Eminence XTC212-BT Guitar Cabinet

New Eminence 2x12

I bought an Eminence XTC212-BT cabinet to house a Celestion Vintage 30 and a Mojotone BV-30H speaker. It looks and feels like a well made Baltic birch plywood cabinet. It is an adjustable back, front-loaded cabinet. The cabinet is wired to be as an 8 ohm cabinet.

All of its dimensions are a bit smaller than some of the more popular 2x12 cabinets: 27.5"L x 11.4"W x 18.1"H. Some of the larger 2x12 cabinets are about 30” wide, 12-14” deep, and 20” tall. The Eminence cab probably does not sound as big as some other 2x12 cabinets.

The cabinet was $199 + shipping + no sales tax from Kentucky to NY. I had originally thought about purchasing a Harley Benton 2x12 or Palmer 2x12 cabinet from Thomann, but the increased shipping costs due to the pandemic no longer made it an economical solution.

Front view.

Front grill removed.

Rear of the cabinet with removable back panel.

The workmanship around the joints inside the cabinet is neatly done inside the Eminence cabinet. The speaker bolts come with lock washers, which get mounted onto T-Nuts. The leather handle has a nice feel. I couldn't spot any indications about where it was made.

Cabinet jack options.

The cabinet comes with 16AWG wire to hook up to speakers.

The cabinet did not come with a manual to define the jack functions. A copy of the directions from Eminence was eventually posted on The Gear Page.

Celestion Vintage 30 purchased in early 2020.

T3904A code for 16 ohm Vintage 30.

The Vintage 30 needs to be broken in. I will try running 30Hz and 60Hz tones when I get the time. I will take IRs of the speaker as it ages to see how breaking affects frequency response. This cabinet setup doesn't have the big low end resonance of a 4x12 cabinet. I have to turn up the bass or resonance controls of my amps or modelers to get where I want to with the Vintage 30 in this cabinet.

Mojotone BV-30H from 2018.

Specs for the BV-30H.

I am more on the fence with the BV-30H speaker. I like how the speaker sounds in person, but it is more finicky with microphone position than my other speakers. I may end up swapping in a differently voiced speaker in the future. I don't think I've found the sweet spot yet, so I will experiment with more mics and off axis captures.

Both V30 and BV-30H speakers installed.

Edit - 1/14/22 - I finally installed the CL80 in place of the BV-30H. I finally gave up on using the BV-30H in this cabinet. It sounded too different from all other recorded examples of a G12H30 that I’ve encountered.

 

2021 Celestion Classic Lead 80

The dust cap of the CL80 is much bigger than on any of my other 12” speakers. The sound of the speaker is definitely in the Celestion family. It’s not a voice that is as commonly demonstrated like the V30 or Greenback, but still somewhat familiar.

V30 on the left, CL80 on the right.

Edit - 4/27/24 - The latest IRs of the Celestion Vintage 30 are here:

https://app.box.com/s/e7e9bbd2hoc4om17oo46tn58wp2orxyc

CL80 IRs are here:

https://app.box.com/s/l7dwyyglttqbsvol69ojpd5czsxqy20s

And a video to demonstrate some of the sounds:

Jet City Vertical 2x12

Jet City 24SVe 2x12.

My Jet City JCA24SVe Vertical 2x12 cabinet is now loaded with a Celestion G12M25 Greenback and a V-Type, as their sensitivity ratings are similar. I had put the V-Type in storage in favor of the BV-30H in the Jet City cab. The V-Type is now loaded in the top position. These two cabinets are different enough that I expect to have a variety of tones between them.  

Celestion Greenback G12M25 from 2017

The bottom half of the 24SVe cabinet is deeper than the slanted upper half. I think I get a little more low end out of the Greenback in this position. The Greenback is my favorite out of all the speakers that I own. I generally like to place a microphone close to where the dustcap meets the cone.

IRs of the Greenback can be found here: Link to Greenback IRs

Celestion G12V70 V-Type from 2017

The V-Type does remind me of a mix between the Greenback and the Vintage 30.  The sweet spot for mic'ing the V-Type is closer to the middle of the cone, further away from the dustcap edge than a Greenback. In isolation, I prefer the V-Type for higher gain tones, and the Greenback for Plexi-type tones.

IRs of the V-Type can be found here: Link to V-Type IRs (older)

Edit - 8/24/22 - I swapped out the V-Type for a Creamback H75. I still wanted to get a feel for the H-style speaker and was able to get it for a good price. I immediately gravitated towards its voicing upon making the change. The speaker doesn’t have the high end that pushed me away from the Mojotone BV30H. I wanted the opposite of an ice-picky speaker, and this speaker fits me well. It does overpower the Greenback in the same cab, but this is fine for recording.

2022 Celestion Creamback H75

Link to Creamback H75 IRs

Edit - 9/10/24 - I moved the Vintage 30 from the Eminence 2x12 to the bottom of the Jet City cab. The sound filled out quite a bit. The 14" depth of the Jet City provided some more thickness, which works better with high gain. The Jet City cab also mellowed out the high end under a microphone.

I will be rotating speakers in and out of the Jet City cab. The Eminence 2x12 may be repurposed as an open back 2x12 for my Greenback and Creamback H75 combination to emulate a Matchless-style cabinet. This cabinet experimentation has naturally led me to think about purchasing a big cabinet such as a Bogner OS212, Mesa 2x12, or a Splawn 2x12 to see what I am missing with the higher end cabinets.

One of the speakers I will put into the Jet City cab will be a G12T-75 that I found on eBay. It has a checkered reputation online, but I am curious to hear it myself.

G12T-75 of unknown purchase/manufacture date.

To be continued.