Greenback mixed in cab

  • Thread starter Thread starter Briman24
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Briman24

Briman24

Well-known member
I have a Marshall 1960ax cab that sounds phenomenal. It is honestly the best sounding cab i have ever played through.
I opened it up out of curiosity and there are 2 x 20 watters on top that say made in england and the 2 on the bottom are 25 watters and say made in UK on a white sticker on side of dust caps.
I have read that celestion stopped making 20 watters a long time ago and now make 25 watts and in china. So i guess the guy i got this cab from changed 2 of the speakers at some point?
Here's pics
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Those are Heritage G12M reissue speakers. They're modern but non-original to the cab.
 
Those Heritage 20w are really nice! I have an EVH 4x12. Same speakers. Only difference is the red white black label.
 
Do you plan on making them all the same or keep as is?
 
Thanks for info guys. So the 25 watt ones on bottom probably came with cab and he put in the 2 heritages on top?
 
Frehley12 said:
Do you plan on making them all the same or keep as is?
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I am leaving it as is. The cab sounds incredible. I have another 4x12 jcm800 cab that has all newer greenbacks and the 1960ax sounds much better. The 800 ones sounds good but this one sounds bigger and punchier with more snarl.
 
I prefer the 25w to the heritage gbs, but see how that can be useful. Probably knocks a lil brightness off the top part of the slant cab, a bit fuller, smoother.
Love my straight cab with all gbs. So good!
 
AFAIK Celestion re located ALL production back to England during Covid; I believe that's still the case so all are MIE these days. So, all 4 of those are British made and should be killer. There are guys that really prefer the MIC GBs though; they kinda had a hairy/raunchy thing going but I didn't care for them when I've had them.
I have an EVH 412 with all 4 M20 Heritage and it kills with my Marshalls. GREAT speakers.
 
Racerxrated said:
AFAIK Celestion re located ALL production back to England during Covid; I believe that's still the case so all are MIE these days. So, all 4 of those are British made and should be killer. There are guys that really prefer the MIC GBs though; they kinda had a hairy/raunchy thing going but I didn't care for them when I've had them.
I have an EVH 412 with all 4 M20 Heritage and it kills with my Marshalls. GREAT speakers.
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Yep I love greenbacks. My 800 cab had all made in china gb's and i swapped them to all made in England's and to be honest.......the difference is not big at all but there.
 
A 1960AX (and BX) would come with 25W Greenback reissues. I heard the newer ones are also Made in England, but given that they're the same specs as the Chinese one, they'd sound roughly the same.

I swapped two of my 25watters for a pair of Celestion EVH (basically the 20watters, but with the Frankenstein striped back) because I think they complement each other quite well.

Jake E Lee seems to have the same idea since he runs cabs with 20w and cabs with 25w Greenbacks on the same stage.

The 20-watters sound smoother and more focused while the 25-watters sound more biting and output a bit more volume.

Congrats on the cab. That's a great cab
 
BlueParfait said:
A 1960AX (and BX) would come with 25W Greenback reissues. I heard the newer ones are also Made in England, but given that they're the same specs as the Chinese one, they'd sound roughly the same.

I swapped two of my 25watters for a pair of Celestion EVH (basically the 20watters, but with the Frankenstein striped back) because I think they complement each other quite well.

Jake E Lee seems to have the same idea since he runs cabs with 20w and cabs with 25w Greenbacks on the same stage.

The 20-watters sound smoother and more focused while the 25-watters sound more biting and output a bit more volume.

Congrats on the cab. That's a great cab
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They sound pretty different...the MIC GBs vs the 25s now made in England. Very noticeable. I know when Celestion moved most production to China, that they said it was the same blah blah...but, the H1777s I had from 99, MIE, vs the 2010 MIC GBs were very different. The English versions were 'cleaner' sounding, while the MIC versions were hairier in the top end. I also bought a pair of H30 Anniversaries, in 2022 to try again as the previous time in 2012 they had such an extended scratchy high end, didn't care for them....but the 2022 version, made in England sticker again had a cleaner tone with less 'scratchy' highs. Maybe some don't notice these differences but to me, like a whole different cone was used and I know that's not the case.
 
Racerxrated said:
W an interviewAFAIK Celestion re located ALL production back to England during Covid; I believe that's still the case so all are MIE these days. So, all 4 of those are British made and should be killer. There are guys that really prefer the MIC GBs though; they kinda had a hairy/raunchy thing going but I didn't care for them when I've had them.
I have an EVH 412 with all 4 M20 Heritage and it kills with my Marshalls. GREAT speakers.
Click to expand...
I saw an interview with George Lynch and he stated how he really likes the EVH 4x12 too with his Marshalls.
 
Racerxrated said:
They sound pretty different...the MIC GBs vs the 25s now made in England. Very noticeable. I know when Celestion moved most production to China, that they said it was the same blah blah...but, the H1777s I had from 99, MIE, vs the 2010 MIC GBs were very different. The English versions were 'cleaner' sounding, while the MIC versions were hairier in the top end. I also bought a pair of H30 Anniversaries, in 2022 to try again as the previous time in 2012 they had such an extended scratchy high end, didn't care for them....but the 2022 version, made in England sticker again had a cleaner tone with less 'scratchy' highs. Maybe some don't notice these differences but to me, like a whole different cone was used and I know that's not the case.
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I actually have two MIE and two MIC Classic series Greenbacks in my Marshall 1960A. They're made only months apart based on the serial No. I actually bought both pairs new around roughly the same time, and I got both in at the same time, so it's not like they're different in terms of break-in period and whatnot.

The MIC's are actually darker and smoother. The MIE's are brighter and more aggressive. The difference is not all that subtle either, especially mic'd up. I personally like the MIE's more as they're livelier and mic up better. I've even tried mic'ing up both and moving them between the positions inside the cab.

JME.

FWIW, I've also had the G12-EVH's and the Creamback M-65's and 75's which have the same cone as the EVH's and the Heritage GB's. I like the edgier, raspier tone of the classic series Greenbacks with the 1777 cones better, personally. But I like them all. They all got their own thing going on.
 
Racerxrated said:
I also bought a pair of H30 Anniversaries, in 2022 to try again as the previous time in 2012 they had such an extended scratchy high end, didn't care for them.
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See, this is where we're maybe gonna have to agree to disagree because I've played mid 2010s H30s and I've played through Avatar's MIE H30 (whatever silly name they call them) and both always had a sound I didnt care for that inlcuded a very annoying high end.
 
BlueParfait said:
See, this is where we're maybe gonna have to agree to disagree because I've played mid 2010s H30s and I've played through Avatar's MIE H30 (whatever silly name they call them) and both always had a sound I didnt care for that inlcuded a very annoying high end.
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I actually didn't keep the MIE H30 Annies either; although they were better than the earlier MiC versions I still moved on pretty quick, for the same reasons as you.
I just don't care for H mag speakers, with the G12 80 the one exception.
 
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