World's BIGGEST Celestion Vintage 30 Shootout

[James Freeman]

This is my kind of content.
I just started watching right now, so I'll share my opinion in a moment.

I hope this removes some myths from the V30 lottery.

 

[Orvillain]

Yeah watched this yesterday. It confirmed what I suspected all along - I really actually quite like a certain amount of fizz in my guitar tone, and that I don't really like dark sounding speakers - which is probably why I don't dig the Nolly IR's in most of the NeuralDSP products. Just not my thing.

And I don't think it's particularly date-bound. For example, speaker 49 and 51 both sound dark and murky (like they've been left at the bottom of a lake for a thousand years!) and they're 10 years apart from one another.

It's really just luck of the draw when it comes to speakers.

 

[James Freeman]

I conducted a little experiment after watching this video.
With a 10cm paper circle carefully placed I can fine tune my Chinese V30 16ohm (from 2011) to sound as smooth or as harsh as I want.
It does require some fiddling and has no consistency whatsoever but does show how small inconsistencies in the cone can make a guitar speaker sound radically different.

The 5-6kHz region is critical, especially with a SM57.

Stock:


10cm paper circle

 

[James Freeman]

@MirrorProfiles I hear a shoutout to you at 52:00.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

@MirrorProfiles I hear a shoutout to you at 52:00.

nerd union

tailoring the top end response with paper reminds me of Bob Clearmountain putting tissue paper over his ns10 tweeters

 

[Orvillain]

Moongel for speakers!!!

 

[James Freeman]

Moongel for speakers!!!

No kidding, that might actually be useful to tune a speaker.
I wouldn't be surprised if the dustcap shape and how centered it is glued make a substantial difference.
The mic is super sensitive to center area variations, small changes in the center area make big difference to what the mic 'hears', maybe not so much in the room.

 

[yeky83]

I thought they were all 12 inches…

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I thought they were all 12 inches…

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

I thought they were all 12 inches…

 

[Iron1]

I conducted a little experiment after watching this video.
With a 10cm paper circle carefully placed I can fine tune my Chinese V30 16ohm (from 2011) to sound as smooth or as harsh as I want.
It does require some fiddling and has no consistency whatsoever but does show how small inconsistencies in the cone can make a guitar speaker sound radically different.

The 5-6kHz region is critical, especially with a SM57.

View attachment 7010

Stock:


10cm paper circle


View attachment 7011

#OpethFTW

Yes, that's all I took from it...









j/k. Pretty crazy how much difference there is...

 

[James Freeman]

Pretty crazy how much difference there is...

Yeah, the center region is so critical to how the speaker sounds.
I would think that every tiny change to the cone in that region like stiffness, shape, dust cap, glue, etc. will have a noticeable change in sound of the speaker.

I think there was never anything special about UK, China, Mesa, Marshall, 8ohm, 16hohm, etc. it was always the small material and workmanship differences from batch to batch.

Hence the Celestion lottery.

Why Celestion speakers are so inconsistent?

The Vintage 30 and Greenback for example, these speakers sound different almost every year of release, why can't Celestion stick to one formula? People are hunting for 2001 made Vintage 30 because the 2008 and later suck, etc. Greenbacks are even bigger random shitshow. For example exactly the...

thegearforum.com

 

[Iron1]

Yeah, the center region is so critical to how the speaker sounds.
I would think that every tiny change to the cone in that region like stiffness, shape, dust cap, glue, etc. will have a noticeable change in sound of the speaker.

I think there was never anything special about UK, Chine, 8ohm, 16hohm, etc. it was always the small material and workmanship differences from batch to batch.

Hence the Celestion lottery.

Why Celestion speakers are so inconsistent?

The Vintage 30 and Greenback for example, these speakers sound different almost every year of release, why can't Celestion stick to one formula? People are hunting for 2001 made Vintage 30 because the 2008 and later suck, etc. Greenbacks are even bigger random shitshow. For example exactly the...

thegearforum.com

I have an Eminence Alpha in the closet I bought for a cab build that never happened. Makes me want to toy with it now to see if I can make it sound more appealing... Worst case it just sits in my closet again.

 

[The other John Browne]

This is my kind of content.
I just started watching right now, so I'll share my opinion in a moment.

I hope this removes some myths from the V30 lottery.

I found this awesome forum through my youtube analytics! So thank you very much for posting!

 

[James Freeman]

Welcome John!
Thank you for making this video.

 

[norminal]

I found this awesome forum through my youtube analytics! So thank you very much for posting!

Welcome @The other John Browne! Sweet or dill pickles?

 

[The other John Browne]

Welcome @The other John Browne! Sweet or dill pickles?

This feels like a trap. I will go with yes!

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

This feels like a trap. I will go with yes!

 

[James Freeman]

@The other John Browne
Still waiting for the speaker break-in test you promise in the V30 video.
This will REALLY stir up the internet with some grade A+ hardcore science only you can do.

 

[The other John Browne]

@The other John Browne
Still waiting for the speaker break-in test you promise in the V30 video.
This will REALLY stir up the internet with some grade A+ hardcore science only you can do.

Yeah. I need to get going on that. Still need the iso cab for two smaller test beforehand that are next on the list.