The Vintage 30 English/Chinese debate (Pics added)

[headlessdeadguy]

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

 

[blackba]

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?

JMItones mentioned it on TGP and also in this thread: http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewt ... 7&start=60 This talks about the new heritage series. They may not have switched on the AC15C and AC30C series yet.

 

[Meathead]

Celestion had great speakers, but they are messing wih them tonally while looking for cheaper ways to make them.

Weber has my business when looking for a nice replacement speaker. Weber's vintage 'clones' of the greenback and the H30 sound much better to my ears than the Celestion's being made nowadays....and Weber's are quite cheap.

 

[blackba]

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

I was about to ask the same just for fun

Weber has the 12V, which is there V30 speaker. You can even get it with an Alnico Magnet.

Scumback concentrates on recreating the sound of vintage celestion speakers and despite the name, a Vintage 30 was never a 'vintage' speaker.

 

[Ventura]

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

Um, some of us are still waiting for the real answer

V.

 

[thegame]

Scumback concentrates on recreating the sound of vintage celestion speakers and despite the name, a Vintage 30 was never a 'vintage' speaker.

When the V30 came out in 1986, there was no GB, H30 or alnico reissue speakers in their lineup. So at the time, the Vintage 30 was definitely a more vintage based speaker compared to the rest of the lineup (T75s, H100s, K85s, Sidewinders, etc).

 

[Scumback Speakers]

Um, some of us are still waiting for the real answer

V.

Frigging killjoy...ok, here's the official reply.

I have not, do not, and no future plans to EVER make a V30 recreation.

Sorry guys...

 

[sinfish]

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

Sorry I did not intend to offend you on this.

 

[TeleBlaster]

I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, at least I would think so.
Two completely different voice coils because one is 8 and the other is 16. Different gauge of wire and windings.
Also if using a tube amp, you will be set to a different tap on the OT winding.
This also can cause a noticeable difference in tone.
Kinda hard to give a fair comparison with those variables thrown in.

 

[thegame]

I'm sure someone has already mentioned this, at least I would think so.
Two completely different voice coils because one is 8 and the other is 16. Different gauge of wire and windings.

100 % correct. There is an amp builder on TGP that absolutely refuses to believe this.
Funny how Mesa, Bogner, and of course Celestion back this up.

 

[Bogged]

This thread made me take a look in my Bogner Alchemist 112. Knowing that it's a MIC amp the V30 is gonna be MIC.

I looked at the label and I have:

T3903A

V30 8 ohm 50 05MT

China

Anyway it sounded good to me.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I have some late 90's V30's and there is no white sticker on the edge of the magnet at all, and only a smeared "44(4 or 6 too blurry to tell)" on the cone.

 

[Eviltwin8283]

I see that the Chinese speaker is very sloppy. There is barely any glue on the tinsel leads from the terminals going into the voice coil under the dust cap. The solder is shiny, meaning a poor solder joint on the terminals. the glue all over the cone around the dust cap looks like shit, I'm willing to bet that the Chinese driver uses a synthetic coated voice coil were as opposed to a ceramic coated wire. The bright red adhesive on the spider is a garbage bonding agent rather than CA glue, even if it is robotically applied. I guarantee the magnets, although the same weight are subpar Chinese counterparts which is huge thing in China. I've noticed that the Chinese Drivers are harder push, power wise, than the UK units. I can run a 5W boutique head and get just as smooth a response from a 100W head with the UK drivers while to get an even similar output from the Chinese driver, I have to run the 5W full tilt. On the bright side, it's 2025 and Celestion just announced that all of their heritage drivers are coming home. No more Chinese production due to the fact that people stopped buying V30 loaded cabs after they started putting the Chinese built units out. Most guys are just hitting the used market and buying pre '02 cabs when they want a V30 set-up. I personally have taken a liking to the greenbacks. and find it's easier and cheaper to build cabs and load them with whatever I want over the years and although I have a huge head/cab collection, really dig building new and different set-ups with my coolest cab being ported that is not only adjustable frequency, but also overall volume. I've utilized a magnetic grill and designed and machined quick release fasteners where one half mounts to the driver and the other screws into T-nuts in the cabinet and I can pop the grill and change drivers in under a minute.