WGS - Are These The Real Deal?

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metalmaniac93

metalmaniac93

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Are these speakers the real deal? I hear so much about them and wonder how can they sound so good and be so inexpensive? I hear people rave about them. I have been a Celestion guy from the start and now have ventured a little bit into Scumbacks, but if I can save some dough, then that would be a good thing.
 
I like em. Never tried Scumbacks though.
WGS' hold their own against Celestions. Often rectifying the complaints users have of the original. They are not clones, but rather tweaked versions of popular Celestion models.
WGS clearly state their speakers are "Assembled in the USA".
So, like many American made items, they are built in America, however many of the parts and materials used that make up the item are in fact made overseas.
 
Recently threw a pair of Veteran 30's in a 2 x 12 open back cab and they sounded better than the pair of Celestion Greenbacks I pulled with the amp I was testing. They are a nice speaker and I will def. be buying more.
 
ibenhad":2xujmsex said:
Recently threw a pair of Veteran 30's in a 2 x 12 open back cab and they sounded better than the pair of Celestion Greenbacks I pulled with the amp I was testing. They are a nice speaker and I will def. be buying more.
I've done the same thing in a 2x12 and a 4x12. Great results.
 
Big fan of WGS speakers. Have invaders, reaper (55hz higher wattage version), and retro 30's. Retro's are the best of the bunch to me. Great speakers.
 
i bought 2 ET65's and 2 Vet30's to use in an X pattern and hated them. They had a high end toothiness to them that I couldn't dial out. I tried 4 different amps (modded Marshalls and a 5150) through them that I was quite familiar with, and this mid-high spike was present all the time. We went away for the weekend so I tried breaking them in with a looped mp3 of guitar fed into my amp cranked up loud.
When we came back from our trip, I jammed on them a while and there was no noticeable change at all. I packed them back up and shipped them back to WGS. They didn't sound nearly as good as a V30 to me and certainly not as good as my Greenbacks or G12H30's. :thumbsdown:
 
chumbucket":1q4u4y7v said:
i bought 2 ET65's and 2 Vet30's to use in an X pattern and hated them. They had a high end toothiness to them that I couldn't dial out. I tried 4 different amps (modded Marshalls and a 5150) through them that I was quite familiar with, and this mid-high spike was present all the time. We went away for the weekend so I tried breaking them in with a looped mp3 of guitar fed into my amp cranked up loud.
When we came back from our trip, I jammed on them a while and there was no noticeable change at all. I packed them back up and shipped them back to WGS. They didn't sound nearly as good as a V30 to me and certainly not as good as my Greenbacks or G12H30's. :thumbsdown:


Thanks!!! Well one thumbs down!!
 
When you aren't exactly sure what you want in a speaker, they are great. Get a quad for $250 as compared to $700 for brand X. You can better afford to audition speakers at this price. I have several quads of them and I would be hard pressed to tell any difference whatsoever. They are built well on steel frames too, ship fast, include spare gaskets. They seem to have a design team that is on the ball in the copy and paste department and are quick to market Celestion replacements. I wouldn't hesitate at all with WGS.
 
I am a Celestion guy and have them all to compare all from the mid to late 70's, blackback, H30's.

I bought two WGS ET65's on a whim loaded into 4x12 with two Scumback M75 65 watt speakers, that cabinet is awesome. While I really like my M75's the ET65's compliment them well in similar tone department with some extended low end. The scumbacks do the prerola tone better IMO, but the two mixed is great. Once my brother played this cab he had to have them.

I should warn you that the ET65's need to be fully broken in to sound their best. My brother bought a quad of ET65's and on the first fire up they sounded really harsh and undefined. He about killed me as he judged my Scumback mixed cab,I felt sooo bad!. We then broke the speakers in with a variac for 24 hours. After this the speakers sounded like my cab, nice big full low end and kind of that dark G1265 smoothness and greenback snarl. Night and Day difference! Sounded way better than the Anniversary H-30's he had in there. But I'm not sure how broke in those H-30's were either.

He then bought another pair of ET-65's to pair up with a couple of Chinese M25 greenbacks and these two ET-65 don't sound harsh at all fresh out of the box(so maybe they changed some things since his other quad I dunno!) and they really sound good with the Greenbacks mixed. They really have a nice low end thump the Greenbacks don't have, they're a great match.

Again noticeably better than his Anniversary H-30's, Now he does have a cab of Avatar H-30 that were broke in and they are not as harsh as his annivesary h-30's. The break in makes a difference so give'em a chance.

For the money I think they are great speakers, I also bought a Veteran 30 for a 1x12 cab and it sounds great as well!
 
I appreciate all of the reviews and comments. I stumbled upon their website when looking for speakers (H30 Heritage 55hz mainly) and thought I would ask. I might experiment with these and my H30 Anny's in my Cameron cab to get a different sound. The Scumbacks sound great in my Bogner OS 2X12 cab.
 
Retros are great speakers like them a lot.
Less spikey than a V30 but still aggressive
 
i have 2 HM75s in my Laney cab, and i liked them so much that when i was putting new speakers in my Marshall 800 cab i got 2 more WGS speakers, this time Retro 30s. found a pair of Celestion G12t75s on the bay for a good price and snatched them up. i cant comment on those, because they are in the 2 bottom positions, but the Retros are on top and man are they AWESOME. straight out of the box they sounded amazing, nice deep low end, great midrange, present and not too peaky, and the top end is smooth and really articulate. the HM75s are a lot like G12t75s, except they seem to have a tad more midrange to them and a smoother top end. i love them both, but i think the nod MIGHT go to the Retro 30s, just for the extra midrange aggressiveness. but so far i like them both a lot. i read about them on another site, and figured why not? for half the price of new Celestions, and they even sound better IMO. not to mention if the speakers dont work for you you can send them back and exchange them (one time, but still!)

IMO its a win-win situation. great price, american company (even if the parts are made overseas), and you can exchange them if they dont work for you. oh, and shipping is FAST. i ordered my G12T's about a week before the Retros, and the Retros were here in a day and a half. the G12s took 2 weeks. yes, it was in the description that they would take 10-14 days to ship after payment, but usually thats just to make sure payment clears. usually sellers ship before that, especially when you use paypal and pay them right away. but that dude took his time LOL

WGS will get my money for a long time. probably going to get a couple Retros for my Laney cab to replace the last G12M70 and the Peavey 1230 that are still in there. then i will have 2 amazing sounding cabs.
 
My Voodoo Amps cabinets are loaded with WGS. Both cabs have Veteran 30 & HM75; 4x12 in an X-pattern and a OS 2x12. Both cabinets sound great to me. Of course, some amps sound better than others.

I will say I haven't had good luck with my WGS speakers matching up well with the CCV, YMMV. Not that they sound horrible, but the CCV definitely prefers the Cameron cabinet and the Celestion Annys.
 
Actually debating throwing either 2 of my scumback M75 or H75 65 watts in an x pattern with 2 WGS Veteran 30s?? Currently have my 4x12 loaded w 4 WGS Vets with my Gower Killer Kali++. Any opinions from those who may run 2 scumbacks with their WGS Vets with a Modded high gain marshall?? Thanks

Cory
 
Just picked up 2 - ET65's and 2 - Retro 30's and have them in an X-pattern in my 4x12 cabinet. I think these 2 speakers sound awesome together. The Retro 30 is a lot different than the Veteran 30. The Retro 30 has a deeper bottom end and has smoother mid's and top end.

I have tried numerous WGS's in the past and all produced stellar results.

Currently have the ET65's/Retro 30's in the mix with my AXE FX 2 and love it. This combination sounds great with the Brown Eye, Hairy Brown Eye, Diezel and 5150/5153 style amp sim's.
 
alainarose":2urm61ry said:
Just picked up 2 - ET65's and 2 - Retro 30's and have them in an X-pattern in my 4x12 cabinet. I think these 2 speakers sound awesome together. The Retro 30 is a lot different than the Veteran 30. The Retro 30 has a deeper bottom end and has smoother mid's and top end.

I have tried numerous WGS's in the past and all produced stellar results.

Currently have the ET65's/Retro 30's in the mix with my AXE FX 2 and love it. This combination sounds great with the Brown Eye, Hairy Brown Eye, Diezel and 5150/5153 style amp sim's.

I thought the "Retro" was more true to the actual Celestion V30? WGS touts the Retro as being "brighter and more articulate" while the Veteran has the "smoothed out upper mid spike"
 
steve_k":38xu046z said:
When you aren't exactly sure what you want in a speaker, they are great. Get a quad for $250 as compared to $700 for brand X. You can better afford to audition speakers at this price. I have several quads of them and I would be hard pressed to tell any difference whatsoever. They are built well on steel frames too, ship fast, include spare gaskets. They seem to have a design team that is on the ball in the copy and paste department and are quick to market Celestion replacements. I wouldn't hesitate at all with WGS.


Thanks Steve!! :thumbsup:
 
Thanks everyone for your input!!! This is why I love this place.

I also am not looking for any V30 clones since I have a handful of them that I have removed and only have the Atomica and a CCV coming in the next century or so. I have a Cameron 4X12 cab with G12H30 70th Anny's, which I do like, Scumback J75/H55 (with a spare M75 if needed) in my Bogner OS 2X12 which kick ass, and two Lynchbacks in my Dr Z cab that I am currently using as a wet cab for W/D. I was just thinking of mixing it up for the Cameron cab and was looking to buy some used H30 Heritage 55hz speakers, but they are still expensive used.
 
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