Comparing four Celestions - Metal clips added

TheGreatGreen said:
Ok what the hell. Here's a Zilla Cab demo showcasing the V30 vs Redback. This video makes the Redback seem like it has a lowpass filter on at like 900 Hz or something, while your Redback sounds more like a great mix of the best parts of a V30 and T75.



Because of this Zilla video, I thought Redbacks had zero presence or any highs whatsoever. @ZEN Amps your video makes the Redback sound miles better. The Redback in your video actually has content above 1 kHz and sounds huge and balanced, and is my favorite speaker out of the four.

Makes me wonder what in the world is going on with the Redback in the Zilla video.
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Sounds like they very poorly micd the Redback.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Ok what the hell. Here's a Zilla Cab demo showcasing the V30 vs Redback. This video makes the Redback seem like it has a lowpass filter on at like 900 Hz or something, while your Redback sounds more like a great mix of the best parts of a V30 and T75.



Because of this Zilla video, I thought Redbacks had zero presence or any highs whatsoever. @ZEN Amps your video makes the Redback sound miles better. The Redback in your video actually has content above 1 kHz and sounds huge and balanced, and is my favorite speaker out of the four.

Makes me wonder what in the world is going on with the Redback in the Zilla video.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I didn’t give Redbacks a chance for a while from that and a few other clips making it sound too dark and smooth, but then a friend let me borrow there’s to try and it sounds much more like it does in Zen‘s clip, so I got 2 myself. It’s one of the few non-vintage speakers I’ve really liked
 
Smash said:
Yeah. They are special. @RedB4Black turned me on to them, and i thank him
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If you like Redbacks, I find the ‘80’s G12-80 444 cones to be sort of like a better redback, although it is even a bit darker, looser and less loud, but it has even more of that great chewy low mid richness and growl and more raw being a vintage speaker
 
dead-pan said:
Sounds like they very poorly micd the Redback.
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braintheory said:
Agreed. I didn’t give Redbacks a chance for a while from that and a few other clips making it sound too dark and smooth, but then a friend let me borrow there’s to try and it sounds much more like it does in Zen‘s clip, so I got 2 myself. It’s one of the few non-vintage speakers I’ve really liked
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Man that is so frustrating. Damn.

Well @ZEN Amps thanks for showcasing even more stuff I might end up spending money on. :D
 
braintheory said:
If you like Redbacks, I find the ‘80’s G12-80 444 cones to be sort of like a better redback, although it is even a bit darker, looser and less loud, but it has even more of that great chewy low mid richness and growl and more raw being a vintage speaker
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Hmmm...I only agree with the latter part of that description. Did you compare them in identical cabs?
 
thegame said:
Hmmm...I only agree with the latter part of that description. Did you compare them in identical cabs?
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I did and more importantly to really zero in on the differences I also compared all speakers individually, isolated outside of a cab as well as in the same cab. That’s always my starting point before I play them in cabs. The 1777 cone G12-80 I have is also like that, but a bit brighter, slightly tighter, but doesn’t quite have the rich chewy low mid quality of the 444 cone version. I try to be as thorough as I can. Overall I really like the speakers
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Ok what the hell. Here's a Zilla Cab demo showcasing the V30 vs Redback. This video makes the Redback seem like it has a lowpass filter on at like 900 Hz or something, while your Redback sounds more like a great mix of the best parts of a V30 and T75.



Because of this Zilla video, I thought Redbacks had zero presence or any highs whatsoever. @ZEN Amps your video makes the Redback sound miles better. The Redback in your video actually has content above 1 kHz and sounds huge and balanced, and is my favorite speaker out of the four.

Makes me wonder what in the world is going on with the Redback in the Zilla video.
Click to expand...

Hard to know what goes on behind the scenes, could be one of many factors. In this video the Redback also sounds very, very different than it should:



To my ear the Redback is somewhat darker than many other Celestions, but not by a long margin. Some guys say it's really thick and wooly - not my experience.

I realise this sounds hypercritical as I've just posted comparison clips, but you really need to try stuff for yourself. There are far too many variables and inconsistencies in recorded clips.

Bear in mind the V30 used in our clip was the smoother variety (2002). A more recent one would contrast more with the Redback in the 5-6k region - in fact that's likely a factor in the Zilia video.
 
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thegame said:
Be careful with that approach. Open back cabinets provide less power handling capacity than closed back cabs, given the same speaker(s). No cab at all, even less. You may over exert the speaker without even realizing it.
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My cabs are all closed back. I don’t have any open back cabinets. My Kerry Wright came with a second back option to make it open, but I never even tried it all these years lol. I’ll try it next time I do a speaker swap
 
ZEN Amps said:
Hard to know what goes on behind the scenes, could be one of many factors. In this video the Redback also sounds very, very different than it should:



To my ear the Redback is somewhat darker than many other Celestions, but not by a long margin. Some guys say it's really thick and wooly - not my experience.

I realise this sounds hypercritical as I've just posted comparison clips, but you really need to try stuff for yourself. There are far too many variables and inconsistencies in recorded clips.

Bear in mind the V30 used in our clip was the smoother variety (2002). A more recent one would contrast more with the Redback in the 5-6k region - in fact that's likely a factor in the Zilia video.
Click to expand...

Yes that’s how my V30’s compared (brighter, grittier later variety). I also find the redbacks often times very thick and wooly, but still really like them for that rich, chewy quality they have in the low mids and the JBL D120F’s and E120’s really balance them out beautifully and they also tend to work well with my really tight amps like the Hermansson’s and Wizard Hell Razor
 
Might not be a popular thought but I wouldn't mic different speakers in the same spot on the the cone for comparison. I mic each speaker to maximize the best qualities of the speaker.

Also, when an amp is dialed in for a specific tone this is very speaker/mic dependent.
 
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