Comparing four Celestions - Metal clips added

  • Thread starter Thread starter ZEN Amps
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ZEN Amps said:
Ok I know it's far from an exhaustive comparison, but it at least shows the tonal difference between each speaker with one bonehead repeated riff:

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Does anyone else hear a similarity between the T75 and the Redback in this clip? Particularly in that last switching section, the Redback sounded kind of like a beefed up version of the T75. Never heard that before in a clip of them! Usually they just sound like K100s so I've never even considered them before.

Also, none of the Zilla clips are good. I wish they were because they would be a great resource with all the speaker comparisons that they've made.
 
7704A said:
Try the 12S if you haven't (and make sure it isn't beat to crap, or if it is get a good recone done). To my ears it has more character than the 12L. Meaner. It is smoother than the 12L though.

The demo's I've heard of those sound pretty great, hopefully at some point I'll get to try 'em.
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That's actually why I like the 12L for heavy stuff - I tend to like ultra aggressive amps as far as high end, and dial things with a lot of high end, so that little smoothing factor tends to work well for me

The 12S is a good sounding speaker, but is a bit closer to a "normal" celestion type flavor, and I'm using the EV to switch up that sound in the first place
 
DanTravis62 said:
so that little smoothing factor tends to work well for me
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I was actually talking about the 12S being smoother than the 12L. Though you could be talking about EVM's in general, in which case this correction is moot.
DanTravis62 said:
The 12S is a good sounding speaker, but is a bit closer to a "normal" celestion type flavor, and I'm using the EV to switch up that sound in the first place
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Hmm, the 12S never really reminded me of celestions. However I've been paying attention to things like how "clean" the speakers seem to sound, note clarity, any spikey or fizzy qualities, etc. and haven't been specifically trying to get away from the celestion flavor unless we're including fizz as part of that. Hate fizz. So when I think celestion I'm normally thinking of stuff outside of whether specific frequencies are present. If you're looking at it that way though, I'd say that for me the 12S is kinda a best-of-both-worlds speaker between the 12L and the comparatively more midsy celestions. Clarity and punch with little to no fizz and full mids. Might even call them "haunting". If you're trying to get as far from celestion as possible though, I can see why you'd prefer the 12L as the response is even more different than the 12S'. For me it's just lacking in the mids and isn't quite smooth enough.
 
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In the demo - the Redback has a really, really interesting, and cool sound.
 
Isolated clips like this only have limited use, but I'm glad you guys are getting some value from them.

Of course once drums and bass (and double tracking) enter the equation, things can be very different. I will say that the Redback is usually the easiest to work with post-EQ wise. It has a good core tone without any massive peak or dips, so can be massaged brighter / darker / tighter / fatter pretty easily without sounding unnatural.

The T75 is very aggressive, so mixing it in a little with any of the others can work well to add sizzle. E.g this is the Redback & T75 in a 70/30 blend and I think it works well:



As always my comments are coming from a recording background - standing in front of the cab and it all changes again. And although I haven't tried it, I suspect a pair of Redbacks up top with T75's below would make for a pretty satisfying in-room experience.
 
iff said:
Does anyone else hear a similarity between the T75 and the Redback in this clip? Particularly in that last switching section, the Redback sounded kind of like a beefed up version of the T75. Never heard that before in a clip of them! Usually they just sound like K100s so I've never even considered them before.

Also, none of the Zilla clips are good. I wish they were because they would be a great resource with all the speaker comparisons that they've made.
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To me, t75 is nothing like redback in real life. But they are very presence heavy like a h30 annie. So much so, that i find them to not be a good match. I had a cab of each and would use one or the other but never as a stack
 
ZEN Amps said:
Ok I know it's far from an exhaustive comparison, but it at least shows the tonal difference between each speaker with one bonehead repeated riff:

Click to expand...


awesome vid!

i’d ditch the 85 for a well broken in creamback 90. redback sounded impressive like a 75/30 mix which i loved/hated in my stock uberkab for years. good for warm amps with huge low end—crap for brighter/tighter classic plexi marshall derivatives.
 
Excellent vid, ZEN always delivers!
Your vid shows why Reds and V30’s blend so well, excellent cross of low/high mids, chewy/tight, strong mids/high sizzle.
What amp as used?
 
Beyond Black said:
Excellent vid, ZEN always delivers!
Your vid shows why Reds and V30’s blend so well, excellent cross of low/high mids, chewy/tight, strong mids/high sizzle.
What amp as used?
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Thanks man. Amp is a Bogner Uber Ultra - really digging that thing.

Smash said:
To me, t75 is nothing like redback in real life. But they are very presence heavy like a h30 annie. So much so, that i find them to not be a good match. I had a cab of each and would use one or the other but never as a stack
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Agreed, very different sounding speakers.

The H30 Anniv. is one I could never get into. Have tried a few times but there's something about its 4-6k range that always catches my ear in an unpleasant way. The H75 creamback has a lot of sizzle up there but the voicing is different - maybe its peak is a little higher up the frequency spectrum.

iff said:
Also, none of the Zilla clips are good. I wish they were because they would be a great resource with all the speaker comparisons that they've made.
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I haven't heard many of them but the one posted in this thread is very dark. Mic position or type presumably - but there could be other factors involved.
 
ZEN Amps said:
Agreed, very different sounding speakers.

The H30 Anniv. is one I could never get into. Have tried a few times but there's something about its 4-6k range that always catches my ear in an unpleasant way. The H75 creamback has a lot of sizzle up there but the voicing is different - maybe its peak is a little higher up the frequency spectrum.
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Yeah. I loved them but the H30 is an acquired taste and very polarizing. I think there are a few celestions like that. K100 is like that. To a lesser degree is the t75
 
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