Speaker Experts - Some help/confirmation appreciated

Horatio_Caine

Right, while I have pretty much done with the buying and selling gear side of things a while ago and am happy with what I have, there is something left over that I do need to shift that I will be listing on here in the classifieds, however I need some help first with confirming the dates and some value confirmation.

They are speakers, more specifically some old Pre Rola Celestions that I need help dating.  They are a pair of 15ohm 75hz G12M-20's.  The chassis number for both of them is T1221 which I am familiar with.  The date codes are 22DA and 23DA.  The white writing on the cone reads 7 102 003 for one speaker and 8 102 003.  I do know from memory that the 003 cones were quite popular.

All the pictures are here.  I know as you can see the front of the cones aren't the best, however I tested the speakers connected into my 2554 combo using a temporary jack cable with the red and black connector wires and they do work, sound quite nice and that's not even in a cab.

My question really is confirming what year these are from, looking at the speaker dating guide the codes seem to indicate they are from the early 60's or late 50's, however I am struggling to believe that I have something that old, I always thought when I got them that these were from the late 60's or early 70's just before the change to the Rola labelling.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.  I also have a pair of Pre Rola 25's to offload after these but they are more common and similar to some Rola ones I once went through so when it comes to identifying those I'm finding it easier.

ESchap

Date codes put them as manufactured 22nd and 23rd Jan 1971.  (22 = day of month), A is January, D is 1971

ESchap

Sorry missed out the fact that they reversed the month year letter in 1968 hence why your dating put them so early.

ESchap

Last one.  Pulsonic cones, as yours have, are generally regarded as a good thing.  However, yours have clear water / beer staining and will make buyers wary also looks like the dust covers have been off at some time too.  

To test them properly you really need to mount them securely in a cab, you won't be able to tell properly if there is any rubbing or other problems unless you do. 

cosmiccarrot

Both were built on the 22 and 23rd of April 1968 and are 25watt speakers, they increased the wattage but carried on putting 20w labels on, later putting stickers over until they actually got round to printing new ones also with the 16ohms rating. I've got a few with the over-stickers on.

Speakers cones look a bit shot cone wise mate, the damp, although dried out would affect the tone against a nice bluey grey cone. Very difficult to put a price on.

Cirrus

NOW NOBODY KNOWS WHO TO BELIEVE

Horatio_Caine

Thanks for the help so far.  Sadly I don't have any cabs anymore, although even with that the cone condition as I feared is quite a kick in the cahones on these, despite them seemingly working.  At least the other two G12-25's I have the cones are nice and not stained.

Problem is pricing wise isn't easy now on these, I don't really want to use eBay because on something like this there's a massive chance I'll get someone who will be a problem.  Originally I thought around £100 each but now because of this it seems more like £100 for the pair but even then its hard.

cosmiccarrot

Cirrus said:

NOW NOBODY KNOWS WHO TO BELIEVE

Celestions website is wrong for all of '68 and part way into '69 The real deal on speaker date codes are Day/Month/Year and the stamps were always at right angles to the way they were from mid 69 to date.

http://www.celestion.com/speakerworld/guitartech/50/When_Was_My_Speaker_Built?/

ESchap

cosmiccarrot said:

Cirrus said:

NOW NOBODY KNOWS WHO TO BELIEVE

Celestions website is wrong for all of '68 and part way into '69 The real deal on speaker date codes are Day/Month/Year and the stamps were always at right angles to the way they were from mid 69 to date.

http://www.celestion.com/speakerworld/guitartech/50/When_Was_My_Speaker_Built?/

My bad, Sorry :-S     

The day number in front of the letters puts it in the first 4 months of 1968 as Cosmic carrot rightly says.  Celestion reversed the codes after that. I've got a 4x12 from the same period of 1968  .. so no excuses for getting it wrong!