Best 12 Inch Guitar Speaker (2024 Update)

I play gigs every week, and use Crate 120 watt GFX-212, I play a seven string guitar and the bottom end has always been muddy. The speakers broke up and I contacted Eminence to see if I should use the Texas heat or the swamp thang. The said these were great speakers but for the seven string they recommended this speaker. I took there suggestion and am extremely pleased. I can turn the bass all the way up and the low B string rings clear, the highs are clear was well. Overdrive screams like it should. The clean setting is so clear I can not believe it. The one thing I was not prepared for about the speakers is they are about twice as loud as my old ones. They are however thee times the weight of my old speakers,but well worth the extra weight of my cabnets. I would highly recommend these speakers to anyone. These have a seven year warranty from the manufacturer as well.The Boz

Had a Superchamp X2 and decided to pick up a Superchamp mini stack to use for jamming with friends. Like the range of sounds and moderate volume of the amp, but felt like the shrill Celestion in the 1×12 cabinet could be improved on. I never used the EV 12 but wanted to see if this take on that speaker could round out the sound. This guy is heavy… reminded of lugging around the old JBLs. I added fiberglass to the cabinet and mounted the big guy. Even with minimal breakin, this thing sounds great. Big tight bottom, clear as a bell mids and highs with no ice pick. And so efficient it makes the little Superchamp louder. This speaker sounds like it puts out the best your amp can give it without breaking a sweat. I'd recommend it for any amp but especially modeling amps. Very musical… great speaker for the moneyOld Guy playing at home

Wow. Finally a speaker I can load in any standard normal stage guitar cabinet and bring my modeler to complete life. Game changer. I am not a huge FRFR fan.. these kind of meet right in the middle giving you a guitar speaker sound and feel with all the dynamics and full modelling from your processor etc. Restored my faith in using a modeller for sure.Mark from SA

I am using this speaker with an ART SLA-2 and a Fractal Axe-FX II. Previously I was running Celestion Vintage 30s and since moving to these speakers it has opened all the different tones and nuances of the modeler. This speaker is a true full range speaker in comparison to the Vintage 30s (which has rolloff maybe around the 10khz. mark). I had to change my tone settings to adjust to the full range but that is not a bad thing since now I have full control all the way up to 20khz. The subtle highs that I was missing before are now adding to the creaminess of the tone. I highly recommend giving these speakers a test. I don't know if they are available in a cabinet, but I placed them into Seismic Audio Luke cabinets and they sound great and fit perfect.Mike

I recently purchased a Quilter 200 watt guitar amp along with the matching 1×12 speaker cab. Apparently, the supplied speaker is actually a bass guitar speaker, so it sounds a little dark with both my guitars and keyboards. I decided to add another speaker which will also raise the rig higher off the ground. I also decided to build a matching cab as the Quilter cabs are a bit pricey, especially since I won't be using the supplied speaker. So searching for a speaker, I came across the F12-X200. I liked that it could handle the power from the amp by itself, and the 2 way construction appealed to me, especially for use with my keyboards and acoustic guitars. It does not disappoint. Very balanced frequency response, and it extends to 20kHz, just like a PA speaker. I would describe the sound as very accurate and clean, even at higher volumes.Nexy

I bought a pair of these for a Gibson Ranger GA-55RVT that I restored and converted to 2×12's instead of 4×10's. I cut the case down and installed a new speaker mounting plate, new Tolex, knobs, electrolytics, tubes, everything. The only thing I didn't have was a matched pair of 12-inch guitar speakers, so I installed a pair of ruggedized 12-inch "no-name" (Urban Audio Works) speakers until I got everything worked out on the Ranger. The Gibson actually sounded decent with the Urbans, but with these Legends, it really rocks! The sound is exactly as described in the ad: Lots of growl and muscle, especially with the front pickups, but zingy highs and midranges for lead work with the middle and back pickups. I was torn between the Jensen C12N's and C12K's, but then I saw Music123's ad for the Eminence Legend 1258s, and decided to give them a try. Plus, I heard the Jensen's were more "British" and "woody" sounding, and I wanted an American rock/Fender Twin sound for my Gibson. That amp uses two 6L6's for output (as opposed to four for the Fender) so I was worried that the C12K's might be too much, and the C12Ns too little. But the Legends are perfect. They really brought my Ranger to life, at all volume settings. The biggest thing Ive noticed is how these speakers bring out the differences in the switch and pickup settings on my various guitars, from Strats and Strat copies, to my 76 Kramer aluminum neck 450G. They really have a great tonal range. And the 75-watt rating (x2) is perfect for the 55-watt Gibson amp.John Young-Y0CQl

This speaker doesn't get a lot of press because it is overshadowed by the Patriot and Red Coat speakers in the Eminence brand. I've been through many Emi speakers in the newer lines but came back to this one. It is clean but definitely not sterile. Big warm (tight but not boomy) bass, mids are solid but smooth with just a touch of bite when you crank your mids. Highs are strong but musical – not harsh. It plays any style of music and keeps its composure at high volumes. I also like that it is slightly less efficient allowing me to turn my amp up more to get into the sweet spot. It just plain works for my Fender 40 watt black face amp. Cleans are exceptional and overdrive is very musical. For my purposes, it is the best speaker Emi sells.Super 400

I've been using a pair of these for 6 years, for different heads, amps too. Really powerful tight sound, I love em. However, with a silver stripe Bandit 112 they were too bright/harsh. It's because the Bandit is just too bright and harsh, I had a very hard time tweaking an overdrive distortion I liked from that amp…sold it. But I'm keeping the Legend 1258s, they make every other amp I've had sound great!!!!Buffalo_BiL

If you have an amp that is ice -picky when you travel up the neck of your guitar,chances are that it is either a 6V6 or a 6L6 amp. More likely the 6L6 variety. Some manufacturers automatically install either a vintage 30, or a cheaper equivalent , with the premise that it is a "one speaker fits all" solution. It is not. Even a well broken in V30 can have ear piercing highs, especially in a 6L6 amp,believe me I know. I'm currently using the cannabis rex in a EL84 amp and it does noticeably reduce the highs. Meanwhile I have a V30 in another 6L6 amp(bad combination)) that I believe would sound better with the cannabis rex. So I'm going to swap the speakers and hopefully that will solve both problems. So yeah, I think this is a great speaker in the right application. Good luck on your "tone-quest".Toomanyguitars

Put two 8 ohm CR speakers in a custom 2×12 closed back. Instantly, a great tone I already had going got better! Lost my ultra-high end (some call it icepick). I wouldn't say my Carvin GT-16 drivers ever got icepicky, but they did have a very loud and fatiguing upper mid bump and could get honky or coney if you will. These were circa 2004 when you could still order raw guitar speakers from Carvin… Not anymore. The harmonic extension was brilliant and crystalline however, and that I sorta miss, but these CRs give me instantly proper guitar eq. They are super balanced, but kind of filter what the amp/guitar/player combo is generating into something instantly comfortable, detailed, sensitive, and faithful. I'm gonna blend these with Private Jacks in a double 2×12 X pattern… I'll let you know how it goes but so far these CR drivers are the cornerstone of my cabs. The amplifier used is a Carvin VT50, with Warmoth Strats having Dimarzio and Duncan pickups.cdub

Overall: My old workhorse Mesa Boogie F-50's English Celestion Black Shadow blew out and I could have cried. First off, I could not believe that the speaker roached on the amp, then I had a heck of a time trying to figure out what to replace it with. Celestion makes the vast majority of their speakers in places other than England (including the newer Black Shadows they make) so I opted to not purchase one of those. I decided to give Eminence a try. Hey, they make their products here in the states and every one of their products purchased goes to support those great folks who toil away making great products for us musicians to share our creative genius (or annoy our neighbors) with. I researched this problem for almost a year, trying to figure out what speaker to go with and try as I might, I never found anyone with a Boogie that they put one of these in. So I was a bit apprehensive about how things would work out. I installed the speaker and fired the amp up. I was so happy to hear sounds coming out of the amp. Then I was totally impressed with the sounds that I heard. Mesa should have used this speaker in this amplifier to begin with. I would have never thought I could improve the tone of this amp but this speaker did it by the spadeful. It is so rich and so responsive it made this amplifier sing like it never has before. I am completely impressed and Eminence has a lifelong supporter now with me. Great speaker. Absolutely great speaker, I cannot say enough good about it. It nails everything I need to play with authority. It rocks, it cries, it sings, it wails and it talks. If you have a need for a 12" speaker, this is definitely the way to go. I don't knock the old Celestions, don't get me wrong, their stuff is still one of the industry standards for a reason. I am just impressed and sold on Eminence hemp cone speakers now. For the money (really? 95.00, that is it!?!) they cannot be beat.Matthew

I upgrade my Peavey Transfex Pro 212. With the stock speaker it was already a beast at 260 watts. Now with the speakers the tone is amazing and the headroom is amazing. I love my amp that much more now.Jogriff

Overall: I play with a very saturated tube preamp and I love the top-end sparkle and harmonics, but I end up losing that with the cone-breakup of so many other speakers when I crank up the volume. Not with this speaker. It is crystal clear and stays with me at high volume. It has strong bass response but I find that I have to use a bit more high-end eq than with my British-type speakers but its worth it. These have a very precise and detailed reproduction of the amp signal. Love these.Jay

I put these speakers in a 2×12 closed back cab for use with my EVH 5150 iii 50 watt head. They work great and at a great price too.Paul

The "A Type" is for American voicing like a Fender. I compared it to Scum Back Scumnico speaker its like a V30. The A had more tight low end and woody mids and the famous Fender chime. I think the A type would be the best choice for a Deluxe Reverb Jazz player, but a "V" type is probably better for distortion players. Celestion nomenclature "V" types voiced for vintage British Valve amps like Vox and Marshalltuning50

I bought a pair of these for a Gibson Ranger GA-55RVT that I restored and converted to 2×12's instead of 4×10's. I cut the case down and installed a new speaker mounting plate, new Tolex, knobs, electrolytics, tubes, everything. The only thing I didn't have was a matched pair of 12-inch guitar speakers, so I installed a pair of ruggedized 12-inch "no-name" (Urban Audio Works) speakers until I got everything worked out on the Ranger. The Gibson actually sounded decent with the Urbans, but with these Legends, it really rocks! The sound is exactly as described in the ad: Lots of growl and muscle, especially with the front pickups, but zingy highs and midranges for lead work with the middle and back pickups. I was torn between the Jensen C12N's and C12K's, but then I saw Music123's ad for the Eminence Legend 1258s, and decided to give them a try. Plus, I heard the Jensen's were more "British" and "woody" sounding, and I wanted an American rock/Fender Twin sound for my Gibson. That amp uses two 6L6's for output (as opposed to four for the Fender) so I was worried that the C12K's might be too much, and the C12Ns too little. But the Legends are perfect. They really brought my Ranger to life, at all volume settings. The biggest thing Ive noticed is how these speakers bring out the differences in the switch and pickup settings on my various guitars, from Strats and Strat copies, to my 76 Kramer aluminum neck 450G. They really have a great tonal range. And the 75-watt rating (x2) is perfect for the 55-watt Gibson amp.John Young-Y0CQl

This speaker doesn't get a lot of press because it is overshadowed by the Patriot and Red Coat speakers in the Eminence brand. I've been through many Emi speakers in the newer lines but came back to this one. It is clean but definitely not sterile. Big warm (tight but not boomy) bass, mids are solid but smooth with just a touch of bite when you crank your mids. Highs are strong but musical – not harsh. It plays any style of music and keeps its composure at high volumes. I also like that it is slightly less efficient allowing me to turn my amp up more to get into the sweet spot. It just plain works for my Fender 40 watt black face amp. Cleans are exceptional and overdrive is very musical. For my purposes, it is the best speaker Emi sells.Super 400

I've been using a pair of these for 6 years, for different heads, amps too. Really powerful tight sound, I love em. However, with a silver stripe Bandit 112 they were too bright/harsh. It's because the Bandit is just too bright and harsh, I had a very hard time tweaking an overdrive distortion I liked from that amp…sold it. But I'm keeping the Legend 1258s, they make every other amp I've had sound great!!!!Buffalo_BiL

Quality and construction appear very good and I really appreciate the gasket on the back side of the basket for mounting on the front of the baffle. The packing from Eminence was excellent. I installed these speakers in mid sized sealed cabinets along with the 270-125 heavy duty titanium super tweeters. Over all I m very pleased. I am powering them with a 150W per channel mixer. These will play extremely loud with no hint of distortion. No rubs, buzzes, or other issues. The sound is fairly natural. Very punchy in the mid range. Vocals and guitar seem to come to the front of the mix. The bass is more subdued. Of course, this is probably due to overlap with the tweeters. At low and medium volume they still sound good. Almost as good as decent Hi-Fi speakers and better than most PA speakers on recorded music. I think they ll work really well for my indented purpose as PA vocal speakers.Parts Express Customer - 12732

Overall: bought this speaker after purchasing a cheaper speaker to upgrade a monitor cabinet. the cheaper speaker had a great appearance but was not pushing the db's. So I searched for a better alternative.. These Beta speakers are loud!!! and great for vocals.. They cover all frequencies perfectly.. The spec sheets do not lie.. I will be buying moreGregg

While its appearance is different than the original 70's Deluxe Reverb Eminence made speaker, it sounds perfectly identical to the original.Stephanie

Overall: I put this speaker in an open back 1×12 cab made of birch. It is very loud and still holds a lot of bass for the open back design. I would buy this speaker over and over for the price and tone.Adam

I paired the legend 1275 with a eminence CV75 in a 2×12 custom cabinet. Use DV mark head And you get very nice cleans with decent break up at mid range volumesDavid W.

I used 2 of these in a pair of Bill Fitzmaurice Jack 12's and couldn't be happier. The application was for a High School drama club, so they needed to be rugged, easy to carry around and capable of enough punch to fill a 300 seat auditorium. The neo magnet makes for a very light speaker cab; both cabs are easily hauled around on a dolly or, with the installed spring handles, a very doable 1 person per cab carry. As a bass cab, there was plenty of clarity, but I'd suggest deploying these in pairs for that application; 1 12" lacked the oomph that bassists would require.These speakers pack enough punch to get low on full range music, yet are nimble enough to bang out midrange with authority. Designers should be careful of a rising response from 1k to 3.5k with a pronounced peak at 2.5k. In the right application, this can be used to your advantage (mains or monitors). In Bill's Jack 12 design, these speakers truly shine.Speaking of the right application, I'm very surprised at the reviews with 3 or less stars. Well, not so surprised considering they used this as a guitar speaker and nowhere in the product description or literature does it state that this is the correct application. Stick to Eminence's recommendations (Main, Monitor or bass guitar) and you'll be rewarded with great sound. Not every 12" is a good guitar speaker nor is every 15" a good bass guitar speaker.My biggest pet peeve with Neo speakers in general is that the price of Neodymium, a rare earth metal used in the magnet, has skyrocketed due to 4/1/11 tax increases by the Chinese Government, the largest exporter of rare earth metals. Due to this almost doubling in cost, I will be looking for other alternatives.Dave H

Th Eminence Deltalite II speaker was purchased to replace the original speaker in a SWR bass cab and it couldn't have been easier!! The sound is fantastic and no more buzz! This speaker fit perfectly and it took very little time to complete.Jelder

We make custom speaker systems for pro-musicians. Typically, clients need flat response and wide dispersion. There are applications and clients with different needs.For an electric guitarist who likes to be LOUD, especially in the 2kHz range, this is a good choice. Certain guitarists want incredible volume, yet don't want wide dispersion because they: 1- don't want to point their weapons at anyone else on stage, 2- don't want to fight with sound-men or band-members, so 3- need to aim speakers AWAY from open microphones onstage.Solution: give them one or two of these speakers in sealed cabs that angle up toward them from the front of the stage. Other musicians will not be directly in the line of fire, yet they will hear PLENTY of guitar without usurping precious monitor bandwidth.These speakers seem VERY HARSH to me. Yet off-axis, in the right cab, they sound pretty good. If you face your guitar-speakers toward the audience from the stage, these will offend everyone except hearing-impaired sonic-masochists. But, if you want small, LOUD cabs that cut through massive stage-volume, and you face your speakers toward YOU, instead of toward the sound-man or audience, these are useful. These can rip heads off at five feet. On the typical theater stage with high-ceilings and heavy curtains, these actually sound good off-axis at a safe distance. Those are exactly the characteristics that make this speaker popular with certain guitarists for LOUD ROCK bands on theater tours.Frankly, these sound better from the rear of the speaker than they do from the front, but that also makes them good for open-back cabs with low-wattage tube amps.The worst possible use for these is in a 2×12 combo amp where they will slice a vertical path directly in front of the amp toward any unlucky victim in their path. If that victim is the FOH sound-man within twenty yards, you will never be heard in the mix, simply because he will hear you above anything else.Dr Decibel - 29005

I installed it, and was pretty blown away by the clarity of sound. The weight difference in the cab is quite noticeable. Definitely would recommend this product. Also excellent service. Thank you.Antelmo

I spent DAYS reading all of the specs on the various Eminence NEO speakers, and then I saw the specs on these, and they were CLOSER to what I wanted. I put two of them in a 2-12 cabinet with a Blonde Bassman Clone, and they are EXACTLY what I want. I can use them for bass, and I can use them with my heavy string Tele and Gretsch guitars. they really sound great. And the cabinet is SO LIGHT. I am going to be replacing several of my very heavy EVM's in the future with these. NO, they are not an EVM or a JBL, but they are more than ten pounds lighter each.lehm4206

This speaker rocks. I have it in a small home made cab, 14×10, paired with a10” Basslite in another small cab, and they sound great. Power is an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350. Playing Motown covers in a lot of venues. Everyone loves the sound of my setupChuckLotus

I put this in a Champion 40. Before the BV-30V I had an Eminence Texas Heat in the amp. Both are great speakers, not only for this combo, but also as a whole. The Texas Heat has more mids and breaks-up earlier, while the Mojotone takes the cake when going for that classic "scooped" Fender Blackface sound. I've tried at least a dozen speakers in my lifetime and I have to say this one is in the top 3.Zakariyah

I use this in a blended peavey 2×12 cab with an Eminence GBV65 (genz Benz v30 clone). My cab has a little less of a defined midrange, but tighter bottom end than my buddys orange 2×12 with v30’sZach

Full disclosure I was looking for the cheapest name brand 12 inch speaker to replace a literal no name speaker in a 1×12 cab I had. Immediate positive impact on tone! I don't get to crank this cab but I can say this speaker sounds good and home volume for all types of gain.AJB

I really do like these better than Vintage 30's. Why? They sound awesome, record great and are half the price. This Eminence V12 handles heavy distortion like a champ and colors the tone pleasantly. It's very balanced. More balanced than the Vintage 30 in my opinion. Thumbs up from me.Alex Knappenberger - 30793

My last review was accurate- but really I should have given the speaker a little more time to break in. I actually bought a cannabis rex to replace this in a 25 watt tweed handwired amp, but then a funny thing happened-it began to sound better and better every time I played a gig. The highs mellowed out, and now it just sounds HUGE. I am going to leave it in because it just sounds great now. So if you buy this excellent speaker,be patient and let it break in awhile.Your patience will be rewarded.Toomanyguitars

This was an upgrade speaker in my Marshall JCM2000 DSL-401 combo. The stock Celestion "Gold" speaker was ok… but not great. Kinda muddy, scratchy….just not focused. I read up on a lot of different speaker options and saw a lot of good vibes for the Eminence speaker. I think most any of their many offerings would have been an improvement… but I found this one in 16ohm at a fantastic price, so I went with it. Superb construction, much beefier than the stock speaker. Sounds great!! That famed Marshall distortion is all there…tight and focused. Where it really helped was on the clean channel. Eliminates the fizz and scratch and adds some good bottom end. I'm happy with it so far….I bet it gets better as I break it in more. So far have played it just a couple of hours.keypontruckn

Was very skeptical. Speaker under fifty ….can it actually sound decent. Yes, it does!! Great deal. Loaded in a 2×12 with a Chinese V30…can't tell the difference. Think I'll buy 2 more for another 2×12.Chad

I busted my Celestion Hot 100 speaker so I needed a quick fix in my main 12'' speaker cabinet (a gutted Marshall Haze). I have always been a fan of Mike Matthews' Electro Harmonix products and when I saw the price I went for it since it was so cheap. I have been breaking it in for a week now ( although it sounded decent out of the box) and have used a Randall RX120RH 120 watt solid state( which is my main gig head ( it took any and every pedal I threw at it ) , a cranked 12 watt Fender Princeton, straight guitar to amp, (Townsend for days) and a Marshall 50 watt (great sound with pedals and clean) All of this was done at low to mid volume (Randall and Marshall volumes no higher than 3) which would be loud enough for any small or medium club ). I am not sure how it would handle really high volumes ….BUT it sounds better than the Celestion which had a low end boom or whoosh at times on low notes. I am very happy with the results I achieved and still endorse EHX.B.L.

Carvin BelAir, 50 watt Twin. Had been trying diff American voiced speakers – all too shrill. Piercing highs, especially with a Tele which is what I play. Someone said to try vintage 30s or some such. Got these for cheap and am really surprised. These sound pretty great! Tamed the shrill, and really evened out the tone. Lost a little low end thump, but more than a fair trade. Overall the speakers seem ok, heavy magnet assembly but the frame seems thin and cheap compared to other speakers I owned. Will it bend over time and pinch the voice coil? Who knows? One thing to consider is the single set of tabs, rather than the usual doubles, so you will need to solder the wires on unless you get a set of double male/single female adapters. Overall these work well in this amp. They did not work well in a twin cab I have, they sounded bad there. Sometimes speakers are specific to the application an ymmv.Raul

There aren't many full range 12" speakers out there at this price and full range was what I needed. I would think the best praise I could offer is the fact that after spending just a short amount of time with these – through an ART SLA-1 – I ordered two more.4ART

I've been through many, many 12s for Blackface style speakers. These are my faves. For good 60s tones in country and rock with a BF amp these guys work great. Take pedals well. Not shrill or muddy in my experience. Solid surfy bass. Smooth treble. 120 watts which is triple what I would ever throw at em. For a Deluxe or a Pro in a honkytonk bar, these are just the ticket.edol9871

For me the tones of these are somewhere in between American and British. I use these mainly in a 2×10 cab for a fender vibroverb style amp. Vs the Oxford speakers these have a lil more mid focus and rounded highs that work much better with higher gain tones. I also use these with my Marshall origin 50 set relatively clean to get a slightly bigger bottom end than V30s.RockinJohnson

I bought this speaker in the 16ohm version to replace a v30 in my orange ppc1x12. I love the v30 but I mainly use a 100w Marshall DSL100HR and the v30 by itself couldn't handle all that wattage since it's only 60watts. So I decided to go with the swamp thang cause a little more defined low end sounded like a good idea as I play a 7 string ltd (fishman fluence pups) half the time. But I was worried I would loose the highs that we need for attack in high gain situations as well as playing clean which I do very often also. But now that I've played tgrough this speaker I can say that is not a problem whatsoever. This speaker has twice the highs and twice the lows as my v30. Probably a little less midrange but since it's such a powerful speaker it doesn't feel like it's relying on mids the cut through. Full disclosure I've only had the speaker a few hours and played through it a little over an hour but if it sounds this good outta the box I'm confident things will only get better. It's a great sounding speaker in my opinion that would complement any style/set up. I plan on buying an empty Luke 2x12C cab from seismic audio soon so i can pair the ST and the v30 which im lookong forward to. But in the meantime im in no huge hurry since the ST sounds so good by itself.Michael I.

I used this speaker to replace a blown speaker in a floor monitor. It sounded better than original and handled more power. Eminence makes great speakers, I haven't had a bad one yet in 15 years.Ronsmusicrepair

I love it. It is loud for a monitor driver and shuns my other factory monitor driver. One review thought it was guitar speaker – it’s not. This is a quality pro audio speaker that is awesome in sound reproduction.Iam Az