Should I mix V30's and Seventy 80's?

[Vrollin]

So I have a randall 4x12 cab loaded with seventy 80's at the moment, running off a Randall RH200 SS head. While I find the over all sound to be ok, its still not great, hoping to get a bit more bottom end out of the cab, more growl out of my distorted tones and hopefully more control out of the eq, still getting just a touch of that wet blanket effect. Going for that modern metal sound, I do rhythm more than I attempt to do leads so love to sit there and chug away and want that low end thump with plenty of high end clarity.
So many of the artists I like have cabs with v30's in them and I figured it would be a smart way for me to go, would it be wise to mix in two v30s in a cross pattern in the cab? Would this even set me on the right track? Or should I be looking at other speakers instead? Keeping in mind that I'm not unwilling to replace the remaining seventy 80s with another down in the future....

Thoughts?


Cheers!

 

[cwhitey2]

IMO seventy 80's are meh at best, maybe just arent for me. (i have the same randall cab you have)

If you like the way the two sound together give it a shot.

I mix my Basson with my Randall and that brings the low end.

 

[Vrollin]

Havn't heard them together myself. Was hoping maybe someone out there had? Don't really want to replace all four straight up just yet $$$$$, so having two of the seventy 80s will be the go for the mean time, surely someone out there has been in the same boat and done similar

 

[bloodnail]

i literally have the same cab the cxm model and just put vintage 30's in an x pattern with the 70/80's.the 70/80's are getting replaced today with celestion k-100's.the 70/80's are way too harsh in the mids mixed with the vintage 30's and mind you i have mesa vintage 30's which have the high end roll off.i'm calling this a no go mixing vin 30 and 70/80.i dont know what amp you have but i have a 5150 and it has plenty of mids also so the mix just didnt work for me.

 

[guitarfishbay]

My old Laney tt412 had this setup. Actually I bought the cabinet s/h thinking it was all v30 but something wasn't quite sounding right. I've owned several v30 cabs so I knew something wasn't as expected tone wise. Overall I still think that the cab sounded good but it wasn't as tight or aggressive sounding as the all V30 cabs I've had. I guess if you like the cab already and can get a good deal on some speakers it is probably worth it, especially if you close mic for recordings or live. But if you're going to be buying the speakers at new prices/don't mic up I'd be more inclined to keep an eye out for a cab that already has 4 v30s in it and just selling the old cab. You almost never improve the resale value of a cab when upgrading speakers.

 

[viesczy]

Mixing them all in the trash? Yes! Do it!

V30s (and 70/80s about the same extent) are just to sterile sounding to my ears. The only time I've every liked the tone of them were in a Mesa cab, beyond that the recorded tone and the actual tone from the V30 were split by lightyears.

I never could get the right feel/texture/girth/power that I wanted from my VH100 and XXX with V30s.

Derek

 

[Vrollin]

My old Laney tt412 had this setup. Actually I bought the cabinet s/h thinking it was all v30 but something wasn't quite sounding right. I've owned several v30 cabs so I knew something wasn't as expected tone wise. Overall I still think that the cab sounded good but it wasn't as tight or aggressive sounding as the all V30 cabs I've had. I guess if you like the cab already and can get a good deal on some speakers it is probably worth it, especially if you close mic for recordings or live. But if you're going to be buying the speakers at new prices/don't mic up I'd be more inclined to keep an eye out for a cab that already has 4 v30s in it and just selling the old cab. You almost never improve the resale value of a cab when upgrading speakers.

I picked up this cab for $100, one of the Randall 4x12 cabs if I didnt specify already, so not really worried about things like resale etc.... Thanks for your input on the sound you got!

 

[Vrollin]

Mixing them all in the trash? Yes! Do it!

V30s (and 70/80s about the same extent) are just to sterile sounding to my ears. The only time I've every liked the tone of them were in a Mesa cab, beyond that the recorded tone and the actual tone from the V30 were split by lightyears.

I never could get the right feel/texture/girth/power that I wanted from my VH100 and XXX with V30s.

Derek

Any recomendations on other speaker types to choose? Im open to suggestions!

 

[Vrollin]

i literally have the same cab the cxm model and just put vintage 30's in an x pattern with the 70/80's.the 70/80's are getting replaced today with celestion k-100's.the 70/80's are way too harsh in the mids mixed with the vintage 30's and mind you i have mesa vintage 30's which have the high end roll off.i'm calling this a no go mixing vin 30 and 70/80.i dont know what amp you have but i have a 5150 and it has plenty of mids also so the mix just didnt work for me.

This is interesting because Ive read around and people say that the seventy 80's are meant to be a vanilla speaker.
What made you reach for the k-100's?

 

[bloodnail]

The 70/80 is some what of a neutral speaker but mixed with a vin 30 its just to harsh and seems like it pushes the same freqs and just doesn't sit well.k-100 is completely diff in the fact that it has a nice tight and deep bass with present but not harsh mids and a kind of rolled off top end which makes it the opposite of a vin 30 but mixes great because they complement each other filling in the voids that each other lack.also k-100 is a rebranded k-85 from the 90's that came in peavey butcher cabs.I've had both and they sound identical.
I'm also using mesa vin30 which are different than standard vin30.mesa's have taken out the mid spike to a point that the standard vin30 is known to have.

 

[Vrollin]

Do you think maybe I should look at say the k100 first then the v30s later?

 

[karjim]

I had this cab with a Randall RH200SC...I sold the cab
Not a really good cab and those speakers are the worst of Celestion speakers.
Put V30s in this cab it's like upgrade a crappy tired car...In a way it will do the job, but you will spend money for something it won't be easy to resell.
IMO sold this cab and grab a budget 212 V30 ....This Randall is a good SS amp and he can do so much better with a good cab.
I have a Mesa 212 and sometimes for fun I take this old RH200 instead of my EVH...
Really cool 90's thrash sound, so much bigger than this budget 412 Randall piece of dry wood....Try a good 212 you will sell this honky monster in a minute

 

[Vrollin]

hmmm, I know very little about what would make a decent cab, have very limited ways to try things out where I am due to there being only one major retailer and the next capitol city being 1600km away makes it hard to try before I buy.... What should I be looking out for in a cab?

 

[bloodnail]

There's nothing wrong with the cab just because it doesn't say mesa or Marshall on it.my cab at least is made out of birch all the way around and is almost constructed as good as my mesa so I don't see the point of your logic.the matching cabs that came with the rh200 were junk by mine was ment for the t2 and v2 series.
Really its up to you on what you want to do with your cab but don't let name tags fool you either.mesas are great but you could also find used speakers cheaper than a used mesa.

 

[Vrollin]

So mine isn't made of birch then? Sorry just a little lost and not at a computer to find specs on mine easy atm. I take it birch construction is a main factor of a good cab then?

 

[bloodnail]

Idk what model you have in particular but mine is the cxm model.its all birch.the lower end randalls are made out of MDF or pressed particle board.cabs are made from different woods like pine and birch and MDF stuff.so really disregarding a cab because it isn't birch is silly because the 1960 Marshall cabs are made of MDF and they are an industry standard.its all different strokes for different folks theory.
In all honesty if you have the cxm cab like mine its worth upgrading and if it isn't then just sell it and find a different one.to answer the main question you asked though I did not like the mix of vin30 and 70/80 so I tossed the 70/80.you might or might not also,everyone has a different ear.

 

[Vrollin]

Thanks again mate, I'll check what the model number is if it's on the back when I get home from work. Pretty sure it wasn't MDF though, opened the back when I got it to have a peek inside and from memory there was wood grain inside.
Not looking to spend bulk on a new 4x12. I only went the 4x12 as I picked it up for $100 so don't mind making a minor upgrade if it yields some benefits.
I've also emailed a custom cab maker in Australia to see what they would charge for an orange style 2x12 cab, they claim to be able to do it cheap. See what happens there.

 

[Vrollin]

Cant find a model number, just had a look inside, and its a ply wood of some description, don't know how to tell if its pine or birch though....
Just sold my little rg75 combo so now have extra funds to throw at it.... hmmm

 

[bloodnail]

Randall doesn't make pine cabs so its probably birch.does it have the metal grill on the front?

 

[Vrollin]

Nah its the cloth/mesh stuff.

The one in this pic, sorry only pic I have that kind of shows it.

For some reason they don't have any model number on the jack plate or anything....

Also started to sift through the USA ebay to see what I can find second hand speaker wise. Plenty of 16 ohm speakers, not so many 8 ohm