The Celestion 100 amp is a rockin’ way to celebrate a centenary
Hand-built Marshall party starter revives the retro look
You can’t argue that any brand still kicking after 100 years has earned the right to celebrate the occasion. But one that counted Jimi Hendrix and Angus Young as customers couldn’t just break out the birthday cake, could it? British loudspeaker specialist Celestion has teamed up with Marshall for an ultra-limited amplifier that calls back to the dawn of the electric guitar.
The Celestion 100 is essentially a limited-run version of Marshall’s Studio JTM – which itself was reborn to mark the 100th birthday of late company founder Jim Marshall.
Each cream-coloured cabinet gets contrasting black panelling and white knobs, and wears the same metal “coffin” logo as the 70s and 70s original Studio JTM. All will be hand-built at Marshall’s Bletchley factory, with a hand-welded chassis, hand-soldered potentiometers and finger-jointed cabinets.
It was a natural collaboration, seeing how Celestion speakers have appeared in Marshall amps since the 60s. With only 100 being built, however, I doubt few will see action on stage like the originals that inspired the Celestion 100’s throwback design.
Inside, the Celestion 100 has the same twin ECC83 preamp valves, two 5881 power amp valves and ECC83 phase splitter as last year’s revived Studio JTM – but swaps its 12in loudspeaker for the ‘artisanal’ Celestion 100 Alnico. It apparently delivers “a classic low-end grunt that eloquently complements the warm and vocal mid range crunchy upper tones”, and was benchmarked to look and sound as close to the early Alcino amps as possible.
It has the same four 1/4in instrument inputs and five 1/4in speaker outputs as the Studio JTM, so is ready to let rip once your jack in your axe.
The Celestion 100 will be sold as a head and cabinet bundle, and only from cherry-picked retailers – the Marshall website can help you track one down. Just 100 will be produced worldwide. Expect to pay £2060 to get one in your music room or onto your tour bus.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
