Hi guys,
I want to thank you all for your positive comments about our IRs. Especially those Meeesas were much work since we need to fix several minor issues of the cab before the IR shooting. It was played for many years and has seen many stages. I am sure that's one of the main reasons why every cab sound so different even if built by the same people in the same factory. Also the capturing process took much longer this time since we wanted to make sure the get the very best out of it.
Of course the speakers play the most important role. Since Celestion outsourced the production of their popular V30s from the UK to China about 10 years ago, we thougth that there might be also a change with regards to the sound. You never know. Andy and I are very curious and said, let's find it out. Therefore, we replaced the original speakers with V30s Made in China. I guess you have already noticed the difference, and it is not just a litte bit. To me, as an experienced product manager, acoustic engineer and microphone expert, working in the pro audio industry for almost 20 years, I would rather use a different name for those "new" speakers built outside the UK.... but tastes are different... just my 2 cents.
Over the years a lot of people told us about those great speakers that sounded so fantastic in those old Meeesa cabs. Are they really that good or is it just a myth? It took us a while to get some of these "Black Shadows" and we eager to find out how they would sound in the same cab. No sooner said than done - there is a difference and I fully understand why a lot of people love those old speakers. By the way, have a look at the attached picture. The speakers have a even a different voice coil diameter! It is a completely different design to me.
You can check out all the three speakers easily and compare them. Our brand-new "Double Whooper" contains:
1) MB-V30UK --> equipped with good old british 70-Watt V30’s, This is the original 4x12" cab
2) MB-BSV30CH --> this is the same cab but with different speakers
Speaker A (left top) - Black Shadow MC-90 Speaker
Speaker B (right top) - V30 - Made in China
Speaker C (left bottom) - V30 - Made in China
Speaker D (right bottom) - Black Shadow MC-90 Speaker
Meanwhile, also some manufactures noticed that there are alternatives to Celestions speakers. (Don't get me wrong..... Celestion made history, built great speaker and still do.) e.g. I found out that Stephen Fryette tried to get some "old and good" V30s for his excellent 4x12" FAT CABs - but without success. Therefore, he uses custom-made Eminence speaker (details here:
http://www.fryette-users.com/forums/showthread.php?3921-V30-s-I-like-the-70-watters-better ) and the result is awesome!!!! Check out the great Fryette cab IRs we released recently. One of our most favourite cabs!! ever!!
Best,
Tom from VallHallIR.at
