Celestion V-Type 70 Watt Speaker

Celestion says the V-Type “produces a heady, exciting modern vintage sound that just makes you want to keep on playing.”  You saw a brief mention of the V-Type in my evaluation of the Celestion A-Type 50 Watt Speaker. 

Installation

For starters, I installed a pair of V-Type speakers into a 4×12 slant with a pair of A-Type in a X pattern wired to a stereo/mono jack plate.  In this config, I use a shorting plug on the A-Type side to hear just the V-Type.  We can look at how they blend together in the same cab at another time. Later, I have the V in a 2×12 open back cab.

Evaluation

Right away, the V-Type stood my up and hit me in the chest with a distinctive authority.  It’s a nice full-sounding speaker with a little more lower-mid girth than the A-Type, for example.  A little more roar, if you will.  Could be it has to do with a bit of a dip in the mids around 1.5 kHz or the slightly elevated headroom.

These are in the same $99 price range as the A-Type, making them attractive to guitarists wanting to branch out a little.  Thankfully, there’s a much sound packed in here as a higher-priced selection.  And in 8Ω and 16Ω options.

During the time that these speakers are going through evaluation, several guitars and even more pickups were used for testing.  Double hum, hum-single-single, a P-90, and even all singles.  Voiced from classic and vintage to modern and progressive tones.  For a little more fun, I’d also run the cab along with a cab loaded with G12-65s – which share a similar dip around 1.5kHz.

I really like how the V-Type delivers a firmly percussive yet slightly primal grunt toward the lower end when hitting the big chords on a dirty amp setting.  The highs are deliberate and have some open airy cut, but they aren’t shrill or brittle while doing so.

Comparing to the A-Type

For the inevitable comparison to the A-Type, it’s as if the V-Type has a shift toward the lower mids and the A-Type slants toward the upper mids.  Along with the A-Type’s slightly stronger focus in the highs, both speakers make for a really nice match in a 2×12 or a 4×12.  When together like that, the combination seems to present a stronger sonic footprint in the room.  The pairing also yields a smidge more harmonic content.

Tone Graph

Demo

Watch Pete Thorn demonstrate the V-Type’s range:

Specs

How about some specs:

For reference, this evaluation was conducted with a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+ through a Carvin DCM200L power amp.  Cabs are a Peavey 6505 4×12 closed-back and a Mojotone Slammins 2×12 open-back.

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