Emenece AX-75 vs Celestion G12T75

[Phano36]

Hello

After reading some posts about upgrading the AX-75 Eminence speakers installed in the MA series, I was curious to see if in deed changing the original speakers would do a major change in the tonal response of my MA100C.

I must note that, I’m actually pretty happy of my purchase. Except that I don’t like to much the clean channel, for me it is way too bright. Hope to get one mod for this one day! I also already owned 2 other tube amps. Since I wanted that Marshall Overdrive sound for years and I didn’t want to invest more then $ 1K on another amp just for the fun of it, I decided to give a try the MA series.

So, since I needed some replacement speakers on an old cabinet that I own, I decided to perform some tonal experimentation.

Now for the purist, I suggest that you stop reading now ha ha ha.
I went to my local music store and bought a pair of Celestion G12T75 and I swapped them with the original Eminence AX-75. And what a surprise, it didn’t make that much difference in the tone. In Fact it sounded quit similar. Ok I didn’t analyse the tonal spectrum response thru a scope but with my 28 years of guitar playing ears and I didn’t felt down of my chair!

So in conclusion, I will use my Eminence speakers in my old cabinet and if some of you think that changing your original speaker for Celestion G12T75 will have a major impact on your MA you will be disappointed. Stick with the Eminence instead and play that amp as load as you can…. It sound so good over 5 ha ha ha .

When Marshall says that the AX-75 is a mid budget copy of the Celestion I believe they are telling us the true.

[surfnorthwest]

Celestion has pretty much ruled guitar speakers for years now, but make no mistake there are other speakers being made for less money that also sound very good, Eminence speakers is one of them.

Changing the speakers you use with a tube amp can have a subtle or dramitic change in the sound. Marshall considers sound quality when they choose what speaker to offer in their amps, I know they test many before deciding what speaker to offer in their combos.

The reason the two speakers sounded so close is because the AX-75s as a budget version of G12T-75s made for Marshall by Eminence. If you still would like to try other speakers you might go over to Warehouse speakers website and listen to some sound clips of their celestion clones, very good quality at a great price. I really like there ET65's and a $69 each they are a bargin.

http://wgs4.com/catalog/british-invasion

[Nebulozny]

I think you would hear more difference is you swapped for some other Celestions, like V30, greenbacks...character of Ax-75 and GT75 are same, and this just makes sense. You can pay like double the price but if speakers are voiced similar, it ain't gonna be a life changing experience at all, subtle changes in tone maybe, but when cranked there is nothing subtle to hear, lol.

[jagermike66]

i would agree with Nebulozny. I use a V30s cab with my MA50H and it is a massive difference to my of G75T cab. Greenbacks would probably tame your clean channel a bit and make it more "wooly", obviously it will alter your overdrive channel too. V30s arn't as bright as G75Ts but they still have a very peaky prescence so I doubt this would effect the cleans too much (or it hasnt with my amp anyway. It really depends what music you are into playing. G75Ts (and the AX75s) are marketed as the jack of all trades speaker, so you might find V30s and greenbacks a bit too specialised (however I havnt met many people who havnt been impressed by Greenbacks!)

[Phano36]

Yep guys
I agree with you the V30 greenback would probably make a much more dramatic change in the tone but will it sustain the 100 watt of the MA100C.

The aim of this post was just to bring some clarifications to some comments or concerns that I read here and there about the Eminence speakers and also just to show to some purists that Celestion is not the only good speaker in the market. In fact Fender as been using Eminence in some of there Amp that are now consider as icone the the guitar amp world.

I was pretty happy with my amp before and i'm still happy now. I can wait fixing my old 1963 Traynor YB1 and blow some power chords into those Eminence AX-75s.

[PS1984]

What do you think about changing Eminence for Celestion Classic Lead 16 which are 12´´; 80 watt and 16 Ohms??

[surfnorthwest]

I am a fan of the Celestion Classic Lead 80, I like its power handling and its neutral response. While anytime describing how a speakers sounds can be subjective below are two pretty fair descriptions of the Lead 80 and the G12T-75. I don't think however I would recommend the Lead 80 as a good alternative with a amp like the MA, I would be more interested in trying a Celestion G12T-100.

G12T-75 - Lots of bass. Scooped mids. Sizzling highs. Great for high gain Metal.

Lead 80 - This is the 'clean' model in the higher end of the Celestion line. It is a clear , neutral sounding speaker with tight bass, good definition in the mids and highs.

G12T-100 - The Celestion G12T100 is a higher powered, even better sounding version of the famous G12T75. With a massive 100W power rating, this speaker sits perfectly in high-power or hybrid amplifiers. It voices a modern sound with a big bass presence. Fantastic for 212s

[PS1984]

I am a fan of the Celestion Classic Lead 80, I like its power handling and its neutral response. While anytime describing how a speakers sounds can be subjective below are two pretty fair descriptions of the Lead 80 and the G12T-75. I don't think however I would recommend the Lead 80 as a good alternative with a amp like the MA, I would be more interested in trying a Celestion G12T-100.

G12T-75 - Lots of bass. Scooped mids. Sizzling highs. Great for high gain Metal.

Lead 80 - This is the 'clean' model in the higher end of the Celestion line. It is a clear , neutral sounding speaker with tight bass, good definition in the mids and highs.

G12T-100 - The Celestion G12T100 is a higher powered, even better sounding version of the famous G12T75. With a massive 100W power rating, this speaker sits perfectly in high-power or hybrid amplifiers. It voices a modern sound with a big bass presence. Fantastic for 212s

I knew it that it can be good...