New Cabinet time!

CalledToArms · #1 04-08-2008, 12:25 AM

so, with my government rebate, im finally buying a quality speaker cabinet like ive been talking about doing for awhile. got my dream metal guitar (S prestige), got one of my two dream metal amp heads(dual rec...the other one i dont have being a Soldano), the main piece missing is a top of the line speaker cabinet to replace my peavey cabinet.

I am looking for a 4x12 and currently have the following on my list:

Mesa - im running a mesa dual rec as my head and i trust mesa. i need to look into the difference in sound between the standard and the oversized mesa cabs.

Orange - Generally not considered a metal amp but with V30s and the orange name I think it would sound great.

Marshall - its been hit or miss with me when using marshall cabs. some seemed dull and others seemed great.

Framus - Ive heard great things about these even though ive only had limited access myself.

Any thoughts? Im playing metal in C Standard. It needs to be able to handle very heavy palm muted lows but also very warm leads and extended clean melodic parts.

waylay00 · #2 04-08-2008, 12:53 AM

Try Splawn Cabinets....top notch stuff!

kotornut · #3 04-08-2008, 12:59 AM

I wouldn't recommend the Orange.

I had a buddy running a Dual Rec through one and it sounded average at best. I ran my Single Rec throught the Mesa cab and sounded much better.

markyperfection · #4 04-08-2008, 01:04 AM

I like the smaller Mesa cabs, the bigger ones are a little tubby for me. Orange cabs sound AWESOME with the right amp. I don't really like them with Orange amps, and I've never tried one with a Mesa before, but more Marshall-y amps sound delicious through them. The Marshall 1960B is more or less my go-to cabinet for a good sound with minimal worry. Framus cabinets are eh; I've not spent much time with them, mostly because I've never really wanted to.

Most recently I've been super impressed with the Voodoo Amps cabinets. The build quality is superb, and they will load them with practically any Celestion speaker you want.

Have you thought about trying a cabinet X'd with 2 V30's and 2 G12T-75's?

kotornut · #5 04-08-2008, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markyperfection

Orange cabs sound AWESOME with the right amp. I don't really like them with Orange amps, and I've never tried one with a Mesa before, but more Marshall-y amps sound delicious through them.

I should say that eventually my buddy switched to to an Orange head and he went on to play rock music instead of anything metal like, and his amp sounds great. I was just saying with the Mesa head it sounded average.

Tank · #6 04-08-2008, 04:17 AM

I have to say: Since it costed me less to have a cab custom build for me, I will never again buy a stock cab.

My custom build was: Size roughly like a Marshall 4x12 Slant, but better woods to minimize feedback and instead of the usual V30s everyone seems to put in their cabs I took Jensen Neodyn 12''. With the Jensen speakers the cab is much lighter than with V30s and the sound is totally awesome. Combine that with brown ornamented saddle leather (not real leather but a tolex that looks like it) as covering and custom piping and you have a killer cab. The whole thing costed me below 500 bucks.... A Mesa Rectifier Cab costs double or more...

humpy · #7 04-08-2008, 07:22 AM

Have you looked into the Kirk Hammett sig boxes?

Their site says...
"The new KH cabinets are engineered and constructed to handle classic full-range hi-gain tones (RS412KHX) as well as deep low-end for extreme drop tunings.(RS412KH100)."

I assume that they're getting pushed a bit but they couldn't completely suck...

CalledToArms · #8 04-08-2008, 12:25 PM

cant stay long atm, but any thoughts on Avatars or Diezels?

TheMusicBucket · #9 04-08-2008, 09:32 PM

Check out Port City Music cabinets.

http://portcityamps.com/wave3.html

I have a 2x12 loaded with V30s and it sounds amazing, I've brought it to stores to try with different amps. The brands I've played through it are Marshall, Mesa, and Vox. To my ears it sounded warmer and louder than the 4x12s they had in the store! You can also buy them unloaded and put whatever speakers you want in them.

The amp I spent the most time demo-ing it was the mesa dual rectifier. I noticed that there is an inherent fizzy-ness when it was plugged into the matching 4x12 cabinet. It didn't sound bad, but it takes some pretty weird EQ-ing(or insane volumes) to dial it out. I found that with my 2x12, the fizzyness, while still present, was more of a "sizzle" rather than an unpleasant(to my ears) hissing. Even at really low volumes. But simply bump up the presence on the amp and you have all the high end that you could need, to my ears it just seemed to give a larger spectrum of sound to work with.

Andy43 · #10 04-09-2008, 07:52 AM

You can't go wrong with a Mesa Traditional 4x12. The Rectifier cabs are tab bit boomy sounding, especially with a Dual Rectifier.

RenegadeAmps · #11 04-10-2008, 04:13 PM

Avatar is a great deal... You can always get one of their's unloaded and drop in a set of EVs (The ones that Zakk Wylde Puts his name on). That'd work really well. Eminience M-12s are a good poor man's version of that speaker and handles big low end well.

I'd go for a straight cab. Most of the popular cabs are pretty well the same barring speaker choice. For instance my SLO-100 with my Soldano 4x12 sounded like a$$ with the stock Soldano speakers. I replaced them with some Vintage 30s and it rocks mucho better and sounds killer with detuned guitars.

CalledToArms · #12 04-17-2008, 10:03 AM

thanks for all the replies so far guys, ive been pretty busy with work lately and havent been able to keep up. definitely checking out a lot of brands like port city and splawn etc. that people have mentioned in this thread so far.

As far as speakers go, I have talked to some people that recommended the Eminence "Big Block" which is the eminence version of the G12H30 heritage in an x pattern with an eminence "small block" which is their version of a greenback. Any thought on these vs say V30s?

CalledToArms · #13 04-17-2008, 02:39 PM

oh and in addition to the other info, all the amps ive generally liked in the past are usually pushing V30s, but I doubt splawn would push the eminence speakers on me (which are actually slightly less $$ than the V30s i inquired from them) if they werent solid.

i play detuned metal and really want to feel the palm mutes while still having clarity for arpeggios and other neck pickup leads and also tremolo picking.

waylay00 · #14 04-17-2008, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CalledToArms

thanks for all the replies so far guys, ive been pretty busy with work lately and havent been able to keep up. definitely checking out a lot of brands like port city and splawn etc. that people have mentioned in this thread so far.

As far as speakers go, I have talked to some people that recommended the Eminence "Big Block" which is the eminence version of the G12H30 heritage in an x pattern with an eminence "small block" which is their version of a greenback. Any thought on these vs say V30s?

I have a Splawn 4x12 with four Big Blocks. The Big Blocks are a tiny bit darker than the V30s, but they still have a thick midrange. I think this is why they work so well with the Splawns (which are, by nature, bright amps). I can't really comment on the Small Blocks, as I've never really tried them. Remember that the Big Blocks/Small Blocks were designed especially for Splawn.

When I demo'ed the Splawn for the first time, I played it through a Splawn 4x12 with an x-pattern of Eminence Governors and Man-O-Wars. That thing ripped equally as well. I also played an ENGL Ritchie Blackmore, ENGL Powerball, ENGL Invader, a Wizard, and a Voodoo V-Plex (all courtesy of Josh Sage at Rebel Amps) through the same cabinet and they all sounded amazing.

CalledToArms · #15 04-17-2008, 11:08 PM

good to hear! Ive been having a hard time deciding on the speakers haha. in all honesty id probably be happy with V30s OR any setup they suggest. its just, since its a good chunk of money im hesitant on picking up a cabinet i havent gotten a chance to try or speakers that im not used to hearing.

do you think that V30s would be too bright in these cabs? to me it doesnt seem like they would sound that much different than a traditional mesa 4x12 (which would be fine by me)