Speaker comparisons

[GuitarJon]

Hey guys,

I'm going to start a new series of "real" speaker shootouts and since there will be many more to come in the future I figured I'd create one thread where I can post them in.

This first one has 3 Celestion speakers. The Vintage 30, Redback and H75 Creamback. I already have over 20 other speakers or so and more on the way, so I'm definitely looking to do many more. It's something that I really enjoy...

Anyway, here's the first one. I love the V30 but the other 2 also sound great in their own way:



Here's the next episode! This one features the Fane Ascension F25, A60 and F70 vs the V30 (because that's the baseline, right?)

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I liked the V30 best, Creamback H75 was cool, didn't really care for the Redback at all (I think I'd only use that if I absolutely needed the 150W power handling).

 

[GuitarJon]

I liked the V30 best, Creamback H75 was cool, didn't really care for the Redback at all (I think I'd only use that if I absolutely needed the 150W power handling).

I think that's really a speaker that needs the amp to be dialed in for it to sound better. In this case I didn't want to change the amp settings so that people can hear the difference.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Did I dodge a bullet getting a semi-broken Redback?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I think that's really a speaker that needs the amp to be dialed in for it to sound better. In this case I didn't want to change the amp settings so that people can hear the difference.

Yeah that makes sense. Tbh for each speaker I’d generally mic them differently too, depending on how it sounds. The cabinet itself can affect the speakers tone a lot too.

It would be cool at some point to hear some examples dialled in for each one just making them sound as good as possible.

 

[maddnotez]

V30 always wins.

Scumback has some great speakers though too.

 

[JasonE]

If you added the Creamback 65 to that video, that would be most of what I want to see compared.

Then we can start to talk about 10" speakers. :)

 

[GuitarJon]

If you added the Creamback 65 to that video, that would be most of what I want to see compared.

Then we can start to talk about 10" speakers. :)

I have one, just haven't had the chance to try it yet!

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I‘m a fan of the heavy magnet Creamback. Whenever I hear it, I immediately recognise these very special mids around 1 kHz, which sound somehow musical and mean at the same time. Almost as if someone had very quietly started up a Swedish chainsaw in the background.

 

[EOengineer]

I didn't mind the redback - I could see the low mid emphasis working really well with a 2203 or something like that. One of the issues with this style of speaker comparison is that it just isn't that practical. Speakers don't exist in a vacuum - they need to be paired with amps that make sense. Dark speaker + dark amp = dark tone.

 

[GuitarJon]

I didn't mind the redback - I could see the low mid emphasis working really well with a 2203 or something like that. One of the issues with this style of speaker comparison is that it just isn't that practical. Speakers don't exist in a vacuum - they need to be paired with amps that make sense. Dark speaker + dark amp = dark tone.

Yeah, that's why I'm planning on doing a variety of comparisons! For example, I could also do videos where I take one amp as a "baseline" and then try it with a bunch of speakers but then also dial in the amp individually for each speaker. There are various approaches that I can take here...

 

[JasonE]

Were these all 8 ohm speakers? I have read that if you can run your amp at 16 ohms it will sound better. I know with my Twin Sister I bought the Dirty Shirley 1x12 cabinet and it has a 16 ohm Creamback 65 in it. Dave had issues with guys blowing this speaker in the Twin Sister combo so he switched to the Redback since it will handle a higher output.

 

[GuitarJon]

Were these all 8 ohm speakers? I have read that if you can run your amp at 16 ohms it will sound better. I know with my Twin Sister I bought the Dirty Shirley 1x12 cabinet and it has a 16 ohm Creamback 65 in it. Dave had issues with guys blowing this speaker in the Twin Sister combo so he switched to the Redback since it will handle a higher output.

I'm sticking with 8 ohm for now. Regarding blowing speakers: I'm not really worried since I'm running my amps at pretty low volumes.

 

[EOengineer]

Yeah, that's why I'm planning on doing a variety of comparisons! For example, I could also do videos where I take one amp as a "baseline" and then try it with a bunch of speakers but then also dial in the amp individually for each speaker. There are various approaches that I can take here...

Yup - not necessarily a critique of your work - I understand why you did it the way you did it. Just my .02c but I bet it would also be interesting to show folks what happens when you put a bunch of different amps through the same speaker.

 

[GuitarJon]

Yup - not necessarily a critique of your work - I understand why you did it the way you did it. Just my .02c but I bet it would also be interesting to show folks what happens when you put a bunch of different amps through the same speaker.

Yeah, when I do amp shootouts, that's what I'll do! There are many things to try and I'm open to all of it :)

 

[Deadpan]

Did I dodge a bullet getting a semi-broken Redback?

I love the speaker.

Question, were all the speakers mic'd in the same spot?

Also, was the amp dialed for the V30?

 

[Dave Lewis]

I love 12” Celestion Vintage 30s

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I did something similar at THD about 20 years ago, when we stopped using Celestion and before going to Emmies.

Placed the mic and marked the cab on the floor. So I could swap 2x12 cabs loaded with different speakers. And then a few years later did it again with 4x12s.

My takeaway then was that my fave speakers in the room and miked were G65s and Golds.

Miked only V30 and GB
Room only classic Lead 80

With 4x12 it was more like I expected, mix of GB and V30 for everything.
But that just as well may have been personal bias since at that point I had been using a 4x12 with 2 GB on top and 2 V30 on bottom for a decade.

Never liked mixing speakers in either x or side by Side.

When it came to Emmie literally the only speaker I had any use for was the Red Fang.

 

[laxu]

V30 for me too, even though I don't love it when just playing on my own. I think I'd like the G12H-75 CB for that better.

The Redback I don't get. I could see it being useful to mix with something else, but on its own it seems like it's only suited for the very brightest amps out there? Like if you need to run an old school Fender, Vox or Marshall at volumes where the bright cap is very effective, maybe the Redback gives a nice sound that is not too harsh?

Awesome riffs as usual GuitarJon!

 

[laxu]

I did something similar at THD about 20 years ago, when we stopped using Celestion and before going to Emmies.

Placed the mic and marked the cab on the floor. So I could swap 2x12 cabs loaded with different speakers. And then a few years later did it again with 4x12s.

My takeaway then was that my fave speakers in the room and miked were G65s and Golds.

Miked only V30 and GB
Room only classic Lead 80

With 4x12 it was more like I expected, mix of GB and V30 for everything.
But that just as well may have been personal bias since at that point I had been using a 4x12 with 2 GB on top and 2 V30 on bottom for a decade.

Never liked mixing speakers in either x or side by Side.

When it came to Emmie literally the only speaker I had any use for was the Red Fang.

With what amp(s)?

I find that Golds are too bright and harsh with Marshall style amps, but absolute perfection with Vox style amps.

For Marshalls, Greenbacks all the way.