Celestion vintage 30

Chickenwings

Chickenwings

Alnico 6/8
So my main amp is a fender princeton reverb II with a jensen c12n which i put in to brighten it up (it used to have a g12m75). I thought celestions were generally darker speakers. The amp is still very dark and bassy even with the jensen. HAs anyone installed or compared a vintage 30 with a jensen?
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

g12t75? thats not an overly dark speaker

i have a c12n and v30. if you think the c12n is dark then dont get a v30, i find the c12n brighter than the v30. maybe try something like a jensen c12Q or something from the eminence line.
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

gibson175 said:
So my main amp is a fender princeton reverb II with a jensen c12n which i put in to brighten it up (it used to have a g12m75). I thought celestions were generally darker speakers. The amp is still very dark and bassy even with the jensen. HAs anyone installed or compared a vintage 30 with a jensen?
Click to expand...

Many times. But only vintage C12N's from the 60's. The reissue doesn't really sound like the old Jensen.

I've always found the Vintage 30 to be louder than the vintage C12N - a lot louder.

I have a blackface Princeton Reverb. The Vintage 30 sounded a little to "in your face" for me - to bright and not enough lows to balance out the treble. That's in a small combo amp. In a sealed Marshall bottom the V30 sounds very different and much "better".

Anyways, the speaker you want for your amp is either a Celestion G12H30 or G1265.

I'm using the G1265 in my Princeton Reverb.
 
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Re: Celestion vintage 30

Hmmmmmmm!
Why do they call them Loud Speakers?

I have used alot of Utahs, Celestion Green Back 25's ,and today, about 7 Vintage 30's..
In my dinky Fender Blues Jr., I swapped the stock Eninence Fender Special Design,, :S out for a Green Back 25 I had laying around here sence the early mid seventys..
It was much smoother and warm sounding than the stocker, but could get flubbery when useing pedals and effects.
I had switched a couple of my cab's over to Vintage 30's, so decided to try one in the Blues Jr about 9 months after I installed the Greenback in her..
Much crisper and quicker responce, maybe not quite as smooth, but for my style (Classic Rock/Blues/Country & maybe a bit of jazz along the way) but the Vintage 30 has stayed there for 11 or more years.. ;)
Sad part of the story today though,, Celestion moved there production of all but there most expencive speakers to China..
I probebly will be looking for a good replacement sourse, should the 11 Celestions I currently own fail.. ;)
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

D.Dailey said:
Hmmmmmmm!
Why do they call them Loud Speakers?

I have used alot of Utahs, Celestion Green Back 25's ,and today, about 7 Vintage 30's..
In my dinky Fender Blues Jr., I swapped the stock Eninence Fender Special Design,, :S out for a Green Back 25 I had laying around here sence the early mid seventys..
It was much smoother and warm sounding than the stocker, but could get flubbery when useing pedals and effects.
I had switched a couple of my cab's over to Vintage 30's, so decided to try one in the Blues Jr about 9 months after I installed the Greenback in her..
Much crisper and quicker responce, maybe not quite as smooth, but for my style (Classic Rock/Blues/Country & maybe a bit of jazz along the way) but the Vintage 30 has stayed there for 11 or more years.. ;)
Sad part of the story today though,, Celestion moved there production of all but there most expencive speakers to China..
I probebly will be looking for a good replacement sourse, should the 11 Celestions I currently own fail.. ;)
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. I love Vintage 30's. I love G12H30's and G1265's more though. I played with a Vintage 30 in my Deluxe Reverb and Pro Reverb amps for many, many years. It was only when Celestion reissued the G12H30 that I made a switch. (more bass and a fuller sound from the G12H30 without the sometimes annoying treble spike V30's sometimes have) But if the G12H30 or G1265 were not available I'll still be using a Vintage 30.
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

Lewguitar said:
Don't get me wrong. I love Vintage 30's. I love G12H30's and G1265's more though. I played with a Vintage 30 in my Deluxe Reverb and Pro Reverb amps for many, many years. It was only when Celestion reissued the G12H30 that I made a switch. (more bass and a fuller sound from the G12H30 without the sometimes annoying treble spike V30's sometimes have) But if the G12H30 or G1265 were not available I'll still be using a Vintage 30.
Click to expand...

How did you like the Vintage 30 in your Deluxe Reverb??
I am pretty close to makeing a move on a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue myself..
Likely in the next few weeks..
Missed out on an about 300 dollar saveings a couple weeks ago, and am hopeing I can find a likewise deal in the very near future..
At 55 years of age,, I have never had to go with solid state,, been playing electrics sence 1971.. ;)
Modleing Amps never have tripped my switch myself..
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

Okay fellas thanks for your input, so if the current speaker is brighter than the celestion, then perhaps i need new preamp tubes - its all JJs right now. I have new power tubes but the preamp tubes are old (i dont even know how old!). Perhaps some tung-sols? I believe the jjs are supposed to be very clean but not bright.
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

jjs are fairly dark and fairly high output in my experience
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

the red fang and the gold arent as bright or as good sounding as the blue. ive owned all three and still own a red fang
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

Okay. I was thinking that the Princeton was more wattage, and he would need a higher wattage rating alnico. I see it's a 6v6 amp. A Blue will probably be just fine.

I would expect a T75 to sound a bit flat with a low wattage amp. Some speakers work fine with low wattage despite their rating, but the T75 doesn't in my experience.
 
Re: Celestion vintage 30

Lake Placid Blues said:
Okay. I was thinking that the Princeton was more wattage, and he would need a higher wattage rating alnico. I see it's a 6v6 amp. A Blue will probably be just fine.

I would expect a T75 to sound a bit flat with a low wattage amp. Some speakers work fine with low wattage despite their rating, but the T75 doesn't in my experience.
Click to expand...

The reissue Celestion G12 Alnico Blue is pretty bright - a lot brighter than the vintage Blues I have, but those are nearly 50 years old now. They still sound fabulous though.

The Blue sounds really spectacular when driven by a tweed Deluxe style amp. The Deluxe really benefits from the efficiency, deep bass and crisp highs of the Blue.

Usually I don't like the Blue with a blackface or silverface Fender - to bright.

The exception is my blackface Princeton Reverb. I'll play it through the early 60's Celestion Alnico 12 in my Matchless cab and it outperforms the G1265 in the PR. Just makes everything I play sound a lot livlier and so I play better because I'm inspired by the great tone.

I didn't mention it because they're so darned expensive.

But I do want say that none of the copies I've owned from Weber or Eminence sound like a real Celestion Alnico Blue. They're not bright and lively enough. They sound muffled by comparism.

Only speaker that comes close to the tone of a 60's Celestion Alnico Blue is Celestion's own reissue of that speaker. I don't think anything other than Celestion's own reissue even comes close to the true tone of a real one from the early 60's.

Great, great guitar speakers! Among the very, very best ever made for guitar.

But they're not for every amp.

One more thing: even though the Vintage 30 is a ceramic magnet speaker, it wasdesigned by Celestion to emulate the tone of a Celestion G12 Alnico.
 
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