Are Greenback speakers good for a heavy sound?

[ESchmidt]

Hey everyone. Im gonna replace the speakers in my Peavey Classic 50. I have found a pair of used Celestion Greenback speakers for sale locally fairly cheap. They are the made in china ones, not the Heritage series.

 

I know they are great for classic rock/blues sounding stuff, which I play 90% of the time. However, there is the occasional heavy song Ill play. Will these speakers be able to handle a good amount of distortion without sounding muddy? Thanks!

[cratz2]

I have a buddy that has a Classic 30 and I replaced his Blue Marvel with a Greenback and I put two Vintage 30s in two other Classic 30s. I've never compared them back to back, but I've played clean, low gain and highish gain through both speakers in those amps.

 

Of course, the Greenback is more laid back than the Vintage 30. Clean vs clean, I'd take the Greenback without a doubt. Low to medium gain - Zeppelin and AC/DC at most - I'd still give the big advantage to the Greenback. For high gain, esp lead stuff, I'd say the Greenback would work for me with a bright-ish HB.

 

I think the same qualities that make the Greenback so great with the low to medium 70s type gain is what makes it unexceptional for higher gain, esp with darker pickups. Plus I tend to work the guitar volume a bit to dial in the tones I like.

 

I think with the JB in a Parker and a little boost from an original Guvnor, the Classic 30 with the Greenback sounds great. On the other hand, I'd expect a Super Distortion or a Tone Zone in a Les Paull without a treble bleed into the Classic 30 with a Greenback would be potential mud city, esp if you roll back the volume on the guitar and you don't have a treble bleed.

 

I'm not saying it might not sound great, but my scenario was pretty bright.

 

Are you more critical of your lead or your rhythm tone? The Blue Dog is a great speaker that sounds GREAT clean and dirty and pretty good when VERY dirty, but it always has that chime and it has a LOT of bottom end compared to the Greenback or the Vintage 30.

[ESchmidt]

Thanks Cratz, really good info there. I was thinking the same thing--excellent clean to meduim gain, but unimpressive high gain. My pickups are burstbucker pros in a LP studio.

 

EDIT: I am more crucial of the rhythm sounds.

[EADGBE]

Didn't Eddie van Halen mostly use greenbacks for his big hits?

[Welladjusted]

Jerry Cantrell swears by them, but I wouldn't call his tone tight. Still, if Alice in Chains doesn't count as heavy, I don't know what does

[cratz2]

 

Thanks Cratz, really good info there. I was thinking the same thing--excellent clean to meduim gain, but unimpressive high gain. My pickups are burstbucker pros in a LP studio. EDIT: I am more crucial of the rhythm sounds.

 

 

I'd guess that you'll be OK with either speaker then. I seem to always be able to dial in a decent rhythm tone on any decent amp with a decent speaker even if they aren't 'supposed' to sound good for a certain use. And the BB Pros are fairly bright HBs. I think I'd lean towards the Greenbacks over the Vintage 30s for what you seem to be going for. I can't say enough good about the Blue Dog but again, it has a BIG bottom end which works great for percussive styles, esp clean with with low gain but you might find it's too much bottom end.

 

As far as EVH and Cantrell, a lot of times you can't really go by what sounds good on recordings. Even with raw nearly live recording techniques, there's so many other factors such as the mics, how and where they are miced, what went on in post etc etc...

 

Having said that, they have two of my favorite rhythm tones ever.

[schiz]

With an MXR 10 band EQ Ive made a few different Classic series Peaveys pretty dirty with several different types of speakers.

 

Not exactly sure any of them had Greenbacks - just throwing that out there.

[Brian May]

V30's are better if you like heavy low riffing and chugga chugga type sounds...they're tighter and brighter. The Greenbacks are one of my fave speakers but for higher gain stuff they can be a bit too loose in the bottom. But if you mostly play classic rock maybe then the greenbacks could be the best choice - get the speaker that suits what you do most of the time rather than one that maybe better for one style that you hardly play.

 

since you got the Classic 50 (i have also) the Greenback is a fine fine speaker for that amp and handles the amount of gain the C50 throws at it with ease. Get them!! I plan on the same for mine...after I had one in my old C30 and loved it. When I bought my C50 I put my C30 up on ebay...but before I did I looked to see if I could take the greenback out and put one of my C50's Blue Marvels back in that...but alas they were different ratings ie 16 ohms vs 8 ohms.

[ESchmidt]

Thanks for the replies everyone! As soon as I sell my Fender amp, Ill order them and do a few clips.

[Hoddy]

Greenbacks are great in a closed back cabinet...not so great in an open back one. My Bluesbreaker came stock with Greenbacks and I notices right away that at high volumes the get very loose and flabby sounding...especially the bottom end...you got to remember these are relatively low wattage (15 watts I believe, but not 100% sure) speakers. I replaced mine with a Celestion G12H (a 30 watt version of the Greenback) and an Eminence Red Fang...the difference was huge...now the bottom end is very tight and well defined even with the amp cranked all the way.

[vexed73]

I like to mix speakers up.