NEED A SPEAKER TOPIC. Another post on speakers

V30,.... V30,... why art thou so deafening to my ears, you make them bleed, your ice pick tone has killed me to no avail. WTF??? Perhaps the quad of V30 I removed from my Recto 412 are not so bad after all. I have an oversized 1x12 cabinet that no other speaker sounds good in. However, the V30 sound better than it ever did anywhere else. At least I have one out of three in use.

Why not try swapping two of the EVM12L with two V30? many have claimed it sounded good. That was a real PITA to get two of the EV's out of the cabinet. I should have left the wiring as I had it (parallel/series) but went back to original wiring to mix the two different speakers. Guess what, the lower wattage speaker won and that is all I could hear. Sounded absolutely terrible. I could have gone to the trouble to return to parallel/series but I did not feel like soldering 12 AWG wire to the speaker posts.

V30 in a sealed cab along with anything else in an open cab sounds incredible. Even with the back of the oversized, unported 1x12 the V30 rocks. Everthing else I have tried (except for FANE and EV) flubs out and sounds overburdened. Still have not cared much for the v30 in the 412 cab. However, they always sound good recorded.

So far, here is what I have gone through, may even still be using it.

EVM12L Black Label , fully loaded Mesa Recto 412 cab (standard size). So far my favorite speaker in the 412 for both the Mark V and the Mark IV. Will see how it sounds with a Royal Atlantic when I get it.

FANE Studio, have it back in the Mark IV combo. Love/Hate relationship. Really depends on tubes in use. Seems to lack the boost in mid range like most guitar speakers. That is easy to dial in.

WGS Black Hawk HP100. Sounds okay in the Mark IV, much better than MC90. This baby is one for the Mark V combo. Would probably get the Jensen Jet Black Bird due to higher power handing. Sound terrific but not sure if speaker is rated properly since it gives off an odor of overheated circuit board smell (burned resistor, blown transformer smell on occasion). Reason why I took it out of the Mark IV: cannot set volume above 2 or it overheats. FANE just takes the abuse and sounds better the louder it gets.

Eminence Tonker Lite. I ordered 8ohm speaker but believe I got a 16 ohm instead. Speaker is not marked for impedance. Similar issue to the WGS BH, but worse, magnet cover gets extremely hot (probably due to bad load mismatch to the output of the transformer). Despite its weight, this puppy can scream and punch out the lows extremely well. Mounted in the Mark IV combo did not do so well, too much vibration. This speaker is better suited in a extension cab than combo. Too bad it was 16 ohm. The clean channel sounded really great. Not as good as the FANE or the WGS Black Hawk.

Thanks for the tip on the Tonker!
I **** near pulled the trig on one a few weeks ago, trying to lighten up my BA. I wound up with a Celestion Century Vintage (3lbs!)
The only thing I miss about the Black Shadow is the low end..but the Century is awesome so far, kinda like a V30 without the honk..just for your info..thanks for the overview!
Shaun

You are welcome. It is more difficult to find a single speaker for a combo that can handle the full power and yet be satisfying to your tastes. I have tried one ALNICO, sounded awesome during break-in. Now it sounds similar to the MC90 in brightness. Only good thing, no flub with added bass. I prefer the 200W or above ceramic magnet, oversized heavy speaker. Size of the magnet does not matter, I would take a neodymium driver if it performed well. Issue with neo, it does not easily let go of its magnetism momentarily like ALNICO, Ceramic will do this too, but not as dramatic. ( I may be dead wrong about that but, that is how I was misinformed). I prefer the old school rule, load should be able to handle at least twice the maximum output power. Many may disagree, please do. I would prefer to get my break-up (distortion) created by the preamp and power tubes than the speaker.

Casper said:

Thanks for the tip on the Tonker!
I **** near pulled the trig on one a few weeks ago, trying to lighten up my BA. I wound up with a Celestion Century Vintage (3lbs!)
The only thing I miss about the Black Shadow is the low end..but the Century is awesome so far, kinda like a V30 without the honk..just for your info..thanks for the overview!
Shaun

Click to expand...

How long have you had the Century Vintage ( I was considering this speaker some time ago), If the speaker is not broken in yet, the bass response may be poor at best. Also cabinet size makes a difference too. A deeper cabinet will enhance the bass even if the speaker is brighter than normal when used in shallow combo.

I doubt that I gave the Tonker Lite enough time. I still have it and may fine use for it some where. Perhaps a Carvin V3MC since it has 16 ohm output transformer.

Another speaker by Eminence I was considering, Commonwealth. I doubt the basket would fit the Mark IV.

There are a lot of good speakers out there. It all depends on the application and what you expect to get (tone wise).

Here is a dilemma. I have the Standard Recto 412 cabinet. Original speakers UK made V30 G12. I could not tolerate the tone. Swapped them out for EVM12L black label and have not been happier. Now I recently got the Royal Atlantic Head. It sounded good with the EV's but I just did not feel like spending another grand to replace speakers in another cabinet. I took the typical 2hr drive to Raliegh NC since there are two guitar shop in close proximity to each other. I figured out why all the 412 cabs always appear to look small, they are. I am used to the Standard Recto cab. Played through a few, most of them used. Went back to the first store I was in after I left the second store. Decided to try out the Egnator cab. People at GC recommended V30's for the RA100 but they had no cabinets with that speaker. The Egnator cab was on close out sale. I picked it up for about $380. Since I kept the 4 V30's that I removed from the Standard Recto figured I give them a try. Used some of the spare parts I had to make a signal in, parallel out. First impression of the V30 in a 29x29x14 slant cab, freaken AWESOME! :shock: That just blew me away. Nice Deep Bass, sounded perfect. I am happy I held on to those speakers vs giving them away. For $380 I have a kick *** cab for the RA100. I had to hear it with the Mark V and again blown away. What gives? The V30's sounded terrible in the larger cab. Perhaps the resonant frequency or tone of the cabinet competed with the tone of the speaker. In the Standard cab, if I had too much bass the speakers would flub or fart, in the small cabinet the bass is extremely tight, and the treble is not ear piercing.

I would agree with many who have liked the RA100 or Mark V with the V30, it is important what cabinet you have. If I were to compare quality between the Mesa cab and the Egnator, Mesa is better by far. Workmanship and materials used in the Mesa cabinets are far better than what I have seen. The much higher price is worth the money. For now I am satisfied with the inexpensive Egnator cab especially with the V30.