Guitar Gear Forum

Found a Mesa 212 on Cl with these in it. Don't think I"ve ever heard them before. I emailed the guy, just waiting to hear back. How are these? I know that Mesa cabs these days typically come with V30's. Are these similar?

I like them Some of my fave speakers. They're a "neutral" sounding speaker. They have the bottom, thats similar to a V30, but no spike, & a bit more clear. Not scooped, but not "honky". A good well rounded speaker.

It's basically the same thing as a Celestion Classic Lead 80.

Love 'em!

And not all Black Shadows are MC90's. Some Mesas had Black Shadows what were made by Eminence. I believe thosewere 50 watt speakers. Celestion / Eminence = Apples / Oranges

100 watt wrote:And not all Black Shadows are MC90's. Some Mesas had Black Shadows what were made by Eminence. I believe thosewere 50 watt speakers. Celestion / Eminence = Apples / Oranges

Right. "Black Shadow" is just the name Mesa uses to rebrand any speakers they have manufactured specifically for them.

Having said that, the C90 is a great speaker. Neutral without being boring or lifeless, and super versatile. It's rather telling that the C90 is the stock speaker in pretty much every Mesa cab that's not specifically intended to be paired with a Recto.

you cant go wrong with em. Good for just about any style there is. You can go from early 60's toans, to curb stomp br00tz, to country twang... Never found anything they werent good for.

Im not into the "modeling" amp thing, but Ive heard guys use them for that too, & have great results.

Your presence knob will seem to work alot better with these speakers, as well.

I would be pairing it with my Roadster head but not playing metal.

I am seriously considering putting one into my DSL40. Sounds like it will tame the highs and not be flubby.

100 watt wrote:Im not into the "modeling" amp thing, but Ive heard guys use them for that too, & have great results.

Line 6's top-of-the-line cabs used to come with four CL80s.

paul88lx wrote:I am seriously considering putting one into my DSL40. Sounds like it will tame the highs and not be flubby.

Will tame them, but like I said, fuck with your presence knob. You'll find some more ground you havent covered.

benjamin801 wrote:

100 watt wrote:Im not into the "modeling" amp thing, but Ive heard guys use them for that too, & have great results.

Line 6's top-of-the-line cabs used to come with four CL80s.

Yeah. At one time, you could get those cabs cheap. They were worth grabbing, just to rob the speakers from.

Used to do that with the PV cabs that had the 85's in em. You could get them cheaper than buying a quad of 85s by themselves.

Buy cab. rob speakers. sell cab for $100. Win

100 watt wrote:

paul88lx wrote:I am seriously considering putting one into my DSL40. Sounds like it will tame the highs and not be flubby.

Will tame them, but like I said, fuck with your presence knob. You'll find some more ground you havent covered.

Oh I have been. Currently the amp is set like this...

Classic Channel with the clean crunch switch engaged. Eq is treble0-1, mids-8, bass-8, presence-no higher than 5, resonance-8. The thing is still cleaving my head off. I am using the tone knob on my SD1 and the filter on my Rat to attenuate the highs. The tone knobs on my LP don't do much until they are almost all the way down. Then it just mudds out. I know it's not my pickups because they have no EQ agenda. They don't push anything. They just tell you exactly what your guitar sounds like.

So, new speaker here I come.

The 90's should work out for you.

If those arent your bag, look into Eminence. Emi's are great with super bright maps.

Another remedy you may try, is that foam matting stuff you put in drawers (you can get it in Wal-mart). I've placed that over speakers to dampen them out. Works really nice & cheaper than beam blockers . Comes in different colors, so you can poy it on the back side of your grill cloth, & not know its there. Affix it w 2 sided tape, or rubber cement..or just tape it to the front of your cab over the centers of the speakers.


A buddy of mine double layers his grill cloth to tame highs.

I have an '80s Mesa 2x12 with C90s and it sounds amazing with my Mark IV. I had an '80s 4x12 with the same speakers that I paired with a Dual Recto that sounded awesome as well. I love the '80s metal grill Mesas. In the end I sold the 4x12 because the 2x12 sounds so good and is half the size. For the sake of gigging it made sense.

These are like CL-80's, like my WGS BL-80's.... and if they are all truly similar then I'd say they're a fantastic speaker.

WGS BL-80 is my favorite speaker of all time. Like guys have mentioned, super versatile, neutral without sounding lifeless. I love them

Yeah. A Dude in NC last year had an empty metal grilled Mesa 4x12 I wanted, but sold it before I rolled thru