Celestion speakers in Vox amplifiers and speaker cabinets

Late 1966 through to 1973.

Below, provisional lists of the types of Celestion speaker used in Vox amplifiers and speaker cabinets - principally the solid state line - from late 1966 through to 1973. Remember that the solid state amplifiers across the range required speakers or speaker cabinets with a total impedance of 15/16 ohms.

For the time being, speakers fitted to organs and organ speaker arrays will be left out of account. For an overview of Celestion "T" numbers, see Brian Harding's .

G12 = 12" driver, G15C = 15" ceramic, and so on. "H" indicates heavy ceramic magnet, "M" medium, and "L" lightweight. Some of the speakers noted below are unlikely to have been made in large quantities.

Jennings Musical Industries (Spring 1967 to early 1968)

Standard Jennings label for 12" drivers.

Standard Jennings label for 10" drivers.

CT7721 and CT7442: 10 inch, ceramic magnets, 10-15 watts handling, 15ohm. NIB4 cones. Used in combos; single 10" speaker enclosures for wall mounting; and possibly in some Line Source 40 column units.

CT7724 : 10 inch, ceramic magnets, 10-15 watts handling, 8ohm. NIB4 cones. Used in pairs, wired in series, in combos.

T1088: G12, alnico magnet, 17-20 watts handling (JMI reckoned on 17 watts), 8ohm. Sprayed poly grey. Used in pairs, wired in series, in speaker cabinets. There is no evidence to suggest that JMI fitted Conquerors with anything other than these speakers. Also used in AC30 and AC100 speaker cabinets, and in some 12" enclosures designed for wall mounting.

T1109: G15C, ceramic magnet, 50 watts, 15ohm. Poly grey. Used in speaker cabinets.

T1225: G12H, ceramic, 25-30 watts, 15 ohms. Poly grey. These were designed for the 4 and 7 series ampliers (1966) and are found in UL760, UL7120, UL430, UL460 and UL4120 speaker cabinets, also (probably) in some late UL730 and AC30 Super Twin cabs. In 1967 a number of T1225s were issued with green rather than poly grey dust-covers. T1225s were used in early runs of cabinets and a small number of Line Source 60 public address speaker columns. The latest date code known at present is "29FM" = 29th June 1967.

T1252: G12L (sometimes called G12S), lightweight magnet, 12/15ohm. Poly grey. Used in certain Line Source 60 public address columns. Various sets of poly grey T1252s survive with date codes running from *19KL" = 19th October 1966, through to June 1967. One set was transplanted from a LS60 some years ago into a 4x12 Multi-Link 1 cabinet from 1970. At present, there is no evidence to suggest that T1252s were originally used for anything other than Line Source 60 columns, which were generally sold in pairs.

T1279: G12H, ceramic, 25-30 watts, 8 ohms. Pairs wired in series for a total impedance of 15/16 ohms in speaker cabinets. The earliest date code encountered so far is "14CM" = 14th March 1967, the latest "29JM" = 29th September 1967.

T1279 (15ohm): two sources record instances of 15ohm versions of the T1279. If correct, these are likely to have been implemented in the same way as T1225s.

T1296: G18C, ceramic, 100 watts handling, 15ohm. Poly grey. Used in and single-speaker speaker cabinets.

T1304: G12M, ceramic, 8ohm. Poly grey. No example has yet come to light, but these may be the speakers without labels in Gyrotone 2 and 3 rotating speaker enclosures. Despite what is said in some printed sources, these are unlikely to have been used in Vox Defiant speaker cabinets - see the T1279, above, heavy rather than medium magnet.

T1360: Exponential horn, 20 watts handling, 15ohms. Sets with July 1967 date codes appear in certain Supreme speaker cabinets.

T1463: Exponential horn, 20 watts handling, 3ohms. Prototype horn unit - pictured at the foot - containing five T1463s dated May to August 1967. Total impedance of the unit: 15 ohms.

Vox Sound Equipment Limited (mid 1968 to late 1969)

VSEL came into being in the summer of 1968, taking over a good deal of unsold and incomplete stock from what had been JMI - JMI ceased trading at the end of April 1968. VSEL put its own serial number plates and speaker labels on new and existing items. The company bought in very few Celestion speakers however, its preferred supplier being Goodmans.

T1088: G12, alnico, 8ohm. Vox AC30s and wall-mounted speaker units (each containing a single 12" T1088).

T1096: G12, alnico, 15ohm. A set with date codes "10JA" = 10th September 1968 occurs in a Supreme speaker cabinet. But this cabinet and a similar one with a "Vox Sound Limited" serial number plate may have been made up of surplus parts.

Vox Sound Limited (1970 into 1973)

Following VSEL's collapse in December 1969, VSL was brought into being (in January 1970) to take the Vox name forward. VSL took over a good deal of unsold and incomplete stock from its predecessor, just as VSEL had from JMI.

VSL's preferred supplier was also Goodmans, but various batches of Celestions were bought in, perhaps at times when Goodmans was overstretched. VSL did not have its own speaker labels printed up, using VSEL's instead.

T1088: Still used for runs of AC30s, 1970 into 1972.

T1096: G12, alnico magnet, 15ohm. Used in 1972 for AC30s. A set of four T1096s, one with date code "AF10" = 10th January 1973, occurs in a Vox Supreme cabinet with a VSL serial number. But the cab (and one with earlier 1096s noted above) may have been made up of surplus parts after VSL had come to an end.

T1102: G15C Greenback, ceramic, 50 watts, 15ohm. A pair of T1102s with VSEL labels used in a 2x12/2x15 Multi-Link 2 speaker cabinet. Date codes unknown.

T1217: G12H Greenback, ceramic magnet, 15ohm. Used in Vox Supreme speaker cabinets, and 2x12/2x15 Multi-Link 2 cabs. Date codes June 1970, February 1971, and September 1971.

T1252: G12L Greenback, 12/15ohm. Also used by JMI (see above) but poly grey finish. Date codes July 1969 and June 1970.

*T1364: G12H Greenback, ceramic, 8ohm. A pair in a Defiant cabinet, but this is unlikely to have been their original home.

T1925: G12M Greenback, ceramic magnet, whizzer cone (tweeter), 15ohm. Used in 4x12 Vox Supreme and Vox Companion cabinets. Date codes June, July and August 1972. A couple of sets have "EF" which is probably an error for "FE". The cabinets in which they occur have inspection (completion) tags dated 11th July 1972.

T2056: G12, alnico magnet, 17-20 watts handling, 8ohm. Used in 1972 for AC30s.