Best Guitar Cabinet for recording?

[Tibbon]

I'm thinking of getting a 4x12 cab, and loading it up with 4 different speakers for recording. Any suggestions for good cabinet makers? I'm much more into a classic rock sound, than a super modern sound for my guitarwork.

[slaves666]

Don't try to mis-match speakers. Just get an old Marshall with Celestion Vintage 30's and you'll be plenty happy. for around 1k you'll get something nice.

[Lava Man]

Have Mojo Musical Supply make one for you. They are currently making demo 4X12 cabs for EV's re-release of the EVM12L.

Here's the link:

http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/cgi-bin/mojotone/

[Gnash]

I almost purchased another Marshall 4x12 at a pawn shop the other day without playing through it. I made the guy take the back off of it. Freakin Radio Shack no name speakers in it! That was a close one. I think someone pulled one over on him actually!

[allencollins]

There are so many cabs to choose from. You need to make sure it is made from quality wood though such as birch plywood as opposed to particle board or other cheaper woods. Of course even birch plywood is considered cheap by some but for cabs it's great. Also rear mounted speakers cabs (like old marshalls) tend to sound better than front mounted. The materials and constuction of the cab have as much to do with good tone as the speakers themselves.

Boogie, bogner and marshall(60's to 80's) makes some great cabs. Avatar makes a great cab called a 'bluesbreaker'

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by slaves666

Don't try to mis-match speakers. Just get an old Marshall with Celestion Vintage 30's and you'll be plenty happy. for around 1k you'll get something nice.

What type of sound do you think it will produce? Something too muddy or undefined if everything isn't matched? I figure that guitar amps are normally mic'd about an inch (or less) from the cloth, so there shouldn't be too much bleed from other speakers, and i'm not sure if it would change the room sound too much.

I was thinking of putting a Greenback or two in, and two different Eminence brittish flavour speakers. I would be driving everything with a ~25 watt class A amp.

[Absolute]

It depends on the Head. Many times, but not all , the manufacturers cab is the best match

[bjm007]

IMO, you can't go wrong with the new Marshall 1960HW 4x12 cabs. With a street price under $1,200 for the cab, and a street price for the new G12H30 Heritage speakers that are inside (at over $250 each), it's like you're paying for the speakers and getting a baltic birch ply cab for free....... Once the speakers break in, they sound amazing.

[James Lugo]

I've had a ton of Marshall 4X12's. They rattle. Those handles are nasty. Try Boogie or the Carvin Lagacy. I just bought 2 Boogie 2X12's with no handles (just a strap on top) with Vintage 30's. 1 closed back (recto cab), 1 open back. Those cabs are perfect for recording!

I know a lot of people swear by Marshall 4X12's but I've had a rough time lately controlling rattles. The Boogies are silent.

[Solunaris]

I played out of this 4X12 made by a company called Germino. It was fukking amazing. I loved it, actually, I just got a mesa stiletto which sounds great, and i might go buy that damn cab for it. I beleve it has greenbacks in it. Either way it was awesome when I heard it with a Custom Audio Amplifier OD100 (a super amazing guitar head). Need to hear it the the stiletto first though I guess.

[Tubefreak]

Imho the best production cab by far (!) is the Bogner 4x12 V30. I've tested it against Diezels, Marshalls, Soldano's, Mesa's, Engls, etc with various amps, such as Diezel VH-4S, Bogner XTC, Soldano SLO, Mesa Recto Tremoverb, Engl Powerball, Climax S3+VHT 250, etc.

Non of them has the clarity, sound stage and depth of the Bogner!! I repeat...NON OF THEM.

Maarten
www.tubefreak.com

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by Tubefreak

Non of them has the clarity, sound stage and depth of the Bogner!! I repeat...NON OF THEM.

I don't think I've ever heard "sound stage" mentioned in a discussion of a single, monophonic speaker cabinet before! In my experience that term is always used to describe the imaging abilities of a stereo pair of speakers.

[84K]

the tuned and ported 2X12 by THD is scary.... lower volume, but has the power of a 4X12 stike

[Jack Pettit]

Have a look at Avatar speakers
Great price with large speaker selection.

[crypticglobe]

Ok... I am guitar tone FREAK. The best cabinet I have ever found is the Bogner 4 x 12. I currently have mine loaded with 2 GH12H-30's and 2 Vintage 30's. It sounds amazing.

If you are going to only (or mainly) do close mic-ing, you can mix/match speakers. However, the cabinet won't usually sound good back away from it with too many different speakers in it. So, if you are going to use it live... or you like to get mics back away from it you probably won't like it.

Because I have pretty much just fallen in love with the G12H30, I am eventually going to go with 4 of those in this cabinet. In ton's and ton's of sessions since I got this cab... I have never chosen the V30's over the G12H-30's. Even for the sake of making the 2nd track "different". I just have to fight them too much. The G12H-30 is just right.

Anyway.... JMTC of course.

[Jim Williams]

www.bassonsound.com

These cabs don't rattle, ever. I run the 120 watt head full up and no buzzes, no rattles. Very broad tone, very even, a louder cab. No nasal marshall tones here.

Only costs $640. New.

One last thing, avoid slant cabs, they have no balls.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by arrogantbastard

I played out of this 4X12 made by a company called Germino. It was fukking amazing. I loved it, actually, I just got a mesa stiletto which sounds great, and i might go buy that damn cab for it. I beleve it has greenbacks in it. Either way it was awesome when I heard it with a Custom Audio Amplifier OD100 (a super amazing guitar head). Need to hear it the the stiletto first though I guess.

I know Greg. I'll have to call him and ask him about a cab.

[Scott R. Foster]

Originally Posted by Jack Pettit

Have a look at Avatar speakers
Great price with large speaker selection.

Ditto that... I have a 4x12" Avatar loaded with AlNiCo Blues that is butter.

Also have a couple of Ampeg bass cabs - a 4x10" and a 2x15". All these have very different sounds. What I use depends on what I want it sound like. For a gerneral purpose bass cab a SVT 8x10" would hard to beat [and a pain to move - thus the reason I have a 4x10].

[TML]

Originally Posted by James 'LA' Lugo

I've had a ton of Marshall 4X12's. They rattle. Those handles are nasty. Try Boogie or the Carvin Lagacy. I just bought 2 Boogie 2X12's with no handles (just a strap on top) with Vintage 30's. 1 closed back (recto cab), 1 open back. Those cabs are perfect for recording!

I know a lot of people swear by Marshall 4X12's but I've had a rough time lately controlling rattles. The Boogies are silent.

I'm with yah James. They srattle and vibrate...speakers go in and out . I love vintage 30's....but the cab falls apart. Rectifiers destroy them with bottom too.
Tim

[Tim L]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

... One last thing, avoid slant cabs, they have no balls.

Sure, there are instances where a straight cab may work better over a slant, but I've never found lack of balls to be one them... at least not for me anyway.

[Tim L]

If you're into the sound of Celestion V30's (earlier versions had Greenbacks), the Carvin Legacy's are pretty hard to beat... particularly for the money. I find you do have to take the logo plate off (the one on mine would vibrate a bit).

[PurpleGuitars]

I have a Bogner 4 x12 with Vintage 30's and an old Marshall cabinet (4 x 12) with original greenbacks.. great combination

[Tibbon]

I think i'm looking for an unloaded cab to load with my own speakers.

[fuzzface777]

Greenback 25, vintage 30 mismatched used to be my choice Killer combo, but these speakers tend to be a little fizzy especially recent models. THe I got Eminence Red Fangs and Wizards in my 4x12 wired a parallel series in 14 guage wire, and HOLY CRAP! Then a I bought a 112 USD mulder audio speaker cable and ANOTHER HOLY CRAP!!! There was crap everywhere! Seriously, I had better harmonic crunch, chimy singing highs, without the fanta fizz and then extended again with the cable. You decide!

good luck

cary

[WidgetNinja]

Originally Posted by Tubefreak

Non of them has the clarity, sound stage and depth of the Bogner!! I repeat...NON OF THEM.

Maarten
www.tubefreak.com

Err, except for the multitude of companies who buy their cabs from the exact same supplier as Bogner...

I'm with Lugo on this one. I really like the Mesa 212's, as a cab. Speakers are a matter of taste and context.

Scott Splawn's cabs are held in high regard too, and are inexpensive (800 or less, you choose speakers).

Remember there's only a few cab manufacturers, but lots of logo makers. They're like chinese condenser mics. Aside from decent plywood vs mdf, the cabs themselves are 90% the same, many ARE the same cab sans logo.

[Tubefreak]

Originally Posted by WidgetNinja

Err, except for the multitude of companies who buy their cabs from the exact same supplier as Bogner...

Can you point out one other cab by the same supplier as Bogner who has the same gauge of speaker wire? I haven't found one, if you do please let us know. Would be nice to have Bogner quality for less money.

Maarten

[Chunky Karma]

Originally Posted by Tubefreak

Can you point out one other cab by the same supplier as Bogner who has the same gauge of speaker wire? I haven't found one, if you do please let us know. Would be nice to have Bogner quality for less money.

Maarten

I was thinking the same thing and got a little excited when I noticed the similarities between the larger Bogner 2x12 and Avatar's Primier Vintage.
http://www.bogneramplification.com/2x12Info.htm
http://www.avatarspeakers.com/Vintage%20Premier.htm
The Bogner is almost 30 lbs heavier. I wonder why there is such a difference in weight when it seems that mostly the same baisic materials were used.

[waxnsteel]

You really can't argue the quality of the Bogner cabs. Even the little "cube" sounds huge. The next part of it, though the speaker... There is no "holy grail" for all tones speaker. The vintage 30's will not do it every time (yes, I realize they are probably the best selling speakers on the planet, and I love Slash and Steve Stevens, just not my preferred tones). Greenbacks have great crunch, Blues have very sweet open tone with extended highs (and are extremely efficient witth a low wattage rating), and there are many other speakers that do a particular tone very well. And that's not even going into the 12 bodzillion pieces in the eminence line.

I dig Celestions, though, and IMO, the most versatile of them are the Mesa speaker (most call them MC90's) and they're very similar to Classic Lead 80's (few small design differences, and 10 watts power handling). Don't get me wrong, the Mesa's are not perfect for all things, but IMO, they can cover a lot of ground and do it very well.

If you want my opinion of what speaker gives THE classic rock tone, I'd have to say the G12H or the greenback(great results can be had by mixing the two). There are different greenback varieties in 20, 25, and 30 watt versions, different magnet sizes for different applications, but have a very distinguishable british rock crunch tone. There's a guy who started a company dedicated to reproducing the early Greenback speakers. On most of the forums he goes by "scumbag" and they call the speakers "Scumbacks." Clips I've heard were excellent, and the testimonials are glowing, but I've never stood in a room with one. They're interesting, though for the blues/rock sound.

[Chunky Karma]

Originally Posted by WidgetNinja

Err, except for the multitude of companies who buy their cabs from the exact same supplier as Bogner...

I'm with Lugo on this one. I really like the Mesa 212's, as a cab. Speakers are a matter of taste and context.

Scott Splawn's cabs are held in high regard too, and are inexpensive (800 or less, you choose speakers).

Remember there's only a few cab manufacturers, but lots of logo makers. They're like chinese condenser mics. Aside from decent plywood vs mdf, the cabs themselves are 90% the same, many ARE the same cab sans logo.

So is there another brand name that is more afordable than Bogner that is essentially the same cabinet? Where are the re-baged Bogners?

[WidgetNinja]

Originally Posted by Chunky Karma

So is there another brand name that is more afordable than Bogner that is essentially the same cabinet? Where are the re-baged Bogners?

Nowhere.
There's one guy that supplies several high end amp companies with the same woodworking. His identity is a closely guarded secret. Searching guitar sites should yield you the "compatibility" data though.

I believe MojoTone also supplies several "visible" companies, but I could be mistaken.