Celestion G12H30 and WGS Reaper 30

[alerich]

I have had a Soldano straight front loaded 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12H30 70th Anniversary speakers in it for about 4 years. Love it. It's one of my all time favorite cabinets. About a year later I bought a Crate cabinet with four new WGS Reaper 30 speakers in it. The Reaper 30 is what WGS calls their "drop in" replacement for the G12H30. I liked the speakers but the cabinet was sorta meh. I bought it from a WGS dealer for less than the speakers would have cost new. So I waited patiently and looked for used Soldano cabinets. The trouble is even used they often aren't cheap and if I buy one it most likely has the stock Eminence Legend V1216 speakers that I really do not care for (it's honestly the worst guitar speaker I have ever heard). So then I have to pull them and try to sell them which never goes well. After buying the cab and parting out the speakers then buying G12H30's for it is gets spendy real quick.

This week I finally found an unloaded Soldano 4x12 in really good shape for a good price on Craigslist and snatched it up. Took it home and moved the Reapers into it. Side by side in essentially identical cabinets I can barely tell the difference between the Reapers and the real deal G12H30 speakers. Even if there is any slight difference they are both outstanding speakers. My Soldano Hot Rod 50 sounds twice as nice pushing two 4x12 cabs.

I also have a 1x12 Blackheart cabinet (amazingly well built and good sounding cabinet) with a WGS Retro 30 speaker in it. Their Veteran 30 is their "drop in" replacement for the Celestion Vintage 30 and the Retro 30 is a slightly tweaked 75W version of that speaker. I like it quite a lot, as well.

Thumbs up on WGS speakers based on my experience so far. Many of my guitar player friends share my sentiments. I would gladly pull the trigger on more.

[Joel]

It's good to read a comparison review like this.

I've got a WGS ET65 paired with the Retro 30 in a 2x12 for my JTM45 clone and it's a killer combo.

[Ed_Chambley]

I have tried a lot of speakers and I have to say any of the Warehouse speakers seem very nice.  I just completed another 63 Vibroverb Clone and used 2 of their $49 American 10" speakers that are 93db.  I liked them so much, I pulled them and kept the in one I built a couple of years ago and used what I was asked which were Webers.


Something about a 4 x 12 and having 2 of them is killer.  Soldano cabs are heavy.  Glad you like them and thanks for the post.  Seems like it sounds a tad different than a Princeton Reverb that you have.

[Willabe]

...... used 2 of their $49 American 10" speakers that are 93db. 

The Veteran 20w?

Have you tried their 12" Black and Blue 15w alnico Vox Blue bulldog? I wonder if it's any good?

I LOVE my WGS 15" alnico speaker but it's 75w. I'd like to see them make a 40w 15", even a 20w or 25w version.

They are making only a few alnico speaker now, they used to make more. 

 

[Ed_Chambley]

...... used 2 of their $49 American 10" speakers that are 93db. 

The Veteran 20w?

Have you tried their 12" Black and Blue 15w alnico Vox Blue bulldog? I wonder if it's any good?

I LOVE my WGS 15" alnico speaker but it's 75w. I'd like to see them make a 40w 15", even a 20w or 25w version.

They are making only a few alnico speaker now, they used to make more. 

YUP!, the 20 watt.  No, I have not tried any of the Celestion alnico copies.  I have 5 Blues and a 3 golds.  AlNiCo price has gone through the roof.  It is the cobalt.  We use Cobalt as a top dryer for inks to dry one plastics and glass.  The price has risen over 4 times in the last 2 years.  The excuse is it is an African mineral and the costs are to deter the mining of this, but diamonds come from the same area and nothing has slowed down the mining of those.


I prefer to push speakers sort of hard.  Truthfully, I rarely dime an amp.  The just do not really sound good to me this way.  Like this amp, I normally would play it at about 4, but with these speakers it sounds great at 6.  Still clean with a light touch, but gets nasty with a les paul.


I have a couple of veterans, 12.  I do not have any 15" except for a couple of Altec and 1 JBL in a Shhhhhhhhhhhh (Standel) build.


Recently, I have been looking for more Heppners in 12's.  These are found in the "Bass" part of a Hammond Tone Cabinet and never got used much.  To be old, the are very durable and no one really used the Tone Cabinets that came with the B3, the used the Leslie.


I got a couple of other single ceramic speakers.  I like Ceramics in a Pine 2, 12 like the Bassman Cabs, but I do prefer Alnico.  I guess my favorite is a 2 12 with Altec 417 because the highs are so warm and great for Blues, Jazz type of thing and of course the sound great Travis picking.


But I mainly play the AC15 with a Blue and a Princeton Reverb with 2, 10's out of my 73 Super Reverb which are CTS AlNicos.  I did have the reconed with Paper voice coils and one has ribbed cone for detain and another flat for grunt.


I have always really preferred Celestions when buying new, but the price is really good on the Warehouse.

[jojokeo]

I have always really preferred Celestions when buying new, but the price is really good on the Warehouse.

Don't mean to hijack but wanted to first agree +1 on Celestion and Scumback being my default go-to's and recently scored a new Limited Edition XC but have yet to mount it and try it out.

Relating to this thread - even after playing and break-in runs with a 70th anniversary G12H - it continues to give a little more high end I don't get with the Heritage G12H or my Scummy's. The Anniv G12H seems to be like a Scumback Blackback G12H. I doubt the anniversary will ever loose that extra high end? But I remember Rick S of Celestion saying that it takes their speakers an unusually long time for break-in to actually occur, like over two hundred hours and more!

[MakerDP]

I am a WGS convert. My go-to speaker is the ET65. Just a fantastic all-rounder that sounds very very good with anything I throw at it but it is especially nice with Fender and Dumblish type circuits.

I also have a Retro 30 in a combo with my 18-watt amp. Sounds great together. I like it a lot better than the Vintage 30.

Their GC10 sounds great in smaller combos too. I replaced the stock Fender Special Design speaker in a Super Champ XD combo I bought broken and fixed... that really brought this small hybrid combo to life. Still a little "boxy" sounding because of the cabinet design but when I put it in an oversized detuned poplar cabinet it sounds so good. Very open and naturally reverberant.

I really wish they would make a neo version of the ET65. I see that Jensen has done that and I am anxious to try that one out. Every little bit to save weight on my gigging amp is a welcome change!