Getting a couple new V30's

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I'm not getting the proper low end response, I think I rewired it wrong first time. Out of phase. I'm gonna try again this morning and report back.
 
OK, it's sounding right now, nice and fat sounding. These speakers kick ass, i might get a couple more so I have a quad in there. The 2006 speakers sound kinda harsh by camparison, but they blend well together.
 
How can you tell if the older ones are harsh if they are all running together?
Is the cab wired stereo with the older ones on one side and the new ones on the other?

Of course you can put your ear to each speaker, but that is hard to do unless you have someone else play while you listen, or you can always record them all close-miced and compare. It's just hard to tell with all running together.
 
I just bought two brand new V30's. The difference is night and day. They compete with my Mesa V30's from 2006, they are different, but in a good way. I think in 10 years people will be looking for 2022-2024 China V30's lol. They're that good.
 
dave74 said:
How can you tell if the older ones are harsh if they are all running together?
Is the cab wired stereo with the older ones on one side and the new ones on the other?

Of course you can put your ear to each speaker, but that is hard to do unless you have someone else play while you listen, or you can always record them all close-miced and compare. It's just hard to tell with all running together.
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When the cab had all 2006 - 2007 speakers there was this top end noise sizzle going on that I found kinda irritating, now that sizzle is much reduced, plus now I have the 2021 speakers on the top, and the 2006 speakers on the bottom so I'm hearing mostly the 2021 speakers I'd think when I'm standing close to it. I also have these cardboard cutouts that I use to cover the speakers I don't want to hear just to get an idea of what each speaker sounds like, they work pretty good IMO, it's not perfect, but it does reduce the decibel level of the covered speakers by quite a bit.
 
jsnow90 said:
I just bought two brand new V30's. The difference is night and day. They compete with my Mesa V30's from 2006, they are different, but in a good way. I think in 10 years people will be looking for 2022-2024 China V30's lol. They're that good.
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It's just a short run from 2021 - mid 2022 it seems. These are the speakers that sound quite a bit like the ones from 2001 - 2003 or 2004. I think all V30's sound good to be honest with you, just some sound different. I think that spike that most v30's have at 5 - 6k sounds great with cleans.
 
So after much playing thru these new speakers I think I still like the old 2006 speakers better, I guess 17 years of break in have made them a bit warmer sounding to my ears?? Maybe after some more break-in time the new V30's will sound better??
 
I like the rasp, personally. Especially in the room. Especially with gain. Recorded, it sounds nice too, but it's not "that sound" from the "iconic" Mesa cabs. Just different, but usable too.

I don't think V30's in general are particularly great clean. Or closed-back 4x12's in general, TBH.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I'm not one of those people that goes by "feel", personally. I'm more in line with him in the sense that the end result (the recorded tone) is what matters. If a pickup "feels" too dry for me, for example, I just raise the gain or boost it harder or use a different boost altogether, and then I'm happy.

But I also don't discount people's opinions when they talk about "feel". I know I'm not really a "good" player. Or maybe, an "holistic" player would be the way of describing it. I like my palm-mutes to sound machine-like with as much consistency and power as I can deliver. I rarely ever play leads. I do agree that dynamic and expressiveness takes more of a center focus when playing leads or other non-Metal rhythm playing.
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I actually completely disagree for metal rhythm tones - the feel only doesn't matter when your gain levels are too high for a really great recorded tone in my experience 🤷

Different levels of "bounce " or "squish" are just as expressive and feel-based, in my experience

And this is the difference between "blah" sounding stock YouTuber metal tones and really amazing metal rhythm tones
 
DanTravis62 said:
I actually completely disagree for metal rhythm tones - the feel only doesn't matter when your gain levels are too high for a really great recorded tone in my experience.
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"Gain levels too high" are also relative to the pickup's output (which is IMO, one of the biggest factors that affect "feel"). Of course you're going to have to raise the gain levels on a PAF-type in order for it not to sound/feel dry as a desert. Those gain levels are going to record awful for an Invader, but might just be the trick for a Burstbucker.

Then again, that's another thing I've found about people romanticizing low output pickups for Metal. To me, by the time I get my amp dialed in for PAF-types, I had to raise the gain for it not sound super weak, so at that point, I think the added "benefit" of more clarity and dynamics kinda becomes negligible to an extent. (Not to say I don't like PAF-types for metal. They have a different EQ profile that could be very mean-sounding too).

IME. And keep in mind, I tend to go for machine-like downstrokes and gallops 95% of the time. You may play differently. I play Death Metal. And even if I'm not a Metallica fan, I really like James Hetfield's machine-like approach to rhythms from back in the day.
 
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Rex Rocker said:
"Gain levels too high" are also relative to the pickup's output (which is IMO, one of the biggest factors that affect "feel"). Of course you're going to have to raise the gain levels on a PAF-type in order for it not to sound/feel dry as a desert. Those gain levels are going to record awful for an Invader, but might just be the trick for a Burstbucker.

Then again, that's another thing I've found about people romanticizing low output pickups for Metal. To me, by the time I get my amp dialed in for PAF-types, I had to raise the gain for it not sound super weak, so at that point, I think the added "benefit" of more clarity and dynamics kinda becomes negligible to an extent. (Not to say I don't like PAF-types for metal. They have a different EQ profile that could be very mean-sounding too).

IME. And keep in mind, I tend to go for machine-like downstrokes and gallops 95% of the time. You may play differently. I play Death Metal. And even if I'm not a Metallica fan, I really like James Hetfield's machine-like approach to rhythms from back in the day.
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I play very similar music, I'm guessing I just have a very different idea of what good rhythm tone is for gallops and downstrokes, which is most of what I do as well.

I hate high output ceramics, for that sound, and I find the PAF type pickups have way more life and complexity in the mids and high end

By "gain levels too high" I mean just that people dial the gain too high for metal rhythm tones
 
anomaly said:
When the cab had all 2006 - 2007 speakers there was this top end noise sizzle going on that I found kinda irritating, now that sizzle is much reduced, plus now I have the 2021 speakers on the top, and the 2006 speakers on the bottom so I'm hearing mostly the 2021 speakers I'd think when I'm standing close to it. I also have these cardboard cutouts that I use to cover the speakers I don't want to hear just to get an idea of what each speaker sounds like, they work pretty good IMO, it's not perfect, but it does reduce the decibel level of the covered speakers by quite a bit.
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I do the same thing with two 12”x12” cardboard squares, works great for comparing speakers.
 
I dig v30s, clean or dirty. I've had all kinds from different times.
Hellatone, Mesa, Marshall, 8 ohm, 16 ohm... They're all a lil different, but still v30s. My favs are 16 ohm, regular ol V30.
The best sounding one I ever had was a Hellatone in 2008
 
My 2011 mesa straight-baffle recto/oversize actually does very good V30 cleans. I think that extra air space really opens-up the spectrum and they sound less congested than most 412v30 cabs.
 
DanTravis62 said:
I play very similar music, I'm guessing I just have a very different idea of what good rhythm tone is for gallops and downstrokes, which is most of what I do as well.

I hate high output ceramics, for that sound, and I find the PAF type pickups have way more life and complexity in the mids and high end

By "gain levels too high" I mean just that people dial the gain too high for metal rhythm tones
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I like PAFs as much as high output ceramics, TBH. Just different tones. But I go through phases, and right now, I'm kind of over PAFs, at least for the time being. If I'm doing PAF-types, I tend to like the slightly overwound ones with A5 magnets, though. I don't I'll ever get into 7K-ish PAF-types in the bridge, and especially not with A2 or 3.

My friends usually say I tend to dial in my tones too dry. But i do play super hard, so I guess that balances it out.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I like PAFs as much as high output ceramics, TBH. Just different tones. But I go through phases, and right now, I'm kind of over PAFs, at least for the time being. If I'm doing PAF-types, I tend to like the slightly overwound ones with A5 magnets, though. I don't I'll ever get into 7K-ish PAF-types in the bridge, and especially not with A2 or 3.

My friends usually say I tend to dial in my tones too dry. But i do play super hard, so I guess that balances it out.
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Slightly overwound with a5 is exactly the type of pafs i use generally
 
I have two cabs, both with v30’s…. And they sound different. I have not pulled my avatar out of the road case to check them out. I assume that they are hellatones…the other is a Marshall mode 4 with v30’s. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Marshall use a different v30 for those cabs as well? Higher power rating or something? This is the first avatar I’ve ever owned and it rips. Much better than the Marshall. It’s the standard one with the thinner walls versus the thick orange style. Not sure if the roadcase has anything to do with it but as I said…it’s a killer cab….as far as the Marshall goes I’m not down grading it…just with my setup and the avatar right beside it…shit. If I find another avatar I’ll grab it up in a second.
 
JackBootedThug said:
I have two cabs, both with v30’s…. And they sound different. I have not pulled my avatar out of the road case to check them out. I assume that they are hellatones…the other is a Marshall mode 4 with v30’s. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Marshall use a different v30 for those cabs as well? Higher power rating or something? This is the first avatar I’ve ever owned and it rips. Much better than the Marshall. It’s the standard one with the thinner walls versus the thick orange style. Not sure if the roadcase has anything to do with it but as I said…it’s a killer cab….as far as the Marshall goes I’m not down grading it…just with my setup and the avatar right beside it…shit. If I find another avatar I’ll grab it up in a second.
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Yeah, the V30MF's are different. They have a different dustcap. They're darker. They're darker even than the 8 ohm Mesa V30's even if they're 16 ohms.
 
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