ln my experience V30's sound shrill and kinda stabby untill they are way broken in then they smooth out a bit.That being said, I have a cab with the V30/Greenback combination in an "X" pattern and it sounds pretty damn rock'n'roll ( but not as good as my Celestion Line6 G12H-90's)
Fme V30s sound best in an oversized mesa cabinet. My laney small size 4x12 with V30s sounds good bit will be relocated into a huge old sunn 4x12 b cabinet.
I was not a fan when I had a quad, but I found I really liked them mixed with G12-80's. And I still have a couple due to the fact that they sound amazing with SF Fenders!
After a standard 1960A and some experimenting with Celestion Silver Series V80 in another cab in the 90s up to the early 2000s, I got a Diezel 412 for pretty cheap in 2002, which originated probably from the mid to late 90s. So this was my first experience with Vintage 30s. I played a 1996 ENGL Savage 120 then, and was pretty pleased with the sound for some years. As soon as I started building my own amps around 2004/5, I dived more into my tone and sound than I had done before. I discovered many things I didn't like about Vintage 30s. Soon I had a DIY 412 with Century Vintage's. They disturbed my ear as well. From then on up to actually last year, for almost 15 years, I was on the search for THAT 12" speaker trying out countless 12"ers: Eminence GB128, Eminence 1275, Eminence V128, Eminence Veteran 75, Eminence George Lynch Super V12, Eminence CV75 Celestion G12 K85, Celestion/Marshall G12 Heritage, Jensen Tornado, Jensen Electric Lightning, to name those that come to my mind. But as soon as I got hold of a Marshall G12 Vintage, and an old black frame Vintage 30 from 1989, I was instantly hooked. That was THE sound, it just works for what I want tone-wise. I cannot say, why I went on such a long search. Most likely my tone changed over the years, and so did my ear and hearing, I guess. I now have equipped all my 4 cabs either with old 1989/1990 blackframe Vintage 30s or Marshall G12 Vintages. I have one Marshall G12 Vintage in a pretty large DIY 112 cab for home use. For one band project I have a Rath RB 212 (diagonal ported 212 cab) with two 16 Ohm G12 Vintages. And for the second band project I have two old Hughes & Kettner GL 112 cabs, that are ported too. So maybe there's something about the V30-type Celestions can shine in large cabs or ported ones.
They do suck . . . There are are only three or possibly four Celestion 12-inch loudspeakers I like. The 25-watt Greenbacks will always be my all-time favourite.
I think it blends well in X pattern. JVM is great amp, but has too many knobs for me i like simple forgot to mention nice megadeth riffing there
I like the V30's I have in my dsl401 and in a 1x12 that I made. Going back 15 years, they were far fewer models available, especially if you wanted Celestion or didn't have access to the US makes. V30 was and still remains, a great choice if you wanted a higher power handling Celestion and don't like G12T-75. I like them for their clear 'vocal' quality. To me they kind of sound 'Aww' when others sound 'Ahh'. But they certainly need a loud thrashing to break them in, but a couple of loud rehearsals using them as a 1x12 gets most of it done
One thing nobody mentioned about Vintage 30s is: the louder you play them, the better they sound! In my teenage years I bought a 1922 cab which was equipped with two G12-T75: I could get decent tones in my bedroom with my JMP-1/EL84 20/20 rack system, but as soon as I went to rehearsals or played gigs they sounded extremely harsh. After a couple years I decided to spend some money on two V30s: not only I immediately preferred the tone, but it was even better when played loud at gigs/rehearsals! Why? Look at those reversed Fletcher-Munson curves which were cited. What do they mean? They mean that our hearing is very efficient for 1-5k tones, but higher volumes are needed for lower and higher frequencies. Have you ever noticed you might set a beautiful high gain tone at home, then go play live and at sound check that magic tone, without moving any eq knob, suddenly became a scooped harsh tone? That's because at those higher volumes we hear more bass and treble! Now look again at those reversed Fletcher-Munson curves: they almost exactly look like the V30 frequency response! So they might sound honky at low volumes, but at high volumes they cut all those frequencies we're starting to hear more because of the volume, balancing the spectrum and sounding pleasant. So I love V30s because I know that when I play live, they can only sound better and they will never end up with those harsh frequencies that other speakers provide at high volumes and that are so difficult to remove without cutting all the treble on your amp and ending up with a dull sound. PS: now you know that you have to dial a mids-heavy tone at low volumes at home, if you want to save a lot of time at soundcheck and have a great tone! Giulio
I totally agree that at high volume a Vintage 30 balances out this change in our ears frequency response. It’s nice to hear someone else is aware of this.
The issue here is what experience do musicians actually have of recording and mixing music cos I believe only then do you truly appreciate just how speakers compare and compliment each other. I sit here with stereo as in left and right banks of 4x12s 2x12s with pairs of V30s G12Ts G12Hs seventy80s and some others and when I mix the tracks and move the tracks between speakers its amazing just how different some instruments/tones sound on different speakers. This is especially true with vocals/drums Guitars using IR and DI tracks where you start with a clean tone and can add in what you think or want to try using the power amps or straight into the guitar amps. I am using pro amps (Crest QSC and Crowns) and generally have 3 amps running stereo giving me 6 channels (2 per side and 2 in the middle for Vocals Drums and Bass) . Vocals/synths Drums Guitars kick/Bass each require their own specific speakers to come alive and sound right. Then you have the fun and games of mixing down and playing it all back on the studio monitors (in my case Adams Audio). Then I play the mix down on the stereo/hi fi as some of u might call it (Q Acoustics) and you will be amazed how the sound has changed from the start of the process to finish. I now seriously struggle to listen to any music on a single pair of stereo speakers, much more fun having the multi tracks and messing about with the mix, even if it means splitting the tracks using izotope RX8 my favourite software.
This goes for all speakers, not just V30's and most everyone around here already knows that, so it goes without saying. It's kind of like telling us cars have wheels/tires and they roll better with air in them. Sorry I had to.
Speakers like amps have their sweet spot...... Just remember, you need no qualifications to be here....that applies to me too! The internet is full of 'experts' on all manner of subjects. Until I hear better, I'm still quite happy with the stock speakers in my Marshall cabs. Rock n' roll
I'm still on the hunt for current production speakers that have broad rich upper harmonics. Not dull, not peaky. Broad. I haven't found any candidates yet. This can't be added in via eq or other processing. The speakers have to be able to produce those upper frequencies in the first place. Trying to add it in via eq is just a waste of time. This is a quality that alot of the great vintage speakers had in common. Celestion, Jensen, JBL, etc. Vintage 30's have something of the opposite of this quality. I'm building up a reel of recordings of various sources that demonstrates this and demonstration of how eq cannot address it. It's like trying to add sugar into a cake after it has already been baked without sugar. It doesn't work that way.
IMO, I've owned and played through many different speakers, mostly true vintage however I feel just like the GT12-75 they can sound different from each other. I have many 75s I love (Full spectrum), and 75s I hate (Icepicky) I've also noticed cab design may have most to do with the sound they work well in. For comparison, a mesa 2x12 horizontal they sound very "honky" in the 2X12 vertical and 4X12 tall they sound amazing. As so with a 90's PPC 4X12Orange. So so in a Marshall 1960A.....
