The Vintage 30 English/Chinese debate (Pics added)

I know this has been beat to death, but I wish someone from Celestion would step and clear up all the conflicting info on the web. Why is this such a secret ???

I just read all of this in about 10 minutes of browsing:

All of them are made in China after 2001
Many of the "off the shelf" ones are still made in England
Only Mesa uses the English made ones
The English ones have 444 cones and the Chinese 1777
There is no difference because the same machines (moved from the UK) are being used
The 2 speakers sound identical
The UK ones are superior
The Chinese ones are smoother and have less mids
The "Ipswich" label does not mean it is Made in England

WTF, its all conflicting .

I will say this.............The stock V30's in my Orange 2x12 have gold baskets, 444 stamped on cone, "Ipswich England" on magnet decal and also on the little white stamp. This is a new cab bought in 2010.

The stock V30 in my Orange 1x12 has a silver basket, different cone code, no mention of "Ipswich" anywhere, says "Made in China" on stamp, and a completely different magnet decal. This is also a new cab.

I pulled one of the ones from my 2x12 out and compared it with the one in the 1x12 (in the same cab).

The one labeled "Ipswich" sounds like a TOTALLY different speaker. Warmer, more low end, less grit in mids. The one labeled "Made in China" is a ragged mess in comparison.

All I learned is that one speaker sounds a hell of alot better. But I still have no idea if the "good" one is actually Made in England. To add to the confusion, in the past I had a gold basket V30 that said "Made in PRC". Neither of the ones I have now say that. But rather "Made in China". I give up

BTW, I will post some pics of the 2 speakers when I get home if anyone is interested.

I have no experience the ones made in China. All I know about V30s is they don't sound very good until they are good and broken in. Are the two speakers you compared have about the same play time on them?

troublehead":2ph13pvb said:

BTW, I will post some pics of the 2 speakers when I get home if anyone is interested.

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Yes please

Interesting. I would like to know more.

I hear the one's in England only sound good if they were made in the Sping Time, when a bloke named Doug signed them, when the air humidity was at 50%, and only when the factory had a Hawaiin shirt day in that particular month.

I've got both Chinese and English. The English made are smoother and warmer, less gritty than their Chinese counterparts. I don't know if this is because of any discrepancies in the making process, or if it's simply that the English have much more playing time on them. The Chinese are loaded in my Avatar 2x12 which I've been using exclusively at band practice, and they sound pretty dang good to me. Both versions aren't miles apart though. In the end I think it's simply a matter of putting them through their paces to get them to warm up.

I don't know shit but I have a Mesa recto loaded with England made and a VHT with the same and both are well broken in and sound really different,now I don't know that they are but the cab made ahuge difference I assume

I heard if you play through the Chinese ones you are hungry an hour later

Last I heard, Orange uses English made V30s in their UK made cabs.

The Orange 1x12 is Chinese made, as is the speaker.

From what I understand (and could totally be wrong about) is that Orange's V30 is similar to the ones made for Mesa, although Mesa adds a treatment so they break in quicker.

From what I understand from a Celestion rep is that custom spec'd OEM speakers aren't all that uncommon, however they're not really at liberty to discuss OEM specs. What I was told was that if I liked the sound of a particular speaker, to contact the OEM and buy one of their 'replacement' speakers.

So the Mesa ones are different?

Mr. Willy":po2dnewj said:

I've got both Chinese and English. The English made are smoother and warmer, less gritty than their Chinese counterparts. I don't know if this is because of any discrepancies in the making process, or if it's simply that the English have much more playing time on them. The Chinese are loaded in my Avatar 2x12 which I've been using exclusively at band practice, and they sound pretty dang good to me. Both versions aren't miles apart though. In the end I think it's simply a matter of putting them through their paces to get them to warm up.

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There you go.

Ok. Here we go with the pics. Let me say again that the speakers have about the same hours on them. However, the difference in tone is drastic, not subtle as someone above mentioned. Both were tested in the same Orange 1x12 closed back cab. "Good" one is 8 ohm, other one is 16 ohm.

Notice the basket color


Sticker



Close up of decals



Cone Code ( i was mistaken......they are both 444)



Cone



Notice RED glue on Chinese and CLEAR glue on the "Good" one



Voice Coil - The "good" one is the 2nd picture. (notice the difference ???)



Close up of Coil

There is another difference that I don't know how to explain because I don't know my speaker terminology. Hard to see, but maybe you can pick it out.

If it says Ipswich and England on the white speaker label than it is made in England...... If it does not say England on that white sticker than it is Chinese.

the4thlast1":cbi1hexv said:

If it says Ipswich and England on the white speaker label than it is made in England...... If it does not say England on that white sticker than it is Chinese.

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I agree. But if you believe what's all over the web, then that's not necessarily the case.

I noticed that the English one says 8Ohms but the Chinese says 16Ohns.

Great topic and pictures to back it up. Anybody who thinks the same quality of speaker comes out of China as the UK is sadly mistaken. It is all about profit and something has to suffer. Quality in parts and manufacturing control are two places.

Was that a noodle or a piece of orange duck on the cone?

Just because they say Celestion, -------- England on the sticker, doesn't mean they aren't made in China. Suffolk is still the home office, so they like to exploit that fact and throw you off. They should just use Chinese writing on the stickers and get it over with. Mesa is not the only one that gets V30's from the UK though. However, rest assured that if you buy Mesa, it will be a UK V30. Just because it is made in China doesn't necessarily bother me, but Celestion, being a UK company gets away with the false advertising without being fully upfront with the buyer. It is up to you to suss it out. Some poor fool thinks that a 412 brand name cab on Guitar Center is such a good buy for $350. Thing is those Chinese speakers cost about 20 bucks each but he thinks he is getting real Celestion speakers, when in fact they are Cerestrion.

Steve

and Fantastic post! The last sentence is great.

steve_k":p1bihpzn said:

Great topic and pictures to back it up. Anybody who thinks the same quality of speaker comes out of China as the UK is sadly mistaken. It is all about profit and something has to suffer. Quality in parts and manufacturing control are two places.

Was that a noodle or a piece of orange duck on the cone?

Just because they say Celestion, -------- England on the sticker, doesn't mean they aren't made in China. Suffolk is still the home office, so they like to exploit that fact and throw you off. They should just use Chinese writing on the stickers and get it over with. Mesa is not the only one that gets V30's from the UK though. However, rest assured that if you buy Mesa, it will be a UK V30. Just because it is made in China doesn't necessarily bother me, but Celestion, being a UK company gets away with the false advertising without being fully upfront with the buyer. It is up to you to suss it out. Some poor fool thinks that a 412 brand name cab on Guitar Center is such a good buy for $350. Thing is those Chinese speakers cost about 20 bucks each but he thinks he is getting real Celestion speakers, when in fact they are Cerestrion.

Steve

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I have both and i can't tell the difference,the only difference is the cab that they're in,that's it! V-30's as well as Greenbacks.
Unless you have a bionic ear? I don't even care anymore,they sound good and until another company comes out with a better
OEM replacement,i'll stick to these,i'm sure like most companies they wanna save money and make a better profit and who
can argue with that?!?!