Celestion Classic Lead 80...ever use them?

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LP Freak

LP Freak

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I was considering one in a combo. How do these stack up to other Celestions?
 
LP Freak":2itr204a said:
I was considering one in a combo. How do these stack up to other Celestions?
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I took (when I had it) my Bray modded 1987x Marshall to a local store here and plugged it in to an Egnater 2x12. I was VERY impressed. It had a really cool mid range thing going on. I decided to buy a Marshall 1936 2x12 (v30's) and in retrospect, I liked the sound of the lead 80 better. For thought...don't rule out the K100's. A while ago I grabbed a mode4 cab for $200.00. Cracked her open and there sat 4 K100's made in England. Took two of those out and combined them in a X Pattern with V30's in a Mesa cab. That was amazing!!!!
 
1meanplexi beat me to it. There is something about the mids that are really cool (edit: esp at high gain). I have an OS 2x12 with a CL80/Mesa V30 combo that sounds really good. They are built more like an old 65 than a GB/V30 (bigger dust cap, different surround, etc).
 
Back in the early 80's, I had a JCM800 1x12 combo that came with that speaker. I decided to swap it out for a then-new Celestion Sidewinder speaker. Changed the tone of the amp in a BAD way! I missed the mid-punch of the G12-80! Returned the Sidewinder to the store the next day.
 
Ima fan. They mix well with v30's. My weekly gigging cab is an old Carvin 2x12 with these in it. I mic the cl80 as it's less harsh FOH.
 
I've got an original CL80 watt that I took out of my 800 combo. Not sure how close it is to the newer CL80's but you can try that if you'd like. This one is from '83.

I replaced a 70/80 in a Palomino V32 combo years ago with a K100. Huge difference. Big lows, nice highs and lost a lot of that boxy 1 X 12 sound. Sounded bigger than it was. Downside is that it made the combo quite a bit heavier due to the magnet. You can pick those up pretty cheap too.

I'd say if you like an 80, you'll like the 100 even more in a combo.
 
I had a THD 1x12 cab witha CL80. It was a long time ago, so my memory might be mistaken but they are kinda between a V30 and a G12-65 in a way. The lows are kinda round. It's sort of a tight speaker but the low end isn't stop on a dime. The highs are subdued and smooth. The mid range has an interesting quality. Hard to describe.
 
CL80s are pretty cool. Balanced sort of speakers that don't really emphasize specific frequencies like a V30 does. They just sort of let your amp do its thing.

K100s are REALLY great at making a small cab sound not so small. Putting them in something like a 112, or in a Peavey 5150 212 combo (which is only 11" deep)...makes those types of cab situations sound way bigger than their size would typically allow.
 
80s that went into JCM 800s from the early 80s are G12 80s, which is a different speaker than the CL80 I believe. The G12 80 is like a G12 65, but with a bit less mids/more neutral sounding. The Mesa C90 is close to the G12 80, but with some tweaks.
 
Pretty cool speakers. I recently got a Bogner 4x12 with CL80s. Need to spend some more time with them, and do some comparisons with my other cabs, but I quite like them so far. They have a definite Celestion flavor, but with a hint of a more EVM12L-type vibe.
 
The WGS British Lead is pretty awesome...kind of dark. I prefered that one to the celestion CL
 
Well there's the Classic Lead 80, which I guess they call the CL80. Then there's the Mesa MC90, and there was the G12h80. I like them all, a bit neutral. I hear they mix well with V30's.
 
I like them too. I like to have at least one in my 4x12 to mix in with a greenback or other speaker. I tend to use it for the 421 while the 57 I put on a greenback. It's a fairly neutral speaker.
 
We used them at egnater in combos due to their bigger bass frequency. I love
Them with Vintage 30's in a 4x12 and one of each in 2x12, killer in a single 12!
 
Racerxrated":118nic5g said:
80s that went into JCM 800s from the early 80s are G12 80s, which is a different speaker than the CL80 I believe. The G12 80 is like a G12 65, but with a bit less mids/more neutral sounding. The Mesa C90 is close to the G12 80, but with some tweaks.
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The G12-80 is the Classic Lead 80. The G12-H80 may be what you're thinking of as what Marshall used.

The MC90 Black Shadow is closely related to the Classic Lead 80.
 
How do you think they'd pair with Greenbacks? (Not to hijack)
 
I'd imagine they would pair up well with Greenbacks, but haven't tried that yet. One of these days I'll hook up both the Greenback 4x12 and the CL80 4x12 to get a feel for it.
 
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