What is a Vintage Black Shadow VS-12 speaker?

[superchicken]

Sorry if this has been covered, but I did a search and came up with nothing relevant. What speaker is a Vintage Black Shadow VS-12? It is in my mid-90s Studio Caliber, and I'm planning to build an extension cab and want to know what the original speaker is.

Thanks for the help!

 

[123thefirst]

Most likely it's the C90 speaker Mesa puts in their open back cabinets. They have "Black Shadow" printed on the frame.

 

[SixVeeSix]

Re-labeled Eminence speaker. You can do better, lots of great speakers to choose from today.

 

[nomad100hd]

i like the vin 30's in my 2x12 recto, but i've never heard a c90

 

[Travis]

i like the vin 30's in my 2x12 recto, but i've never heard a c90

I liked the vintage30 in my LSS more than the C90 BUT nothing compares to the Alnico Blue(s).

 

[superchicken]

Thanks for the replies.

Since there is some disagreement, I snapped some photos to see if it might help clear things up...

I have had the speaker out of the cab, and it doens't have anything printed on the frame. As you can see from the one pic, there is a number that looks to be 1257 on the back of the cone, but the 1 is a guess--it didn't print properly.

I've tried several other speakers with the amp, and I'm pretty happy with what's in it, especially considering the price of the AlNiCo Blue! I'm curious about this as much as anything. I also have a Jensen C12Q in the house right now, and this eats its lunch. When I gig, I also run this through a 1966 Fender Vibrotone leslie cab, so it gets some other sounds than just the front-o-cab.

Thanks for the help!

 

[123thefirst]

They don't seem to be the C90 Black Shadows (Mesa's customized speaker from Celestion). Those are rated at 90 Watts. Mesa seems to call all their speakers "Black Shadows".

It's quite possible that C90's are derived from Celestion's C80's (Century 80) and upgraded for a higher power among other modifications that Mesa wanted. Some speculate that C90's are derived from the Custom Lead family but those sound very different to my ears.

The VS12 and 1257 designations seem to indicate an entirely different lineage for your speakers.