Mesa Vintage 30's

[sambencuda]

Are these just relabeled Celestion V30's? I want to replace the Mesa C90's in the top of my Mesa 4x12 halfback, but I can't find a pair of used Mesa Vintage 30's to match the bottom. If the celestion's are the same, I'd just put those in.

[shreddermon]

Don't know the answer about Mesas, but I can tell you that if you go with Celestions you won't be disappointed. They have some sweet-ass tone.

[sambencuda]

The V30's or so different than the C90's. The cab was originally wired with one jack series/parallel. I wired it so I could still use it that way or just the top (C90's) or the bottom (V30's). The top alone or with all 4 speakers its almost annoying sounding. The C90's are really shrill and in your face. The V30's have a really round fat yet still tight sound. Almost creamy (jesus I can't believe I just used that word). I just want to make sure that I get speakers that voiced exactly like the V30's in the bottom.

[Robotechnology]

I think Mesa VIN30's have a vented polepiece that give them 70 watt power handling so they'll be similar to the 60 watt VIN30's but, not exactly the same.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

The Mesa's have more presence and more bass. Standard V-30's sound like the highs are chopped off while the Mesa's have a nicer shimmer to them.

[Twitch]

They Mesas are definitely different somehow tone wise. Id try to find the Mesa V30s, to me, they sound way better than reg V30s. I dont like regular V30s at all, but for some reason, the Mesa cabs always sound appealing where as other V30 cabs just sound tinny and flubby to me.

[Shawn Lutz]

they are slightly different from what I gather....btw...the C90 kicks ass, why do you want to change them?

[sambencuda]

they are slightly different from what I gather....btw...the C90 kicks ass, why do you want to change them?

When I A/B them the C90's with the V30's just sound really shrill. So shrill, that when I use both together the C90's bury the V30's. I closed off the back of the top half figuring that had a lot to do with it. It made very little difference. Everyone sings the C90's praise, but they just don't work with anything I put through them. The closest I come to semi-liking them is running my Mesa studio pre/Mesa 50/2/50 through them.

[x7stringx]

Those Celestion made Mesa V 30s are a nice speaker but I still prefer the England (they're all made in fucking china now) made V 30's. I use a Recto412 (stereo mode) with 2 GT12-75's in the top and 2 England made V'30s in the bottom. C90's are a great all around speaker but its just a matter of personal taste. I prefer V30's and using the GT12-75's to smooth the sound and add a good midrange bite.

[Hellraiser6502]

You could order them from Mesa Boogie.

The Mesa store here in Los Angeles has them in stock too.

[tonemonster]

Where are the Boogie V30's made now???

[plon]

Where are the Boogie V30's made now???

The V30's that Mesa use are still made in England.

[micha]

(they're all made in fucking china now)

That's just what I read in a mag last week. All Celestions come from China nowadays.
If you can't get any NOS or used speakers you get the same speaker, no matter if you buy them from Mesa, Marshall, ENGL, Harley Benton or anyone else.

The Harley Benton 4x12 (or if you have something similar where you live) would be my tip if you have use for four of them or an extra cab.
A fully loaded V30s cab is 350€ whereas 4 V30s are not below 400€ over here.
Pretty good deal IMO.

[javert]

The Harley Benton 4x12 (or if you have something similar where you live) would be my tip if you have use for four of them or an extra cab. A fully loaded V30s cab is 350€ whereas 4 V30s are not below 400€ over here.
Pretty good deal IMO.

I noticed that at Thomann too. It's quite odd that you can get them cheaper that way.

[micha]

AFAIK that's because they get them straight from the factory in China without any sales department in between.
The price is really killer.

I've been thinking about swapping some of my Greenbacks to V30s as well and sell the H&Bcab with my stock speakers.
Maybe I'll keep the cab for home use, but either way I'm off way cheaper compared to ordering the speakers alone.


The different Wattage with V30s shouldn't be any more as well.
I once had a Marshall cab rated with 280W and an ENGL cab with 260 IIRC, now they only do this one speaker for 8 and 16 Ohms.
While there's still different NOS speakers around of course.

The HB-cab should be loaded with 8Ohm speakers.
The 2x12 comes with 16Ohms, but beeing around 200€ it's not that spectacular if you buy just for the speakers...