Celestion Seventy 80 Speakers

[Tristan of Bodom]

So,

there is a Marshall cab that i have my eye on, and it has Seventy/ 80 Celestions in it.

what is the deal with these speakers as I'm seeing quite a few bad comments about them on the net.

would they work for a Melodic Death Metal and Slipknot type tone?

Was hoping to use it wit a Joyo VIVO or Zombie head.

Thanks all!

 

[newholland]

i havent got nearly the aversion to them a lotta guys do- i think theyre a solid rhythm speaker. but by all means dont be afraid of them- use your eq and roll. i will tell you, though, the cabs marshall likely puts them in aren't always great- more their mdf line. theyre heavy and not super resonant- so that may have more to do with their negative perception.

 

[Byrdman]

Not too bad, but there are better. You can always make them better using an eq. or swapping speakers down the road if the cab is in great shape, good deal, solid wood, etc.

For harder stuff, I prefer G12T-75's and V30's than 70/80's, but they will work. Like @newholland said, the cabs they put those in stock for stock orders are no 1960's.

There are plenty of cabs out there at great deals, so be patient and dont be afraid to walk if the deal isnt right.

 

[Nathan Explosion]

Had a pair of them in a Marshall 2x12 cab. Sounded terrible with my 5150, DSL20 and everything else I tried it with. Bought it barely used and couldn't sell it fast enough.

 

[Tristan of Bodom]

Yeah, I'm leaning more towards V30's - I just dont wanna lean into spending that cash on a Marshall cab and then they sound terrible.

Unfortunately i can't try them out physically as the deal is only available online.

 

[Orvillain]

They're awful speakers. If you're metulllzzzzzzz, you probably won't dig them.

 

[DrewJD82]

Not sure where you're located, but it's worth waiting for a good deal on a cab to pop up and they DO pop up. I snagged my 1960B 4x12 for $300 last week. The dudes who loved rockin' 4x12's in the 90's and 00's are regularly shifting to combo amps or modelers in their later years and 4x12's tend to sit forever if they're anywhere close to the original price.

 

[ax84ch]

I will say that there are plenty of cabs that just sound bad no matter what you put in them. The Seventy/80 probably won't work a miracle in those situations. Any cab that came with Seventy/80 is going to be a budget cab.

I have generally liked them over the years but in a 4x12, I would expect the little bit of extra high end that the Seventy 80 has would be brutal in the beaming eye of doom. Unless you put some sort of cloth over the cab to dull it a bit. That does work and I wish I'd thought about it as a younger person. Somebody should make covers that look like a cabinet so the aesthetics would be better when playing through them

 

[QQQ]

Had them in a couple different cabs, and one or two combos. I hated them in all applications. No matter the speaker I replaced them with, it was an immediate improvement. They are placeholders for a real speaker.

 

[headcrash]

I recently played a Marshall 1x12 with the 70/80, and a ENGL 1x12 with a V30 at a friend's house. We could only do bedroom volume, so I can't comment on how it all sounds under serious volume. We had a Fireball 25 KT77 and a 50W DIY Fryette Deliverance inspired amp of my own to drive the speakers.
The ENGL cab always sounded too dull, especially with the Fireball. With the Marshall cab , the ENGL sounded much more open, maybe a bit sizzly/raspy, but I could work with that.
With the DIY amp the ENGL cab still sounded a little too dull, and the Marshall cab sounded way more bright/sizzle/raspy.
So I guess the 70/80 might work better with rather dull sounding amps, but I can understand why it isn't the most-beloved speaker on the planet.

 

[ax84ch]

Had them in a couple different cabs, and one or two combos. I hated them in all applications. No matter the speaker I replaced them with, it was an immediate improvement. They are placeholders for a real speaker.

this is what has made me wonder if they have had different products labeled Seventy 80. I had a speaker that would fit into the category of your description. I may have thrown it away. But I had one from the 00's that was solid and got another one recently that I like. Maybe Seventy 80 is just a class of speakers... or it is just the old "there is no accounting for taste" thing

 

[QQQ]

this is what has made me wonder if they have had different products labeled Seventy 80. I had a speaker that would fit into the category of your description. I may have thrown it away. But I had one from the 00's that was solid and got another one recently that I like. Maybe Seventy 80 is just a class of speakers... or it is just the old "there is no accounting for taste" thing

Possibly. If memory serves, all of the Seventy 80’s I’ve had, were similarly, if not identically labeled. Performance certainly varied from amp to amp, probably due to circuit differences. All were subpar, in my opinion, and sounded as if the amp was being choked. The proverbial blanket being taken off with any speaker change. With the number of different amp circuits that are out there, there would have to be an optimal circuit for that speaker to shine. The Marshall, Vox, Fender variants, and other amps I have heard them in weren’t it. I certainly don’t have ears like Eric Johnson, but I would like to think after 30+ years of tone chasing, I can hear a few things. As always, YMMV.

 

[QQQ]

To be fair, it’s an $80 new speaker. Every speaker I replaced it with was at least 50% more expensive. Most replacements were twice as expensive, or more. It’s the Ford Fiesta of speakers.