If you dream of filling your high-gain combo or cab with a modern set of high-powered Greenbacks the Waza G12W-8 could be just the ticket. Initially, production was limited to fulfil Waza cabinet orders, but Boss has since made them available as individual units and marketed them as suitable replacements for any 12” speaker. Their solution was to build a 100-watt speaker that replicated the same wide dynamic range, characteristic mid-range punch, restrained top end and expressive response. Unfortunately, the Waza Head would have overpowered a standard Celestion Greenback so the engineers at Boss had to have a rethink. A sound that, back in the day, would have flowed from a cabinet rich with 25-watt Greenbacks. You see, when Boss was developing its flagship Waza Amp Head it wanted a matching speaker that recalled the quintessential British half-stack sound of the ‘60s. The color kinda gives it away doesn’t it? The Boss site doesn’t explicitly say as much (it does, however, drop a ton of hints) but this is a Japanese stab at improving on the iconic Celestion Greenback. The Redback is also a great choice if you want to replace a 4x or 8x cab with a single speaker. This stocky combination gives the speaker a dark, meaty sound that’s well suited to down-tuning or for taming a bright amp. To handle the power, and resulting heat, the Redback features the aforementioned 50oz magnet, together with a supersized 2” voice coil. Use it with a lower-gain amp though, and you’ll never run out of clean headroom. Match it to a similarly rated high-gain amp and it’ll take all the pummelling you can throw at it. Paradoxically, if you shy away from the dirt to live a life that’s clean and pure this could be the speaker for you too. Fitted with a humongous magnet more powerful than the gravitational pull of the sun (OK, we made that stat up) it’s rated at a whopping 150 watts. If your djent is more thunderous than the hooves of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse then the Redback is a devilish choice.
Apparently, the heavier magnet produces a tighter low-end – here’s hoping Celestion reintroduce it. Originally, there was a G12H in Celestion’s catalogue too, fitted with a ‘Heavy’ 50-ounce magnet. In case you’re wondering, the M in its name refers to its Medium/35-ounce magnet. Perfect if you’re after a speaker that will deliver no-nonsense, aggressive, vintage lead tones. The Greenback has changed a bit since the swinging sixties, but it still retains its characteristic mid-range punch and restrained top end. Which just goes to prove that there’s no shame in choosing a speaker with a ceramic magnet. A little later on Angus Young also championed the Greenback, and it was allegedly a favourite of Van Halen’s too. OK, we’re aware than Jimi was from the US, but he was famously into British amplification, so I think we can be forgiven for including him here. Think ‘60s British rock – Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Page – and a key ingredient of that classic tone will be a dash of Greenback.
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