Greenbacks and Vintage 30's.

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sgtbaker

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I have a 1960BX and I was wondering if it's possible to have two Celestion 25w Greenbacks and two Celestion V30's. Are there any other speaker combinations that you guys like?

Thanks.
 
It's fairly common to mix speakers in cabinets. In 4-12's, alot of folks will arrange them in an "x" pattern. Just make sure the ohm ratings matches with the other speakers...

the G12T-75/Vintage 30 combo seems popular with alot of folks, the former gives a little extra low end with the V30's upper mid range growl.... The Greenback/V30 combo I think would sound really warm & extra creamy, I've contemplated replacing a couple of the v30's out of my Marshall 1960AV cab with Greenbacks myself....

The possibilities are endless with speaker combinations, it just depends on what flavor you're looking for...
 
Thanks man. Someone just told me that even though the two V30's would be 60w each that, the total the wattage would be 100 because it just takes the wattage of the lowest speaker times four. I just have to find two 16 ohm V30s.
 
You might also try 65's. They sound about the same as a GB but have better power handling.
 
I just re-wired my Marshall 4X12 to 4 ohms and it sounds great!! I want to use it in combination with the Buzzbomb 2X12 that has Eminence Wizards in it. Just wondering about the Mark IV speaker outputs. Can I just hook both of these up to the 4 ohm outputs on the Mark IV?? Seems like I should be able to do that. Just wondering if anyone knows whether the 4 ohm outs on the Mark IV are wired to take 2 8ohm cabs, rathere rthan 2 4 ohm cabs...Anyone, thanks.
 
By the way, the speaks in the Marshall are all 25 watt celestion. I always thought they were vintage 30's, but when I opened her up, they were all 25's. I have 2 of these older cabs from the late 80's/early 90's. They are labeled 1960 Classic. Just FYI...
 
O.K., I am a "tard", no comments please :oops: I finally read my manual, imagine that!! :shock: So, the manual says, each 4 ohm speaker output on the Mark IV is wired parallel and they act together when 2 cabs are plugged in. So, two 8 ohm cabs plugged into the 4 ohm outputs are cool, matching ohms. Two 4 ohm cabs plugged into the those same outputs has the Mark IV reading it as 2 ohms, mismatch :?

So, there you go. Reading can be fun :lol: Maybe at some point I will actually be able to use my Mark IV, however, I am not so ambitious to think I will know it all 8)

I re-wired the Marshall AGAIN, now it's an 8 ohm cabinet and ready for action. Hope you all don't have to make the same mistakes as I have made. Good luck with all your wiring/ohm complications.
 
cool...like I said before,just be careful how far you push those 25 watters...mine are 33 years old..nice and broken in, but it was apparent early on that pushing hard with my mk iv was going to make them 'susplode!!got flubby at volume, so I replaced..weird thing,the mk iv actually made the handles in the marsh cab rattle :shock:
 
Ha!! I will pay attention. I have been using these cabs with my Mark IV for years, however, I had the major mismatch of ohms going. I had both 16 ohm cabs plugged into the 4 ohm speaker outs on the Mark IV. I guess it wasn't total insanity, the amp sees 8 ohms, but they were still a mismatch. I just wanted to fix it up...it feels like there is a difference. Anyway, thanks for the tip. Peace
 
That is true, not that you are bringing down the wattage of the two V30's, but more of the wattage is going to be devided evenly over the four speakers, so you never want to exceed your lowest rated speaker wattage. 100 watts devided by 4 equals 25 watts per speaker. If you use 150 watt amp then it is 37.5 watts per speaker.

Now for the kicker, you should always double the wattage your speakers can take. Example, if you have 100 watt amp you should get a cabinet that can handle at least 200 watts. Reason for this is peaks, you may have a 100 watt amp, but at times it can peak alot higher, and as the speaker can handle it, eventually it will blow.

Now if you are playing a non master volume amp with very low gain, you want the speakers to blow so you get speaker distortion. Back in the 60 and 70's they use to cut there speaker cones on purpose so this way they would distort, great for punk, but horrible for clean tones.

sgtbaker said:
Thanks man. Someone just told me that even though the two V30's would be 60w each that, the total the wattage would be 100 because it just takes the wattage of the lowest speaker times four. I just have to find two 16 ohm V30s.
 
siggy14 said:
Now if you are playing a non master volume amp with very low gain, you want the speakers to blow so you get speaker distortion. Back in the 60 and 70's they use to cut there speaker cones on purpose so this way they would distort, great for punk, but horrible for clean tones.

Punk, Hell! The earliest occurence of a blown speaker on purpose (that i know of) is "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream.
 
I'm doing a similar thing by having Celestion G1280's in the bottom cabs and Sheffield 90's in the tops, driven by separate amplifiers so I can mix for tone. They work quite well together and it gives additional mic'ing choices.

And to clarify the above post about wattage--that's not how much a speaker "puts out." That's the wattage you don't want to exceed tp keep from frying things. If you have the same impedence speakers in the same cab, they'll all sink the same wattage given the same signal. The lower wattage will just blow up first if you get carried away.

As to having an amp rated twice the speaker capability, that's true for PA but not guitar. Often with guitar you WANT to clip the power amp. The "classic" Marshall tone depends on it. I don't use power amp clipping, so I make sure I have a lot od headroom (so I do have oversized amps) but someone going for a "classic" tone might want to keep the power amp smaller.
 
For the last few years I've been running Greenbacks and V30's in my Marshall cabinets. I have them in an X pattern with each other. To me the sound is over the top!
 
I didn't really think much of speakers until I plugged my old Epiphone Galaxie25 into my 2x12 Stilleto cabinet (still waiting for my Mark IV), and the cranked tubes really came to life when I ran them through the V30 loaded cab.. whereas the Epiphone has a lone Celestion Seventy-80, that muddies up, and has a lot more bass.

Right now, the 2x12" is perfect for recording, practice, and almost everything I can think of, but, later on, when I need to push more air, (specifically at outside, un-miced shows) I want to load a 4x12 with two EVM12l Black Labels on bottom, for massive bass/push. Then put two V30's, or possibly Eminence Screamin' Eagles, on top, for mid punch.

Anyways, the point is: Speakers are really an underestimated part of the equation, and mixing and matching can only lead to new, interesting tones.
 

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