What speakers are in the Matchless DC30 (or Bad Cat equivalent)?

[Jayson Chance]

I've always loved DC30's, and thought they had a cool speaker setup that lended to their signature sound.

I remember reading a while back that the speakers used were something like "proprietary custom designed" or something of the like..
But I always just figured they were basic Celestions with a Matchless or Bad Cat logo..

I'm pretty sure one is a Vintage 30, so someone correct me if I'm wrong...

What's the other one, and how are they wired?

Two 8 ohms, two 16 ohms, series, parallel?

Thanks for the insight...

J

[unkindone]

not positive but I think they are in fact V'30s

maybe greenbacks on the older models?

i don't know how they modify the speakers...maybe they change the magnet or something...

or..just stick their logo sticker on it

[celestion101]

Current Matchless = one G12H and one Greenback (G12H replaced the V30). They perform a little in-house trick that I cannot mention, but many here know.

Bad Cat - Formally V30's and a Greenback, but now their custom model (either two customs, or possibly one mixed with a GB, but I am not 100% if they still do that).

And both use 2x 8ohms

Cheers,
Rick

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by celestion101

Current Matchless = one G12H and one Greenback (G12H replaced the V30). They perform a little in-house that I cannot mention, but many here know.

Not to give away secrets, and hell I don't even know if I'm right, but I think I read somewhere that they "break-in" the doping on the surrounds by using acetone on them, or something like that... I have no idea how much of a difference in tone that makes... maybe it just helps the speakers to sound "more broken in" out of the box or something? I know this is one method Ted Weber recommends to help break in a speaker.

[Kiwi]

As above, but note that the two mismatched 8-ohm speakers are wired to give 4 ohms. Ahh, that magic Matchless sound!

=K

[gtrfinder]

I've always wondered if the mismatched speakers in DC30's have any problems with phasing or whatnot.
Assuming that a greenback has a sensitivity rating of 98db and a G12H has a rating of 100db would the G12H always be overpowering the greenback?

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by Kiwi

As above, but note that the two mismatched 8-ohm speakers are wired to give 4 ohms. Ahh, that magic Matchless sound!

=K

aaahhh... so the amp is looking for an 8 ohm load, but only getting 4 ohms. Veeeeeery interesting.....

[celestion101]

Originally Posted by gtrfinder

I've always wondered if the mismatched speakers in DC30's have any problems with phasing or whatnot.
Assuming that a greenback has a sensitivity rating of 98db and a G12H has a rating of 100db would the G12H always be overpowering the greenback?

I'm sure that the phase problems have also be referred to as "swirl", a popular term to describe the DC30. .

[rburkard]

We are looking at a difference of 3db between the two speakers since the regular G12M is rated at only 97db compared to the 100db of the G12H.
The G12M is just supplementing and contributing to the louder G12H in this case. You can swith the amp to 4,8,16 ohms.

[Jayson Chance]

So that means two 8 ohm speakers running in series, for 4 ohms... Right?

Weber has a similar method for aging speakers. Often referred to as the "Pre-Rola" treatment to the British Series, that's probably the one I hear about the most. Those are variations, of course. I'm sure that has to do with the amount of doping/aging. I know he used to do a similar trick to the P12Z in Dr. Z amps, which evolved into what is now known as the Weber Silver Bell.

Thanks for the info on the Matchless stuff, fellas. I always figured is was a V30 and a Greenback...

J

[wsaraceni]

2 8ohm in parallel to make 4ohms. series would give 16

[Jayson Chance]

Ahh.. Had it backwards! Thanks-