G12T-75 vs. Vintage 30 vs. Greenbacks

[dan]

I have a good quality 2x12 cabinet, made from thick birch plywood. It
has an internal volume of about 2.9 cubic feet (82 liters). I put
Celestion Vintage 30s in it & they don't really do it for me. They seem
to have a very aggressive high end, a lot of mid bass, and a relatively
loose bottom. When overdriven they seem to have a bit of a raspy high
mid quality to them. They are probably well suited for classic or modern
rock. I would like a tighter bottom with smoother highs, more of a brown
sound. I've been considering Celestion G12T-75s. I also discovered that
Carvin is using Greenbacks in their Steve Vai Legacy cabinets. What
would you suggest? By the way I'm using a 45 Watt amp.
Thanks.

[Barry E. King]

I don't know about the brown sound, but having owned all three of those
speakers I may be able to add some insight. The G12T-75s have more of a
scooped tone. Some people claim they are shrill sounding but that has not
been my experience. In a 4-12 cab with the right amp and well broken in
they sound great. My favorite combination so far though is a Greenback and
a V30 together in a 2-12. They are similar speakers tonally (closer to each
other than the G12T-75 IMO) but I think they somehow round each other out.
The V30 in particular I have found takes a while to break in but I agree
that they can be kind of loose on the bottom end if the tone stack isn't
adjusted carefully.

Barry

dan <sz...@ashly.com> wrote in message news:3A548BFA...@ashly.com...

[Tonefactor]

>I have a good quality 2x12 cabinet, made from thick birch plywood. It
>has an internal volume of about 2.9 cubic feet (82 liters). I put
>Celestion Vintage 30s in it & they don't really do it for me. They seem
>to have a very aggressive high end, a lot of mid bass, and a relatively
>loose bottom.

V-30's don't really work well in anything other than a 4-12 cab. They don't
produce enough bottom end to round out the sound in smaller cabinets. I have
2-12 with a V-30 and G12T-75 together. They sound good together in that
particular cabinet, which is an old JCM-800 1936 cab. The G12T-75 produces
the highs and lows while the V-30 fills in the mids.

>When overdriven they seem to have a bit of a raspy high
>mid quality to them.

In a 4-12 cab the low end is emphasized reducing this effect.

> I also discovered that
>Carvin is using Greenbacks in their Steve Vai Legacy cabinets.

Greenbacks have an even more flabby low end than the V-30's.

[Barry E. King]

That totally depends upon the cabinet, and likely the amp which is driving
them. I currently have two 2-12 cabinets, each with V30s. One is a closed
(with removable) back, the other is the half-back cabinet in the form of a
Rivera Quiana 212. The 212 sounds bigger than the closed back cabinet and
better than the other cabinet with the back on or off. The Quiana cabinet
is heavy, made from solid hardwood and noticably deeper than a typical 212.
It sounds quite fat and is definitely not lacking in low end. I have a 412
cab to compare it to with a choice of V30s or G12T-75s or any combination
thereof. As much as I like what a 412 can do, the 212 in the Quiana cab
pushes more than enough air to shake the rafters and maintain tonal
integrity.

Any of them can be made to sound flabby by poor choices in setting the tone
controls. My other 2-12 with each of a V30 and Greenback never sounded
anywhere near something that could be called flabby, and it sounded huge.
That was a Budda StringMaster 212, since sold. Very tight with huge well
rounded tone.

Barry

Tonefactor <tonef...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010104125231...@ng-ma1.aol.com...

[SINASL1]

I usually think of greenbacks as a "warmer" sounding speaker than a V30... more
"brown" and less modern and aggressive in the upper mids. I like them mixed in
a cab with 2 30's as well.

[Marcus Schantz]

Carvin is not using the greenbacks anymore. They switched to Vintage 30's.

Marcus

"dan" <sz...@ashly.com> wrote in message news:3A548BFA...@ashly.com...

[dan]

I've tried 3 different amps through my 2x12 cab with V30s: VHT Pittbull 45, Mesa
DC-5, & Fender Bassman. I've tried all different tone configurations, but can't
seem to get a tight & full bottom end. I can get plenty of mid-bass out of them,
but that's really not what I want. Also, the highs just get overwhelming when I
use a lot of preamp gain (like for leads). BTW my cabinet is 14 inches deep &
made from thick birch plywood like the Mesa & Rivera 2x12 cabs. Celestion
emailed me & recommended the V12-80. So I guess I have yet another speaker to
try to audition.

[Barry & Heather]

Carvin this year change from greenbacks to vintage 30s in the vai amps

cya barry

dan <sz...@ashly.com> wrote in message news:3A548BFA...@ashly.com...

[Aaron Allen]

Why don't you use a 2x12 of choice and put a single 15" under it ? Should be
tons of lowend that way. Example setup:
top cab, 2 x 12" @ 16ohms per speaker, giving you 8 ohms total
bottom cab 1 x 15" @ 8 ohms
this will give you a 4 ohm system impedence, and all the lows you can
handle. :)

Aaron

"dan" <sz...@ashly.com> wrote in message news:3A5627A5...@ashly.com...

[Barry E. King]

I think they are more mid-scooped (not that they are overly so IMO - still a
decent speaker) than either the V30 or the Greenback so they may be just the
ticket for your cab.

Barry

dan <sz...@ashly.com> wrote in message news:3A5627A5...@ashly.com...