NSD - Celestion G12K 100

[Edika]

Hi all, since I've gotten my Zilla 2x12 Fatboy Pro I was in two minds about it. This has a Celestion V30 and K100. I had read that this combination gives the perfect blend of midrange and low end thump. I've only played either T75's or V30's and was curious about the above combo. At that point of time I had two amps and thought to have a cab for each. I have an ENGL Pro 2x12 with V30's that sounds tigh and focused and I was thinking of getting something with a different sound and maybe a bit more thump to it.

When I got the Zilla I was immediately in love with the bigger sound and increased bass response and even contemplated selling the ENGL. I wanted though the honey moon period to pass and see objectively if the Zilla was superior to the ENGL, as I initially thought. After a while I kind of saw that there was a weird midrange and felt the Zilla could not cope with darker amps as it made them sound a bit muddy. Plus all my amps sounded great on the ENGL but nnot so much on the Zilla.

I thought about swapping a V30 from the ENGL to the Zilla and see how the Zilla sounds with 2 V30's and the ENGL with a V30 and a K100 but the Zilla has two 8ohm speakers and the ENGL has 2 16 Ohm speakers. I saw the construction of the ENGL cab and it seemed superior to the Zilla, plus the ENGL cab seems aimed to be quite directional (front loaded speakers and padding on the sides) while the Zilla seemed more of fill the room with sound cab. I then checked by shifting from side to side while playing to see which speaker was giving that undefined sound and weird midrange and it turns out it's the V30! So I finally found a K100 in a good used price and got it!



The speakers where soldered on the Zilla and I initially tried to unsolder them as to not cut the wires (they were quite neat and tight in length). But the soldering was so tight and good (wire looped around the contact) that while I managed to get one wire out, I opted to cut the other wire as I faced the danger of damaging the V30. I put in the K100, soldered it and put everything back in place and hooked it up and the annoying midrange has disspeared lol! In first instance it felt a bit dull but playing around with it a bit more and adjusting the amp settings slightly I got it to were I like it. Definetely a smoother sound but so much tighter and deeper! It seems the cab plays an important role with the speaker a lot more than I thought. Also while the Zilla is a well made cab I'm not sure how much the Zilla guys have tested speakers with their designs. The ENGL seems a lot more engineered and thought out because even if it has V30 speakers I'm not getting the annoying midrange I was getting from the Zilla. The Zilla is more modular but the ENGL is more engineered. Plus the ENGL has thicker wood than the ENGL and is quite heavier lol!

On another note I put the V30 in my Marshall 8080 combo replacing the T75 Celestion aaaaaaand I'm taking the V30 out as soon as possible. Like I put a can of bee's in the amp. Just yuck!

TL;DR: I replaced the V30 in my Zilla cab for another K100 and it improved the sound dramatically!

 

[laxu]

Lots of subjective preference here and amp and cab used will matter. I used to have a V30 + G12H-100 combination and liked that a lot, seemed to balance out for a fuller sound pretty nicely. I expect the V30 + G12K-100 would have been pretty similar.

 

[Edika]

Lots of subjective preference here and amp and cab used will matter. I used to have a V30 + G12H-100 combination and liked that a lot, seemed to balance out for a fuller sound pretty nicely. I expect the V30 + G12K-100 would have been pretty similar.

Yeah man for sure and honestly that's what I was expecting out of the cab with that speaker combo. Maybe it's not just working well with the specific cab or if someone else heard it would think the sound is perfect. Plus the room plays a big role too and I have to say that room in my old house and current house is anything but treated. But the difference between the two cabs is immediate and the speakers do behave differently due to construction. Personally I'm much happier with the sound with the two G12K-100's in the Zilla but I'll have to play it a bit more before making up my mind.

 

[0rimus]

K100's and if you need more mids, the Redback, are my absolute favorite speakers.

 

[sleewell]

i love k100s and k85s, i think they are same. congrats!!!!

 

[jaxadam]

This is very relevant to my interests. I am on a speaker hunt.

 

[Kagami]

K100's and if you need more mids, the Redback, are my absolute favorite speakers.

Yeah I would agree with this though the redback has some more annoying super high end than the k100 but maybe I just never broke them in since I hated it so much lol. Got mine just sitting in the box.

 

[Edika]

This is very relevant to my interests. I am on a speaker hunt.

I've honestly changed pickups in some of my guitars so many times because I could not get them to sound just right. Then I noticed that they sounded great on specific amp and cab combos and not others, which got me thinking. Plus speakers are not that much more expensive than a set of good pickups. The guy that sold me the Celestion took it out of a cab and seems to have replaced it with a Jensen speaker lol!

EDIT: Effing autocorrect!

 

[0rimus]

My Redback is in a vertical 212 in the the bottom speaker position with the K100 (sexually) dominating on top.

I had a feeling the mids would be more cutting/ear fatiguing... Glad I did it that way.

Absolutely blasts through a mix, but the more scooped, darker k100 is easier on the ears. So that gets pointed right at my head lol.

 

[laxu]

I've honestly changed pickups in some of my guitars so many times because I could not get them to sound just right. Then I noticed that they sounded great on specific amp and cab combos and not others, which got me thinking. Plus speakers are not that much more expensive than a set of good pickups. The guy that sold me the Celestion took it out of a cab and seems to have replaced it with a Jensen speaker lol!

I've had a real love/hate thing with the pickups in my Kiesel AM7 (Kiesel Lithiums) and my Skervesen Shoggie 8 (BKP Juggernaut in the bridge) and at one point I was even trying to figure out what I don't like about them compared to one of my favorite guitars until I just went "what the hell am I doing, why do I want to make these sound like these other guitars?". Now I have embraced the fact that the Kiesel is very bright with a thinner low mids but that makes it cut through really well and the tone pot makes it easy to get where I want. Meanwhile the Skervesen is like the opposite, it's very fat sounding and usually needs cutting the mids and turning up the treble. Just need to dial the amp in differently.

 

[Edika]

I've had a real love/hate thing with the pickups in my Kiesel AM7 (Kiesel Lithiums) and my Skervesen Shoggie 8 (BKP Juggernaut in the bridge) and at one point I was even trying to figure out what I don't like about them compared to one of my favorite guitars until I just went "what the hell am I doing, why do I want to make these sound like these other guitars?". Now I have embraced the fact that the Kiesel is very bright with a thinner low mids but that makes it cut through really well and the tone pot makes it easy to get where I want. Meanwhile the Skervesen is like the opposite, it's very fat sounding and usually needs cutting the mids and turning up the treble. Just need to dial the amp in differently.

I've done that with a couple of guitars myself lol. One would be my Carvin DC400 which is really bright, my Jackson Kelly which has a weird mid spike and my Gibson Les Paul. I more or less have found a good match in terms of pickups but trying my Peavey 5150II on the ENGl cab and getting all guitars to sound awesome vs the Zilla were some sounded great but not all, no matter how much I tweaked, led me down to looking into the speaker. Because ethe Zilla is a nice cab too and I enjoyed the increased bass response.

Having said all that I do play at home and not recording. I'm not sure how the Zilla would perform with the two K100's in a band setting. It might get buried in the mix so I'm keeping the V30 just in case. But I never expected that much of a difference response from speaker from cab to cab. I mean a lot of people say it but I guess I had to experience it myself to understand it fully.

 

[eaeolian]

I have a very old Peavey 4x12 with G12K-85s in it that was my main cab for years. The Mesa C90 and the K100 are pretty close, in my experience - both darker than a V30, T75 or Greenback, but still articulate, and with plenty of "thump".

 

[Edika]

I'm curious to see how the Egnater Vengeance handles with the two K100's. That is a dark but articulate amp and the ENGL cab (V30's) suits it very well. It was working quite well with the Zilla before but I'm not sure if the V30 was what was giving it a bit of shine.

So far I'm loving the thump I'm getting from just the K100's but it is with a Peavey 5150II that has a quite pronounced midrange and high's.

 

[Edika]

Ibtried the Egnater and it sounded good through the K100's. It sounds better through the ENGL cab but it can work with the Zilla so I'm happy

 

[Grindspine]

That is one thing that I love about using a stereo power amp. I generally run a fuller sounding Celestion 80 watt on one side while running a Vintage 30 on the other, but can tweak the volume on my Mesa 2:Ninety to bring the fuller speaker up while just having enough of the v30 for some midrange cut.