Hey Guys, I came across a Rectifier 4x12 cab the other day that my buddy was getting rid of. I spoke with Mesa and they told me it was made in December of 2000. The Vintage 30 speakers in it date to June of 2000. After testing resistance on each speaker, I came to realize that 2 of the 4 were shot. Do you guys think that I should just buy two new V30's from Mesa or get the old ones Re-coned? Is there anything special about this year?
Vintage 30 Help
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tbonesullivan
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What resistance are you getting from the bad speakers? Have you pulled them yet and checked for rubbing at the voice coil, or to see if maybe the leads just fell off? Sounds like that cabinet definitely has seen some things.
One speaker is reading ~ 22 ohms and the other is reading open. I Haven’t pulled them yet, just took some basic readings. Cabinet seems to be in nice shape but you are so right, it has definitely seen a lot
. I truly Appreciate you taking the time to reply and help me out.
Typical impedance measurement for those speakers is around 6.5 ohms. They measure on the low side. I still have the original V30 speakers I pulled out of an OS Recto 412 of that year. They are in good shape and still work. I did not like them at all, replace those with EVM12L black label speakers. Reason I pulled them, they flub out. I could not use that cab with the Mark III or Mark IVb (they were combo amps). Bought a Mark V90 head, no go. However, they were excellent with the RA100 head which surprised me. Also, they sound much like the Marshall V30 speakers that I have in a Silver Jubilee cabinet. Not good with JP2C, Roadster, or MWDR but do sound good with the Silver Jubilee 2555x head. If anything, I would run the older Mesa V30 in that cab so I can get away from the 16-ohm format.
My recommendation is to get a full set of V30 from Mesa. Ditch the old one's unless you really like the mud. You can have mine if you want them as I have no purpose to use them. They are that bad sounding. Not sure what the real deal is. There is this and that said about the V30 used by mesa. Did they change the voice coil design or is it still the same speaker? I can tell the difference between the 2000 V30 and the 2015 V30. Considering I barely ever made use of the OS Recto cab for 13 years until I swapped the speakers with the EV. I did run them in another cabinet for a short while with the RA100 in a smaller traditional cab and they actually sounded good with that amp. A bit on the bright side though. They are now boxed up in the EV boxes that the replacement speakers came in.
My recommendation is to get a full set of V30 from Mesa. Ditch the old one's unless you really like the mud. You can have mine if you want them as I have no purpose to use them. They are that bad sounding. Not sure what the real deal is. There is this and that said about the V30 used by mesa. Did they change the voice coil design or is it still the same speaker? I can tell the difference between the 2000 V30 and the 2015 V30. Considering I barely ever made use of the OS Recto cab for 13 years until I swapped the speakers with the EV. I did run them in another cabinet for a short while with the RA100 in a smaller traditional cab and they actually sounded good with that amp. A bit on the bright side though. They are now boxed up in the EV boxes that the replacement speakers came in.
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Well just one opinion... if you already have a 4x12 w/ v30s maybe consider mixing in a different pair with the 2 good v30s... could be fun.
JustPassingThrough
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You'll spend more on new speakers than you can get out the cab.
If it were me I'd flip them as is for whatever I could get and use something else.
Then again, whichever way you slice it you're gonna have to put your hand in your pocket and that probably isn't worth it. There's another fully working mesa cab right around the corner so ask yourself if it's worth the hassle and potential loss. Unless you're getting it for a total steal of course
If it were me I'd flip them as is for whatever I could get and use something else.
Then again, whichever way you slice it you're gonna have to put your hand in your pocket and that probably isn't worth it. There's another fully working mesa cab right around the corner so ask yourself if it's worth the hassle and potential loss. Unless you're getting it for a total steal of course
DECEMBER
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Yeah, 4 V30s is too much V30. They do well paired with another speaker, but I never care for the sound of just V30s.Well just one opinion... if you already have a 4x12 w/ v30s maybe consider mixing in a different pair with the 2 good v30s... could be fun.
Black Shadow MC-90, G12T-75, and G12K-100 all compliment the V30 well.
I like the G12M-65 Creambacks a lot more than V30s, but I've never mixed them. Don't know if that would be a good mix because they have a similar mid bump. The V30 is more boxy and harsh with my Mesa amps. The G12M has a smoother high end and thick low-mids.
The G12M and V30 mix well with the ones I mentioned because those 3 are more mid-scooped, so together, each speaker fills in what the other doesn't.
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Yea, I've always been in that camp. Those suggestions are good parings. But have you tried the 4x12 v30 IR cabs in the BAD CabCloneIR? I actually was surprised.. kinda liked them.
FWIW after doing the speaker musical chairs for years I just pulled a remaining Mesa v30 out of my 2x12 Recto and swapped it to a Heritage G12-65. That cab now has that G12 paired with a MC-90. Best it has ever sounded.
I have never thought about doing that. Could be a fun idea!Well just one opinion... if you already have a 4x12 w/ v30s maybe consider mixing in a different pair with the 2 good v30s... could be fun.
Do you think those Heritage speakers would pair well with the V30’s? So have 2 and 2
That’s really good advice, thank you so much. I thought it would be worth restoring but you’re right, at the end of the day it’s just a box with speakers in it hahah
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Alot depends on what sound you are looking for.
So again just one player's experience here...As @DECEMBER suggested, the MC-90 does go well. Mesa did the Road King cab where they mixed them.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...4x12-inch-300-watt-straight-extension-cabinet
With my Recto 2x12 I did create a Road King like modified back cover. It had the MC-90 with a v30 for a while, it provided a nice Celestion feel and balanced the v30 midrange hump well. Did have a pairing of a Scumback M-75 (Greenback like) with the v30 before that. That also was pretty good but I did prefer the MC-90 pairing a bit better. The Heritage OTOH is a pretty smooth speaker and not the best match with a v30 IMHO. I've always wanted to try the G12K-100 or a G12H Redback with a v30.
DECEMBER
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Yeah, I have a 50W Badlander. 1, 3, and 7 are the best-sounding of the stock IRs, to me. I don't know what it is, but all 3rd party IRs I've tried always sound really tubby and harsh, like the high end buzz is really digital-sounding and stands out too much, and the bass & low-mids sound like the cab is a Rubbermaid tub or something.
Maybe it's how I EQ my amps (with parametric in the loop), but my homemade IRs never sound like that.
I couldn't get down with any IRs or cab sims until I made my own. They don't sound great on their own, but with a little EQ in the Wall of Sound plugin, I think they sound way better than any 3rd party IR I've ever used (and I've gone thru and sampled every single one available in the WoS store, have several from Bogren, and have had a couple pedals with analog cab sims, and the analog cab voicings in the Torpedo Captor and Rivera Mini Rock Rec).
But I put some of mine in the Badlander CabClone and they sound terrible thru there, and very different from how they sound in the WoS plugin running flat with no EQ or power amp sim. So there must be some kind of processing happening in the CabClone that's optimized for their IRs.
It also gets buggy when I have my IRs on it. Sometimes doesn't switch IRs when I switch channels, unless I go turn the selector knob on the back. The Bogren IRs don't work on it (silence), even though they're .wav files. .aif files don't work on it. And it has a latency that puts it partially out of phase with anything in the WoS.
So I just stick with using the WoS. I need a few stereo tracks, anyway, running dual-stereo wet/dry or parallel wet/wet with 4 reactive load boxes.
mark1406
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I would look at the cost of reconing the speakers, though I would ask questions about how they do it and do they have a kit to recone the speaker from Celestion. I wouldn’t get new speakers from Mesa unless they were cheaper than other outlets.
https://qsr.net.au/shop/speaker-recone-kits/all-model-recone-kits/celestion-vintage-30-recone-kit/
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Agreed... I tried a 3rd party IR in the BAD and it sounded harsh, wondered if it was just the specific IR but maybe not. Either BAD 4x12 works and also like 7 (1x12 MC-90) for cleans. I do have a reg ol Captor and have used the WOS before with pretty decent results, but unfortunately it's not really a live solution and even cumbersome in the studio to add WOS to tracks after.
For many "scratch tracks" these days in the studio I've been using the BAD power section with its CabcloneIR slaved to other preamps. It's pretty versatile and easy. The Badlander is pretty cool.
DECEMBER
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I'm running Live 12 with over 500 tracks at times and WoS on a good 200+ of them. But I have 96GB RAM and a 24-core Intel i9.Agreed... I tried a 3rd party IR in the BAD and it sounded harsh, wondered if it was just the specific IR but maybe not. Either BAD 4x12 works and also like 7 (1x12 MC-90) for cleans. I do have a reg ol Captor and have used the WOS before with pretty decent results, but unfortunately it's not really a live solution and even cumbersome in the studio to add WOS to tracks after.
For many "scratch tracks" these days in the studio I've been using the BAD power section with its CabcloneIR slaved to other preamps. It's pretty versatile and easy. The Badlander is pretty cool.
My IRs turn out darker than most, but it works out because I can EQ them just right and they don't have that digital high end buzz that most IRs made by anyone else do. But when I put them in the CabClone, they're really muddy and boxy, way more than they are when in the WoS running flat. They just sound really off in the CC.
That came out awesome! I need To try that out.Alot depends on what sound you are looking for.
As @DECEMBER suggested, the MC-90 does go well. Mesa did the Road King cab where they mixed them.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...4x12-inch-300-watt-straight-extension-cabinet
With my Recto 2x12 I did create a Road King like modified back cover. It had the MC-90 with a v30 for a while, it provided a nice Celestion feel and balanced the v30 midrange hump well. Did have a pairing of a Scumback M-75 (Greenback like) with the v30 before that. That also was pretty good but I did prefer the MC-90 pairing a bit better. The Heritage OTOH is a pretty smooth speaker and not the best match with a v30 IMHO. I've always wanted to try the G12K-100 or a G12H Redback with a v30.
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A shop pretty close to me down in NYC told me ~400 bucks per speaker... Safe to say I’m looking into what the other guys said about mixing and matching speakers right now to get a new sound
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