Greenback question-

[MarshallDog]

Here are two pics one one of the many G12M-65 Creambacks I have and they are made in England also. These speakers sound great IMO, very close if not exact to my old 80's and 90's G12M 25W Greenies.

 

[jack daniels]

Ummm...let's not get carried away. Nothing compares to the pulsonic cones.

The newer greenbacks are stiffer, boxier sounding, brighter, and not as
nice and complex in the mids.
These things are apparent in a side by side comparison.
That's why the originals are so expensive for the nice ones, that aren't worn out and lifeless. There aren't many left.

My two cents

Ken Fisher (Trainwreck Amps) figured it out. The older speaker cones (Pulsonic) had longer wood pulp fibers from old growth wood. Many speaker cones made today are from new growth wood with shorter wood pulp fibers. With the exception of Tone Tubby Hempcone speakers that have longer hemp pulp fibers. There is a similar argument for vintage guitars vs. newer guitars (old wood growth vs. new wood growth).

 

[paul-e-mann]

Love greenbacks

 

[dptone5]

Greenbacks are such great speakers. My absolute favorite after many years of comparing speakers. Great thread BTW....

DP

 

[dptone5]

Those reissue Greenbacks sound great in the video comparison. Wow....I'm impressed!

DP

 

[paul-e-mann]

I would still go for used English greenbacks over new Asian greenbacks, not that one is better than the other its just that the used are cheaper to buy and already broken in. Plus the English stigma for posterity sake, they may hold more value in the long run.

 

[SG~GUY]

I will trade my 16 ohm 1777 coned greenbacks for EVH's or G12C's

 

[SG~GUY]

no takers????

 

[mtm105]

although, this thread is about the greenback, because there's quite a few variations of supposedly, the same speaker. The EVH is easily distinguishable. It's all the ones w/ the green plastic & goldish sticker that are being discussed - no disrespect to the EVH, but if you read the OP, it's apparent what the discussion is & why...

It's like talking about Mustangs without mentioning Shelby. Like Shelby never existed.

I may be wrong, but EVH 12M is MIGB. So if MIC is a concern, just buy EVH 12M and be done with it!

EVH has taken the legendary Blackback and made it affordable. Forum members should be RAVING over EVH 12M and thanking me for mentioning it.

 

[DaDoc]

All the greenback reissues are assembled in China since about 2002.

There is no difference from the UK made ones, other than the China assembled ones are said to be more consistent.
Great speakers, and very close to the old pre Rolas when broke in well.

Not exact, but about 80% of the pre Rola tone for 1/3 the cost

They would sound REALLY great in that nice '71 B cab you have, too

Right now I have one Chinese Greenback, one 90's era Brit-made one, and the two reconed originals in that baby..I LOVE the sound I'm getting from those!

I'll probably eventually score a set of originals, in the meantime I'm probably going to score another used Brit-made Greenie and keep the Asian one for a spare, and I might even eventually have the two originals re-reconed with Celestion components..But no hurry, I'm having too much fun digging the sound I'm getting right now..I wish I had gone to Greenies a long time ago!

 

[slide222]

I just got a brand new greenback 25watt 2days ago and been playing it a lot , and I guess they are tight when new and slowly loosen up with time and lots of playing -what are your views on this , and i'm guessing it will sound ever so slightly more mellow when its been played loads and lost its virgin tight feel

I have it in an open back 1x12 cab and prefere a more open sound anyway , but i'm comparing it to 2 g12 80 , 1982 celestrions, that sound great , also in open backed 1x12 cabs , now these 2 speakers are well played in , I 've had em from new

 

[jimmyjames]

You're right mate, keep on playing and it will sweeten up. Mine took a few months of home playing to give up the goods

 

[jack daniels]

Dr. Decibel gives you some hints about breaking-in your guitar speaker

January 2, 2014

A brand new, out of the box will subtly shift in tone over the first few hours of playing as the fibres within the cone start to relax and become more pliable. Don't worry too much about this change, its natural and many people believe that this improves the sound, making it more 'rounded' and pleasing to listen to.

Some players prefer to speed up this process, this is what is referred to as breaking-in, deliberately softening up the cone to bring the speaker to it's optimum state in terms of tonality.

There's plenty of debate over the technique to use for break in and how long to do it for.... below is our preferred method.

Important Note! Before breaking it in it's advisable to warm up the speaker gently for a few minutes with low-level playing or background hum.

"Break in a speaker with a fat, clean tone: turn up the power amp volume to full, and control the level with the preamp gain. Use a level that will be quite loud, but not painful in a normal size room.

Have the bass and mid up full, and the treble at least half. On your guitar, use the middle pick up position (if your guitar has more than one pick up) and play for 10-15 minutes using lots of open chords, and chunky percussive playing.

This will get the cone moving, and should excite all the cone modes and get everything to settle in nicely. The speaker will continue to mature over the years, but this will get it 95% of the way there."

** Disclaimer, I and many others disagree with the (15 minute/95% there) claim. It could take as much as 15 to 20 hours or more depending upon the speaker. Some guys prefer to inject a music signal into the input of the amp and run the signal through the amp for awhile to loosen up the cone(s). **

 

[george76]

Dr. Decibel gives you some hints about breaking-in your guitar speaker

January 2, 2014

A brand new, out of the box will subtly shift in tone over the first few hours of playing as the fibres within the cone start to relax and become more pliable. Don't worry too much about this change, its natural and many people believe that this improves the sound, making it more 'rounded' and pleasing to listen to.

Some players prefer to speed up this process, this is what is referred to as breaking-in, deliberately softening up the cone to bring the speaker to it's optimum state in terms of tonality.

There's plenty of debate over the technique to use for break in and how long to do it for.... below is our preferred method.

Important Note! Before breaking it in it's advisable to warm up the speaker gently for a few minutes with low-level playing or background hum.

"Break in a speaker with a fat, clean tone: turn up the power amp volume to full, and control the level with the preamp gain. Use a level that will be quite loud, but not painful in a normal size room.

Have the bass and mid up full, and the treble at least half. On your guitar, use the middle pick up position (if your guitar has more than one pick up) and play for 10-15 minutes using lots of open chords, and chunky percussive playing.

This will get the cone moving, and should excite all the cone modes and get everything to settle in nicely. The speaker will continue to mature over the years, but this will get it 95% of the way there."

** Disclaimer, I and many others disagree with the (15 minute/95% there) claim. It could take as much as 15 to 20 hours or more depending upon the speaker. Some guys prefer to inject a music signal into the input of the amp and run the signal through the amp for awhile to loosen up the cone(s). **

or just buy some used ones instead...

 

[slide222]

yea but do ya always wanna buy what somebody else doesn't , I would rather break them in gently with my playing

I don't know about you but second hand , you don't know its proper history -I rather make my own , and I have plenty of time

 

[DaDoc]

Well, something to keep in mind is just because it's for sale doesn't mean it's bad or worn out..Just read through this forum and see all the people who try different speakers, they often sell the ones they swapped out to help finance the new ones. The used ones I recently purchased, both the Asian and British sound awesome and I got them for around half the cost of a new speaker!

I'm with George76, I would rather buy pre-used..They're much cheaper than new ones and someone else has already done the breaking-in for me!

 

[slide222]

if you met a pretty virgin , would you say to ya mate "can you do the breaking in for me " ....yea I know a bad anollodgy, lol

 

[DaDoc]

Actually, it's been my experience that the "broken-in" ones in that regard are usually more fun as well..

 

[Swede]

yea but do ya always wanna buy what somebody else doesn't , I would rather break them in gently with my playing

I don't know about you but second hand , you don't know its proper history -I rather make my own , and I have plenty of time

Sounds like a rather suspicious and pessimistic outlook on things

 

[jack daniels]

or just buy some used ones instead...

Caveat emptor. If I was going to do that, I would by Hellatones because a warranty comes with them.