It's easy to think "pfft what's an extra 8cm in the vertical realm, that isn't even the length of my iPhone 13 Mini", but when I put it next to my 1960AV I was amazed by how much taller it is and how much bigger it appears. When I did some measurements prior to purchasing it, I concluded that the 1960TV with a 1987x on top should be ~the same height as the 1960AV with a JCM800 on top.
But nope, the 1960TV/1987x half stack is taller. Truly a monster of a cab!
Enough about that, it's not the size but how you use it, right? I had a run through with 8 brand new Greenbacks last autumn in my 1960BV cabinet, and not one single speaker sounded truly amazing mic'd up. Not sure if it's the cabinet itself or that Celestion utilize tighter QC for speakers they send off to Marshall, but the 1960TV sounded like a finished recording straight out of the box, with just a single 57 in front of it. I considered mixing the G12Ms with some G12H 75hz Heritage's, but there's no way I'm touching anything. The G12Ms are extremely versatile, balanced sounding speakers that work with pretty much any amp - from clean to metal high gain.
Compared to the G12V "Marshall Vintage's" in my 1960AV, the Greenbacks in the 1960TV are a bit warmer and more balanced, not pushing the upper mids as much as the center and lower mids. This is the first time I’ve experienced liking two different sounding speakers about equally, because there's nothing nasty or harsh with any of them - and while being distinctively vintage and modern, they are also interchangeable for the majority of purposes. The G12M might have a slight edge on versatility because it's more neutral/even, but if you want a more Vox/Alnico-esque upper mid bite in your clean and edge of breakup tones the G12V does a better job.
Just a small fun fact to wrap up the review: this and the 1960AV are the first cabs and speakers (out of *many*) where I can take the "put the mic where the dust cap meets the cone" advice at face value. I say that because in the past this placement has always been way too bright, and sometimes I had to move the mic so it wouldn’t even see the dust cap. Does it matter? I have never been able to get as good recorded tones as I do now, so I believe it does.
