Just installed original Peavey Valveking speaker with a Retro 45. Don't know what the fuss is about. Same exact brash harshness as the original speaker. Lesson learned.
Highly Disappointed
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The Retr0 30 is a pretty bright speaker, but it does have a significant ~3kHz dip to reduce ear fatigue. The strong ~3.5kHz+ range can make an amp sound too brassy bright -- great for sparkling clean and chimey Voxy sounds, but can be too bright for other things. The lack of a high cut or presence knob on the VK, combined with the crisp 6L6GC power section, can make it pretty brittle with a bright speaker like the Retro 30. You could try turning the Treble down and Middle up, but how effective that will be also depends on how the guitar and electronics shape the high end response. The Retro 30 should soften and warm a bit after breaking in, but you might consider swapping to something like an ET65. It has a nice full midrange quality, but with a reduced ~3.5Hz+ range and a ~4.7kHz dip that works quite well for clean and overdriven tones.
The Retro is the wrong speaker for that amp all the way around whether it's the 112 or 212. You'd have been much better off with the Vet 30 or the ET 90 IMHO.
David, I'm assuming you mean Retro 30 ... since there is no "Retro 45" ... right?
At any rate, as has already been stated ... the proper speaker for that amp would be a ET65, or possibly an ET90!