Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

[lex666]

Any good?

Thinking about getting the 1x12 cab that matches the Mini Recto head...

[Van Noord]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Uhhhhh yeah.
Quite good.
Very good.
Extremely good.
As long as you know, and understand the V30 sound.

[schecterplayer]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

It's a vintage 30, the only real difference between that and the normal celestion is that the Mesa ones are still made in England as opposed to china. Some people claim they sound a little different, either way, a great speaker.

[Grindspine]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

It can be nasal with the wrong amp.

It can be great with a rectifier.

I tame the aforementioned nasal sound by using one cab with Vintage 30s with a second cabinet filled with Celestion G12H-80 speakers, which are more of the Celestion "modern" sound.

[lex666]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Ok, cool.

I thought Mesa's V30 was a "copy" or clone of Celestion's V30. Not actually a Celestion...?

did that make sense?

[schecterplayer]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Nope, they are made in England by celestion and branded and sold to Mesa. Marshalls G12 vintage is also a re branded English celestion vintage 30. The cool thing about them is that the celestion branded ones are all made in China now.

[slightly_rude]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

It's a vintage 30, the only real difference between that and the normal celestion is that the Mesa ones are still made in England as opposed to china. Some people claim they sound a little different, either way, a great speaker.

This is not the case. Both the Mesa V30 and Marshall G12 Vintage are voiced differently than the "out of the box" Celestion V30. I have all three (actually four, as Mesa had yet another V30 variant from the mid 90's). They all have different "T" numbers but share the same 444 bass cone. The Mesa's are definitely darker.
Compared side by side, the difference is quite noticeable.

Check out this link.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=851486

[schecterplayer]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Good to know, I've only tried the Marshall branded speakers and I actually quite like them. I didn't think I would since there is a lot of Vintage 30 hate, I guess I just like my speakers a little spikey.

[NecroPolo]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Bloody awesome cab, as well as the 2x12" and the 4x12". The

It's a vintage 30, the only real difference between that and the normal celestion is that the Mesa ones are still made in England as opposed to china. Some people claim they sound a little different, either way, a great speaker.

Interesting. I tend to like the V30 less in other cabs, regardless of the amp sitting on it. I always had a feeling that maybe, they are still a little different from stock. Anyway, I never had the opportunity to test the bare Mesa V30 speakers side by side with the 'normal' V30 Celestions. Maybe they are all the same, it's just the perfectly fitting cab, I don't know.

[some_dude]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

This is not the case. Both the Mesa V30 and Marshall G12 Vintage are voiced differently than the "out of the box" Celestion V30. I have all three (actually four, as Mesa had yet another V30 variant from the mid 90's). They all have different "T" numbers but share the same 444 bass cone. The Mesa's are definitely darker.
Compared side by side, the difference is quite noticeable.

+1.

I have both. The Mesa is darker and smoother than the Celestion. Whether that's good or not is subjective as some of the top rated cabs in the world use generic Celestion V30s... but IMO the Mesa V30 is a big part of the "Rectifier" sound.

Also, if you look at them side by side you'll see that the Mesa's magnet, top/back plates, pole piece and adhesives are made of different materials than the standard Celestion V30. The magnet on the Mesa version is also significantly thicker.

I've heard unfavourable reviews on the Mini-Recto 1x12s. Like most small 1x12s they're said to be boxy sounding. I haven't tried the Mini-Recto one myself, but I have owned a number of small 1x12 cabs (quite a few of them Mesa) and all of them have been boxy regardless of whether they've been open, closed or ported.

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

We had a guy playing with us who went on and on about how much better the mesa V30 in his open back cab sounded than a chinese one ever could. SO when he left one night we did a swap. He jammed for 3 days not noticing anything while still bragging about the 'real' V 30.


When we told him he got pissed that we screwed with him but then accepted that he was full of crap

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

We had a guy playing with us who went on and on about how much better the mesa V30 in his open back cab sounded than a chinese one ever could. SO when he left one night we did a swap. He jammed for 3 days not noticing anything while still bragging about the 'real' V 30.


When we told him he got pissed that we screwed with him but then accepted that he was full of crap

This could be done with many things in a persons rig. Most of the things people get worked up about on this forum in the big picture dont mean much.

[some_dude]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

We had a guy playing with us who went on and on about how much better the mesa V30 in his open back cab sounded than a chinese one ever could. SO when he left one night we did a swap. He jammed for 3 days not noticing anything while still bragging about the 'real' V 30.


When we told him he got pissed that we screwed with him but then accepted that he was full of crap

I'm going to call this story a load of crap. Both speakers do sound good, but the differences in sound are obvious.

[schecterplayer]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Obvious if you are looking for a difference, if you just turn on your amp and start playing, you'd probably just tweak the EQ and wonder why it sounded a little different, then forget about it. It's easy to ignore things you don't know are there.

[some_dude]

Re: Opinions on Mesa's V30 speaker?

Obvious if you are looking for a difference, if you just turn on your amp and start playing, you'd probably just tweak the EQ and wonder why it sounded a little different, then forget about it. It's easy to ignore things you don't know are there.

You don't need to look for the difference... it's pretty f*cking obvious.

http://tonefinder.com/files/78-V30%20Comparison%2C%20Mesa%20V30.mp3

http://tonefinder.com/files/14-V30%20Comparison%2C%20Celestion%20V30.mp3