What's The Deal With Mesa V30's?

Nigel":1ekgcu5j said:
This could also be wiring, fellas.

A buddy had a marshall 1960 "Vintage" cab, and I removed the 16/8/4 jack assembly, changed it to series-parallel, and it was a whole new cabinet. Please account for wiring when doing comparison. It's night and day in terms of difference...
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Nigel, not sure I follow that. I was running the BV at 16 ohm mono (switched) like my other cab was series-parallel hard wired to. Soldano head always set to 16 ohm. The BV was noticably thicker in the bottom.
 
Oh...many people pre-judge cabs not knowing that they're wired parallel-series.
 
I have a Mesa 4x12 with V30's and I don't like the "blanket over the cab" sound of it. Luckily I own a Marshall 1960BV with the 'super V30's' too, and I love the sound.
My head is Triple Rectifier and I bought the Mesa 4x12 to complete the set... Not knowing the tonal difference (both V30's right, lol) Up until now I used the Marshall under my Triple recto.

Do you guys think I get the sound of the Marshall out of the Mesa cab when I swap the speakers (to be clear; Marshall V30's into the Mesa cab)?
 
Gnarkill3k6":3jpg3lvj said:
I have a Mesa 4x12 with V30's and I don't like the "blanket over the cab" sound of it. Luckily I own a Marshall 1960BV with the 'super V30's' too, and I love the sound.
My head is Triple Rectifier and I bought the Mesa 4x12 to complete the set... Not knowing the tonal difference (both V30's right, lol) Up until now I used the Marshall under my Triple recto.

Do you guys think I get the sound of the Marshall out of the Mesa cab when I swap the speakers (to be clear; Marshall V30's into the Mesa cab)?
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I do not think so .... but not sure.
I believe a lot of it is the cab in this case.
If you change them out please post your thoughts on this thread .... :)

Welcome to the forum...
 
Gnarkill3k6":33udg2n4 said:
I have a Mesa 4x12 with V30's and I don't like the "blanket over the cab" sound of it. Luckily I own a Marshall 1960BV with the 'super V30's' too, and I love the sound.
My head is Triple Rectifier and I bought the Mesa 4x12 to complete the set... Not knowing the tonal difference (both V30's right, lol) Up until now I used the Marshall under my Triple recto.

Do you guys think I get the sound of the Marshall out of the Mesa cab when I swap the speakers (to be clear; Marshall V30's into the Mesa cab)?
Click to expand...

i think thats just the cab. my marshall doesnt have v-30's in it right now, but my mesa cab and an engl cab we have in our space both do, and sound very different..
 
i think thats just the cab. my marshall doesnt have v-30's in it right now, but my mesa cab and an engl cab we have in our space both do, and sound very different..[/quote]

The Engl cab have the regular V30's and Mesa have there own V30's that are voice a little darker. Could be the cab construction but it also has something to do with the speakers itself. Mesa are rear loaded and Engl front loaded. If he has the Traditional cab it will probably sound closer but if he has the Recto (oversized) it will affect the tone even more. I also think your best bet is to try it and then tell us what you think, it's not a very complicated thing to do.
 
To be honest I can't really imagine the construction of the cab is causing 'the blanket'. But, yeah I'm going to swap the speakers and listen. Although I know it's pretty straight forward, I think it's going to be a good afternoons work. Getting the cabs at home alone is a 2 hour job ;-) And I'm a little scared of the Mesa speakers being soldered (but on the other hand, I have build/soldered guitars, amps and pedals).


To give a little backstory; I bought a triple recto 3 years ago and bought a second hand Marshall 1960BV with V30's. This cab won in a Musicstore-cab-shootout I did with my band-buddy's. At band practice it was/is hard for me to hear myself clearly (with a triple!?...) and I figured out it has to do with the cab standing on the floor and not being angled. Also, it gives me a little too much low end. So after a year or so I figured I needed a straight cab and wanted to have a Mesa cab to have a nice matching set. Buying it new was out of the question so I waited until a second hand one popped up at my national Ebay equivalent. A few weeks back one popped up and I bought it. :thumbsup:

Not knowing about the difference in V30's, I now got my 'new' Mesa 4x12 standard slanted cab with V30's. When I plugged it in at band practice I instantly noticed the muffled sound... and to be honest I was quite surprised and disappointed! Ok, I bought it for a very good price and even if I had to sell it again I would not lose money on it. But my little heart was kind of broken because I love my Mesa amp and wanted to have a 'full' Mesa set. :aww:

I decided to look for a solution and maybe I found one here! In any case I learned a thing or two about V30... and that's good too. :D

Will post my findings after the swap!
 
Gnarkill3k6":ducsbyms said:
To be honest I can't really imagine the construction of the cab is causing 'the blanket'.
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The Mesa cabs have a particular 'jute' grill cloth that does roll off more highs.
 
Mesa cabs really need some volume pushed through them in order to open up. Low and even medium volume levels just don't cut it. Probably has to do with the Mesa V30's being a smoother and darker version od it's self.
I would also oped the cab up and check the wiring. Even though Mesa solders their speaker connections, I would still check that everything is proper since it is a second hand cab.
 
I checked the wiring before I paid for the cab. Inside looks (and smells!) like new. Solder joints are tight.

Volume is not the problem, I push it pretty hard at band practice. My bandmate plays a 100 watt Marshall plexi at 75% of it's (custom installed) master volume and my recto is around half on the master volume. And no, the singer and drummer are not very happy at the end of rehearsal day :D
 
I realize this is a old thread that someone may have bumped but please no one quote me on my page 1 posts as I have moved on to better things in my life and no longer obsess on the carbon content of the steel in my speaker frames. :doh:

:LOL: :LOL:

I still think my cabs from the 90's sound better. :D
 
Gnarkill3k6....

Might be obvious ... but easy over looked by many...
Maybe just try adjusting your tone controls different for each cab .... That is what I do. I have about 40 guitar speakers here & various cabs. I change around the tone controls based on my needs & taste at the time.
I always try to remember when adjusting a amp that if you add something you are taking away from something else.... the opposite is also true.
Also I run the Midrange pretty high on my Tremoverb with a band .... around 2 or 3 o'clock(all) on Red & Orange channels. Treble & Bass around 1. Presence at 9 on Red, 1 on Orange. Gain on both in the 11-3 range.

Cab placement in the room can make a huge difference on the tone/sound. Your real battle of hearing yourself I would guess is the cymbals and the Marshall ... the Marshall voice cuts great.
Also try to get at least 10 feet (for reference) from the front of your cab .... they sound very different there.
The other thing is we all have different taste .... I also prefer and use Marshall cabs with my Tremoverb over the Mesa cab. Some of my friends like the Mesa cab better. Best guess is if you turn up your Midrange with the band it will change everything....

Good to see you EXP ... was just reading your post on this thread.
 
@ stephen sawall

Thanks, I will try some of the things you suggested for hearing myself.

About the tone controls... I tried the whole afternoon at band rehearsal to get a good tone. I also A-B'ed (wisely) the cabs and whatever settings I was using the Marshall had the desired tone. Maybe it's something I have to get used to with the Mesa.. but all the guys in the band didn't like it, lol.

If the speaker swap doesn't work for me im selling it again :yes: But I don't want to give in yet!
 
I was thinking the same as you and wanted a matching Mesa cab.... borrowed a friends Mesa cab and realized I already had what I want.
.... I let a friend use one of my Marshall cabs and he hated it. We all have different taste & needs....
 
sixstrings":15twbhev said:
Mesa says they use Celestion Vintage 30's, but is there something different about the V30's they use with the Black Shadow sticker and Celestion V30's? My recto cab came with Celestion V30's but have the black shadow sticker on them. They sound like V30's to me, but I haven't directly compared them to other V30's. Anybody know about this?
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Nothing more, nothing less . . .

Celestion V30s are Celestion V30s. Anyone can take them and slap whatever sticker they want onto it and charge more $$$ for the sticker.

Celestion V30: Celestion = "British Rola Company" began in 1947, "V" for vintage loud speaker, "30" = 30cm ~= 12" - blah, blah, blah . . .
 
Swapped the speakers yesterday...

My findings so far, of course it's all based on my personal preferences.

- Marshall cab stock = sounds great. Great tone, feel and response.
- Mesa cab stock = the infamous blanket (even after tone control compensation) a little more tight and hard hitting than the Marshall.
- Mesa cab with Marshall Vintage's = better than stock, but not better than Marshall cab stock.
- Marshall cab with the Mesa V30's = better than Mesa cab stock not better than Marshall cab.

To my surprise cab construction does do something with the sound... the Mesa cab sounded more compressed and the Marshall seemed more dynamic and filled the room better. Overall it's seems like the Marshall cab and speakers are really made for each other. With the Mesa cab I got the feeling they just build a cab to sell along with the Rectifier heads and just threw "custom spec." V30's in it.

I think I have to let the dream of a 'full' Mesa set die... Sticking with the Marshall 1960BV for now, maybe I'll try to find it a second hand 1960AV brother. :-D

Hope that all made sense!

P.S. I formatted the text in places were I thought the brands could be confused with each other.
 
Gnarkill3k6 ....

Thanks for posting. I did not swap the speakers around but found the same thing pretty much. But will add that I have found some people like the Mesa cab better....only a matter of taste.
Personally I feel the cab is just as important as the speaker. My favorite cabs are the Peavey cabs from the 80's that came with Celestion K85. In my Peavey cab at this time I have V30 on bottom & H30 on top.
 
Well, Marshall and Mesa cabs are clearly built differently. I've often said Marshall cabs have a certain flex to their sound. While the Mesa cabs are stiffer sounding and tighter sealed.
I really only like using my Mesa 4x12 when I run an amp really loud. That's when it shines because it stays together so well and projects clearly at a distance.
 
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