Speaker for Roadster

[chomi63]

Hello.
Since it is shortage of Mesa products in Europe i had to settle with alternative cab. I went for Hesu 2x12 Modern with Hesu Demons. I bought it based on online videos and reviews and was not able to try it before i bought it. Ten years a go i had 4x12 recto cab that i sold at some point so this is the tone that i remember. With that cab it was possible to dial in both modern high gain tones as well as some lower gain stuff. While i find Hesu very well built i also find it to be somehow harsh and gritty and was not able to dial anything at least simmilar to the tone i had in my head. Since buying Mesa 2x12 cab is not an option at this point what are my options if i decide to swap speakers in my Hesu cab.

 

[Eevil]

Well.. WGS Veteran 30 and the other WGS wannabe Vintage 30 comes to my mind.. and Eminence CV-75 sould also be V30-ish

 

[chomi63]

What ever i choose it will also be based on reviews and opinions since i will probably not be able to try them anywhere.

 

[chomi63]

It does not have to be V30-ish. What ever you find works good with Roadster. Or maybe combination of two different speakers.

 

[chomi63]

Well.. WGS Veteran 30 and the other WGS wannabe Vintage 30 comes to my mind.. and Eminence CV-75 sould also be V30-ish

Do you know how they compare to Mesa OEM Vintage 30?

 

[Eevil]

Do you know how they compare to Mesa OEM Vintage 30?

I had the CV-75 and it was a bit mellower than original 8ohm - still good enough for some time..

No personal opinion about the WGS but they were the bees knees at some point

Yet stopped toying around with cabs/speakers and bought the stiletto 4x12 again.. nothing else would help the itch

 

[bandit2013]

Hesu does have a video comparing the Demon to the Celestion V30
https://hesu-amps.com/product/hesu-demon-12-speaker/#bwg3/18

I looked at the dimensions of the cab just for kicks. Like the side handles much better than the Mesa horizontal cab which only has a top handle, makes it difficult to carry it, that is only dislike about the H212. Other than that, the 60W V30s in that cabinet make it a much darker tone due to the overall cavity and depth of the closed back cabinet. Just as a comparison, I find the Vertical 212 more balanced and not as dark toned, Same speakers too.

I did not feel that the Demon sounded all that bad in the video demo but when the backing track was removed on some of the examples, I much preferred the V30 speaker over the Demon. Note that the video has the black cabinet loaded with the Demon and the bottom one in white loaded with the V30. I assume they are the same cabinet, just different colors.

I would try replacing one speaker with the V30 in a matching impedance. If it is an 8 ohm cab, it would have 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel. If it is a 16 ohm cab, it would have 8 ohm speakers wired in series. Just a single speaker may just be enough to compensate. If not, you could replace both with the V30 speaker which would get you closer to the Horizontal 212 sound as it is very close dimensionally to the standard H212 cabinet size.

The alternate for the V30 but with more power rating is the FANE Ascension F90. Not sure how that speaker sounds but I am sure it is nothing like the MC90 speaker Mesa is using. I listened to some of the clips, a bit fizzy on the metal sound on Fane's website. Found a video comparing the Marshall Vintage to the F90 and it was rather close. You can tell it is re-amped but based on this the Marshall G12 Vintage (basically similar to the older Mesa V30-70W speakers that were out in the mid to late 1990 to 2004?) I sort of like the FANE F90 or the combination of the two. Still, no sound tracks with just the guitar? makes it harder to hear the speaker.



Most of the other videos I have seen with the FANE F90 are more clean examples or just not so good amps for that heavy Roadster sound.

 

[clutch71]

Are the speakers broken in? If so and you don't like them now, odds are you won't. I like Greenback speakers for Marshall Style amps. When the 65 watt Creamback came out I was stoked as it is supposed to be a high powered Greenback. I picked one up for a 1x12 cab I made and never bonded with it. It felt like it never broke in and sold it.

I agree Mashall Vintage may be a good alternative and readily available in Europe but will also mention the Mode 4 V30 as they may be closer to the Mesa version. There are 4 known versions of V30 and I have owned 3 of them. Marshal Vintage, Mesa V30's and Mode 4 V-30. Good luck!

 

[bandit2013]

Some of the older Mesa V30 speakers were just the 8 ohm version of the Marshall Vintage but with the Celestion sticker on it. They were the 70W version and were terrible. I have a Marshall silver jubilee 412 cab and it sounds much the same as the old oversized recto cab. Sure that Marshall cab works great with the 2555x 100W I have to go with it. I tried the JP2C and Roadster into that cab as both amps had 16 ohm outputs, reminded me of the 70W V30 speakers I hated.

After reviewing the Fane F90, I tried to see if I could get those in 16 ohms in the USA. Nope, the USA dealer only sells the 8 ohm version. For some reason, the 16 ohm version is not available in the USA.

 

[clutch71]

I may have a line on a Series 2 Rectoverb! I am lucky in that I have access to a good tube tester to makes sure all tubes are in a "good" range. Once I have that established, I'll spend time getting a feel for the rectifier tones straight in with the on-board Black Shadow. I believe when I had a series 1 I disconnected the on-board speaker when I bought a Mesa 2x12 Rectifier Cab. I don't think I ever spent much time with just the Black Shadow. I have a DIY 2x12 loaded with Marshall Vintage and I have access to my original 2x12 Rectifier cab as I gifted it to my little brother when he graduated from College. Fingers crossed.