tonal qualities of early g12-65's

[Smellytele]

I've got a pal who has a 1970's cab with what looks to be very early 65's. I was always under the impression that those are kind of dark speakers, but his cab sounds kinda bright and almost harsh, brighter than my original Blackbacks. Generally speaking, how would you all describe the tonal qualities of those early 65's?

 

[danfrank]

It’s my understanding that a lot of the first run G12-65s (70s to 80s) were all over the place. The last year they were made (1983) they seemed to get the recipe correct and those are the ones that have uniform consistency that everyone likes. The uniformity may have started earlier.
Celestion came out with the G12-65 as a greenback sounding speaker that could take higher power handling.
Hopefully some of the long time Marshall/Celestion historians here chime in as they know much much more about it than I do.

 

[79 2203]

I had a slant that I thought to be late 70’s(never checked the speaker dates) with 12-65’s and a 82 4104 with 12-65’s. I also had a 2x12 with Heritage 12-65’s at the same time, as well as three vintage 2203’s(79,80,82)to play through them. So I got a decent idea of the general tone.
From memory(this was all over 7 years ago) I’d describe the sound as midragey with more of a lower mid cough than the upper mid bark of Greenback/Blackback. The slant was quiet dark while the 4104 speakers had more presence/liveliness. Both had a high end I didn’t find pleasing and I found it difficult to balance the low mid vs high end(have enough cut to keep the bass tight and chords clear(for mid gain ACDC-ish crunch) while not have single notes sound harsh)The Heritage were somewhere in between and in some applications I found them abit polite, but they were undoubtedly a great speaker for creamy high gain leads.
The guy who bought the slant is gigging locally(LP Standard, Hughes and Kettner DuoTone, not sure what pedals) so I should go see his band to refresh my memory, but he told me recently he keeps his LP in the middle position the whole gig became he finds the bridge pickup alone too harsh.