Anybody bought Vintage 30s recently?

[Spaceboy]

There's some YouTubers out there (I think that screaming dude is one of them haha) who've mentioned that the new V30s with clear dustcaps are something special/better than the past handful of years. Any confirmation or experiences with this form actual human beings and not influencer goobers? I'm considering grabbing a couple.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

There's some YouTubers out there (I think that screaming dude is one of them haha) who've mentioned that the new V30s with clear dustcaps are something special/better than the past handful of years. Any confirmation or experiences with this form actual human beings and not influencer goobers? I'm considering grabbing a couple.

That was a giant misunderstanding on his part. I reached out to Rick who is head of US sales for Celestion and asked him about it. The V30s that YouTube guy had in his cab were from 2006 I believe - per Rick there were issues with tooling at the factory that year and the result was shitty V30s. Celestion hasn’t changed their formula- he was just comparing a known shitty V30 to a regular V30 that was made properly

And let’s be real, Rick could have totally gone with it for the sake of sales and said “yea man these current production V30s are our best ever etc” but he didn’t go down that road at all. Good dude

 

[BeZo]

I don't know what you are talking about, and I don't want to watch a screaming YouTuber to find out. I hope this is true though. I mean, why wouldn't Celestion change the V30 to make it more like the popular version? That's good business sense. "The customer is always right."

 

[Rex Rocker]

That was a giant misunderstanding on his part. I reached out to Rick who is head of US sales for Celestion and asked him about it. The V30s that YouTube guy had in his cab were from 2006 I believe - per Rick there were issues with tooling at the factory that year and the result was shitty V30s. Celestion hasn’t changed their formula- he was just comparing a known shitty V30 to a regular V30 that was made properly

And let’s be real, Rick could have totally gone with it for the sake of sales and said “yea man these current production V30s are our best ever etc” but he didn’t go down that road at all. Good dude

There was a lenghty post by Nolly who mentioned V30's from different years do sound different in his experience.

There's lots of conflicting information. Celestion swear they have never changed the recipee, but I think most of our experiences have been different. I have two newer UK Greenbacks reissues in my Marshall cab that actually sound way brighter than the other pair of Chinese Greenbacks in it.

 

[blackba]

When you are in production for that long there are going to be changes, even if its just to keep the line running. So to me no surprise to hear reports of V30s sounding different over the years. Tooling too only has a limited life and you will see manufacturers try to push it beyond its useful life and that is when you can get quality issues.

 

[Spaceboy]

Those clear dust caps are definitely something I hadn't seen before, not sure how long Celestion has been doing that or if it makes any difference. There are definitely many variables that make two of the same speaker sound different, tolerances, age, breakin, etc. I woludn't be surprised if you grabbed two off the same production line and they had some differences. I'm not really wanting to stir up the old debate of whether current speakers are better than other eras or anything, same model speakers have definitely changed in sound over time, without a doubt. But I keep seeing comments about these "new" clear cap Vintage 30s here and there, someone brought it up to me in a Facebook group earlier before I made this thread actually. Just hadn't seen much talk about it on the boards. Could all be bullshit, idk, figured someone here would know something or checked them out. I didn't know if this was a known major redesign or something, but I guess not since Blake went straight to the source. I've never had clear caps on any of mine though.

 

[Rex Rocker]

When you are in production for that long there are going to be changes, even if its just to keep the line running. So to me no surprise to hear reports of V30s sounding different over the years. Tooling too only has a limited life and you will see manufacturers try to push it beyond its useful life and that is when you can get quality issues.

Especially when you outsource parts like they do with the Kurt Mueller cones.

 

[Spaceboy]

I don't know what you are talking about, and I don't want to watch a screaming YouTuber to find out. I hope this is true though. I mean, why wouldn't Celestion change the V30 to make it more like the popular version? That's good business sense. "The customer is always right."

It's that Glenn Fricker guy that screams all the time, he seems like a jackass but every now and then he'll post something that sucks me in with the clickbait titles. But he's not the only person out there making claims about newer production Vintage 30s being better. Just haven't really seen any credible info/evidence or talk from people I respect at all.

 

[PBGas]

I have one with the clear dust cap which is very new and one with the older dust cap.
I really can't hear a whole lot of difference.

Now, if you are comparing the Marshall V30 and Mesa V30, you can totally hear a difference between each of those and the overseas version.

 

[rsm]

The Vox Heritage / Anniversary AC-15 and AC-30 had similar issues.

They had Chinese made Celestion Alnico Blue speakers, and a few people on the old Vox forum noticed the cones were different or had a different number stamped on them; they replaced them with UK made Celestion Alnico Blues and there was a noticeable difference once you heard it. Vox and Celestion claimed the speakers were identical just made in different locations, but the cones and possibly other components may have been sourced from different vendors / locations. IIRC, it's been awhile.

Edit: The later (current?) Vox handwired amps have UK made speakers, blues and greenbacks, IIRC.

 

[anomaly]

I've got a Mesa cab from 2006 and it sounds just like any other Mesa cab I've played through, sounds really good actually. But I do hear differences in the Marshall Vintage and the Mesa Vintage 30 for sure.

 

[Greazygeo]

I bought one last summer to replace one in my old Mesa oversize cab. No idea on its age but the new one does sound different than the other three by alot.
The new one is the one I have been recording with…will look at the dustcap sometime, never paid any attention to it.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I think the difference between the Marshall Vintage and the Mesa Vintage is a bit overblown. Especially because we're often comparing the 4x12's, and Marshall cabs tend to come with 16 ohm speakers, while Mesa with 8 ohms. I'm sure if we compare 8 ohm and 8 ohm versions, or 16 ohm and 16 ohm the difference wold be less. I mean, I'm sure it's not the same exact speaker, but I doubt the 8 ohm Marshall Vintage is as sizzly by design as everyone makes it out to be.

If you hear 16 ohm and 8 ohm versions of the same speaker compared, it barely even sounds like the same speaker type, LOL.

 

[Rex Rocker]

 

[TheGreatGreen]

Celestion has not updated the V30. Glenn Fricker posted that video and was completely incorrect about it, and has since issued a correction video retracting his statement.

The biggest issue at play here is that speakers are just inherently inconsistent. Like, even more inconsistent than Les Pauls. It really just is luck of the draw with them.

 

[Rex Rocker]

 

[BesaMoogie]

After I saw this video I was hunting down a Mesa cab with speakers from that year. Mine is a late 2001 and I was able to compare it the a mid 2004. The 2004 sounded good but the 2001 was better and more natural sounding.
There is a lot of talk about Mesa vs. Marshall vs. Chinese speakers etc. but I came to the conclusion, that it is really the year and material they used that makes the most difference in tone.

 

[Rex Rocker]

After I saw this video I was hunting down a Mesa cab with speakers from that year. Mine is a late 2001 and I was able to compare it the a mid 2004. The 2004 sounded good but the 2001 was better and more natural sounding.
There is a lot of talk about Mesa vs. Marshall vs. Chinese speakers etc. but I came to the conclusion, that it is really the year and material they used that makes the most difference in tone.

And ohms.

Like I said, 16 ohm variations of the same 8 ohm speakers sound like almost a completel different speaker design altogether.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

After I saw this video I was hunting down a Mesa cab with speakers from that year. Mine is a late 2001 and I was able to compare it the a mid 2004. The 2004 sounded good but the 2001 was better and more natural sounding.
There is a lot of talk about Mesa vs. Marshall vs. Chinese speakers etc. but I came to the conclusion, that it is really the year and material they used that makes the most difference in tone.

I'd be willing to bet that if you took let's say a dozen random V30's produced in any given year, you'd find just as much variance as the speakers from comparison videos like the one earlier in the thread.

Videos like that imply things like "every 2001 V30 speaker sounds EXACTLY like THIS 2001 V30, while every 2006 V30 sounds EXACTLY like THIS 2006 V30." and that's just not true. Basically you'll find just as many differences between batches of speakers every time a new batches are made.

You can prove this yourself if you have all-like speakers in a 4x12 cab, or even a 2x12 cab. Or even two 1x12 cabs of the same type. Just mic each speaker individually and you'll be shocked how different they all sound from each other.

Maybe there might be very subtle traceable differences over years, but from one speaker to the next, the differences are going to be pronounced enough to make a difference.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I'd be willing to bet that if you took let's say a dozen random V30's produced in any given year, you'd find just as much variance as the speakers from comparison videos like the one earlier in the thread.

Videos like that imply things like "every 2001 V30 speaker sounds EXACTLY like THIS 2001 V30, while every 2006 V30 sounds EXACTLY like THIS 2006 V30." and that's just not true. Basically you'll find just as many differences between batches of speakers every time a new batches are made.

You can prove this yourself if you have all-like speakers in a 4x12 cab, or even a 2x12 cab. Or even two 1x12 cabs of the same type. Just mic each speaker individually and you'll be shocked how different they all sound from each other.

Maybe there might be very subtle traceable differences over years, but from one speaker to the next, the differences are going to be pronounced enough to make a difference.

You didn't watch the video, did you? They did do that. They mic'd all four speakers. Yes, there was variations between all four speakers, but they sounded more similar to each other than comparing them to the other cab.