new cab VS old cab VS very old cab with V30

[miche]

Hey everyone,

Did the production of the celestion vintage 30 evolve with time? Are they "voiced" differently now from how they were before?

I know some are voiced differently for some brands (mesa, marshall). But besides that, are there differences in tones that occurred through the years?

For those of you who are lucky enough to either own a few cabs of different generations, or that could test some: did you notice something particular on the tone evolution? And if yes, are there special good years for speakers, a little like for wine?

In that case, are there some V30 you would recommend for recording, and some you would not?

And talking about that, do you guys REALLY hear an evolution (even if it is very subtle) through the speaker break-in? And if yes, can you described it precisely?

 

[egan.]

The trouble with this is that speakers change over time even when the production is identical. Actually, the wood in the cabinet does too. So if you put two thirty year old 1960A's next to each other it's unlikely they'll sound identical -- let alone if you put a 2 year old next to them.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

And the fact that all 4 speakers in any guitar cab of any age are pretty much guaranteed to sound different doesn't help matters either!

 

[JeffTD]

let alone if you put a 2 year old next to them.

Egan, you should know better than to put small children near loud speaker cabinets.

 

[rispsira]

haha good one!

 

[amarshism]

Nice

 

[miche]

@Egan: yes obviously, mic'inga 30 year old and a 2 year old cab of the same model will show a more than obvious tone difference. But are you sure the two 30 year old will sound that different?

Concerning the wood and the box: I must say I don't quite understand the way the wood ages and its effect on the tone. For sure, the cab size and shape affects the tone a lot. But still: someone on the forum (Metaltastic I think, not too sure) did a test once and swapped speakers between his cabs. There was an audible difference for the low end, but the rest was quite similar.



@Marcus: yes, so true unfortunately - the 4 speakers will have some differences in a same cab. But yet, all of them will share a same type, right? And this type will be different from other ones of another generation in another cab, won't it?



@Jeff: if the child is small enough, you could probably test a speaker break-from-within, instead of a break-in, by injecting the kid inside the cab.



My question is actually the following: I wonder if V30 don't tend to be produced with a harsher tone with time. I would like to know if older ones were much smoother in the 6k area, and brighter in the 8k area and above.