Cyril French and his brothers started what became Celestion near London in 1924, initially under a different name, and launched their first housed loudspeaker in early 1925 — decades before the guitar amp existed to put one inside. The company changed hands repeatedly through the 20th century, passing through British Rola and Truvox before landing with Gold Peak Acoustics, and stopped making consumer hi-fi speakers altogether in 2006 to focus purely on professional and musical-instrument audio. Its guitar speakers are now fitted as standard in amps from Marshall, Orange, Blackstar and others, which is mostly how it turns up on GuitarBomb — as the speaker inside an amp we're covering for other reasons. Here's what we've written.
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Because the sound of British amplification is partly the sound of these drivers. Celestion has been designing loudspeakers since 1924 and its guitar speakers were fitted as standard to the Vox and Marshall amps that defined the tone, so the drivers became part of the reference rather than a component choice.
The Greenback is the lower-powered vintage design — softer, earlier breakup and a pronounced midrange. The Vintage 30 handles more power, stays tighter and has a more scooped, aggressive character with a strong upper-mid peak. Greenbacks suit lower-volume classic rock; V30s are the default in high-gain 4x12 cabinets.
Celestion's higher-power take on the Greenback voicing, sold in 65-watt and 75-watt versions. It exists for players who want the Greenback character in a cabinet that has to take a modern amp's output without the speaker giving up first.
Gold Peak. Celestion is a British company based in Ipswich and operates as part of the Gold Peak group; it remains a comparatively small operation, reporting around 50 employees, despite how widely its speakers are used.
