Celestion Vintage 30s

[charveldan]

V30's are neither "vintage" or 30 watts.

They're prolly Celestions most modern sounding speaker.

I find the mid hump of V30's annoying.

A quad of 25 watt Blackback/Greenback G12M with a 100 watt MARSHALLS go together like Titz n Azz.

 

[jkkkjkhk]

Because the Mesa cab is loaded with the Mesa proprietary V30 and the Tonemaster cab was loaded with English made standard V30s from 96, or so the date codes told me. The Mesa V30s are different than the standard V30..this has been discussed previously. I get that the cabs are of course a part of the equation..the Tonemaster is basically a clone of a '60s undersized Marshall B cab. And they're front loaded. But the difference in tone was pretty dramatic. The Mesa sounded good, but the Fender to me was better with the Jubilee. Lots of variables to consider though..

What I'm saying is... your comparison isn't valid. Compare different speakers in the same cab. Or compare the same speakers in different cabs. You can't compare different speakers in different cabs and conclude one sounds better than the other. Different cab dimensions and front-mount vs rear-mount will make the same set of speakers sound drastically different. So you can't really compare different speakers, no less.

Also I could be wrong about this but there was another thread saying the V30s in the Tonemaster cabs were Mesa spec V30s as well, just without Mesa's logo.

 

[C1-ocaster]

here is another comparison, recorded by my friend long time ago:

not best conditions - speakers were in different cabinets. 1. is China in 1x12 home made cab, 2. is UK in mesa recto 2x12 horizontal cab. 3 guitar tracks (panned left, center, right) in 3 different mic positions against cone, there is dead center of the speaker marked on both cabs for most accurate mic positioning.

personally, from those samples, I prefer MiChina V30 in 1x12, but both sound OK to me. lot of cabs use MiChina V30s and they sound great, it's matter of taste.

I too like #1 more. Oddly the #2 sounded a bit quieter.
I wonder if that's a recording difference, of does the N3 V30 have a lower efficiency rating?

I've got a pair of V30's that are OEM in a B52 ST100 2x12 combo.
It was built around 2002.
I'll have to look and see if I can find the serial numbers.
In 2002 were Celestions being built in the UK or China?

 

[FourT6and2]

Because the Mesa cab is loaded with the Mesa proprietary V30 and the Tonemaster cab was loaded with English made standard V30s from 96, or so the date codes told me. The Mesa V30s are different than the standard V30..this has been discussed previously. I get that the cabs are of course a part of the equation..the Tonemaster is basically a clone of a '60s undersized Marshall B cab. And they're front loaded. But the difference in tone was pretty dramatic. The Mesa sounded good, but the Fender to me was better with the Jubilee. Lots of variables to consider though..

What I'm saying is... your comparison isn't valid. Compare different speakers in the same cab. Or compare the same speakers in different cabs. You can't compare different speakers in different cabs and conclude one sounds better than the other. Different cab dimensions and front-mount vs rear-mount will make the same set of speakers sound drastically different. So you can't really compare different speakers, no less.

Also I could be wrong about this but there was another thread saying the V30s in the Tonemaster cabs were Mesa spec V30s as well, just without Mesa's logo.

That would be interesting.

 

[Racerxrated]

They're not Mesa spec. They are the same V30s you could buy from Celestion back in '96 from any dealer. I looked into this long ago as I was curious as well. Different codes than the Mesa. I understand that the cab does make a difference guys..but to me the difference lies in the tightness or feel of the cab, not in where the mids or highs are located. And that was different to me between the Mesa/Fender. My Tonemaster is at the practice space and when I retrieve it I will double check the codes but they were different from the Mesa codes from my memory.

 

[charveldan]

Pretty sure the older MESA V30's were 65 or 70 watts a piece instead of 60.

 

[Racerxrated]

For the record that Mesa cab I had was killer..but it had that diamond plating and was heavy as shit. I had a buddy who had offered to buy it from me but before I sold it I picked up that Fender..and I thought it sounded better with the Jubilee than the Mesa. A little warmer sounding.

 

[FourT6and2]

They're not Mesa spec. They are the same V30s you could buy from Celestion back in '96 from any dealer. I looked into this long ago as I was curious as well. Different codes than the Mesa. I understand that the cab does make a difference guys..but to me the difference lies in the tightness or feel of the cab, not in where the mids or highs are located. And that was different to me between the Mesa/Fender. My Tonemaster is at the practice space and when I retrieve it I will double check the codes but they were different from the Mesa codes from my memory.

The codes are different. The speakers, however, are the same. Celestion created new Mesa-only codes when they moved production. But the speakers themselves are the same. At leas according to Mr. Fryette. That was the whole thing that sparked the Mesa versions. Celestion made the V30 in England according to certain specs. Then they moved to China. Mesa complained. Celestion then continued to make the very same UK-made V30s they had always been making, but only for Mesa. And gave them new codes. But nothing changed about them physically.

Pretty sure the older MESA V30's were 65 or 70 watts a piece instead of 60.

No. The wattage of all the V30s is the same, regardless of what it says on the label. 60 watts... 65 watts... 70 watts... nothing changed. Just the label. There's a whole break down of this somewhere on the web. I'm too lazy to find it. But someone in the know wrote a description of why there were wattage changes on the label over time.

 

[jkkkjkhk]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

 

[Racerxrated]

They're not Mesa spec. They are the same V30s you could buy from Celestion back in '96 from any dealer. I looked into this long ago as I was curious as well. Different codes than the Mesa. I understand that the cab does make a difference guys..but to me the difference lies in the tightness or feel of the cab, not in where the mids or highs are located. And that was different to me between the Mesa/Fender. My Tonemaster is at the practice space and when I retrieve it I will double check the codes but they were different from the Mesa codes from my memory.

The codes are different. The speakers, however, are the same. Celestion created new Mesa-only codes when they moved production. But the speakers themselves are the same. At leas according to Mr. Fryette. That was the whole thing that sparked the Mesa versions. Celestion made the V30 in England according to certain specs. Then they moved to China. Mesa complained. Celestion then continued to make the very same UK-made V30s they had always been making, but only for Mesa. And gave them new codes. But nothing changed about them physically.

Pretty sure the older MESA V30's were 65 or 70 watts a piece instead of 60.

No. The wattage of all the V30s is the same, regardless of what it says on the label. 60 watts... 65 watts... 70 watts... nothing changed. Just the label. There's a whole break down of this somewhere on the web. I'm too lazy to find it. But someone in the know wrote a description of why there were wattage changes on the label over time.

Since my new favorite amp is a Deliverance 60, I don't want to go against what Mr. Fryette said. But there is a thread out there that states the differences between the 5 versions of the V30..and that thread suggested that they were all a bit different. I'll try to find it. Mesa, Marshall, English, Chinese and one more that I can't come up with at the moment. And yes they are all 60 watts.

 

[Racerxrated]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

Yup, that and the British made vs Chinese made debate. So many variables...I remember having a newer 1960A that I hated due to the G12T75s. Then I played one from like '86 and it was great..SOO much better than the newer ones.

 

[siggy14]

They're not Mesa spec. They are the same V30s you could buy from Celestion back in '96 from any dealer. I looked into this long ago as I was curious as well. Different codes than the Mesa. I understand that the cab does make a difference guys..but to me the difference lies in the tightness or feel of the cab, not in where the mids or highs are located. And that was different to me between the Mesa/Fender. My Tonemaster is at the practice space and when I retrieve it I will double check the codes but they were different from the Mesa codes from my memory.

The codes are different. The speakers, however, are the same. Celestion created new Mesa-only codes when they moved production. But the speakers themselves are the same. At leas according to Mr. Fryette. That was the whole thing that sparked the Mesa versions. Celestion made the V30 in England according to certain specs. Then they moved to China. Mesa complained. Celestion then continued to make the very same UK-made V30s they had always been making, but only for Mesa. And gave them new codes. But nothing changed about them physically.

Pretty sure the older MESA V30's were 65 or 70 watts a piece instead of 60.

No. The wattage of all the V30s is the same, regardless of what it says on the label. 60 watts... 65 watts... 70 watts... nothing changed. Just the label. There's a whole break down of this somewhere on the web. I'm too lazy to find it. But someone in the know wrote a description of why there were wattage changes on the label over time.

If I remember right Celestion did not move production to china until around 2002, but according to Mr Freyette they changed the way V30's were made in the early 90's and that is when mesa complained and wanted the same V30's they had been getting for years.

 

[FourT6and2]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

You will have to check the code on the speaker to see what they are.

Since my new favorite amp is a Deliverance 60, I don't want to go against what Mr. Fryette said. But there is a thread out there that states the differences between the 5 versions of the V30..and that thread suggested that they were all a bit different. I'll try to find it. Mesa, Marshall, English, Chinese and one more that I can't come up with at the moment. And yes they are all 60 watts.

Yeah, I posted that information in the other thread. I forgot which thread it is. But it's the same info Fryette posted and that's been shared all over the forums.

If I remember right Celestion did not move production to china until around 2002, but according to Mr Freyette they changed the way V30's were made around 98 and that is when mesa complained and wanted the same V30's they had been getting for years.

Something like that, yeah.

 

[siggy14]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

You will have to check the code on the speaker to see what they are.

Since my new favorite amp is a Deliverance 60, I don't want to go against what Mr. Fryette said. But there is a thread out there that states the differences between the 5 versions of the V30..and that thread suggested that they were all a bit different. I'll try to find it. Mesa, Marshall, English, Chinese and one more that I can't come up with at the moment. And yes they are all 60 watts.

Yeah, I posted that information in the other thread. I forgot which thread it is. But it's the same info Fryette posted and that's been shared all over the forums.

If I remember right Celestion did not move production to china until around 2002, but according to Mr Freyette they changed the way V30's were made around 98 and that is when mesa complained and wanted the same V30's they had been getting for years.

Something like that, yeah.

OK not to start a argument, just saying the way you worded it in your previous post made it look like the change occured when they moved to china.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I've got V30's made in England and V30's made in China. Once they're broken in there's not a world of difference between them. They both sound like a V30. I totally see how some guys hate the mid hump, it can be annoying to me too when I'm jamming alone. But with a band, the V30 slices and dices right through the mix. I've become very dependent on that cut in a live band setting. Recording is a completely different thing altogether.

 

[FourT6and2]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

You will have to check the code on the speaker to see what they are.

Since my new favorite amp is a Deliverance 60, I don't want to go against what Mr. Fryette said. But there is a thread out there that states the differences between the 5 versions of the V30..and that thread suggested that they were all a bit different. I'll try to find it. Mesa, Marshall, English, Chinese and one more that I can't come up with at the moment. And yes they are all 60 watts.

Yeah, I posted that information in the other thread. I forgot which thread it is. But it's the same info Fryette posted and that's been shared all over the forums.

If I remember right Celestion did not move production to china until around 2002, but according to Mr Freyette they changed the way V30's were made around 98 and that is when mesa complained and wanted the same V30's they had been getting for years.

Something like that, yeah.

OK not to start a argument, just saying the way you worded it in your previous post made it look like the change occured when they moved to china.

From what we were told by Celestion around 1997-8, Celestion changed the model T3904 (16 ohm) V30 design in the early 90s to make it easier and cheaper to produce. Mesa didn't like it and insisted on the original version, which then became an OEM model. The 8 ohm version of the Mesa speaker is the T4335. To get an OEM model from Celestion requires a large order. This speaker was made on a separate production line from the off-the-shelf V30, which as Van Nord says is fizzy and thin sounding by comparison.

The production change and the move to China were two different events. Mesa spoke up and protested about the production change years before Celestion moved to China from what I understand. I could be wrong. But this is information others have relayed. It's not like Celestion implemented the changes instantaneously one day. It happened over time.

 

[jkkkjkhk]

Does anyone know if the V30s that came stock in late 80s Marshall cabs the same as the current ones? People seem to like the older ones but not so much newer ones. Could it all be just breaking them in?

Yup, that and the British made vs Chinese made debate. So many variables...I remember having a newer 1960A that I hated due to the G12T75s. Then I played one from like '86 and it was great..SOO much better than the newer ones.

Cool, thanks.