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Post by anacephalic on Jan 27, 2007 18:14:20 GMT -7
I've always liked my original Rx 2-12 with v-30's in it but i always had a nagg in that something wasn't quit right. I was guessing a speaker swap might help and i've found i was correct.
Today i ran it through a matchless combo's speakers with a greenback and a g12h-30 in it . Oh my! was that fun. the "thinness", often spiky mids and kind of muffled nature of the v-30 were all gone. The overall tone seemed a lot warmer, more balanced, and all the openness i love about the RX was still there. I thought the Rx sounded better than the matchless (dc-30) though the same speakers. My brother, who had been gushing about the matchless was totally blown by my Z through those speakers. (the Rx totally also smoked a route 66 through a z-best in a side by side. I didn't expect that outcome).
the question i have is should i go with the greenback and g12h-30 or maybe just start with swapping one of the v-30s with a g12h-30. the reason i ask this is that i was using a strat and having such fun i forgot to try a bucker guitar. considering i own mostly gibsons that was a bad oversight. i was wondering if the greenback/g12h-30 might get a tad too dark with buckers
if you can get an original Rx....buy it.
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Post by JASON (aka jgleaton) on Jan 28, 2007 16:46:01 GMT -7
if you can get an original Rx....buy it. I'd just slap a G12-H30 in there with one V-30 1st... then later you could try a greenback for the remaining V-30 if it's still not quite what you want?
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Post by Tom the Guitar Guy on Jan 29, 2007 15:05:01 GMT -7
I really like my Blue / Silver combination. Originally it came with two greenbacks and sounded great, but the Blue / Silver combo really comes alive!
tomtheguitarguy
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Post by pickupcentral on Jan 29, 2007 23:54:19 GMT -7
I am using Eminence Cannabis Rex's. Love 'em with my Rx. It was very average sounding through the Mesa cab with Black Shadow speaker, but the C Rex brought the amp to life.
-Phil
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Post by wopniche on Feb 1, 2007 7:46:00 GMT -7
Has anyone tried a Celestion Alnico Gold in a RX ES 2x12 combo, I am thinking of going that way, or maybe pairing a Gold with a GH12-30. I have a MAZ - 38 SR. with a Alnico Blue and a GH12-30 and it is an amazing set up in that amp. I find the stock Greenbacks in mt RX flub out on the bottom end a little quicker that I like and they have a harsh top. Any opinions will be appreciated
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Post by Tom the Guitar Guy on Feb 2, 2007 12:53:49 GMT -7
It's my understanding that the Gold is a higher rated version (50W?) of the Blue, so if you like the Alnico Blue and GH12-30, then you'll probably be satisfied with the Gold.
tomtheguitarguy
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Post by anacephalic on Feb 2, 2007 16:11:38 GMT -7
thanks for all the feedback guys. j of course had the best advice, try the g12h-30 and then see what i think. i was excited over the tonal improvement i had heard and was kind of in santa's coming mode and wanted it all, NOW!
i'm going employ a little patience and try the g12 with the v-30 first. that may be the holy grail afterall. i noticed the doc uses that combo in the maz 38 after i posted and he seems to have a fair handle on good tone :-). webers would be cool to try but the funds thing gets in the way.
anybody ever check out the hellatones vrs the stock celestions
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Post by wopniche on Feb 3, 2007 0:54:30 GMT -7
I will be posting a review of the Alnico Gold 2x12 combo as well as the Gold/G12H-Heritage combination soon, as I have ordered a pair of Golds as well as one G12H to sample in my RX-ES 2x12 combo. It's a costly venture but I feel the RX-ES is a great amp and has a wide range of tonal possibilities, Speakers are very subjective, so I figured It would be a worthy investment, I will submit the best review I can !
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Post by prsnstrat on Feb 6, 2007 8:15:36 GMT -7
I really like my Blue / Silver combination. Originally it came with two greenbacks and sounded great, but the Blue / Silver combo really comes alive! tomtheguitarguy Are yours alnico or ceramic, 50s or 30s? Thanks!
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Post by Tom the Guitar Guy on Feb 6, 2007 9:14:53 GMT -7
Both Ceramic 50s
tomtheguitarguy
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herf
Junior Member
Posts: 80
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Post by herf on Feb 11, 2007 19:31:15 GMT -7
thanks for all the feedback guys. j of course had the best advice, try the g12h-30 and then see what i think. i was excited over the tonal improvement i had heard and was kind of in santa's coming mode and wanted it all, NOW! i'm going employ a little patience and try the g12 with the v-30 first. that may be the holy grail afterall. So have you tired it yet? I'm about to perform the same experiments on my Rx. The guy I bought it from put in 2 G12 Century Vintages in there which are definitely not doing it for me.
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Post by drew on Feb 12, 2007 9:26:43 GMT -7
This is a bit off thread since it's only 1x12 but I tried a weber blue dog alnico 50w in an open back mesa widebody cab, didn't like the low end response at all! I put the same speaker in an 1x12 closed back cab (soverign) and boom the bass response is massive with nice tone quality. The weber cut down on the overall volume (or what appears to be) allowing me to crank the RXES' volume to where I like it 2:00 - 3:00 OD/off airbrake on 2. Rocstock also noted a similar experience with the Bluedog. And the overall tone has more compression & chimey mid highs than the v30, G12H or Texas Heat spks which I'd tried in both of the mentioned cabs. I'm anxious to try a Z open back 1x12 with the blue dog to see if the bass response improves over the widebody cab.
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Post by anacephalic on Feb 12, 2007 14:30:52 GMT -7
Hey Herf, I'm still waiting for the speaker to arrive. hopefully it will show up and get stuck in before the Thur night Jam so i can try it out. Without break in the details will remain to be seen but the big picture should be there. i'll post the results If the speaker shows in time. if it fails to make it by Thur it may be a while since i'm on the road a ton (been home one week since early Nov aargh).
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Post by anacephalic on Feb 20, 2007 23:25:41 GMT -7
Got the new g12h30 speaker late thur but since the temp was in the single digets i acted like a weanie and stayed in my nice warm house for the test drive instead of playing out. I still have a lot of tweaking to do since swapping the speaker really changed the character of the amp. It might still be worth trying a greenback in there with the g12h just to see what it does if i can con my brother into letting me yank one from his marshall.
Right off the bat the very forward, almost assulting at time, nature my Rx often showed was significantly tamed. The overall tone warmed up quite a bit and lower mids increased. Overall the tone seemed more balanced top to bottom with this combo. the mids with the 2 v-30s could get overbearing at times and the low mids were somewhat lacking.
One pleasant but unsuspected outcome was that the sustain of the amp seemed to improve at lower volumes. The amp always had amazing sustain when played fairly clean but now it seems way easier just to hang notes out their effortlessly. It may be that the more forward, biting tone of 2 v-30s affected how i played or how the amp interacted with the guitars. don't know the whys but the result was very nice.
With the 2 v-30s it seemed that every time i went on a tonal tweak fest i ended up in about the same place. maybe the limitations of that speaker combination with my ears just forced a compromise. with the g12h30 in place i found lots of tonal combinations that i really dug. I even found one combination that really reminded me of my old Ampeg V-2. maybe now i can quit pineing over selling that amp. i also dove into my airbrake a lot more and cranked up the volume. The mellower tone allowed a bit more volume in the basement without killing the ears too bad...that lead to cranking things. way fun! the air brake really is pretty amazing.
the only downside is that the airy articulation that come with the 2 v-30s and that really worked well with chimy open strings worked in to arpagios and plucked clusters was somewhat diminished. The fattened tone also muddied up the top end a bit though muddied is totally inaccurate. ain't muddy at all just not as high fi as the amp used to be. some more tone tweaking, dialing in the guitar vol sweet spot to the new speaker and adjusting pick/finger attack should hopefully sort that downside out. I'm also going to increase my motivation for getting a nos 5751 for V3 and see what that does for getting a tad more headroom. that might bring back some of the air
To be honest, with the 2 v-30s i rarely played the amp at home. with the new speaker in i didn't want to stop playing until arm pain said "dude, way past time!"
summary: best 80 bucks i've spent in a long while
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Post by billyguitar on Feb 21, 2007 8:49:25 GMT -7
Vintage 30s seem to impose more of their own tone on any amp than any other speaker I know. Far from neutral to you have to like what it does and how it gets along with everything else.
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Post by anacephalic on Feb 21, 2007 10:36:34 GMT -7
I could not agree with you more Billy. Once i isolated the V-30 sound in my head compared to other speakers it really stands out. Even paired with the G12h i could still tell it was in there.
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