British vs. Chinese Celestion Speakers

When did the switch happen to the V30 design in the early 90's? Do we have a definitive cut-off date?

I've got some '93 V30's and I'll take my 2006 Mesa T4335B over them recording ALL DAY LONG. It's not even close.
 
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...to add to the intrigue, one of the '93 V30's has a machined voice coil, and the other is die cast. Per the date codes, the later manufactured one has the machined VC! Strange! 30JC (Machined) vs 17JC (Die Cast)!
 

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My other one, from '97, has a machined VC as well. It does not sound as good as the 2006 Mesa either.
 
Personally I can’t hear the difference between UK and Chinese V30’s but I definitely can hear the difference between a well used one and one that isn’t used as hard or as often.
 
I agree 100%. Whenever I hear people dissing the V30 I start rolling my eyes.... you most likely have NEVER heard a "real V30". The real V30 has many characteristics that also the pre-Rola Greenback has. So the best statement that I completely lose my mind with is when someone says he hates V30s and loves Greenbacks instead. :D
Oops; I love G12H30's and don't like V30's. The V30's I used to have sounded like the 3rd example in the soundclip you pushed here, though I guess they were China made. Sometimes I have the impression that these discussions are a bit like audiofile threads wheres someons will explain you and insist and maintain that changing the USB cable of your streamer will make a hell of a change to the sound of you home audio.
 
Anyways the 8ohm English Greenbacks from the 90s that I have are definitely in my top 5 modern speakers of all time. Really pleasant sounding!

Hey Mikko (or anyone who knows), did you end up releasing a WAV cab pack with those specifically 8 Ohm English Greenbacks from the 90s?
 
Picked up a fresh & clean 2003 Mesa OS slant with cover, and my God, there IT IS. Don't even care that it's parallel/series wired, it's just right in there.

So are the OG stamped metal Mesas better that the ones with the stickers? When did the big change happen? @ML SOUND LAB ?
 
Somebody has an idea on the weight differences? I changed my chines garbage ones with some old V30's (don't know which version) and it feels like(?) the weight of the cab went up. Is this possible? Could be minimal per speaker, but it's for a 4x12 cab.
 
T4335B <---- this is a newer Mesa V30 that's still supposedly made in UK


You will see the letter B behind some of these serial codes. I've just started calling it short for "bad". These speakers are usually the ones that look like they're made in the UK when they're actually not.

Interesting that modern T1221 Greenbacks with "A" suffix indicate Chinese origin, and "B" indicates UK.

All modern Mesas have the B, isn't that right?
 
Yup the current V30s sound quite a bit different.
GGD released an IR pack, GGD Cali Oversized, exclusively with all the older V30s. He has a couple of videos talking about the IRs and how different they sound compared to the current V30s with sound bits of all the variations even in the older V30s.

Fun videos to watch even if you don’t end up getting the IRs. (I got them and they are really good).
 
I managed a music store back in the early 90’s. I remember listening to cabs loaded with new Vintage 30s and wondering why anyone wanted that icepick-in-the-forehead tone. I think that impression stuck with me all these years, and I have an unconscious bias to not even bother trying IRs that are using them, whatever the vintage and origin might be.
 
"Dunno"; played one rehearsal in Holland over a London City chinese reissue tubeamp with it's 4x12 with chinese V30's in 2007. Sounded really kick ass; rock 'n roll; lower parts of the pants moving etc... Much is happening in the head, isn't it.
 
Question: how much of the differences can be attributed to the age of the speakers?

I don't think comparing speakers produced (and used) 15 years apart can prove of disprove anything.

Not saying the speakers do or do not sound the same, just that it's hard to do a fair comparison.
 
I had and still have access to an oversized Mesa recto cab that sounded great. Actually I should try and do some research on where it came from being the guy I got it from had been on some big tours mid 2000's. I have a newer 212 mesa upright v30 cab that just doesn't sound good to me at all. In contrast I have a 90's Pacific woodwork 212 upright with a Marshall V30 and a Marshall green back, carpetb covered that sounds great. I actually shot an IR of that one that is what I'm using on all my presets for the most part. Watching the video made me wonder how much of an influence an SM57 that is new to say one thats been being used for decades has in capturing an IR. In the same way speakers sound better when broken in at high volumes over years does that translate to a mic do ya think?

Need to get over to my buddys place and and shoot some IR's of that recto cab!
 
So, sorry for the necro on the thread but just came across a listing for a 212 cab with T3903A speakers:
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@ML SOUND LAB, folks - do these look legit? Looks like they're the 25th anniversary V30s. Are they any better than the Chinese ones?
 
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