killertone
Well-known member
sombersoul":2f7at8p0 said:
FWIW, I bought 4 V30s off of texmarkmusic here on the forum and he told me that they came out of an Orange PPC 412 cab. They are PRC V30s.
UK vs. Chinese Vintage 30 comparison clip
- Thread starter troublehead
- Start date
FWIW, I bought 4 V30s off of texmarkmusic here on the forum and he told me that they came out of an Orange PPC 412 cab. They are PRC V30s.
lolzgreg
New member
killertone":23p6fjpk said:Dude, fuck all of that bullshit!
I liked clip 1 better and was prepared for whatever version it was, plain and simple. Bottom line is that it doesn't matter to me because I am stoked with all of my cabs, 2 of which have PRC V30s and 2 of which have UK V30s. It's all good.
Yep.
The thing is, if you have mildly dark speakers, you can bump your treble and/or presence up and get the sparkle back.
If you have honky sounding, overly bright speakers, you can't do much to tame them aside from break them in, and you're not going to win.
Clip A sounded better, and would take eq well if you wanted to brighten it in post processing as well.
Clip 2 would need more surgical eq to get rid of irritating resonant frequencies that stood out and may combat with other instruments.
killertone
Well-known member
lolzgreg":1q6j7ie1 said:killertone":1q6j7ie1 said:Dude, fuck all of that bullshit!
I liked clip 1 better and was prepared for whatever version it was, plain and simple. Bottom line is that it doesn't matter to me because I am stoked with all of my cabs, 2 of which have PRC V30s and 2 of which have UK V30s. It's all good.
Yep.
The thing is, if you have mildly dark speakers, you can bump your treble and/or presence up and get the sparkle back.
If you have honky sounding, overly bright speakers, you can't do much to tame them aside from break them in, and you're not going to win.
Clip A sounded better, and would take eq well if you wanted to brighten it in post processing as well.
Clip 2 would need more surgical eq to get rid of irritating resonant frequencies that stood out and may combat with other instruments.
Absolutely.
I have A/B'd my cabs extensively but it is pretty futile IMO because one cab is rear loaded and one is front loaded, plus the construction of the cabs is pretty different. My Marshall cabs have UK V30s that are 12 years old and have close to 1000 gigs on them and they are a lot darker than the new PRC ones, but who knows if that is because of the front loading or because of the ageing and breaking in of the UK models? Probably more of the former and a bit of the latter. Too many variables and not enough constants to form a definitive theory, at least with what I have to work with. I guess I could load some PRCs into one of the Marshall cabs and some UKs into one of the FB cabs but that is a pain in the ass and I don't care enough because they both sound great to me!
Weirdly enough, before I got the PRC V30s for my FB cabs, I took a quad of UKs out of one of my Marshall cabs and put them in the FB cabs. I didn't dig them in there as I recall and put the P50Es back in. Then one day a few months later I A/B'd with my Marshall cabs again and decided to get all V30s for my FB cabs. I got 2 quads, all of which are PRC V30s, and love the sound of them in my cabs, so maybe there is something to all of this!!!!!
thiswaythatway
Well-known member
Vrad":38vk2fut said:
You gots it backwards.
shredhead666
New member
troublehead":l7l3pf9w said:I guess thats enough guessing...............and we have a couple of winners.
The first clip is indeed the Chinese V30
The second one is the UK and it actually has more hours on it.
In the room, the UK speaker is darker and has a bigger (but not tighter) low end, but the glaring difference is that it has a "cocked wah" thing going on that the Chinese doesn't. The Chinese is also slightly louder but maybe that's a perception thing due to the brighter character.
This all started after I read a few comments on TGP about the Chinese version being smoother with less of a mid-spike. These comments came from a handful of people. I decided to put it to the test. I think I believe it now
The UK speaker is hitting the classifieds and the Chinese one is going in my Orange 2x12 alongside my 10 year old Greenback.
Chinese speaker sounds awesome. I dunno though, I'm still skeptical of mic placement.
troublehead
New member
"Chinese speaker sounds awesome. I dunno though, I'm still skeptical of mic placement."
Nope. I used a square Sennheiser e609 and marked the cloth on both sides of the mic with tape. Didn't change the height of the mic stand between speaker swaps either.
Tonight, just for kicks, I loaded both speakers in my 2x12 and covered each side independently with a thick pillow. The difference is BIG.
Nope. I used a square Sennheiser e609 and marked the cloth on both sides of the mic with tape. Didn't change the height of the mic stand between speaker swaps either.
Tonight, just for kicks, I loaded both speakers in my 2x12 and covered each side independently with a thick pillow. The difference is BIG.
JamesPeters
New member
Randy Van Sykes":1o2weh8o said:
Keep in mind folks, that's just how one person set it up with one amp.
I've done similar comparisons in a few cabs, and the UK version always sounded a bit more polite despite the more "full" mids. The Chinese version always had a bit more bite/clang to it. How it works out for you is a matter of a bunch of other factors.
I like both versions, about equally.
shredhead666
New member
troublehead":1x5fc29o said:
I'll take your word for it. But an ISO box would make for a more accurate comparison since you wouldn't even have to touch the mic to do the speaker change.
Ventura
Well-known member
Very interesting thread... I've not even heard the clips yet - but I see a lot of banter back and forth about the "which is better" argument. So many components/variables make up the differences in sound in a particular test - hell, even the volume at which a speaker was broken in at, or the style (compressed gain, chugga chugga, clean and clear) I'd imagine would have an influence on how a speaker sounds.
And ya, unless this is a "perfect" comparo (all elements of the A/B are static and controlled except the speaker itself) anything can have an effect good or bad. But at the end of the day, good or bad is simply our subjectivity as to what we think sounds good - either one is a winner, either one is a loser. It's personal.
Now I'll hear the clips, thanks for posting this!!
V.
And ya, unless this is a "perfect" comparo (all elements of the A/B are static and controlled except the speaker itself) anything can have an effect good or bad. But at the end of the day, good or bad is simply our subjectivity as to what we think sounds good - either one is a winner, either one is a loser. It's personal.
Now I'll hear the clips, thanks for posting this!!
V.
troublehead
New member
JamesPeters":3vvsdd19 said:
I agree here. Its hard to tell from my clips, but the UK speaker is definately more "polite" in the room. Its really hard to explain. But I prefer the mids of the Chinese by a big margin.
In my setup:
Chinese - Bitier, brighter, but with much smoother mids
UK - Bigger low end, more controlled, but with excessive mid "honk"
And to add more fuel to the fire...........I have owned a ton of V30's and I don't think I have ever found a pair that sound exactly alike. I once bought a pair of new Hellatone 60's and they sounded different right out of the box. And as far as the Hellatone 60/L, I don't even consider that a V30 because it sounds so different. It has a flat character that reminds me more of a Classic Lead 80 but with a more natural sounding high end (not metallic/artificial).
_actual time_
Member
exactly.killertone":1a16m3fg said:and I don't care enough because they both sound great to me!
i've done tests with the Chinese V30s that were stock in my Bogner OS2x12 and after-marked used ones that i put in my Recto 2x12 vert (they must be Chinese because they're not old and some dude scraped the model # Made in China stickers off ). all 16 ohms. both pairs are broken in; both cabs have batting on the back wall. each pair has slightly different words on the round labels: one says "Celestion International Ltd Vauxhall Rd Ipswitch" etc and the other says only "Celestion International Ltd" there (IIRC this pair is the Bogner ones).
each pair sounds way better in the cab they go with, thicker and more detailed midrange. when i swapped each one into the other cab, they both had dull un-detailed midrange and brittle highs. i have no clue why--some intersection of quan between each pair and its cab.
(Hellatone 60Ls--yeah, much tighter lows and nice bite, but in my Bogner, dull midrange compared to the thick midrange with the V30s.)
sure might be, which is really neat. but it's not enough for me to trump the fact that i'm getting such good sound from my Chinese ones that other than a neat discussion, i don't care either.
MississippiMetal
New member
I'm skeptical that the differences between a chinese and UK made V30 would be consistent enough across the manufactured numbers of both to really be able to accurately generalize one against the other.
I have some V30's I bought used, that just happen to be UK made (November 2000), and they sound great. No reason for me to compare them to the chinese ones.
Sometimes you just have to be happy with what you're hearing and stop falling victim to the "ZOMG what if these are EVEN BETTER and I'm missing out on t3h t0anz?!" syndrome.
I have some V30's I bought used, that just happen to be UK made (November 2000), and they sound great. No reason for me to compare them to the chinese ones.
Sometimes you just have to be happy with what you're hearing and stop falling victim to the "ZOMG what if these are EVEN BETTER and I'm missing out on t3h t0anz?!" syndrome.
blackba
Well-known member
D-Rock":19z1atop said:
Very true. I think where V30's get a bad rap is that they are such a common speaker and often paired with amps where they are not an ideal fit.
Its also amazing how many different flavors there are of V30's. In this particular clip I preferred the Chinese V30 by a good margin. I have 1 active V30 in a 112 cab, not sure whether its a Made in China or UK, but it sounds good to me with the amps I choose to use it with.