Celestion Redbacks - School me

  • Thread starter Thread starter savant421
  • Start date Start date
savant421

savant421

Well-known member
I've tried to like these speaks in several diff cabs and I just....don't. Sorry! Am I a glue sniffer? I know some rave about them but they seem dark and dull to me.....enlighten me or you may see them on the classified page. Fire away
 
I don’t like them so you’re not alone. I hear them against a V30 and I just prefer the V30 more. It’s not what sounds good for guitar by itself, it’s what’s good for a guitar in a mix/band. Redbacks just don’t do it for me.
 
I used to love v 30$. And there is nothing wrong with them. But the kinda 6k hiss is a bit grating..but in a mix, awesome. Classic for a reason.

I used to find redbacks a bit dark also. But i think they are just very balanced. And it is amp dependant. Wouldnt want to play a super dark amp with them

But if you dont like them, sell those bastards and find something you like better.
 
Last edited:
If i think about it. I had h30 annies. And i loved them. And i took an amp down to Matt's.
He had the same amp, but ran through redbacks.

I remember thinking the redbacks were dark. But they sounded good. So i had thought that for a year maybe two. He kept telling me they werent dark, i needed to try again. Maybe it just takes some time..but I take my new amp down there, and the way it sounded through his redbacks...I came home and bought a quad. I had no choice. The search is over for speakers.

If you dont feel that way, then it isnt for you. Or make sure you have the right amp for you. I have the guitar, amp, and cab for me. It feels nice
 
Redbacks are one of my favorite Celestions. I agree that they come across as more balanced than inherently dark or rolled off and they don't have any hyped mid range frequencies to my ears.

For a high wattage speaker, they play like a lower wattage speaker; a little looser with some give, yet hold together well enough they aren't flubby. I dig them on their own, but they blend well with other speakers....V30's included.
 
Maybe I just haven't given them the chance to break in. I have them in a Mojotone 412 cab with Hellatone 60s which I prefer WAY more. Maybe I'm just impatient....Anybody wanna buy a pair of Redbacks? Heehee

Also, I've always thought speaker break in was horse shit. Not that it's not real but like the manufacturers are like "get a couple hundred hours on these cones and they purr like a kitten" Like really dude? You guys can't figure that out how to get rid of that? Time to sniff!
 
Don’t like them either. Probably my least favorite Celestion. For LDC, I prefer the T75’s and CL80’s over the Redbacks. Then again, I can’t stand G12-65’s either and people praise them as the grail. So what do I know!
 
They sound fantastic by themselves, without a band to try to cut through in

That's, i think, why they are really popular with guys here @savant421

I do think they sound good for home purposes, but i don't own any because I use all my cabinets for gigging and recording purposes.

I'm sure with the right mic position and model you can get good recorded tones out of them, but in my experience they are fiddly and it's difficult to capture the "in the room" low end girth they have on tape.

That being said, they're popular for a reason. They sound fantastic and fill out the frequency spectrum more than other speakers which are designed to "Cut" or have a more typical celestion midrange.
 
DanTravis62 said:
They sound fantastic by themselves, without a band to try to cut through in

That's, i think, why they are really popular with guys here @savant421

I do think they sound good for home purposes, but i don't own any because I use all my cabinets for gigging and recording purposes.

I'm sure with the right mic position and model you can get good recorded tones out of them, but in my experience they are fiddly and it's difficult to capture the "in the room" low end girth they have on tape.

That being said, they're popular for a reason. They sound fantastic and fill out the frequency spectrum more than other speakers which are designed to "Cut" or have a more typical celestion midrange.
Click to expand...
On point! When I put them under a mic is when I really noticed how "meh" they are. In the room was a better experience
 
I bet they would mix very well with the CL-80. I'd put both reds on top if mixed in a 412.
CL-80 have the loudest perceived volume to my ears of any Celestion model.
 
They are dark, fat speakers. Maybe just not your cup of tea. I find they have a distinctive chewy quality in the lower mids that I really like and they pair IME very well with bright speakers to complement them. One of my favorite speaker mixes I've tried with all my tinkering was redbacks on top with JBL D120F's or E120's on the bottom. It sounded monstrous in my cab. Usually I prefer just whole quads of the same speakers, but that mix was so on point
 
I hate “dark” anything when it comes to tone. I avoided redbacks for a long time because I thought they’d be too dark. Turns out they aren’t! lol

Don’t be afraid to turn up your presence and treble if you find them dark. Or try mixing with H75s or v30s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top