The Vintage 30 English/Chinese debate (Pics added)

[Gsxrbusa]

I heard if you play through the Chinese ones you are hungry an hour later

I am so hungry right now.......chinese sounds good.

 

[charveldan]

The English ones like a cup of tea in the afternoon.

 

[steve_k]

I heard if you play through the Chinese ones you are hungry an hour later

I am so hungry right now.......chinese sounds good.

and, with this opening volley, the thread will start on that familiar downhill slide

I hear the UK speakers have bigger balls than the Chinese....

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Glad I pulled the V30's out of my Mesa Recto 2x12 before I dumped it on Craigslist.

I kind of like the Chinese ones though for certain applications. In the right enclosure, with the right amp they can sound perfectly fine imo.

I wouldn't be suprised if alot of gear manufacturers purposely voice their amps/cabs to sound good around the China voice.

Now pass the low mein!

 

[blackba]

Check your white stickers on the magnet side. If it has a 50 on it, it's MIC, if not, MIE.

V30's have been made in China since 99, not 2001. The rest of the speakers moved there in 2003 with the UK machines, EXCEPT for:

Heritage Line
Alnico Blue & Gold
Any OEM lines made for Mesa, Marshall, etc.

Hope that clears it up.

Jesus, I'm sending Rick Skillman (Celestion Rep) a frigging paypal money request for doing his job.

Its a shame that Rick left TGP over this very issue. I don't blame Rick for what Celestion is doing, but I think Celestion either didn't think the consumer would care where the speaker was made, or knowly tried to be vague about where it was made to avoid the MIC stigma. This is the first time I have seen a speaker with 'Made in China' on the white label, so maybe they are finally coming around to being open. They did finally address the cone issue on the Vox labeled MIC alnico blues, they are finally using the same cone as a MIE Alnico blue.

To be clear too all guitar speaker makers to my knowledge use some China made components in their speakers, whether they build in them in the USA or not.

Anyway, in this particular case, 'some dude' has it right. The 112 is a MIC cabinet and the 212 is a MIE cabinet. Thus its not surprising that the speaker in the 112 is a MIC V30. As for the differences, I am sure they are there, but we could be overlooking something special V30 that Orange uses for their MIE cabs. I know Orange MIE cabs are notorious for being dark, even though they use V30's. Maybe its more than just Cab design, not sure.

 

[Digital Jams]

I have both and the Chinese ones are much brighter but they are also not broken in like my UK ones which have 11 years on them.

This.

I have MIE v30s but they are newer so they can get spikey so there goes the theory about the chinese ones being harsher.

 

[droptrd]

I heard if you play through the Chinese ones you are hungry an hour later

I am so hungry right now.......chinese sounds good.

and, with this opening volley, the thread will start on that familiar downhill slide

I hear the UK speakers have bigger balls than the Chinese....

 

[srinivassa]

I've been thinking, and this is what I want to know. If the Celestion G12 I bought is made in China, why did I pay $165 for it? I don't mind that it's Chinese-made, but they really need to pass the savings on to the customer if they are going to pull that shit.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Its a shame that Rick left TGP over this very issue. I don't blame Rick for what Celestion is doing, but I think Celestion either didn't think the consumer would care where the speaker was made, or knowly tried to be vague about where it was made to avoid the MIC stigma. This is the first time I have seen a speaker with 'Made in China' on the white label, so maybe they are finally coming around to being open. They did finally address the cone issue on the Vox labeled MIC alnico blues, they are finally using the same cone as a MIE Alnico blue.

Rick answered that question a bunch of times, but there's a member over there (you probably know which from that thread) who just feels it's his duty to bust the sales reps balls over the corporate decisions made before Rick worked for them. After Rick left he started in on me. I sure don't get it.

As of a few months back, though, the Vox/China made Blues did NOT use the English Blue cone. Vox has a license from Celestion to make the cones for the Chinese/Vox Blue at the China plant themselves. Now maybe that changed recently, but that was what was going on 4-5 months ago. Vox definitely didn't advertise that.

When did you get this new cone info?

I've been thinking, and this is what I want to know. If the Celestion G12 I bought is made in China, why did I pay $165 for it? I don't mind that it's Chinese-made, but they really need to pass the savings on to the customer if they are going to pull that shit.

Pretty sure www.avatarspeakers.com has the lowest price on V30's. Where did you spend $165 for a V30?

 

[thegame]

This topic always cracks me up. One factor that goes unmentioned is that the old tooling machines that Celestion imported to China do get worn over time. If not serviced correctly, there would be production differences over the years, even if everything stayed in the UK.

Why is this Chinese debate limited to speakers ? I propose that the harshest critics should source each individual component in their amplifiers, including tubes, and remove/replace the parts that came from questionable countries of origin. That will keep alot of people busy for a long time

 

[sinfish]

I know this has been beat to death, but I wish someone from Celestion would step and clear up all the conflicting info on the web. Why is this such a secret ???

I just read all of this in about 10 minutes of browsing:

All of them are made in China after 2001
Many of the "off the shelf" ones are still made in England
Only Mesa uses the English made ones
The English ones have 444 cones and the Chinese 1777
There is no difference because the same machines (moved from the UK) are being used
The 2 speakers sound identical
The UK ones are superior
The Chinese ones are smoother and have less mids
The "Ipswich" label does not mean it is Made in England

WTF, its all conflicting .

I will say this.............The stock V30's in my Orange 2x12 have gold baskets, 444 stamped on cone, "Ipswich England" on magnet decal and also on the little white stamp. This is a new cab bought in 2010.

The stock V30 in my Orange 1x12 has a silver basket, different cone code, no mention of "Ipswich" anywhere, says "Made in China" on stamp, and a completely different magnet decal. This is also a new cab.

I pulled one of the ones from my 2x12 out and compared it with the one in the 1x12 (in the same cab).

The one labeled "Ipswich" sounds like a TOTALLY different speaker. Warmer, more low end, less grit in mids. The one labeled "Made in China" is a ragged mess in comparison.

All I learned is that one speaker sounds a hell of alot better. But I still have no idea if the "good" one is actually Made in England. To add to the confusion, in the past I had a gold basket V30 that said "Made in PRC". Neither of the ones I have now say that. But rather "Made in China". I give up

I believe the PRC is Peoples Republic of China.

What is the Scumback equivalent of the "good" V30?

 

[Ayrton]

What is the Scumback equivalent of the "good" V30?

 

[ericsabbath]

What is the Scumback equivalent of the "good" V30?

I was about to ask the same just for fun

 

[rupe]

I bought a used V30 back in '94 when I was hot-rodding my '68 Deluxe Reverb. Is there any way to tell what year it was made?
It sounds different (smoother, warmer...though a bit looser at high volume) than any other V30 that I've ever used. I've put a few newer ones, both English and Chinese (all broken in), in that amp over the years but they always came right back out.

 

[srinivassa]

I've been thinking, and this is what I want to know. If the Celestion G12 I bought is made in China, why did I pay $165 for it? I don't mind that it's Chinese-made, but they really need to pass the savings on to the customer if they are going to pull that shit.

Pretty sure http://www.avatarspeakers.com has the lowest price on V30's. Where did you spend $165 for a V30?

Sorry, it was a Heritage G12. It's like a V30 but with a neodynium mag. I mostly just meant that normally Chinese-made stuff costs like 1/2 to 2/3 what western-made stuff does. I would expect a Chinese-made V30 to cost more like $99 than $145.

 

[killertone]

This topic always cracks me up. One factor that goes unmentioned is that the old tooling machines that Celestion imported to China do get worn over time. If not serviced correctly, there would be production differences over the years, even if everything stayed in the UK.

Why is this Chinese debate limited to speakers ? I propose that the harshest critics should source each individual component in their amplifiers, including tubes, and remove/replace the parts that came from questionable countries of origin. That will keep alot of people busy for a long time

Nailed it.

In other news, I played both of my cabs (Fryette FB 412 w/ MIC V30s, Marshall 412 w/MIE V30s) last night and the only glaring difference is the top end in the MIC V30s. However, they are pretty much brand new so I think that bodes well for them and that they will mellow out once they have had a chance to break in a bit.

 

[thegame]

This topic always cracks me up. One factor that goes unmentioned is that the old tooling machines that Celestion imported to China do get worn over time. If not serviced correctly, there would be production differences over the years, even if everything stayed in the UK.

Why is this Chinese debate limited to speakers ? I propose that the harshest critics should source each individual component in their amplifiers, including tubes, and remove/replace the parts that came from questionable countries of origin. That will keep alot of people busy for a long time

Nailed it.

In other news, I played both of my cabs (Fryette FB 412 w/ MIC V30s, Marshall 412 w/MIE V30s) last night and the only glaring difference is the top end in the MIC V30s. However, they are pretty much brand new so I think that bodes well for them and that they will mellow out once they have had a chance to break in a bit.

Ha ha, thanks ! Seriously, if V30s are your favorite, please check out some Hellatone 60Ls (not 60s). They are the best V30 I've heard. It is a V30 made to slightly different spec and in China to boot More low end thats tighter, breaks up a bit less and the mid peak is shifted down in the freq. spectrum a bit. I like it better than regular V30 and Mesa V30s.

 

[Scumback Speakers]

The Scumback equivalent of the V30? Hah! How can you improve on perfection? No need to recreate that speaker.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

I heard if you play through the Chinese ones you are hungry an hour later

I am so hungry right now.......chinese sounds good.

and, with this opening volley, the thread will start on that familiar downhill slide

I hear the UK speakers have bigger dongs than the Chinese....

I'm still hungry. .......and fixed /\

 

[D-Rock]

I guess all six of my V30s are made in the UK then.........now I feel special.