Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

[Jazzfiend101]

Hey guys, I've got some questions on some Celestion Speakers I'm digging on. Right now I'm running a JCM 2000 DSL 50 through a Crate Vintage Club 50 (don't laugh) 2 x 12 cabinet with whatever Crate's stock speakers are in it. The guitar that I'm primarily using is a pretty much "hot" rodded Epiphone with a Pearly Gates in the bridge and an Alnico II Pro in the neck (there's a bunch of other updates on the guitar, but I'm sticking to the sound stuff)

I'm in a cover band, and we more classic rock stuff that ranges from Aerosmith, Guns N Roses, some AC/DC, a few punk songs, some Foo Fighters, but my favorites to play are the Aerosmith and GnR and ZZ Top covers, just to give some background.

I'm big on mid range, I like a good cut. The speakers that I'm using right now are pretty ice picky, but boy do they cut right through. I was told that maybe something smoother would help even my sound out, so someone suggested greenbacks. They said greenbacks were in the Marshall Vintage Moderns, which I thought were great sounding amps (although I think they're one trick ponies IMO... gotta have two channels clean and dirty to switch between "Toys In The Attic" and "Santeria" ya know!) I also have a friend who will sell me two nicely broken in G12T-75s for just $100, which considering what they go for in a set is kinda sweet. But those are the storied "scooped mids" speakers, that I keep hearing about. Then there are the Vintage 30s I see guys like Slash and AC/DC play through, and a guy told me to pay attention to what my heroes play through. But, my guitarist told me that considering that my Crate speakers are extremely midranged and ice picky a Vintage 30 is going to sound similar... a needle in your ear.

So I've got these poo poo speakers in my computer and the Youtube isn't really helping in demos. Any of you guys got any experience with these bad boys? I'm pretty much set on Celestions, I'm just looking to see what's going to sound good with this Slammin JCM 2000 (for anybody who owns one of these bad boys, I'm not running my gain to 10... it's like 6 or 7...

My trebs was at about 6, my mids were at 3 and my bass was at 3, and I think my presence was also about 6. If that sounds strange somebody let me know... I'm only playing clubs so I don't get much louder than 4... I went to 5 at a couple of frat parties before the windows flew out of the walls!

[Chickenwings]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

two T75s for a hundred bucks?
go for it!
turn up your mids and enjoy the fatness.
If you wanna go for v30s later you can flip the t75s for at least what you paid.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I can't stand the 75s and they already have scooped mids and are really best with an amp that has alot of mids...The V30 is efficient,loud,and will give you alot of mids opposite of the 75s....A great choice and common these days,is a V30 and a G12H 30..The greenbacks are smooth,they are great speakers also and don't have the midrange spike that the V30s have...I Love V30s though and use em in both a Vox 2x12 and my Marshall AV 4x12....If you want midrange cut,the V30s do that..

[Bludave]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

IU have a Marshall 4 12 loaded with greenbacks. Hands down the best speaker for what I do which is similar to what you do. I play mostly blues and some blues rock. The amp makes a big difference too. The DSL is a great sounding amp & you should get a nice feel with the V30's or the greenbacks. In a 2 12 as John suggested a mix of a GB & a G12H should work nicely.

[SteveAlysis]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I've played a dsl through a mesa with v30s and it was beautiful. Got compliments on my tone and it was the house amp, first time playing it.

[ItsaBass]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I like Vintage 30's a lot once they have been extensively broken in. When new, they sound pretty bad to me. Maybe "super tight" and "a bit sterile" are good phrases to describe what I hear.

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I've used V30s to good effect, but my fave spkr for Marshall fueled hard edged classic rock are the Greenbacks or G12H30s. I'm using a G12H30 in a 1x12 Avatar cab with an 18 watt Marshall clone, and it fantastic for the styles you like to play. Avatar sells the G12H30 in a gently broken version as the Hellatone 30 (which is actually what's in the cab) Avatar also sells a gently brocken in V30, labeled as the Hellatone 60. The prices are excellent.

http://avatarspeakers.com/

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I like Vintage 30's a lot once they have been extensively broken in. When new, they sound pretty bad to me. Maybe "super tight" and "a bit sterile" are good phrases to describe what I hear.

Totally agree and maybe it's a reason that the V30s get a bad rap? They are still one of the most commonly used speakers today,especially in open back combo amps..I Love the V30s and thats all I've used in both of my different cabinets.The G12H 30s would be my next choice or a combination of both is cool also.

[Jeffrec]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

I put WGS Green Berets (Green back clones) in my Crate Vintage Club. They sound awesome and are a lot cheaper than Green Backs.

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

Yeah, the scooped mid speakers are what my buddy's trying to get me to buy, and it's sort of a mutual thing... I think that perhaps any speaker would be an improvement over the Crate's stock speakers, but I'm interested in these off brand speakers, like Hellatone, now. Do they stand up against Celestions?

[NecroPolo]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

(...) but my favorites to play are the Aerosmith and GnR and ZZ Top covers, just to give some background. (...)

I think, out of the three, the Greenbacks will give you that nice classic rock vibe that you like.

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

Here's a question: my Alnico 2 Pro kinda lacks the midrange necessary to make it a bright pickup, sort of a warmer and smoother pup, so would the T 75s suck my sound out? Also, I had a guy tell me to simply just set my DSL up to compensate for the sound. I do know that the V30 is a bit louder and more in your face than the T 75. All I know for sure is... if they steal my sound from my soul I'm going to at least keep the Crate's aluminum razor edged sounding speakers.

[SteveAlysis]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

Are you the only guitarist in the band?

[Jazzfiend101]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

No sir, I am not. As a matter of fact the G12T-75s are going to come from my other guitarist's JCM 900 cab. From what I know... this cab's been getting attention since the early 90s, so it's PRETTY much a broken in set. But I'm not the only guy playing. But I'm using a Les Paul too, for that matter. Other dude uses a Marshall JMP with a treble bled Strat with a 2 x 12 marshall cab with the same speakers. He sounds pretty good through it, actually. I'm just phearful that my mids will go bye bye and the hot chicks will tell me that they'd rather not sleep with me because they could never hear me play. Then the nerd who stands at the front row with binoculars and examines all of your gear and playing is gonna come up to me after the show and say, "Mmmmyeeesss... you did fairly... decently... playingwise... but uhmm... hrm... how should I say? Hm... Erhm... your sound truly concerned me... yesss yesss it was concerning to say the least. It was quite vexing and perplexing and very much concerned me as a person to hear that sound."

Oh what a nightmare....

[Chickenwings]

Re: Vintage 30s, Greenbacks, or G12T-75s????

No sir, I am not. As a matter of fact the G12T-75s are going to come from my other guitarist's JCM 900 cab. From what I know... this cab's been getting attention since the early 90s, so it's PRETTY much a broken in set. But I'm not the only guy playing. But I'm using a Les Paul too, for that matter. Other dude uses a Marshall JMP with a treble bled Strat with a 2 x 12 marshall cab with the same speakers. He sounds pretty good through it, actually. I'm just phearful that my mids will go bye bye and the hot chicks will tell me that they'd rather not sleep with me because they could never hear me play. Then the nerd who stands at the front row with binoculars and examines all of your gear and playing is gonna come up to me after the show and say, "Mmmmyeeesss... you did fairly... decently... playingwise... but uhmm... hrm... how should I say? Hm... Erhm... your sound truly concerned me... yesss yesss it was concerning to say the least. It was quite vexing and perplexing and very much concerned me as a person to hear that sound."

Oh what a nightmare....

lol....
t75s are fine. IN fact they are one of the industry's standard speakers. They work especially well with modern (ie, 800 and later) high gain marshalls. They are good for thickening the bottom end of what are usually not bottom heavy amps.
Buy 'em.
Try em. sell em if you dont like 'em.
They will definitely slay what you are using now.
Its a 100 dollar gamble, that you can recoup if you decide to sell them on....

Selecting speakers from what cork sniffers tell you on the net will drive you mad.

You run your mids on 3 anyway and your treble and presence high with the crap speakers you have got. Turn up your mids a knotch or two if you are that stressed out! The other cool thing about having a less present speaker is that you can secretly turn your amp master up a bit and not get in people's faces (....shhhh, its our secret!).

This stuff is not rocket science - and dont forget that those things (t75s) sound better the more you push them. They worked fine for a whole generation of guitar gods.