Greenback or Vintage 30

Robert Herndon said:
Judging from the view of the rear panel, I would venture to say the V30 is on the left when viewing the amp from the front??? If so, I prefer the tone of the speaker in the left side of the cabinet. Having said that, I almost universally prefer WGS speakers hands down...
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In agreement with one caveat: The Mesa-branded, English-made V-30 is probably my single favorite speaker ever in a sealed enclosure. But it sounds different from any other modern Celestion.
 
gball said:
In agreement with one caveat: The Mesa-branded, English-made V-30 is probably my single favorite speaker ever in a sealed enclosure. But it sounds different from any other modern Celestion.
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Just did a look inside my Lone Star Cabinet, an although my V30 is NOT Mesa branded, it does say made IN the U.K.
 
ChasFred said:
Just did a look inside my Lone Star Cabinet, an although my V30 is NOT Mesa branded, it does say made IN the U.K.
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That's the Mesa one. They look almost identical except for the pole piece, but the regular ones are made in China and the Mesa ones in the UK.

To me, there is not a subtle difference between them - the Chinese ones sound like crap (buzzy and inarticulate) and the UK ones are some of the best-sounding speakers I have ever used, definitely my favorites in a sealed enclosure. IMO Celestion ruined the V-30 when they started making them in China. They can spout marketing hyperbole all day about how they are made the same, same materials blah blah blah, but my ears say otherwise. The Mesa ones sound like the originals but play even nicer with high-gain. They have a singing midrange thing at high volume that the originals didn't.
 
So where are we on the Chas sending me a new speaker then?

me yeeah
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I have a couple of cabs filled with the Chinese-made Celestion 16ohm Vintage 30s. I really didn't like them when I first got them, but after breaking them in they sound awesome. Might be something to do with the glues that they use. You need to play them at gigging volume for a few hours to break them in. And I am not talking wine bar 'gigging volume' ... metal gigging volume.
 
Dave Sloven said:
I have a couple of cabs filled with the Chinese-made Celestion 16ohm Vintage 30s. I really didn't like them when I first got them, but after breaking them in they sound awesome. Might be something to do with the glues that they use. You need to play them at gigging volume for a few hours to break them in. And I am not talking wine bar 'gigging volume' ... metal gigging volume.
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I've found this to be true of all speakers, including my greenbacks which are the 15 ohm, 20 watt heritage models. I borrowed a buddy's 8 ohm 2x12 cab to run in parallel with the two greenbacks (@ 4 ohms) so as not to risk blowing them during the burn in (50 watt amp). The Weber 8A125 I stuck in my little Champ type amp took like 40 ~ 50 hours to really settle in & open up. Should have ordered it "pre burnt in". Cheers
 
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