New Cabinet/Vintage 30 speaker question!

[Jaymz]

Right guys,

Ive been looking for a Mesa OS 4x12 for a while now and its not happening so ive looked into Zilla custom cabs, based in London UK.

And ive just got an email back basically saying that they will do me a Mesa OS clone for £500 for 4 V30's. These V30's are ordered directly from celestion, I am curious if to weather Mesa's V30's smoke them or they are near enough the same?

£500 for a 4x12 OS built to Boogie standards is a total steal over here in the UK by the way, a new Boogie cab is around £1000.

Any thoughts on the standard Celestion V30 vs Mesa Celestion V30?

Good deal?

 

[slashvanyoung]

Duder, that's a ridiculously awesome deal!

The Mesa Celestions are supposed to be voiced slightly darker, but for a reference, the Randall XL cabs have regular Celestions and are tonally quite similar to the Mesa OS.

If the materials and the build quality of the cab is somewhat of the level of the Mesas, I'D definitely do that.

 

[Jaymz]

Duder, that's a ridiculously awesome deal!

The Mesa Celestions are supposed to be voiced slightly darker, but for a reference, the Randall XL cabs have regular Celestions and are tonally quite similar to the Mesa OS.

If the materials and the build quality of the cab is somewhat of the level of the Mesas, I'D definitely do that.

Yeah man I was thinking similar! The guy said a normal 4x12 unloaded would be £295 but hes got one in with the black taurus *mesa* that he would do for £225 since its already been tolex'd and I would have no other choice I assume....but id want the taurus anyway!

Ive just sent him a reply asking about the build quality, but ive read they use 12 ply birch?

 

[slashvanyoung]

I mean if you're THAT worried about that, you could ask them to get the Mesa speakers for you or get them yourself and just order the "blank" cab.

But you'd be totalling basically twice as much...

 

[Jaymz]

Yeah exactly theres a huge difference in price. Im not sure if they would be able to get Mesa v30's....they say they are offical Celestion stockists now and can get any regular speaker of theirs fairly easily. £275 for 4 V
30's! So id expect them to be the real deal.

Ive just been put off since I got a bit conned into my current cab, so when I buy another its gonna be THE cab and I don't want to have to start selling the twat! Hence my wearyness

Its all in the build of the thing really but I thought id ask you guys since you have tried much more cab/speakers than I have!

 

[Metaltastic]

The Mesa Celestions are supposed to be voiced slightly darker, but for a reference, the Randall XL cabs have regular Celestions and are tonally quite similar to the Mesa OS.

Hmm, really? Spec-wise they look much closer to the Mesa Traditional dimensions, and the few clips I've heard kinda corroborate that. That said, if you were to get 4 regular 8 ohm V30s and have the cab wired to 8 ohms mono, James, I'd imagine that combined with the dimensions would get you more than close enough to the Recto cab tone! And if worst came to worst down the line you could order one or two Mesa 8 ohm V30's to swap in

 

[slashvanyoung]

Ive just sent him a reply asking about the build quality, but ive read they use 12 ply birch?

I'm pretty certain, they do. I know for SURE it's 12 ply birch on some of their bass cabs and I don't think it's different on the guitar cabs. At leas the OS/Rectifier one.

Yeah, I know, you don't wanna bet your cash on an unknown horse... but damn, that price is great!

 

[Jaymz]

Hmm, really? Spec-wise they look much closer to the Mesa Traditional dimensions, and the few clips I've heard kinda corroborate that. That said, if you were to get 4 regular 8 ohm V30s and have the cab wired to 8 ohms mono, James, I'd imagine that combined with the dimensions would get you more than close enough to the Recto cab tone! And if worst came to worst down the line you could order one or two Mesa 8 ohm V30's to swap in

Yeah id prefer to get it and keep it exactly like that but if its Oversized, basically the same woods....well built, v30's it would be a GOOD cab for recording. Even if its not the same tone wise as a Boogie, aslong as its quality.

ENGL/Bogner those cabs both use the standard V30's don't they?

 

[slashvanyoung]

Yeah, Standard V30s on those... and they're all great in their way.

 

[slashvanyoung]

Hmm, really? Spec-wise they look much closer to the Mesa Traditional dimensions, and the few clips I've heard kinda corroborate that. That said, if you were to get 4 regular 8 ohm V30s and have the cab wired to 8 ohms mono, James, I'd imagine that combined with the dimensions would get you more than close enough to the Recto cab tone! And if worst came to worst down the line you could order one or two Mesa 8 ohm V30's to swap in

The dreaded "wool" was way less apparent to me when I dicked around with the XL than with the Stiletto cab.

But I'm one of the few who actually quite like the Traditional/Stiletto on here.

Edit: Jaymz, as long as this thing doesn't spontaneously combust in good ol' Spinal Tap fashion, it's a steal considering the price for the speakers alone. The Framus Dragon or Harley Benton Vintage cabs are NOWHERE near the quality of the Mesas and still people get some very nice tones out of them.

 

[Metaltastic]

uke:uke:uke:uke:

Nah, of course, everyone has different tastes, but man - I was recently reminded how much I dislike that cab messing with some of my impulses from that era, as well as listening to some clips - James, smart choice IMO, oversized all the way buddy!

 

[Jaymz]

Slash, I had a Framus Dragon for a few years, only just sold it a month or so ago! Everything I did with The Black Stymphalian and Fallen Fate etc has all been Framus Dragon....I got fairly good rep on those tones aswell!

Yeah I have the choice of getting a Mesa Trad via Metaljonsey's mate but he wants between £550-£600 and im scared of the dreaded wool! So im playing it safe with the OS from now on!

Ill keep you guys updated on the dudes replies to my questions

 

[slashvanyoung]

Cool beans! You're probably doing the right thing!

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

1000 pounds? Are you effing kidding me? That's like how much Luke sold his landspeeder for. I'd build my own too. Why is everything so expensive in England?

 

[Jaymz]

1000 pounds? Are you effing kidding me? That's like how much Luke sold his landspeeder for. I'd build my own too. Why is everything so expensive in England?

Because its shite.

£1036 or something from Thomann....ive seen a Roadster set you back £2500! Thats how much a fucking Roadking used to be! Whats gone wrong with these prices?!

 

[GuitarHack]

Ryan aka Catharis replaced 2 Mesa V30 with Standards V30 in his OS (after killing the mesa V30's) I am fairly sure. PM him. I think he preferred the Mesa V30.

 

[Jaymz]

Ryan aka Catharis replaced 2 Mesa V30 with Standards V30 in his OS (after killing the mesa V30's) I am fairly sure. PM him. I think he preferred the Mesa V30.

Yeah he got some from Avatar, he said they sounded awful at first but after talking to him last night he said they are fairly good and he thinks he hasn't broken them in properly yet.

 

[Jaymz]

Right ive just gotten this reply today:

Celestion only make one grade V-30, if a set up sounds different it is usually the amp or the actual cab itself, the speaker itself will act the same whatever cab it is in, it will be the cab that alters the tone if you see what I meen. I think the vintage 30 is a great speaker, its not my personal favourite but speakers are very subjective and Ive never sold a v-30 to a customer who hasnt been happy with them.

As for these cabs, I can do an oversized cab to your specs if you want, it may add £10 or so to the price to cover extra materials but it isnt a problem, our cabs tend to be towards the larger end of things so they do sound pretty big. The cab I have in at the moment is a standard marshall size, nothing too big but it does sound pretty big as the wood we use is very high quality birch ply, it is about as good as you can get for making speaker cabinets.

 

[Metaltastic]

Sounds good to me, I'd pay them the extra 10 quid and wish them Godspeed! (and again, I think a big part of the Mesa cab sound is that they're all 8-ohm V30s wired to 8 ohms in mono, so that'd be my vote as well)

 

[::XeS::]

I think it doesn't matter at all if they are Mesa or Standard V30. The reply said that the difference between speakers is to search in the amp or in the cab, but we all know that every speaker sounds different from another so..........