WTB Mesa recto 4x12 cabs must be pre 2003 with v30s

I am looking for a straight/slant regular size recto cab.

Must be in very good to near mint conditon, I have a UPS commercial account to cover shipping costs.

Do not want Chinese made V30s in it so it has to be made in 2003 or prior.

I am willing to pay up to 550 if in mint condition.

I thought the only new V30's were made for Mesa, as Mesa will not use the Chinese ones?

fluff191 said:

I thought the only new V30's were made for Mesa, as Mesa will not use the Chinese ones?

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As far as I understand it all V30s are all made in China now but some of the other models are still made in the UK.

I may be wrong as I am not really a Mesa expert but if I buy a cab I rather be safe than sorry.

I found this:

Hi,
Celestion has been owned by a large Chinese company (Gold Peak Electronics) for about 12 years. Over the last number of years, we've moved a lot of production over there because of cost, plus there brand new purpose built facility is nearly 1/2 million square feet. Some of the metal work is now done there, but the soft parts that dictate your tone are UK made (in the mentioned models and a few more). The quality is also higher in the Chinese plant because we can keep up with the orders. We may average about 3 bad speakers for every 2,880 made which is pretty rockin'!! Especially when compared to the 2 or 3 bad per paket (60 speakers) before. We also have improved the UK products because we're not as over loaded.
That's the lowdown.

Cheers
Rick

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I am familiar with working with overseas manufacturing and the quality of steal is substandard to US or UK steel.

A little known fact that China does not allow the use of high quality steel such as 4130 or any steel that has a carbon content of more than 10% without certain permits which are impossible to get because the Chinese do not want a factory to all of a sudden start cranking out AK47s and then dealing with a peoples revolution because they failed to regulate raw materials.

So I am sticking with a pre 2003 cab.

Jason47 said:

I found this:

Hi,
Celestion has been owned by a large Chinese company (Gold Peak Electronics) for about 12 years. Over the last number of years, we've moved a lot of production over there because of cost, plus there brand new purpose built facility is nearly 1/2 million square feet. Some of the metal work is now done there, but the soft parts that dictate your tone are UK made (in the mentioned models and a few more). The quality is also higher in the Chinese plant because we can keep up with the orders. We may average about 3 bad speakers for every 2,880 made which is pretty rockin'!! Especially when compared to the 2 or 3 bad per paket (60 speakers) before. We also have improved the UK products because we're not as over loaded.
That's the lowdown.

Cheers
Rick

Click to expand...

I am familiar with working with overseas manufacturing and the quality of steal is substandard to US or UK steel.

A little known fact that China does not allow the use of high quality steel such as 4130 or any steel that has a carbon content of more than 10% without certain permits which are impossible to get because the Chinese do not want a factory to all of a sudden start cranking out AK47s and then dealing with a peoples revolution because they failed to regulate raw materials.

So I am sticking with a pre 2003 cab.

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Someone sounds like they've spent sometime around the shop.
I fully agree with you...why don't you just try and find some older,used v30's
and put them in the cab of your choice?

Does anyone know how to date a cab using the serial number?

Mesa V30's are still made in England.

Silverwulf said:

Mesa V30's are still made in England.

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HA! I knew it!

The bigger difference to me is that older v30's are 70 watt and new ones are 60w. What gives?

Silverwulf said:

Mesa V30's are still made in England.

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The question is hom much of it is made in the UK?

According to Celestion they moved most of the metal works to China.

Silverwulf said:

Mesa V30's are still made in England.

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I forgot to add this but every retailer has v30s listed as made in China.

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--CELVINT3008

Boogie themselves said they were made in England. Celestion stated the Mesa V30's were a proprietary design they couldn't speak about. And just a few years ago, this was mentioned in Guitar Player Magazine:

"The test cab came loaded with Mesa/Boogie’s proprietary Vintage 30 8? speakers, which, according to Mesa/Boogie’s Doug West, provide a crisper attack and tighter sound compared to the 16?Vintage 30s commonly found in 4x12 cabinets. Most Celestion speakers are now assembled in China, but Mesa/Boogie’s are still made in England using old-fashioned air-dried adhesives, instead of modern fast-drying types. (Different adhesives have different weights and other properties, and speakers can be sensitive to these subtle tone-altering differences.)"

Silverwulf said:

Boogie themselves said they were made in England. Celestion stated the Mesa V30's were a proprietary design they couldn't speak about. And just a few years ago, this was mentioned in Guitar Player Magazine:

"The test cab came loaded with Mesa/Boogie’s proprietary Vintage 30 8? speakers, which, according to Mesa/Boogie’s Doug West, provide a crisper attack and tighter sound compared to the 16?Vintage 30s commonly found in 4x12 cabinets. Most Celestion speakers are now assembled in China, but Mesa/Boogie’s are still made in England using old-fashioned air-dried adhesives, instead of modern fast-drying types. (Different adhesives have different weights and other properties, and speakers can be sensitive to these subtle tone-altering differences.)"

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But here is where we get into the grey area, sure that part maybe made in the UK as per contract between Celestion and Mesa but what they dont go into is where is the stamped metal is made. Celestion has already stated that their metal tooling was sent to China and if thats the case the metal is low quality when it comes to what is available in the USA and the UK. Until Celestion or Mesa posts the certificates for the Metal they use in China I am going to assume its the foodgrade low carbon content stainless steel crap they use over there on all the stamped metal products.

Considering the article you posted says some of the metalwork for Celestion is done in China and Mesa/Celestion both contend the Mesa speakers are made in England, I don't see any reason to assume the metal is made in China.

What's your big beef with metal frames made in China anyway?

Silverwulf said:

Considering the article you posted says some of the metalwork for Celestion is done in China and Mesa/Celestion both contend the Mesa speakers are made in England, I don't see any reason to assume the metal is made in China.

What's your big beef with metal frames made in China anyway?

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The structure of the metal is changed signifigantly and how will the speaker last over time since this is a much softer metal being used?

It may not be signifigant to some but things like this matter to me. In the short term it may be a non issue but with all these problems with Chinese materials such as the dry wall fiasco I want to avoid any future problems that may arise from lower quality materials such as the metal.

One possible scenario that goes on in my head and it may be far fetched to some but plausible is:
the speaker being mounted in the cab for instance, the holes where the screws are may oblong and the stamped metal frame may start to warp from vibration from sound after so many years.

See in the US and UK they use 4130 or 1018 or Euro equivalent for stamped metal and this stuff is unavalaible in China. 4130 and 1018 is so strong as a sheet metal that after heat treating or just annealing it will hold its shape for a very long time even under stress. This Chinese metal not so much...

I think you underestimate the strength of the metals being used. It's not like it's being made of plastic.

Silverwulf said:

I think you underestimate the strength of the metals being used. It's not like it's being made of plastic.

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I had some samples from a Chinese company that were trying to sell me on the quality of the steel when I was bidding for a contract. I also have 4130,1018 steel samples and the Chinese stuff was junk I could not heat treat properly and I could bend the piece with my hand. Try bending 1mm or .040" thick 1018 or 4130 sheet metal by hand its not impossible but very hard to do.

I will see if I could find the chinese scraps still around here to show you guys but I think they got tossed, I also have copies of the certificates from China showing the crap carbon content.

Or just buy a used "halfback" MESA 4x12. It will come with American made speakers, hopefully at least two aluminum basket EVM-12L's. You can make a cover to enclose the top portion, if you like. I am a machinist at my day job, BTW. :wink:

JOEY B. said:

Or just buy a used "halfback" MESA 4x12. It will come with American made speakers, hopefully at least two aluminum basket EVM-12L's. You can make a cover to enclose the top portion, if you like. I am a machinist at my day job, BTW. :wink:

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Already got one of those and its sounds awesome. Just want a 90's recto cab with real speakers.

Have you by chance seen this garbage sheet metal that comes from China?

I am all for the fine details of tone, but man looking at the metallurgy of the stamped metal part is over kill.

Whats next? The metal brackets holding the casters won't be up to par either? Geez! :lol:

At any rate I hope you find what you are looking for.

Cheers.