Cabinets, Amps, and other tough choices.. - Need help, I hav

[Kremlin]

Ok, I'm looking at changing my current setup from a single widebody 1x12 combo Mesa/Boogie Mark IV into something rack mountable. I love my amp's tone (just needs a retube badly) so I'm going to contact Mesa to see if I can swap it for a rackmountable version.. They are extremely good about customer support in this area so I suspect it shouldn't be a problem.

But, I don't know where to go for speaker cabinets. Right now I'm using a Mesa/Boogie Celestion Custom 90 ("Black Shadow" they call it) and I'll want to replace it with something else.. However, choosing the cabinet isn't so easy for me because even though I do want good tone and reasonable volume for gigs, I don't have a car that can carry a 4x12 in it.. How does the tone from two 2x12s compare to a 4x12? I'm looking at the Carvin Legacy's because of price and looks. Who knows, I might even try a Legacy head down the road.. By the by, is the Legacy available in a rackmount? Is there an easy way to carry a head inside a rackmount case?

I'm also looking at getting myself a good effects processor.. but I've ranted about that already in the thread about the Eventide harmonizer

[jem7pbk]

a 4x12 cab pushes allot more air then a 2x12 by that you get more fuller forceful tone from a 4x12 a great little 4x12 is the one marshall makes for there VS100 head ( valuestate) its a 4x12 cab but its much smaller then a regular 4x12 and comes with 4 celestion speakers and they sound good its small enuff for one person to pickit up and carry it. Of couse if you like the sound of your mesa speaker get a mesa 2x12 cab.

[Kremlin]

Hmm.. I used to have one of those VS100 cabs. The cabinet was really cool, the owner before me ripped off the marshall logo and painted a beautiful beach scene on the grill.. I hated the head, and ended up selling it off though

Thanks for the reply.

Any opinions on the TriAxis?

[Gresh]

BOth Mesa and Rivera make rackmount versions of their heads. *Rivera prices are a tad more reasonable than mesa and their stuff is built every bit as tough. *Tone wise, that's where you come in.

The Mesa Recto 2x12 is just an awesome cabinet. *It is heavy as heck though, but it sounds incredible. *You would not be disappointed if you bought one, if you can find one...Mesa seems to be short on these and they are $500 new.

People are getting tire of me ranting about my set up on this, but you should check out a POD and put it through a tube power amp. *Several of us on here have the pod running through mesa power amps and I have the recto 2x12 cab. *I got the best of every tube amp you can think of. *NO it's not absolutely perfect dead on replication of all those amps, but it is so close that no one will be able to distinguish the difference, especially if you sweeten it up with some tubes. *Just an option for you to consider. *Very simple, yet flexible rig that fits in my car and covers every sound I can think of. *

[john w]

Aren't the chassis of the combos & the short Mesa
heads the same size as the rack mountable versions?
I also believe Mesa sells a rack kit, I just have NO idea
what's in it... Since I got my Mk IV a couple weeks ago,
I can already tell that the ol' jcm 800 is going to go to e-bay.....

John W

[7 Dying Trees]

Triaxis = Excellent. Absolutely brilliant. If you likre mesa tone, then this will give you tons of preamps, stuff to play about with tweak and will just sound sweet. Tons of faithfully reproduced preamps in a one space unit. Love it and will never sell it. Can't believe the guy that had it before me was insane enough to sell it in the first place, but still, his loos, my gain!

Insanely good piece of kit.

[Mark DY]

I just wanted to weigh in on the cabinet issue - I have a JCM 800 50 watt 2205 and got a Bogner 4x12 with 30 watt Vintage Celestions -WOW! Interestingly enough, the cab is 16 ohm and seems to give it more punch. Better eat yer Wheaties tho, the thing weighs 120 lbs and is built Ford tough. I had a VS100 cab before this one, which I think had 25 watt Celestion greenies @ 8 ohms, but 50 pushing 25 was a bit much, especially in the clean mode - 50 pushing 30 seems perfect for what I'm doing. *The VS cab fit into the backseat beautifully - it's a squeeze with the Bogner - nice clip on & off wheels also. My Peavy combo practice amp shivers whenever it's around.

Mark

[Kremlin]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Yes, Mesa does make rack kits for all their amps.. except! I have the widebody combo version of the MarkIV, which is 22 1/2" wide instead of 19". Mesa has INCREDIBLE customer service though, I think they might let me pay a little and trade up directly from them to get a rackmount.

I don't like PODs. They're versatile for sure, but I personally think they sound "fake" and they have a very strong cookiecutter effect to your tone.. But every man to his own, some people swear by their Line6 gear.

7 Dying Trees, it sounds like I'm really going to have to look into the Tri-Axis.. Will it work alongside my Mark IV, or is it intended for use with a power amp only?

For cabinets, I'd love to buy a 4x12, but I have no clue how I'd move it around.. Now I have it narrowed down to: Mesa/Boogie 2x12" Recto, Carvin 2x12 with V30s, Bogner 2x12" (if I can manage to find one then sell my kidneys to afford it)

[Mark DY]

I never thought about a 2x12 Bogner - that'd be cool. You'd have to sell about 400 kidneys tho (612 Canadian!) :biggrin: