Marshall is giving its recent Studio JTM tube amp a new look to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Celestion speakers with an "artisanal" 12-inch speaker.
The UK-built Celestion 100 amp marks the long-standing collaboration between the two iconic brands and is limited to 100 units worldwide. The 20W head features a pair of ECC83 preamp valves, two 5881 power amp valves, along with an ECC83 phase splitter.
The ST112C cab also features the new limited edition 30W Celestion 100 Alnico speaker, which Marshall says offers a "classic low-end grunt that eloquently complements the warm and vocal midrange crunchy upper tones".
“The tone of Celestion 100, is very much based on those really early Alnico guitar speakers and we spent a lot of time listening to several of them just to get the right tonal benchmark," says John Paice, Marketing Communications Manager at Celestion. "Designed to look and sound as close as possible to those early Alnicos as we could possibly make it, and a real tribute to the original, we believe we made these hundredth-anniversary speakers into something truly special.”
The cream-covered Bletchley-built Celestion 100 features finger-jointed cabinets, hand-welded chassis, hand-soldered potentiometers and valve bases. "Celestion has been part of the Marshall family right from the very beginning, and more than six decades later that union is still thriving," said Steve Smith, Product Expert for Musical Instruments at Marshall Group.
"Over the years we have cultivated a truly genuine relationship built on our shared passion for British craftsmanship and world-class sound. It is this foundation that allows us to make really great amps, and the Celestion 100 is no exception. I can’t think of a more iconic way of celebrating this 100-year milestone."
Celestion 100 head and cabinets availability is so limited, no more than 15 will be available in the UK through select retailers for £2,059.99.
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More info at Marshall. The Celestion 100th anniversary speaker is also available separately to preorder at Andertons .
Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.