All user reviews for the Celestion Vintage 30

The Celestion Vintage 30 has been one of the most used and most notorious speakers of the guitar world. This has been the predominant speaker when it comes to heavy metal recordings, and for good reason. It’s a standard 12’’ speaker with a ceramic magnet, 60 watts worth of power and comes in either 8 or 16 ohm format.

In the midst of speakers delivering a classic breakup, there was a need for a higher wattage speaker that could handle the extreme riffs that metal players were dishing out left and right. Celestion introduced the Vinage 30 as a means to allow the guitarist to scoop their mids but still allow them to cut through even the most dense mix.

This speaker is very polarizing. Some people love it, and some people hate it. Those that love it enjoy that it handles low tunings well, cuts nicely, records very easily and seems to really excel at a higher gain setting. Those that hate it mention the mids are too harsh, it doesn’t break up nicely and lacks that sweetness some of the more vintage speakers have.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of this speaker. I’ve used this as my main speaker for the past decade, and it has never let me down. I never had issues cutting, and it handles the extreme low tunings without any problem. It also remains tight without sounding like cardboard or too stiff. I never really understood how people could complain about the harshness, but I guess it’s all in how you’re setting the amp. I find this speaker tends to work better with my 5150s and Dual Rectifier better than my JCM800, so it could also be the gear you’re using.

I highly recommend the speaker, but considering how polarizing this speaker is, I recommend checking it out first. If you can, try it in a Mesa or Bogner cab as those tend to sound the best, in my opinion.

One of the most famous among HP celestion
Contrary to its name, it is not vintage and does not 30w
his sound is quite modern type, even if he may agree with the sounds of older amps, and it's 60w
this HP is appreciated for its low-delivered, its high gloss and medium granular
LA, CA will depend on the amp that you put it and the sound you wish to reproduce
I, for example, I have a carvin head, and clear AC blends very very well for a modern sound
and the saturation, according to my pedals, I prefer HP differnetw
Ibanez TK999 with HT, the V30 has wonderful sound, c is modern, there is gain and grain, although low husky, AC bites, harmonics out easily
al reverse on HP G12-65, more vintage and old rock, this pedal does not sound
and with another pedal, Abunai 2, c is the reverse, it s better with the G12-65, but the V30 is very accurate even with kan

c is like after all c is a matter of taste

Celestion Vintage 30's... had them in a pair of closed back birch cabinets.. broke them in.. used for a few weeks.. so.. I did give them a thorough workout... This is a GREAT speaker for scooped out metal... where you are looking for sizzling highs and huge bottom.. not much character to get any sort of meaty leadwork (at least not in any 6L6 based rig) Never tried these with EL34's... which was probably a mistake on my part... It may have imparted a bit more "organic" flavor. Using it with a Carvin T100 (6L6), Voodoo Lab Preamp, GT8 preamp or Digitech GSP2101 preamp... had the same characteristics with each. I know these are the stock speakers in the Vai Legacy cabinets from Carvin.. and he DOES get a very balanced tone...(after he runs his signal through about 15k worth of processors... hmmm. This music is expensive biz!) So, I would suggest trying both types of tube power amp sources if you go with these speakers. They may be a bit "screechy" with the 6L6 setup. Perhaps it is because these are TOO tight..(which is great for modern metal rhythm work..not so great if you want a round, detailed tone for single lead notes)
Value..I think these speakers are a bit of a ripoff. $109.00 for a made in China speaker. I'm not impressed. Eminence seems to have much more balanced, well made speakers... at literally half the price and made in the USA. With 10 times the available choices that Celestion has! ( I don't want to sound like an ad for Eminence.. but I just don't understand Celestions prices. They are NOT great speakers.)
Would I make the same choice... um, no. Absolutely not. I might try them in an EL34 based setup...but for that matter, I would just use the speakers I like much more (Cannabis Rex, P-50's, or even Celestion Greenbacks) and yes, I DO play metal... if I wanted this scooped out sound...I would just try the Governor from Eminence.. which is supposed to be the equivalent. Or even the Texas Heat's. Again... I think this is an overhyped speaker that has become kind of the standard tone for Nu Metal... but does not seem to cut it with any of my gear.