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Thread: Celestion vintage 30

  1. #1
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    Celestion vintage 30

    If I recall correctly Kap'n depises these speakers.
    the Harmony central reviews indicate the speakers definitly need to be broken in to sound at thier best.
    My Carlsbro amp has a V30 in it.I am considering swapping it out for a Eminence Cannabis Rex.
    Heres the worst case scenarioo review;

    "Let me start off by saying this speaker sickens me!!!!!!!!!I've played many Celestions Pre-Rola G12Ms,RI G12Ms,T75s,M-70s,G12-65s,Blackback 25s,cheapo rocket 50s,G10-30.All of which stomp this POS into the ground and backout to china were they(now)originate. lol Anyway all midrange like a megaphone.Oh high sensitivity,great now your guitar shouts in your face.Delicate pick attack BLONKK!!!Hard pick attack BLONKKK!!!Chords BLOKKKK!!!Leads....allot of BLONKKs.Very overpowering.I've had two of these in two differant 1x12 combos and both were horrid and make whatever amp you play sound allike.If I wrote the dictionary there would be one of these next to the definition of harsh.Absolutly Horrid!!!!!!I'm sure they serve a purpose but for what I want I find them totaly inspiration draining to play.I like rock to blues rock to hrad rock.Some tones I like are Ritchie Blackmore,T lizzy,Priest,Maiden,Allman Bros....."

    These speakers are dsigned to pattern the sound of the Alnico blue from waht i gather.heres a positive review;

    "If your after a great mid range, searing solo voice then this is the goto speaker.. as used by Vai, Slash, George Lynch, Satriani, Petrucci, Greg Howe and the list goes on.. you know the sound and love the sound of this speaker.. but as with all speakers it depends on your guitar, amp and pickups. so i encourage you to try everything you can to find the tone you want."

    Another review stated:

    "Either clean or with the modest amount of gain offered by the Junior full on, the sound was a revelation. Creamy & warm certainly, but most importantly, superb clarity even run flat out."

    Whats your take on the V30 Celestion?

  2. #2
    Forum Member ziess's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Ha ha, blonk!

    Is it in a closed back cab? They're ok for that middy British thing I guess and they might match with that amp well. Is the amp from the 70s?

    Most importantly, what do you think about it? If you think its awesome then it is awesome!

    Best,
    Tommy.

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    Forum Member stratcat62's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    I recently purchased a new fender supersonic which comes stock with a celestion vintage 30. At least in this amp, the speaker sounds incredible. I have had the amp approximately 3 weeks and have almost 60 hours on it with noticeable improvement. I play 2 different strats and a gibson sg through it with equally good results.

    For what it's worth, my band mates are in agreement that this is the best amp in my arsenal which includes a DRRI, a 70's twin, HRDlx and a custom built amp based on a Dumble circuit.

    Remember, tone is very subjective. Guitars, strings, pups, picks, fingers, tubes...well you get the picture. As Zeiss says if you think its awesome then it is awesome.
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Remember, tone is very subjective. Guitars, strings, pups, picks, fingers, tubes...well you get the picture. As Zeiss says if you think its awesome then it is awesome.[/QUOTE]

    I was never one to buy wholesale into that "subjective tone " thing.
    Bad tone sucks.Period.
    ... There may be some leeway there, and yes it is influenced to a degree by the periperhal gear( pickups ,wood,tubes etc.), but by the same token I would not class an amplifier as something "incidental" to tone.Speakers are a different factor , and to my estimation, a great speaker can marginaly improve a medioce amp... however a bad amp will do little or nothing for a great speaker.

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    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    a vintage 30 (bright) with a green or blue (somewhat mellower) is an awesome 2x12 arrangement. i like celestion type speakers in my fenders, but i would never use one on its own.

    i like them, but in conjuntion with something else.
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

  6. #6
    Forum Member toobalicious's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    "Let me start off by saying this speaker sickens me!!!!!!!!!I've played many Celestions Pre-Rola G12Ms,RI G12Ms,T75s,M-70s,G12-65s,Blackback 25s,cheapo rocket 50s,G10-30.All of which stomp this POS into the ground and backout to china were they(now)originate. lol Anyway all midrange like a megaphone.Oh high sensitivity,great now your guitar shouts in your face.Delicate pick attack BLONKK!!!Hard pick attack BLONKKK!!!Chords BLOKKKK!!!Leads....allot of BLONKKs.Very overpowering.I've had two of these in two differant 1x12 combos and both were horrid and make whatever amp you play sound allike.If I wrote the dictionary there would be one of these next to the definition of harsh.Absolutly Horrid!!!!!!I'm sure they serve a purpose but for what I want I find them totaly inspiration draining to play.I like rock to blues rock to hrad rock.Some tones I like are Ritchie Blackmore,T lizzy,Priest,Maiden,Allman Bros....."
    wow... harsh indeed (the reviewer, not the speaker). i have three v-30's in a couple of amps and have no plans on offing them. my old silver jubilee marshall had a quad of them, and that amp sounded fantastic (in the somewhat limited scope that a marshall of the sort sounds fantastic).
    like chuckocaster says, they pair well with other speakers. and frankly, i think they sound best this way. i have even mixed v-30 with such unlikelies as legend 122a, p12q RI, and even a black widow 1203 with aluminum dustcap with interesting results. of course, i tend to be a fan of the unorthodox, especially when it gives good results.
    a

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    Forum Member rudutch's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    I think they have a very strong upper midrange, I have not looked at the freq. response graph but they seem 'middie' with some amps.
    That being said, I tried it with my 5E3.. yuck,
    tried it with my Vox vr15... magic

    your results may vary
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  8. #8
    Gravity Jim
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Quote Originally Posted by jerryjg View Post
    I was never one to buy wholesale into that "subjective tone " thing.
    Bad tone sucks.Period.
    Tell that to David Byrne.

    The belief that there is an optimal "good" tone for an electric guitar and that anything "less" than the ideal is "bad" tone is based on a very narrow view of what constitutes the sound of a guitar.

    There is no absolute, obviously... only tone that sounds good or bad to you.

  9. #9
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Most people who like them have them in closed back cabinets, and driven by Marshalls.

    Many of the people who hate them use them in open back cabinets.

    I'm not big on them in either case.
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    Forum Member Totally bored's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Made my 72 Deluxe Reverb sound killer compared the stock speaker that was in it.

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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Have one on a Mesa F30, and I think it sounds great. But it's best at stage volume, and I also prefer it with humbuckers than strats.

    I bought it slightly used, but I feel like it has mellowed since I bought it 6 months ago. I wonder if it hadn't been played loud very much?

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    Forum Member yankeerob's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    I hate to point this out - but if it's that yellow chassis Carlsbro combo - and I've just checked and it's that 'Fatboy' combo isn't it -it's not necessarily the fault of the spkr - though I don't particularly like the V30 - but those amps weren't reknowned tone monsters either - I had the 50w one with 2 EL34's and a fairly decent Fane speaker... Blonk is a very good description of what comes out of 'em I'm afraid... a very midrange prone amp with a midrange prone spkr will go BLONK... the only guy I ever heard get a good sound out of Carlsbro tube amps was Bill Nelson of Bebop Deluxe and his were heavily modified heads with KT88's in 'em (apparently they had to use very high temp solder to stop the components from falling off the tag boards) - I went out of my way not to flame you when you posted about this amp the first time and don't mean to be horrible - they're an interesting piece of British amplifier history but that's about it...
    Last edited by yankeerob; 01-27-2008 at 07:24 PM.

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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Quote Originally Posted by yankeerob View Post
    I hate to point this out - but if it's that yellow chassis Carlsbro combo - and I've just checked and it's that 'Fatboy' combo isn't it -it's not necessarily the fault of the spkr - though I don't particularly like the V30 - but those amps weren't reknowned tone monsters either - I had the 50w one with 2 EL34's and a fairly decent Fane speaker... Blonk is a very good description of what comes out of 'em I'm afraid... a very midrange prone amp with a midrange prone spkr will go BLONK... the only guy I ever heard get a good sound out of Carlsbro tube amps was Bill Nelson of Bebop Deluxe and his were heavily modified heads with KT88's in 'em (apparently they had to use very high temp solder to stop the components from falling off the tag boards) - I went out of my way not to flame you when you posted about this amp the first time and don't mean to be horrible - they're an interesting piece of British amplifier history but that's about it...
    I dont mind people being honest about there opinions on amps, even if I happen to own it. Noone ( in their right mind) would say "a '59 bassmans tone sucks, but with an amp like the Carlsbro Fatboy, its open to criticism. Agreed on the midrange hump sound beng bad..BUT theres a "midrange scoop" button on the Fatboy I always use on this amp.I never run the amp without the midrange scoop button. With the mids scooped it sounds very refined and creamy overdriven. It Defitnitly prefers 'buckers dirty tho. Clean it gets a fat sound like the clean that sounds like the clean tone on the intro to "lunatic is on the grass " intro tone . It loves the Proco Ratt too. It's an excellent amp IMO, but you'd have to be the judge of that.
    I'm going to keep it, but I might try something like a Clestion GL12-H30 heritage instead of the Vintage 30.

  14. #14
    Forum Member yankeerob's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Why a Celestion at all? They're expensive for what they are (I take it you are in N. America somewhere), the G12H has a resonant freq. of 55Hz which I suspect is only going to exacerbate the 'blonky' midrange tone and Eminence make loads of really good loudspeakers that might suit your application better - not to mention handle the power better than a 30W G12H and have the same sensitivity - if I were on the other side of the pond I'd use a Red, White and Blues - the only reason I use G12T-100's is because I get them really cheap (I can get 4 of 'em for less than what you'd pay for either the V30 or heritage anything) and they have a pretty flat response similar to the R,W&B - otherwise I'd support the people in Kentucky who make a truly fine product

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    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Quote Originally Posted by yankeerob View Post
    I'd support the people in Kentucky who make a truly fine product
    I suspect the folks in KY have an offshore plant, too.
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    Forum Member yankeerob's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    Oh well - at least you wouldn't be paying for Celestion to land 'em in England and then ship 'em to N. America - it's like Mesa spkr cabs here - most of the price is import tax - we pay for Celestion to ship V30's to them - then they load 'em in cabs and ship 'em back here - ridiculous! Still it could be worse - you guys could be paying $9.70 a gallon for diesel...

  17. #17
    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    I won't buy new Celestions. Not because I have an issue with Chinese manufactured product. But because Celestion dropped the cost of prodution to a tiny fraction, and decided to pocket the difference. Unemploying folks in England purely to line their pockets, rather than to offer customers a better deal.
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  18. #18
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    If anything I'll throw a Rex in it.
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Eminence-CANNABI...QQcmdZViewItem

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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    my HRDx came factory equipped with a celestion century vintage, altough it's a 60w G12, wich is very similar to the vintage 30 and I'm happy with it, I think it gives an extra punch to the classical fender tone, changing my fender amp into something new...anyway I played lot of amps before buying my HRDx ltd, and I quote chuckocaster and toobalicious, they sound great in pair with other speakers, and I also agree with NDRU, they have the same character of the HRD, the gave they're best at high volumes
    Last edited by akai; 02-06-2008 at 07:44 AM.

  20. #20
    Forum Member Raven's Avatar
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    I play through a Mesa Stiletto Deuce Stage II with a Stiletto 2x12 closed back cab loaded with V30's. I can say that the V30's do need to be broken in. I would have to say that it took a good month to a month and a half to break these bad boys in. They were very harsh at first but now as I have my rig for 6 months now I absolutely love them. They sound very warm and punchy on the bottom and also have a nice top end that can cut if you need them to.

    You have to really get on the volume of your amp to break the V30's in. Use a nice clean setting and turn up your bass and get the speaker moving back and forth good. I play a Strat, Tele, and a LP through my rig and love the sound of all of them. I hope they work out for you.
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  21. #21
    Gravity Jim
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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    jerry, the Eminence is a great choice: advocates say they all sound great right out of the box. My Red Fang certainly did.

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    Re: Celestion vintage 30

    These are getting some positive comments.

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