were recorded in six different positions – named within the speaker response files as Balanced, Bright, fat, Thin, Dark and Dark 2 – as well as a rear mic position for the open back cabs. The addition of a Neumann TLM107 room mic provides the user with a huge number of different mic mixes and a range of unique tonal options.

The files for the Celestion Neo Creamback DSRs series are available individually or as a complete set. Explore the full range of sounds for this classic speaker, at a considerable saving over buying the individual files. The Celestion Neo Creamback DSR set includes five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

As a host program for the new Neo Creamback and the entire line of Celestion DSRs, SpeakerMix Pro presents the genuine next-generation virtual speaker solution. More than just a top-level IR loader and convolution engine for hosting impulse responses– it offers pristine sound, mixes up to six channels of different responses into a stereo or mono track and even fixes IR sample rate/project mismatches.

With SpeakerMix Pro, users can:

  • Discover Celestion’s proprietary Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs), the next generation in Impulse Response technology that captures the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear response for even more detail and realism.
  • Integrate their personal library of Celestion and third-party Impulse Responses to make the most of the tones they already own. SpeakerMix Pro uses its unique DSR algorithm to make existing IRs more dynamic sounding, enhancing their tone with even greater feel.
  • Incorporate Celestion’s superb room responses (or add your own) into your mix for an authentic ‘live’ sound. Add room delay for further ‘depth’ and ‘size.’
  • Deploy the unique Z-curve function to closely model the dynamic electrical coupling between amp and speaker.
  • Fine-tune the mic position, enabling the user to adjust the position of the microphone across the speaker until they’ve found the tone that’s just-right (DSR-specific functionality).

The free 14-day demo of the SpeakerMix Pro plugin is available for download and automatically installs with 10 free DSR speaker cabinets curated to give users a broad tone experience across the Celestion range of guitar and bass speakers. Users can upgrade to the full version of SpeakerMix Pro at any time during or after the trial period. Simply purchase the full version of SpeakerMix Pro and select 10 free DSR cabs (choose the preferred DSRs from the available range on Celestionplus.com during upgrade).

About Celestion Digital
The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition, and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. The introduction of Celestion SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses launched alongside the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.
Celestion Plus.

About Celestion and Celestion Guitar Speakers
An important element to essential British guitar tone since the birth of Rock & Roll, Celestion Guitar Speakers are famous for their lively and vocal midrange character with plenty of sparkle and chime. With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture premium guitar and bass loudspeakers, and high-quality professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres and other venues the world over. Contact Celestion at: info@celestion.com and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/celestion.
www.celestion.com

Guitarist/ Singer Songwriter Nick Perri Carefully Crafts Chart-Busting Concept Rock with Celestion

Imagine dreaming the rock ’n’ roll dream since childhood, then living it by the time you were 17 years old. Not as a solo singer who won a TV competition, and not as a member of a prefab boy (or girl) band, but as a bona fide rock outfit. It happens to almost no one, but it happened to Nick Perri. His first band Silvertide played professionally whilst its members were still in school and then on the major festival circuit immediately thereafter, and he has worked as a guitar sideman for many of his musical heroes. Now an accomplished singer-songwriter, his latest studio work, the double concept album Terra Firma, drops in June. All along his incredible journey, Celestion guitar loudspeakers have been his trusty companions, and he shared his story with us.

Start by telling us, who is Nick Perri?

I was born and raised in Philly but lived in California about 16 years. I moved there in my early 20s after my first band, Silvertide, broke up. I moved back to the Philly area in 2020 because my parents are getting older and I wanted to spend more time with them, and also let them get to know my daughter better. It’s been great.

We can see that you have a cool home studio, too.

Music is what I do day and night and I have a setup that goes with me wherever I am. What can I say, I’m obsessed! Music is something I couldn’t turn off if I tried.

What were some of your first experiences with playing music?

When I was 12 years old, my aunt who’s no longer with us, we called her the Dode — D-o-d-e. This was in the mid-’90s, and on cassette she gave me AD/DC’s Highway to Hell and Pearl Jam’s Ten. From that moment on I was obsessed, and I was soaking up stuff at lightning speed like kids are able to do.

That included all the big ’90s bands, like Nirvana and Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, but I also had a couple of mentors who were feeding me classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. When I heard Pink Floyd, it was like the gods of the universe were handing me something very special. It made me feel like anything was possible.

My first record deal was at 17, so between 12 and 17, like I said I was just digesting things at a crazy speed. At 17 I left school to do music and I thought of it like joining the circus.

What was your first experience playing professionally?

It was that band I started in high school called Silvertide. We started like most bands playing coffee houses and open mics. Then we got a gig playing one night a week on South Street, which was like the Sunset Boulevard of Philly. We were kids and for lack of a better word, we were playing a more classic style of rock and roll, like ’60s and ’70s, so I suppose that gained us some attention.

We started playing more nights a week until it was like five or six, we got a manager, and then it was off to the races. This was like early 2000s, 2001, so sort of just before the decline of the record business as we knew it. We got to open for Aerosmith. There was a bidding war, we got signed by Clive Davis, and toured the world — Europe, Japan.  ZZ Top, Mötely Crüe, Foo Fighters, and the Van Halen reunion tour in 2004 …I got to play with all my heroes. It was just this just wild ride. And I was using Celestion speakers the whole time.

Then at 22 years old it was over, and I was like, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? I had left school and I had no real skills outside of music. Then instead of this crazy, once-in-a-lifetime, lightning in a bottle kind of thing, I had to face the reality of trying to make a life in the music business, trying to make it a career. It’s something I’m still working on.

How did you cope with such a huge change?

I guess I sort of settled into, “Okay, what is my non-ridiculous version of this going to be? What is sustainable? What will allow me to have a family?” So that’s been the last 15 years or so.

I’ve done the sideman thing and played with various artists for whom I’m grateful for the opportunity. Perry Farrell was a big one since I grew up listening to Jane’s Addiction in the ’90s.

But I’m a songwriter at heart. I’ve written my own songs since I was very young, and all roads always lead back to original music. It’s the harder road, and even though I make way less money than I would playing someone else’s music, I just have the compulsion to create my own songs.

Were you on that first Satellite Party record with Perry Farrell and Nuno Bettencourt? 

Not the studio album but I toured that record. So, Nuno did Europe on the first leg of the tour, and when they got back, I guess he had a falling out with Perry. They called me two days before they were on The Tonight Show. This was when Leno was host. It was unreal. I was 22 years old and had to learn 20 songs in two days! Then I did a year of touring with Satellite Party.

Tell us about Terra Firma.

Yes, that’s been a labor of love for three years. Sun Via, which came out in 2020, was really the debut. The first record I ever put out under my own name, and where I was frontman and singer. It was like a rebirth. Despite all odds, completely independently with very little help from anybody, it debuted in the top ten on iTunes and we sold a bunch of vinyl records and spent two and a half years touring. It was really the shot in the arm I needed to make me realize I could do this songwriter role I had always been watching from the side.

With Terra Firma, any minute I wasn’t on the road I was in the studio writing and recording it. It’s a double album, a concept album, and very personal. It’s very important to get it out into the universe for me. I’ve never worked on any one thing this long and this hard.

When you’re starting out and you go to the retail music store, you usually don’t buy a Celestion product directly. You buy a product like an amplifier that has it inside. So, what was the first time you were aware that Celestion was, in fact, Celestion? That it was doing something good for your tone.

That’s a great question. First of all, yes. When I was a teenager, I bought a MarshalI, it was some kind of modern one, and I wasn’t hip to Celestion at the time. A couple of years later, I was extremely lucky that when we signed our first record deal, we had a little money. I had a mentor, thankfully, who helped me put my money where I should. Then I bought a vintage Marshall — a 1971 Super Lead. They had a corresponding tall cab that was a 4 x 12. It had original Greenback speakers inside from what I think was their first incarnation. It was an unbelievable sound.

That was the first time I was like, there are all these things that play a part in the sound of my guitar. The speaker is the thing that’s actually pushing the sound. I don’t think people realize how big an impact it has on the tone. Like, literally night and day if you switch speakers, how the same guitar, same pickups, and same amp sounds coming at you. So that’s the first time I realized how crucial the speaker was and that I favored that British sound.

What amp do you play through now and what speakers are inside it?

I have a larger stage rig that I don’t record with. That’s a Marshall JTM45 and I also have a Park amplifier. They’re both running, believe it or not, through a 1990s cab loaded with original G12T-75 speakers, which is what would have come stock in this kind of cabinet. I’m a fan of those speakers because I can play really loud, and use a fuzz pedal on occasion, and the speakers don’t fall apart. Things don’t fall inward, know what I mean? They hold their fidelity and sound tight. Whereas a 20-watt speaker would fall apart if driven like this.

What do you use in the studio?

This is the amp I use for smaller tours like solo work and also in the studio is my number one amp in the world. It’s a Marshall 1974x, which is a combo amp. But the thing that makes all the difference is that I put a Celestion Alnico Ruby in it, which is my favorite guitar speaker in the universe right now. It’s a 35-watt speaker that’s the bigger brother of the Blue. The sound of this speaker was a total game-changer for me. So much so that I stopped using pedals mostly. The sound of my Flying V [guitar] through that amp is the best thing I’ve ever heard. I’m able to dime the amp and the Ruby has a softer, more pleasing high end than, say, most of the ceramic-magnet speakers I’ve heard. You’re going to hear it all over Terra Firma.

Where else should we listen for Celestion in your music?

Hah, everywhere! But “Feeling Good,” the lead single from Sun Via, did really well. On that, I actually ran a Marshall through a 4 x 10 tweed Fender Bassman cabinet, in which I had four ten-inch Greenbacks. That is a m*****f***** of a tone.

I’ve always been a fan of Celestion speakers. I can’t remember one instance over the last 20 years I haven’t used them for anything I’ve done. Celestion is a huge part of my musical DNA.

You lived the rock ’n’ roll dream at a very young age and are still going strong. What advice would you have for your younger self?

I would tell myself to slow down in every aspect. Smell the roses and enjoy the journey a little more. It goes by so fast, and you don’t get any do-overs.

##

 

 

Celestion Debuts the Copperback Digital Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs)

Ipswich, UK (February 27, 2023) —Celestion, the celebrated manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers and professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement applications, is very pleased  to announce that the Celestion Copperback collection is available digitally as a   Dynamic Speaker Response (DSR,) the next-generation digital speaker responses that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear responses for even greater tonal detail. The new Copperbacks join the extensive collection of Celestion DSRs designed especially for use with SpeakerMix Pro, the self-contained studio-grade DAW plug-in offering ground-breaking levels of detail and stunning guitar and bass speaker tones. The complete Celestion digital collections of IRs and DSRs, as well as the SpeakerMix Pro plug-in, are available for download at CelestionPlus.com.

The Celestion Copperback speaker was designed with a different tonal flavour in mind than other classic Celestion guitar speakers. The Copperback is more tonally transparent than others, and through this, reveals the sonic characteristics and detailed nuances of your amp and guitar playing without introducing a great deal of additional colouration that’s often generated by cone break-up.

The Copperback’s unique characteristics deliver a satisfying combination of tight lows, neutral low-mids, open upper-mid definition and well-controlled high treble, for the ultimate control over guitar tone — from shimmering, bell-like tones to almost flute-like high gain with a simple tweak of the amplifier’s drive setting. The design of the Copperback combines elements taken from Celestion classic guitar speakers which imbue superb musicality. To this is added key characteristics from Celestion’s range of professional audio speakers, such as a treated cambric surround, composite voice coil former, curved cone profile and a large paper dust cap that, all put together, enable the speaker to deliver superb transparency and evenness of response.

The unique and innovative Copperback has been faithfully captured in digital form as Dynamic Speaker Responses. Recorded by the company’s expert sound engineers using the same meticulous techniques as all of Celestion’s best-selling IRs & DSRs, the Copperback DSR was captured with three pro-quality studio microphones – the classic Shure SM57, a Royer R-121 ribbon mic and a Sennheiser MD421. Each of these mics were recorded in six different positions – named within the speaker response files as Balanced, Bright, fat, Thin, Dark and Dark 2 – as well as a rear mic position for the open back cabs. The addition of a Neumann TLM107 room mic provides the user with a huge number of different mic mixes and a range of unique tonal options.

The files for the Celestion Copperback DSRs series are available individually or as a complete set. Explore the full range of sounds for this classic speaker, at a considerable saving over buying the individual files.  The Celestion Copperback DSR set includes five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

As a host program for the new Copperback as well and the entire line of Celestion DSRs, SpeakerMix Pro presents the genuine next-generation virtual speaker solution. More than just a top-level IR loader and convolution engine for hosting impulse responses– it offers pristine sound, mixes up to six channels of different responses into a stereo or mono track and even fixes IR sample rate/project mismatches.

With SpeakerMix Pro, users can:

  • Discover Celestion’s proprietary Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs), the next generation in Impulse Response technology that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear response for even more detail and realism.
  • Integrate their personal library of Celestion and third-party Impulse Responses to make the most of the tones they already own. SpeakerMix Pro uses its unique DSR algorithm to make existing IRs more dynamic sounding, enhancing their tone with even greater feel.
  • Incorporate Celestion’s superb room responses (or add your own) into your mix for an authentic ‘live’ sound. Add room delay for further ‘depth’ and ‘size’.
  • Deploy the unique Z-curve function to closely model the dynamic electrical coupling between amp and speaker.
  • Fine-tune the mic position, enabling the user to adjust the position of the microphone across the speaker until they’ve found the tone that’s just-right (DSR-specific functionality).

The free 14-day demo of the SpeakerMix Pro plugin is available for download and automatically installs with 10 free DSR speaker cabinets curated to give users a broad tone experience across the Celestion range of guitar and bass speakers. Users can upgrade to the full version of SpeakerMix Pro at any time during or after the trial period. Simply purchase the full version of SpeakerMix Pro and select 10 free DSR cabs (choose the preferred DSRs from the available range on Celestionplus.com during upgrade).

About Celestion Digital
The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. The introduction of Celestion SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses launched alongside the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.
Celestion Plus.

About Celestion and Celestion Guitar Speakers
An important element to essential British guitar tone since the birth of Rock & Roll, Celestion Guitar Speakers are famous for their lively and vocal midrange character with plenty of sparkle and chime. With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture premium guitar and bass loudspeakers, and high-quality professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres and other venues the world over. Contact Celestion at: info@celestion.com and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/celestion.
www.celestion.com

 

Celestion Adds the V Type DSRs to its Offerings of Dynamic Speaker Responses

 

Ipswich, UK (December 15, 2022) —Celestion, the celebrated manufacturer of guitar and bass loudspeakers and professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement applications, is very pleased  to announce that the Celestion V-Type is available as a Dynamic Speaker Response (DSR,) the next-generation digital speaker responses that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear responses for even more tonal detail. The new V-Type joins the extensive collection of Celestion DSRs designed especially for use with SpeakerMix Pro, the self-contained studio-grade DAW plug-in offering ground-breaking levels of detail and stunning guitar and bass speaker tones. The complete collection of DSRs, as well as the SpeakerMix Pro plug-in, is available for download at CelestionPlus.com.

One of the company’s newest guitar speakers, the V-Type is sweet-sounding with a superbly balanced character that imparts a real vintage musicality; built with the modern player in mind.

The V-Type is a modern speaker with a vintage pedigree, combining elements of the company’s most classic speakers, particularly the G12H Creamback and the G12M Greenback, to deliver well balanced tone right across the frequency range.

The V-Type offers an alternative tonal flavour and a warm tactile feel.  Highs are open and airy, but never shrill or brittle; complemented by full-bodied lows and a well-balanced midrange. The speaker’s distinctive percussiveness is sure to bring joy to rhythm players, with a lower midrange that gets agreeably punchy when played dirty. Clean sounds sparkle and glimmer, but there’s still plenty of raunch on tap when it’s time to rock out.

The V-Type offers chime and sparkle in the upper- mids, a warm, well rounded mid-range and punchy lows, making it a great choice for a range of playing styles and rock genres. Now it’s easy to experience the modern vintage tones of the Celestion V-Type at home, in the studio or live, by downloading the new V-Type DSR.

The DSR files for the Celestion V-Type series are available individually or as a complete set. Explore the full range of sounds for this classic speaker, at a considerable saving over buying the individual files.  The Celestion V-Type DSR set includes five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

As a host program for the new V-Type DSR and the entire line of Celestion DSRs, SpeakerMix Pro presents the genuine next-generation virtual speaker solution. More than just a top-level IR loader and convolution engine for hosting impulse responses– it offers pristine sound, mixes up to six channels of different responses into a stereo or mono track and even fixes IR sample rate/project mismatches.

With SpeakerMix Pro, users can:

  • Discover Celestion’s proprietary Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs), the next generation in Impulse Response technology that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear response for even more detail and realism.
  • Integrate their personal library of Celestion and third-party Impulse Responses to make the most of the tones they already own. SpeakerMix Pro uses its unique DSR algorithm to make existing IRs more dynamic sounding, enhancing their tone with even greater feel.
  • Incorporate Celestion’s superb room responses (or add your own) into your mix for an authentic ‘live’ sound. Add room delay for further ‘depth’ and ‘size’.
  • Deploy the unique Z-curve function to closely model the dynamic electrical coupling between amp and speaker.
  • Fine-tune the mic position, enabling the user to adjust the position of the microphone across the speaker until they’ve found the tone that’s just-right (DSR-specific functionality).

The free 14-day demo of SpeakerMix Pro is available for download and automatically installs with 10 free DSR speaker cabinets curated to give users a broad tone experience across the Celestion range of guitar and bass speakers. Users can upgrade to the full version of SpeakerMix Pro at any time during or after the trial period. Simply purchase the full version of SpeakerMix Pro and select 10 free DSR cabs (choose the preferred DSRs from the available range on Celestionplus.com during upgrade).

All of Celestion’s Dynamic Speaker Responses and SpeakerMix Pro plugin are available for VST, AU and AAX compatible DAWs.

About Celestion Digital
The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. The introduction of Celestion SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses launched alongside the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.
Celestion Plus.

About Celestion and Celestion Guitar Speakers
An important element to essential British guitar tone since the birth of Rock & Roll, Celestion Guitar Speakers are famous for their lively and vocal midrange character with plenty of sparkle and chime. With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture premium guitar and bass loudspeakers, and high-quality professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres and other venues the world over. Contact Celestion at: info@celestion.com and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/celestion.
www.celestion.com

###

The Celestion Interview: Lee Anderton, Andertons Music Company

Founded in 1964, Andertons Music Company has risen from a family-owned guitar shop on the southwestern outskirts of London to an online retail powerhouse whose name is recognized the world over. Their videos are legendary, approaching products with honesty and no small amount of humour, which has grown their YouTube channel to over 805,000 subscribers and millions of views. Third-generation CEO Lee Anderton knows this is a major reason they sell guitars, amps, keyboards, drums, recording gear, and pro audio equipment far beyond the borders of the U.K. He spoke to us about music, the family business, and the passion for products and retail.

What is your favourite album of all time and why?

I will go with Delicate Sound of Thunder by Pink Floyd. It’s a live album and I watched the video before I bought the CD. It was a double album at the time, and one was all the classics, but done with a spectacular sense of sonic and visual production. This was post Roger Waters, with Gilmour pretty much helming everything. I remember watching that and saying, “I need to learn to play the guitar.”

What is the thing that made you want to be part of the audio/music industry? In retail and with this company in particular?

My father and grandfather started Andertons in 1964. So, I had been hanging around the store. I hadn’t found my instrument yet, but I caught this bug off the store because the people in there were so interesting. So, even at 13 or 14 years old, I was trying to help on Saturdays and so forth, but I didn’t really play anything, which obviously limited how useful I was! When I started to play guitar, it gave me more purpose. But the short answer is, I was born into a family of music retailers.

How did Andertons get its start and how did you join the family business?

My grandad was in the London police force and was a jazz drummer part-time. My dad was also drumming but in an early 1960s British pop outfit. He left school at 16 and got a job in a music store in London. Dad worked there for a couple of years, at which point my grandad had worked long enough to claim a lump sum pension from the police. They used that to open Andertons.

Interestingly, at first my dad was against my joining the business. He wanted me to have a proper career like a lawyer. So, I went to college between 16 and 18 years old, but basically lied to my dad about turning up to classes. When it all came out, he was not happy! He said, He said, “If all you want is to work in the shop, here’s a mop and a broom and the minimum salary I can pay you and stay out of my sight.” But I didn’t really want other staff to see me as the owner’s son. I just wanted to be me. I worked super hard and eventually got good at sales. It was destiny, I suppose.

How did your background affect what you brought to the business? The company overall?

I think I was equipped to deal with the change of retail consumer that began in the ’90s. In the 1960s through the ’80s, the customer was most likely a pro or semi-pro. They were happy with this kind of Aladdin’s cave, gate-kept environment.

Then in the ’90s, a lot more people decided to play an instrument for a hobby, and there was this shift in expectations to more the experience you might get shopping for clothes or a home appliance. I think I was able to bring that to the business because I didn’t grow up in the ’60s and ’70s and wasn’t used to doing things in a set way.

The next big breakthrough was at the end of the ’90s when the Internet really came on. I was the right age to go, “Oh, this is really exciting.” Whereas many music store owners saw the Internet as a fad or a nuisance they didn’t want to invest in.

You and your company are legendary in the industry. In your view, what is the main reason for that?

Andertons was one of the early adopters of selling online. That put us in good stead for growth throughout the 2000s, and then later we got into the YouTube thing. That’s really the tipping point where we went from being a well-known local music store to a global brand because so many people watch our YouTube channel.

What product or service do you think is your company’s most innovative? Why?

Certainly, our YouTube videos. At the start, the people I’d seen doing video sales from the U.S. were just going, “Here’s a pedal, I’m going to demo it, and you’re going to want to buy it.” So, I think that we had this sense that we would become the QVC of the music industry. It just didn’t pan out like that. The conversion rates off the videos were miniscule and if I wasn’t having so much fun doing them, I’d probably have given up.

Over time, we learned that video wasn’t simply about touting the features and benefits of a particular product and thereby hoping for more sales of that product. It was about content that built relationships and community. It was about people seeing our personality and going, “Oh, I like Andertons videos. I think I’ll start shopping with them now.” It was about building trust. That has since become the central pillar of our approach to videos and sales in general.

What do you think is the most important technological development of our time in the music industry?

In commercial terms, I’d point to the longevity of the electric guitar — the Fender Strat, the Gibson Les Paul. Fender is the master of spinning out another Strat or Tele year after year and making us all excited about it! Name me another industry that fundamentally hasn’t changed a product in 70 years, but everyone still gets excited about every six months when a new version comes out. It’s freakish.

The most challenging development for us as a retailer was the digital revolution in home recording that occurred throughout the 1990s. The price of having a recording setup went from hundreds of thousands of pounds to ten or 15 thousand and doable if you were really into it. Now it’s hundreds of pounds and accessible to everyone.

This has a downside. Look at how the market for drums has been affected by the fact that someone learned to make very convincing digital drum sounds. As exciting as it is to be a retailer on the early stages of that curve — here’s a new product I can sell! — the ultimate destination for when a thing goes digital is that it’s free or nearly so in an app and there’s no product to sell. Except for the keyboard market, which is interesting. From the ’80s through the mid-2000s, it was about everything going digital and getting cheaper. Then manufacturers started making expensive analog synths again and customers can’t get enough of them!

What accomplishment are you personally most proud of?

At work, people always used to say to me, “Oh you’re Pete Anderton’s son, aren’t you?” I always wanted to flip that and hear them say to him, “Oh, you’re Lee Anderton’s dad!” I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity he gave me, and I do feel like the team have indeed taken the business to a new level. You can go from Outer Mongolia to Los Angeles, and if someone plays the guitar, they’ll go, “Oh yeah, I know Andertons.” That’s completely nuts for a little retailer from Guildford in England.

What is your company culture like and how do you apply that to managing the team?

There are four partners: me and my dad, who are the shareholders, then Stuart and Beverly, who are heavily involved in sales and operations, respectively. That management structure has been the same for 20 years. Somebody told us that we still operate like a “big small” company and we need to start thinking like a “small big” company. That was brilliant. I do believe we need to get better at delegating. But that can be a strength. If there’s a problem, all the most senior people are all over it immediately. We don’t have those big-company silos where two people might not speak to each other for a year.

What do you think the next big developments in the industry will be and how is your company poised to pivot to the future?

The route to market for brands has changed. There are fewer retailers than ever, each commanding a bigger piece of the pie. As those stores become even more dominant, the relationship with the supply chain changes. You have manufacturers increasingly wanting to sell directly to the consumer. You have stores wanting to find their own brands they don’t have to go through the traditional channels to sell. These days, you have private equity companies offering huge sums for retailers. But passion for the products should not be replaced by a passion for spreadsheets. I have this romantic notion that we should all get up in the morning loving that we sell guitars and keyboards and that we can help people along their musical journeys.

Speaking of passion for products, do you have anything to say about Celestion speakers from the standpoint of the most respected guitar retailer in the U.K.?

Celestion are consistently great. We did a video where we replaced the stock driver in a BOSS Katana amp with various Celestion speakers. There’s a huge education piece to do about just how much difference the speaker makes. So many guitar players we encounter focus on the amp head, and we try to point them to a speaker cabinet that sounds great with it, and they go, “Oh no, I’ve already got a cabinet.” That cabinet is responsible for at least 50 percent of the sound. So, there’s a big opportunity for brands like Celestion to educate musicians.

Finally, what music are you listening to right now?

There’s a young, inquisitive music fan inside me reminding me I’ve got to keep looking for the next thing that’s going to get me excited. There’s also an old fart in me that just wants to put on a Led Zeppelin record, and the old fart usually wins. I’d say John Mayer, but he’s mainly putting a new spin on the type of music I’ve always loved. Similarly, I could listen to Greta Van Fleet all day. You’ve given me a mission for today: Go and find a record written this year that I really like so I have something to say when someone asks me this!

##

Celestion Debuts the Hempback Digital Dynamic Speaker Responses and Impulse Responses

Ipswich, UK (November 9, 2022) —Celestion, the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of guitar loudspeakers, well-known as the “Voice of Rock & Roll” behind many of the world’s most memorable guitar performances, is pleased to introduce the digitally downloadable tones of the of the  Hempback guitar speaker, available as both Impulse Responses (IRs) for use with DAWs and Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs,) the next-generation digital speaker responses designed especially for use with SpeakerMix Pro, the self-contained studio-grade DAW plug-in which brings ground-breaking levels of detail and stunning guitar and bass speaker tones. The new Hempback digital collection is available for audition and download at CelestionPlus.com, just days ahead of the worldwide retail availability of the highly anticipated physical G12M-50 Hempback guitar speaker.

The first-ever hemp cone guitar speaker built by Celestion, the Hempback represents an exciting new development in Celestion’s never-ending pursuit of outstanding tone. The Hempback is distinctive and well-defined, delivering a balanced low end, plenty of mid-band character together with smooth, silky highs.

The speaker is particularly targeted for use in American voiced amps, for example combos such as a Deluxe Reverb® or Blues Jr.®, delivering true American-flavored tone along with cleans that are second to none. The Hempback offers a smooth and “smoky” sound that’s musical and responsive and lets the hemp tone shine through.

Both the Impulse Response and Dynamic Speaker Response files for the Celestion Hempback series are available individually or as a complete set. Explore the full range of sounds for this exciting new speaker, at a considerable saving over buying the individual files.  Each of the Hempback IR and DSR collections include five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

As a host program for the new Hempback and the entire collection of advanced Celestion DSRs, SpeakerMix Pro presents the genuine next-generation virtual speaker solution. More than just a top-level IR loader and convolution engine for hosting impulse responses– it offers pristine sound, mixes up to six channels of different responses into a stereo or mono track and even fixes IR sample rate/project mismatches.

With SpeakerMix Pro, users can:

  • Discover Celestion’s proprietary Dynamic Speaker Responses (DSRs), the next generation in Impulse Response technology that capture the sound and feel of the speaker’s dynamic, non-linear response for even more detail and realism.
  • Integrate their personal library of Celestion and third-party Impulse Responses to make the most of the tones they already own. SpeakerMix Pro uses its unique DSR algorithm to make existing IRs more dynamic sounding, enhancing their tone with even greater feel.
  • Incorporate Celestion’s superb room responses (or add your own) into your mix for an authentic ‘live’ sound. Add room delay for further ‘depth’ and ‘size’.
  • Deploy the unique Z-curve function to closely model the dynamic electrical coupling between amp and speaker.
  • Fine-tune the mic position, enabling the user to adjust the position of the microphone across the speaker until they’ve found the tone that’s just-right (DSR-specific functionality).

The free 14-day demo of SpeakerMix Pro is available for download and automatically installs with 10 free DSR speaker cabinets curated to give users a broad tone experience across the Celestion range of guitar and bass speakers. Users can upgrade to the full version of SpeakerMix Pro at any time during or after the trial period. Simply purchase the full version of SpeakerMix Pro and select 10 free DSR cabs (choose the preferred DSRs from the available range on Celestionplus.com during upgrade).

All of Celestion’s Dynamic Speaker Responses and SpeakerMix Pro plugin are available for VST, AU and AAX compatible DAWs.

About Celestion Digital
The introduction of authentic Celestion Impulse Responses represented the company’s forward step in making their celebrated speaker tones available as digital downloads. Celestion IRs capture the essential behavior of a speaker in a particular cabinet in the specific space in which it was recorded, including the frequency and phase response of single drivers as well as the interaction of multiple speakers. They offer significant benefits in both recording and live production, enabling the desired tone to be precisely and consistently reproduced regardless of the recording or live sound environment. Explore, audition and download the extensive collection of Celestion guitar and bass Impulse Responses at celestionplus.com. The introduction of Celestion SpeakerMix Pro sees the company delivering a truly forward-thinking studio software solution that enables users to get every ounce of tone from Impulse Response technology. The companion Dynamic Speaker Responses launched alongside the plug-in exemplify the next generation in speaker response emulation, representing a true advancement in the technology of digital speaker tone.
Celestion Plus.

About Celestion and Celestion Guitar Speakers
An important element to essential British guitar tone since the birth of Rock & Roll, Celestion Guitar Speakers are famous for their lively and vocal midrange character with plenty of sparkle and chime. With worldwide headquarters in Ipswich, England, Celestion design, develop and manufacture premium guitar and bass loudspeakers, and high-quality professional audio drivers for sound reinforcement. These world-renowned speakers are used onstage and in clubs, theatres and other venues the world over. Contact Celestion at: info@celestion.com and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/celestion.
www.celestion.com