Soldano/Eminence = bleh. Soldano/Celestion =Glorious

[jdel77]

My opinion is that anyone who writes off Soldano cabs with Eminence speakers hasn't used them at band volumes on stage.
Playing at home, sure a V30 cab will have more presence and openness.
Crank that sucker up though, and the Eminences come into their own. My Soldano straight front with X12000's eats my Stiletto V30 Mesa cab with the SLO.
Mike Soldano knows exactly what he's doing.

 

[SavageRiffer]

I really dislike Soldano cabs. IMO Mike stays true to his amps but his cabs are a different story.

He started out designing his amps around V30's. IMO his dislike for V30's is due to business and him pushing other speakers that are better for Soldano expense wise more than tonally.

IMO all the Soldanos I have tried sound incredibly amazing through my Mesa and Bogner cabs, which are both loaded with V30's. Through the Soldano cabs I have tried they sound meh. Doesn't even seem like the same amp.

IMO there is a reason most big touring musicians with Soldano amps do not use Soldano cabs.

My Soldano Hot Rod 25 is a beast through my Mesa and Bogner. I tried it through a Soldano cab and it sounded neutered in comparison. Not sure if it's just the speakers or the Soldano cab design. Either way I'm not a fan.

Dude but I gotta call you out on a few points. First, do you really presume to know Mike Soldano's motivation for preferring Eminence over Celestion? Do you actually think that a legend like Mike Soldano, who has put out the same amps since the beginning, would be prone to the influence of salesmen? Perhaps you should consider that Eminence speakers are cheaper because they're made in USA and don't need to be imported from China.

Soldano cabs "sound meh?" Are you serious? I don't even need to point out the absurdity in that statement. Lastly, as for people playing Soldano cabs, well apparently it never occurred to you that Soldano cabs are expensive. Lots of people have Friedman and Bogner heads with different cabs. The same could be said about any brand. Besides, you have no statistical basis to compare who buys what cabs. I don't know where you are drawing your conclusions from, but you apparently believe the world revolves around Youtube or something. Just because you saw a couple of videos of guys playing Soldanos over other cabs, you come to that conclusion? Please, again, there's too much absurdity to bother responding to further.

I suggest you actually get a stock Soldano cab and play it through a stock Soldano so you can have a credible frame of reference. It sounds to me like you just have something against Soldano, or you let your preference or brand loyalty cloud your judgement.

 

[jlb32]

I really dislike Soldano cabs. IMO Mike stays true to his amps but his cabs are a different story.

He started out designing his amps around V30's. IMO his dislike for V30's is due to business and him pushing other speakers that are better for Soldano expense wise more than tonally.

IMO all the Soldanos I have tried sound incredibly amazing through my Mesa and Bogner cabs, which are both loaded with V30's. Through the Soldano cabs I have tried they sound meh. Doesn't even seem like the same amp.

IMO there is a reason most big touring musicians with Soldano amps do not use Soldano cabs.

My Soldano Hot Rod 25 is a beast through my Mesa and Bogner. I tried it through a Soldano cab and it sounded neutered in comparison. Not sure if it's just the speakers or the Soldano cab design. Either way I'm not a fan.

Dude but I gotta call you out on a few points. First, do you really presume to know Mike Soldano's motivation for preferring Eminence over Celestion? Do you actually think that a legend like Mike Soldano, who has put out the same amps since the beginning, would be prone to the influence of salesmen? Perhaps you should consider that Eminence speakers are cheaper because they're made in USA and don't need to be imported from China.

Soldano cabs "sound meh?" Are you serious? I don't even need to point out the absurdity in that statement. Lastly, as for people playing Soldano cabs, well apparently it never occurred to you that Soldano cabs are expensive. Lots of people have Friedman and Bogner heads with different cabs. The same could be said about any brand. Besides, you have no statistical basis to compare who buys what cabs. I don't know where you are drawing your conclusions from, but you apparently believe the world revolves around Youtube or something. Just because you saw a couple of videos of guys playing Soldanos over other cabs, you come to that conclusion? Please, again, there's too much absurdity to bother responding to further.

I suggest you actually get a stock Soldano cab and play it through a stock Soldano so you can have a credible frame of reference. It sounds to me like you just have something against Soldano, or you let your preference or brand loyalty cloud your judgement.

I've talked to Mike many times. He is a great guy and amp builder. I do own a Soldano amp and have owned a few Soldano cabs in the past. They just were not for me so that is my reference and my opinion on them.

If you love them then obviously that is your reference. I'm sure there are cabs and speakers out there you consider "meh" sounding also but I'm not going to call you absurd or uncredible for liking or disliking what you think is tonally better for you. It's your opinion on what you prefer.

I even told Mike when talking to him before that I couldn't really gel with Soldano cabs tonally. He didn't seem to flinch at my statement and agreed it's all preference. He's more of a amp guy admittedly.

 

[Racerxrated]

IMO a lot of the V30 dislike does have to do with new speakers versus broken in speakers. New V30's are very harsh and sound poor. Well broken in V30's sound balanced and awesome.

I would take this a step farther and say the cab itself is the most important factor in V30s. I've had MANY V30 cabs, older Marshalls, older Fender Tonemasters, Mesas, Bogner, Rivera. And the Rivera cab I have now has an AMAZING V30 tone. They're chinese built. But the cab has the same construction as a Bogner cab, and sounds deep, lush, thick with no harshness whatsoever. I put the same speakers in an Avatar cab and there it was-harsh and grating. Cab construction for the win.

 

[IntenseJim]

I replaced my Soldano speakers with Scumbacks in my Soldano cabs. Dramatic glorious improvement.
H75LDC + H55
M75 x 2

Years ago I Mike or Bill at Soldano told me they didn't want to get into high end speakers or options because it was too much trouble. They figure most folks who changed speakers would have a wider range of options if they did it after market. I can empthazie.

 

[messenger]

I've never tried a Soldano but I loved the Eminence V12s (same soldano uses if I'm not mistaken) with my old Marshall Jubilee. They were thick and smooth with no ice pick. Not harsh or flubby at all.

 

[apophis]

I have noticed that those people that dont like eminence and love celestion is because of the extra highs that celestion have on them...They are mostly the older crowd, their ears are probably shot by all the high volume playing and they are no longer able to hear the high frequency content the eminence have.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I really wanna try my SLO with some EVs. Two things are hindering that though. Price and weight. I've ran it with V30s, RI Greenbacks, and Lynchbacks. I like it best with RI Greenbacks.

 

[sg guy]

-should it shock anyone that an amp built off of the MARSHALL platform would sound best with something from the greenback family? Mike's reason for not using CELESTION is the exact same reason Scott SPLAWN doesn't, in my opinion the best V-30 cab is built by ORANGE, what makes ORANGE cabs better? 3/4" ply, not 5/8ths, and this is with the chinese V-30's, dont forget all the V-30 variants, the best SLO tone I've ever heard was through a MARSHALL BHW cab, 55hz greenback's,

 

[Les Zombie]

I owned a couple slo 100 and loved the amp, i mostly used my first one with my uberkab or mesa traditional, but when i got my 2nd slo i was running it with a vht p50 deliverance cab and i thought it sounded pretty good together, anybody else like running a slo with p50 speakers? I never used it live with that speaker but at loud home vol i thought it was a good setup, im bummed i never tried it live when i had that amp.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

I like the SLO best with the Celestion Greenback M25. Never liked it with Eminence or the VHT P50e speakers... they lack minds and sound boxy. Had my SLO next to my Fryette UL/Fattbottom 4X12 halfstack and no amp I had at the time sounded good thru the Fattbottom 4X12 with the P50e speakers.

 

[baron55]

-should it shock anyone that an amp built off of the MARSHALL platform would sound best with something from the greenback family? Mike's reason for not using CELESTION is the exact same reason Scott SPLAWN doesn't, in my opinion the best V-30 cab is built by ORANGE, what makes ORANGE cabs better? 3/4" ply, not 5/8ths, and this is with the chinese V-30's, dont forget all the V-30 variants, the best SLO tone I've ever heard was through a MARSHALL BHW cab, 55hz greenback's,

The SLO has nothing at all in common with a Marshall circuit wise unless you count the tone stack and phase inverter circuit which 80% of most other amps use. Mike never said the SLO was a Marshall design, he said it was what he considered a great type of hot rodded Marshall should be.

Splawn uses speakers made by WGS who get their soft parts from the same supplier that the UK Celestions are made from and the frames and magnets are made in china, and the speakers are hand assembled in Kentucky.


Bottom line uses what speakers and cabs sound best to you.

There was a thread here about a year ago on how great and underrated Eminence V12 Legends were and how they just killed in a SLO. Many say that a SLO is very upper mid bright, and many you see have the treble turned back quite a bit. The Eminence V12, are pretty scooped in that same area, and have tons of bass, where Celestions especially V30's peak in that same upper mid area.

I think that is why the Celestion guys like the Depth control, where the Eminence guys say you don't need it.

 

[sg guy]

-peace bro,..

-just calling them like I see them, if your own statement's don't suggest that a "SLO is what a hot rodded Marshall should sound like" doesn't convince you I don't stand a chance,

-Scott SPLAWN had a falling out with CELESTION, when the voicing changed on V-30's, I think its safe to say that the original black & gold Marshall "VINTAGE"-(proprietary speaker)-is the best V-30 out there, if not then the MESA-(proprietary)-V-30, so Scott took his business else where, ironically, Scott SPLAWN has the most informative listing of all the different V-30 voicings, he even did the 8ohm voicings as well, I believe there are 5 different 16ohm V-30 variants,

-in this very thread the Eminence camp isn't doing very well, or the WGS offering, but like you mentioned Baron, use whatever flavor of speaker/s....

 

[baron55]

No worries,

I was just saying a SLO is not even close to a Marshall design circuit wise. Mikes interpretation of what a good Marshall tone is is going to be different than what others and others would say, etc. Just as anything out there. Some consider the diode clipping Jose tone the best which is very prevalent with a lot of current Marshalesque amps right now.

Yea, Fyrrette, Scumback, and Rivera have also talked about all the variants of V30's out there, way too many unfortunately.

Speaking of Mesa,

A long time ago they had a sample production run of V30 type speakers from a company in Kentucky, then they decided to pass leaving the company with all this inventory. The company sold all that inventory to Mojotone and they were sold as "Greyhounds" in a limited run. Then this same company also put up on ebay a Vin 30 clone for 20 bucks stating another canceled order or overrun. The sales were so successful, they decided to continue with production.

Mesa may have decided to say with Celestion, because Celestion probably agreed to keep making the good V30 for them.

Oh BTW the name of the company WGS and the Mojotone brand speakers are made by WGS. WGS doesn't actually make the speakers, but the spec and have them made buy a huge speaker company in Kentucky, I forgot the name but its not Eminence.

 

[messenger]

, I think its safe to say that the original black & gold Marshall "VINTAGE"-(proprietary speaker)-is the best V-30 out there,..

I thought the Marshall version was commonly referred to as the worse version of v30

 

[nevusofota]

, I think its safe to say that the original black & gold Marshall "VINTAGE"-(proprietary speaker)-is the best V-30 out there,..

I thought the Marshall version was commonly referred to as the worse version of v30

I sold a 1960BV 4x12 recently with the Marshall branded V30's because I have a Mesa with their V30's. The Mesa is a keeper because every amp sounds killer through it. Looking back, I regret selling the Marshall because it was one of the best sounding Marshall cabs I've ever played through.

 

[thegame]

ironically, Scott SPLAWN has the most informative listing of all the different V-30 voicings, he even did the 8ohm voicings as well, I believe there are 5 different 16ohm V-30 variants,

Link ?

 

[Nigel]

My opinion is that anyone who writes off Soldano cabs with Eminence speakers hasn't used them at band volumes on stage.
Playing at home, sure a V30 cab will have more presence and openness.
Crank that sucker up though, and the Eminences come into their own. My Soldano straight front with X12000's eats my Stiletto V30 Mesa cab with the SLO.
Mike Soldano knows exactly what he's doing.

Can confirm as a Zinky user. His MoFo and Eminence loaded cab are like mini Soldanos, down to the Sovtek 5881's.

You have to upgrade your glass to NOS, crank it up at band levels IN A MIX and then it's sweet tits McGee. Full range, in your face, no-covering-sloppy-playing zone of Tone.

BTW get those new production Sovteks out of your amps and get the vintage russian 6P3S-E's in there, as that was what Mike Matthews was re-branding until they started new production. DAY AND NIGHT difference in sound, and you can get them for $60/quad!

 

[Rex Rocker]

I think those V12's are fine until you throw an SM57 in front of them. SM57's just kinda hate them, IMO. They reveal a ton of fizz and weird, hollow, almost phase-y mids. Same with the Governors.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Redbacks sound killer with the SLO. Probably my favorite so far, right next to RI Greenbacks. RB is more modern, GB is more raw/classic.