Celestion Vintage 30, (V30) an in-depth look.

[@padgreen]

Great playing as always, could listen to that for hours. Great sounds with all the guitars, but that Strat into that JMP, into either cabinet, a magical combination.

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks Patrick, I love that Strat, it sounds great, and a JMP always sounds class.

[@ApeLikeCreature]

I replaced the 16 ohm Celestion Rocket 50 in my Blackstar HT20 Amp with an 8 ohm Celestion V30 speaker. WOW!!! More pleasing mids, rounded lows and a much less harsh top end. It has this full, round chewy-ness to it. My vintage Tele sounds fantastic though the amp now compared to before. That classic tele bark with a more rounded classic rock tone.

[@Andrew_85]

Lovely playing and tone. Nice to take the time to explore this speaker. Thanks!

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks Andrew, I'm glad you enjoyed the video

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

I love it for clean sounds too.

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah it has a great array of clean tones to it.

[@gcvrsa]

What many people forget-or perhaps never knew-is that Celestion specifically engineered the Vintage 30 to replicate as closely as possible the sound of the AlNiCo Blue, but with higher power handling and a ceramic magnet. If you listen to Celestion's old speaker comparison CD (which is also on KZbin), you will hear how close the two really are, though in my opinion, nothing else sounds *exactly* like an AlNiCo Blue. I play a Rickenbacker 330 with Hi-Gain pickups into a Mesa/Boogie F-50 1x12 open back short chassis combo (the traditional "Boogie" size). That amp shipped originally with a Black Shadow 90, but I chose to replace it with a Vintage 30, because Mesa shipped the F-30 combo with a Vintage 30, and I had originally planned to get both an F-30 and and F-50 to pair as a stereo rig. I was a big fan of the Vintage 30 in Mesa Recto cabs, so that's why I chose the Vintage 30. It's still one of my favorite drivers. I am definitely not a high gain or metal player. My sounds range from clean to lightly-mildly overdriven.

[@ZillaCabs]

It is really interesting how they did it. I think over the years the V30 has changed enough to make them a quite different speaker. Really interesting though.

[@georgefromgreece4119]

Excellent comment!

[@basedguitarist731]

I love your playing, man.

[@ZillaCabs]

Yeah Joe is a great guitarist for sure.

[@davecooper360]

I've tried many speakers over my "career". Once I tried Vintage 30s, I was instantly satisfied. They have good lows and mids.. and sparkly highs that make for a well rounded tone. They have bite and growl! Which you need on your guitar tone! 💥

[@ZillaCabs]

That all sounds just like what I would say. They are a great go to speaker for a lot of styles. Thanks for watching.

[@bartekbanys2254]

And they sound very good in the band mix....

[@jorgemorleysmith]

Brilliant videos, what a great channel. Thanks guys. You always look really cold in all your videos - you should get some heating on!

[@ZillaCabs]

haha thanks for that, you're not the first person to say that. Heating is getting sorted haha

[@blortslompson2388]

Beautiful Les Paul, looks like the twin of my Studio.

[@alastairtilley3585]

You're a super versatile player Joe, great work, but when you pulled out the Daemoness V, you also pulled out all the stops! Could you guys do an in depth look at the G12T-75? Across styles just like this video, and maybe combined with a V30 in a 2x12 cab? Love your work.

[@JoeHarvatt]

Thanks Alastair, that's very kind of you. That sounds like an excellent idea for a video, we'll add it to the list.

[@ZillaCabs]

We definitely should do that. We did a short video a while back but I think this format is much more useful. Thanks for the support.

[@johndory2826]

Thanks for making these videos. Super informative and helpful. It seems to do bluesy stuff with the strat well. Do you guys think the vintage 30 could pull off country licks? Maybe with a telecaster? Great vids guys!

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks, I'm glad you find them useful. I think it could do country, unfortunately neither of use know that many country licks (although I should as I listen to country all the time), I think we get a little scared off from trying it in these videos as country players are great and we don't want to get it wrong ;)

[@samuelmeluch394]

Hi guys! Really great review of a V30 speaker! Is there a big difference between made in UK V30 and today's International ltd V30 speaker? What do you think about it? What version is in video? Thank you!

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks for that Samuel. I really like the Chinese V30 but we are going to be doing that video soon with a few different models of the V30.

[@marcpeiron_studio]

Simply the best!

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks Marc!

[@stephenchow5161]

it would be cool to do a comparison of all the variations and iterations. the earliest jubilee marshall vintage, the mesa spec, hot cat spec, mode 4 spec, 8 vs 16 ohm, england vs chinese!

[@scottdavidson6066]

Mixes well with a G12H30 70th Anniversary! Can be a little bright for some amps, though.

[@darkhorseO3]

Hi guys. Living the videos. Can you compare the v30 with the v type please?

[@DmitryOmelechko]

DarkhorseO3 and greenbacks pleeeeeeeaaaase :)

[@ZillaCabs]

definitely. great shout

[@ZillaCabs]

Just to let you know, the V30 vs Vtype video got edited today. It should be up in the next week or so.

[@nicholastotoro7721]

If there was a speaker that had the growl on the wound strings like the V30 and the thickness and chewiness on the unwound strings like the G12M, it would be perfect.

[@ZillaCabs]

That's a great comment!.... I actually think the M greenback with the 55Hz cone gets a bit closer to what you are describing... unfortunately they don't seem to make one of those any more.

[@zippy61]

I have a pair of V30s in a closed back cab. Playing through a SG with 57 classics. Doesn’t matter what head I use Bogner XTC, Orange TH30, Friedman Dirty Shirley playing hard rock it sounds shrill. Today I switched one of the V30s out for a G12-65 Creamback.still has harshness. Any ideas ?

[@ZillaCabs]

To me SM57s aren't my favourite mic for these speakers, we often use them as they are a well know mic and are something that a lot of people are used to. What is the cab made of and what dimensions is it?

[@WheredoDoISATS]

Thank you!

[@ZillaCabs]

Glad you like it, thanks for watching.

[@texxhexxmm]

In Combiantion it's often the icing ;) f.e with Alnico Cream. And yes you have to play it bit louder to get the great tone and characteristics.

[@texxhexxmm]

i prefer the 8 ohm version btw

[@JaimeNoro]

@@texxhexxmm how does the 8 ohm differ from the 16 ohm? I've been curious to put a pair of 16 ohm speakers on a 2x12 just to see how it goes.

[@texxhexxmm]

@@JaimeNoro Had two 16 Ohms in my Engl 2x12.Was to harsh.More trebely. The 8 Ohm ist bit smoother but still that great mid bite.

[@JaimeNoro]

@@texxhexxmm that's my experience too. On the other hand, 8 ohms speakers tend to have a more nasal vowel to them, whereas 16 ohms have a more open vowel, at least to my ears. But yeah, V30s wouldn't be my first choices for 16 ohm speakers unless I had a very muddy sounding amp.

[@ZillaCabs]

Thanks guys. We are going to try and do a video on impedance but it is hard to make a fair test.

[@tone-369]

It’s possible to use a guitar speaker 🔈 for HiFi ( use for midrange ) ?

[@ZillaCabs]

You could do but they tend to colour the sound quite a bit, you would probably be better off using a specific HiFi setup.

[@adrs2]

Guitar speakers are not only non linear but will naturally produce harmonics, distortion - cones are not smooth for this purpose - they flex during movement and ripples on the surface produce deliberate interferences. Audio speakers have very stiff and light cones like kevlar, glass fiber depending on size and quality to move in very precise way

[@tone-369]

@@adrs2 thanks for your help

[@oldschool1967]

thank you.This speaker 8 ohm? , 16 ohm?

[@carlrudd1858]

Nice sounding! Good video, but as close as I can detect you make no mention whether this is a Chinese V30 or a UK V30, as the two typically don't sound similar.

[@ZillaCabs]

It is Chinese as that is where the vast majority of V30s are made. There are differences but that is mostly down to years and how the speakers are treated/the environment that they are kept. I haven't yet seen a video where they use two straight out of the box speakers and that is really the only fair test... The "UK made" V30s are made from the same parts, just assembled in a different country, mostly for import tax issues. Some companies are just really good at marketing.

[@DavidLarew]

8 ohm? I have a 16 ohm... should I match it for an 8 ohm ext? thx, nice pickin

[@DreidMusicalX]

Don't ask me why I was thinking this just now. But I have an idea. We put a Round speaker in a Square box, has it ever been done of putting a Square speaker in a Circle?

[@ZillaCabs]

Give it a shot and tell us what you think.

[@Earlvis]

Have you tried the Weber Legacy?

[@ZillaCabs]

I've loved every Weber that we've had in here but I haven;t recorded one since we've had the channel. I keep meening to get hold of some but they are quite hard to find in the UK

[@rhaulvictor9288]

Is this V30 used in the video Made in China or Made in UK? To help me in the decision when buying my pair of V30.

[@texxhexxmm]

What do you think of the UK V30? Mesa uses them or do they really have a custom(looking like V30 UK) ? ;)

[@danielnewhouse5044]

The vintage 30 has a rich sound which is better than a GT-75s hollow sound. Unless they have adjusted the GT-75. The problem with it - is it too rich in sound for a 2 guitar player band? Is the lead guitar silky enough for guitar hero rock?

[@firstboyonthemoon8876]

Is the v30 uk or china made?

[@erpringle]

They don't answer so that tells me they are the Chinese version. Harsh sounding in person.

[@eduardosouzadeoliveira3809]

Esmeulon - Gostei .

[@0Orion]

sadly, an 8 ohm v30 doesn't sound like this in real life. You have to EQ or do recording tricks to remove the harsh top end. the 16 ohm version is even harsher. maybe the v30s are good in the studio or live when you don't stand in front of the cab.

[@ZillaCabs]

It's just personal taste. V30s sound great to most people, me included, and I play speakers all the time. It's not my favourite but I'm more than happy to play one. When it comes to these recording we did next to nothing in terms of recording tricks or re-eqing. It's just personal tastes.

[@erpringle]

When celestion went Chinese they went to shiot. I only buy the made in UK version. Just my opinion.

[@junkawakami3193]

V30? you just can't wrong with it

[@ZillaCabs]

It is a great speaker

[@AaronLimberger]

no love for the tele

[@ZillaCabs]

Hi Aaron, the fact we have so many guitars here and no tele is such is a crime. I have an old mexican tele here that I love but needs a bit of work on it. We're working on getting one in.

[@gnfnroses5470]

Made in china