Which celestions do you use for the early VH tone?

[EJSLPlexi]

Wanted to see what celestions you prefer? I like the G12H30's the best, i buy these "hellatones so the cones are broken in
when i get them "We start with a stock great sounding classic G12H30 Celestion. We convert it into a Hellatone by aging it slightly and by exercising the suspension for 15 hours so when you get it, it has a warmer tone on the very first note. This process gives the Hellatone 30 an even richer low end than it already had. The model 30 has wonderful mids and highs and a beautiful overdrive tone. If you drive it hard , you get a real nice cone break up that sounds fantastic. Large Heavy 50 oz magnet 30 watts.8 ohm or 16 ohm For specs, go to www.celestion.com classic G12H30 (70th year Anniversary, not Heritage)"
are the scumbacks real good?

[bman5150]

I have that speaker in my 112 avatar cab. It's ok. I'm currently in the marke for a good 212 and have pretty much decided on a scumback loaded 212. Maybe even their cab. One speaker will definitely be a scumback m75 65 watt and the other is probably going to be a scumback h75 of h75 lhdc. The h75 is supposed to be similar to the g12h30.

I've also heard good things about the wgs et65. I've got a wgs green beret and its a nice speaker but I've got it in a very wrong application in my peavey c30. Would be much better in a cab with some friends!

[dirtycooter]

20/25watt greenbacks in a 4x12. The 4x12 is mandatory!
Scumbacks
Heritage
EVH blackbacks
English made re-issues

All the above are waaaaay closer to classic VH than any H30 ever will be. Its all in the frequency range.
H30's are stiffer, have too much bottom, too much top, and recessed midrange blatently. Night and day.
H30's take my VH tone straight to metal land-which is great in its own right-but VH its not.
Any of the above 25watters listed will be with out a doubt an immediate very noticeable improvement toward VH tone.
Promise
Anything but a 4x12 1960 model marshall style dimensions cab just will mess with the bottom end response. Thats just the way it is
Any differences in the above listed speakers is simply cork sniffing in all reality-not much differences at all except the chinese mades are very different than all other 25watters. Theres differences among the rest but they are so small its rather moot in the end in my book.
VM marshall greens
Weber 25watters
the real vintage 25s
are all good too rola or pre rola. Not hard to find a good 25er.
as a side note the h30's handle more power-thats what celestion was after in making them but the tone is different whether original or not and were meant to be a tougher speaker even though by todays standards of 60+ watt speakers they are pretty fragile too in this dept.

[jnewlyn]

Yep, I agree. 20 or 25 watter with the M, or Medium, 35 oz magnets. I use Scummbag M's with the paper voice coils. 4X12 has to be used.

[fhn_lopes]

Look in my SIG and you'll see what I'm using

The creambacks are a bit brighter/open sounding than the scumbacks... the scums are smoother in the low end/low mid frequencies, but it is only noticiable when you put your ear on the speaker.... it's a small difference and when you combine them you'll probably won't even notice... Loved my set in my 1960A repica cab.... very bright and open tone, lots of punch. When you jump the inputs, its just magic!

[Tone Slinger]

I got a old '82 JCM 800 4/12 that has had the grill cloth changed to look like a late '60's cab (salt & Pepper ?). It originally had 65 watters, but there are 6402 coned Greenbacks in it now.

[jnewlyn]

Speaking of those 65 watters, I don't know about the Heritage line of them but the original G12-65's, like what was originally in your cab? I think those things kill. I love those things. They also use the 35 oz, M type magnets like the 20 and 25 watters.

[Marshall SL12301]

hellatones! best i have found for the $$$

[Just Mike]

Speaking of those 65 watters, I don't know about the Heritage line of them but the original G12-65's, like what was originally in your cab? I think those things kill. I love those things. They also use the 35 oz, M type magnets like the 20 and 25 watters.

But how are they for the early EVH sound?

[rgorke]

If you want early VH tone go for the Scumback m75s.

If you go with 'real' rola or pre rola greenbacks, it is a crap shoot.

I can also highly recommend Scumback B75s which are the blackbacks.

i also have the Weber "stan spec" with pre rola doping. I bought these years ago when Ted was still living.

So, for early VH:

Scumback M75 and/or B75 are far an away the top choices.

The others may be good but those are proven.

[jnewlyn]

Speaking of those 65 watters, I don't know about the Heritage line of them but the original G12-65's, like what was originally in your cab? I think those things kill. I love those things. They also use the 35 oz, M type magnets like the 20 and 25 watters.

But how are they for the early EVH sound?

Absolutely wonderful If you're driving the cab a fair amount for tone. If you're talking about apartment levels or bedroom/TV volumes, then it will be cleaner as it is a higher power rated speaker but the creamy, articulate bell tone is still there.

[fhn_lopes]

Check out Mr Twistyneck's clips, they are jaw dropping!!! He uses 65 watt celestions... Never thought those speakers could get that close, but IMO, if he used some rola blackbacks or m75 sucums, that would be a spot on for sure

[Maverick]

Peavey sheffield 1200

[Tone Slinger]

I base EVERYTHING, tonewise, on a JCM 800 slant cab I bought new in '90. At the time, I tried everything, and this cab KILLED. It had the celestion greenbacks in it. I sold it in '96 .
Ralle's clips got me wondering again about that cab, as did Rockstah's. I did my research and found that these guy's were using the 6402 coned clestions. Found out that Marshall had discontinued the 25 watt speakers in '78, in favor of the 65 watters. Celestion reissued the 25 watters in '89. These had the '6402' cones. These ran up to around 2002 ?

Anyway's, I bought this cab with the 6402's in it already. The badge on the back has the original rating of 260 watts.

efraser also seems to like his 6402 coned greenbacks.

[dirtycooter]

The chinese mades were super woody and no detail-made a great "house is on fire" ac/dc tone though-spot on so not totally junk. Seemed to be gainier but really it wasn't crunch and more fuzziness than gain.
The marshall VM cabs, the claszic 1960, the EVH, the handwired heritages, all sound about the same as my english made reissues. Mine have the H1777 cone and seems to get a better classic vh tone from the 5153 then most seem to get.
Completely happy with my marshall bx 1960 I stole for $400 mint on craigslist but do lack the slightly more creamier touch woodier original 69/70 cab I plugged into.
But that cab was F'd!!!!!! Wanna talk about relic'd! Shit the checker board cloth that was supposed be gray was totally tan-smelled like a smokey roadhouse bar so thick you coulda soaked that cloth in a bucket then drank the water and died of an overdose of nicotine poisoning, grill cloth flappin all over the place and shreds of tolex danglin off it like dredlocks on Bob Marley on a Harley at 70mph.
But man.... that was the coolest lookin cab ever. Even one of the cones of the speakers was repaired by maskin tape right in front where it looked as if someone razor bladed the cloth to mic it "inside the cone" like Ed was doin this last tour. But it still sounded terrific. They had a fat $1000 on it at GC for like 6 months-later it dropped to $700 and disappeared.
My guess is those are original speakers and someone was smart and said GIMME!
I thought of droppin a fat hog on that cab but really wasn't overwhelmed in comparison to mine. I was thinkin of turnin it over tp make some $ on it but you know I woulda been pullin short hairs to make myself sell it and not collect even more space hoggin stuff.