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Hatsubai « My go-to speaker »
Published on 06/18/11 at 08:17The 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.
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.