Are Celeston V30s the worst sounding speakers ever created?

  • Thread starter Thread starter richedie
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richedie":13g5gars said:
A friend brought over two of his V30s last night. They are about 5 years old and well broken in. These are british made.

I compared them to my WGS Vet30s and the difference was huge. The V30s were brittle, thin, harsh, ice pick to the head.
I used a 20th Anniversary Shiva and VHT ST/50 to compare.

In the end...he just ordered a few WGS Vet 30s to replace the V30s and I will report back. Once they are broken in...he is going to bring two 212s to a gig since they do 3 sets. We'll get to swap cabs between sets. He has a Bogner 212 and I have the same so i will bring my Bogner 212 and compare.

Is the V30 more hype than anything, or what is going on here that i just don't get. LOL! :)

I mean, I know plenty of guys use them.
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If I could only choose one speaker.........broken-in V30's are the best speaker for me without a doubt.

I went the Veteran 30/Retro 30 for awhile. They are cool at first because they are so different (softer attack, fatter). But I quickly grew tired of it. I have used just about every Celestion and WGS equivalent. You will never get the clarity, articulation, and punch that you get with a Vintage 30 from a Veteran 30. You get closer with the Retro 30, but still not quite there.

Its really no contest for me when I A/B the two. And I'm really not bashing WGS because I think certain models have their place.........especially with clean to mid-gain tones. And they also sound great with single coils. However, for high gain rhythm, I have yet to be blown away with any of their speakers.

I also agree that the V30 is misunderstood and it gets alot of undeserved bashing around the net. If this speaker is so horrible then explain why the majority of amp builders choose to load it in their cabs. :confused:
 
psychodave":2a0o8kef said:
As long as they dont have a Marshall label, they are good. Not all V30's are created equal.
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I have read that the Celestion Marshall G12 Vintage is exactly the same as the regular V30. I have also read the opposite. Well I had a 1960AV with the Marshall G12 Vintage Celestions and a Rivera 4x12 with real, made in England V30s. Both 16 ohm cabs and broken in. They sounded exactly the same to me. I recorded a couple of riffs with each and they sounded exactly the same. That's my experience. I am currently running two 4x12s. One has Marshall G12 Vintage Celestions and Peavey 5150 speakers in an X pattern and the other cab has Eminence Governors and 5150s in an X pattern. They both sound awesome with my Splawn or Mako Mak4.
 
V30s are my favorite speaker, but the fact of the matter is it depends on what the player is looking for and how they fit in with the rest of the rig. There are different speakers for different applications, there is no all purpose speaker that does everything good IMO, at least not that I've tried.
 
There's a reason why V30's have been the industry standard for some time. I don't think you'll find many pro's call them the worst speaker ever...
 
Doubleneck":3gr31yfl said:
I think the reason some people don't like V30's is because their playing by themselves, and can see the mid spike a lot people refer to as being a little harsh, in a band mix V30's sound great though.
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Yep. I don't really like them in open back cabs, but in a 4X12 they work great in a live mix or for recording IMO. In the end its about what sounds good in the mix IMO, what sounds good playing by yourself is only relevant if that's what you do most of the time.
 
parntz145":1bbp3s4s said:
I have an older Uber cab that has a mix of the V30 and G12T75 and its one of the best combos I have ever played or heard. I dont like them alone but they sound incredible mixed.
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+1 the combo is awesome, on their own not so much for either...
 
So you say some NEW speakers sound worse than your old ones that you have owned for some time, learned how they work and tweaked your amp to make them click together?

Hardly surprising. Nine out of ten times you are going to prefer your old ones just because you are accustomed to them, even if there is a substantial quality difference.
 
I think this is one of the many things that are like this, they can sound like shit in person but record really well. I know it sounds crazy but good guitar tone on it's own is not always good guitar tone in the mix. You can have an amazing lead sound but it may just get devoured in a mix, and you could have a killer sounding rhythm sound on it own but it would have to much bottom end and leave a mid gap, steal the basses eq range and fuck up everything else. The nice part IMO about V30's is that they DO cut through and that harshness for whatever reason translates well to recordings. Different amps, cabs, ohm rating, cables, guitars, pickups, tubes, all play a very significant difference in how this kind of stuff sounds. It's funny because the other day some guy was talking about how his amp recorded like shit, I want to say maybe a Recto, but sounded awesome in the room, while his friends 5150 sounded like shit in the room but tracked incredible.. it's just the nature of the beast.
 
no, the G12m70's are ;)
I like the V30's, they do record well. They are not my fav, but I like them. Some of the coolest tones I've heard were done with V30's
 
Super wide frequency range. They will reveal a lot from any amp. If the amp is upper mid voiced then it could sound very bright and brittle/harsh. Bogners sound great through v30's with their low-mid voice. Mark series amps sound great through Boogie traditional cabs with v30's.

JCM through v30's? Meh, not so good IMO.
 
They Are a Little Hard on Top sometimes...

Key is to have ones that were still made in England, and with a warm sounding amp they are Magic!

In my Cameron CCV I love CL80's. But British Made V30's Are Tits with My Marshall HG Jose...
I posted this video some time ago.



Best,

Roid RAGE
 
Doubleneck":31hh8v8n said:
I think the reason some people don't like V30's is because their playing by themselves, and can see the mid spike a lot people refer to as being a little harsh, in a band mix V30's sound great though.
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The Warehouse speakers are a better bet if you're just playing by yourself since they have a slighlty tamed top end.
 
Yes v30's are horrible sounding speakers.....alone, in a band mix, recorded...they all equal blech! about as much fidelity as am radio.
 
I'm no the fence about Vintage 30s. I need another Vintage 30 cabinet for recording and comparison.
 
sure, not for every amp or player, but hell no, not the worst speaker ever created. Chances are, there are some albums you own and love, that were recorded with V30. I don't even know what you play or listen to, but that's a pretty safe bet.
 
This reminds me of the thread where a bunch of guys were saying 5150's suck... :lol: :LOL:

5150's and V30's are friends too ;)
 
I went through a period of time where I hated V30s. Turned out that it was that my cab and amp didn't like each other. Through another V30 loaded cab the same amp sounded great.
 
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