Marshall Amplification is celebrating Celestion's 100th anniversary with an extremely limited-edition and handcrafted Studio JTM head and cab dubbed, appropriately, the Celestion 100.
The small but mighty 20-watt creation centers on the same winning formula of tubes. Its five-strong team comprises two ECC83s in the preamp, two 5881 power amp tubes, and an ECC83 phase shifter.
They combine with a Celestion 100 Alnico speaker, first unveiled at NAMM 2024, that nestles in a 1x12” cabinet that matches the head’s cream covering.
The speaker has been specially designed in honor of Celestion’s milestone anniversary. Its design is inspired by its G12 (AKA the Alnico Blue) and T652 speakers that underscored its successful partnerships with Marshall and fellow Britsh amp-maker Vox in the ‘60s.
The G12 was originally a radio speaker that was later toughened up to withstand the demands of guitar amplifiers – making it the world’s first dedicated guitar speaker.
These celebratory amps are hand-built in the UK, with period touches juxtaposing modern details. For instance, an enamel ‘coffin’ logo sits beside all-white control knobs that are a world away from Marshall’s trademark black and gold aesthetic.
Aptly, just 100 units will be produced – Marshall says this is “the amp that’s one in one hundred.”
Celestion’s John Paice highlights how the new speaker harkens back to the firm’s ‘60s innovations.
“The tone of Celestion 100 is very much based on those really early Alnico guitar speakers,” he says.
“We spent a lot of time listening to several of them just to get the right tonal benchmark... We believe we made these hundredth-anniversary speakers into something truly special.”
Marshall’s Steve Smith is quick to acknowledge how, so many years after its partnership with Celestion began, their relationship is still proving fruitful: “Celestion has been part of the Marshall family right from the very beginning,” he says, “and that union is still thriving.
“Over the years we have cultivated a truly genuine relationship built on our shared passion for British craftsmanship and world-class sound… I can’t think of a more iconic way of celebrating this 100-year milestone.”
Indeed, the presence of Celestion speakers helped turn mid-’60s Marshall cabinets into an essential part of the rock equation – an era of tone that contemporary amp-builders still strive for.
Since Marshall Amplification was taken over by Swedish firm Zound Industries last year, there has been heavy investment into its UK production facility. At the time, an immediate focus on reformatting its legacy tube builder into smaller formats was underlined, and this amp is a clear representation of that.
Away from honoring the past, however, during a recent interview with Guitar World, the firm’s new CEO, Jeremy de Maillard, said that everything from modeling-type products to FRFR speakers is on the table as the Marshall looks to modernize its product line.
The Celestion 100 Studio JTM is available from £2,059.99 (approx. $2,612).
Head to Marshall for more information.
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