Cabinet Preferences

**joezlo** · 12.23.20, 06:35 AM

Hey folks,

Here's an open discussion on your guitar cab preferences.

Are they specific to styles?
Do you use one for versatility?
Does it depend on the head in use?
Is it a custom cab?
What kind of spkrs?
What kind of wood?

Ex: When I was actively playing out, I had a 5150ii:

I used a birch straight 4 x 12 with 2 V30's & G12H's.
& a Pine angled 4 x 12 with the 5150 stock Sheffield's.

I'm currently in love with the 5150 LBX ii and those 2 old cabs are long gone. I'm just curious if anyone else has any 4 x 12 recommendations beyond the stock EVH cabs.

**Jedi McFly** · 12.24.20, 02:16 AM

I’m not picky when it comes to cab construction. Give me anything closedback with a greenback-ish speaker and I’m happy.

I’ve used an Avatar 2x12 with Eminence Legend GBs and now use the EVH 1x12 with the stock EVH Celestion. Both sound great. I don’t miss the 2x12 at all, but I also don’t ever gig without a PA.

**joezlo** · 12.24.20, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by Jedi McFly

I’m not picky when it comes to cab construction. Give me anything closedback with a greenback-ish speaker and I’m happy.

I’ve used an Avatar 2x12 with Eminence Legend GBs and now use the EVH 1x12 with the stock EVH Celestion. Both sound great. I don’t miss the 2x12 at all, but I also don’t ever gig without a PA.

That's interesting. I have a stock EVH 2 x 12, but its never had enough dbl's pumped through it to be broken in properly. I've been using a mesa cab clone & DI for several years now for all my projects and have been thinking about cabs recently.

**noise next door** · 12.24.20, 08:36 AM

If you're playing a venue with a solid PA, much better to go FRFR with active stage monitors like the Friedman ASM 12s (with a Fractal or Kemper), and then also send direct to the FOH on XLR.

The ASMs are light at around 40 lbs and sound incredible. Cab issues are removed completely.

Better guitar sound through the building's full acoustic space, and the stage monitoring is very high quality for the band.

You can even then spit upstream from the modeller with a Class A direct box if you want other outputs.

IMO, traditional amps and heavy cabs will be 90% gone in 10 years.

**Dave not David** · 12.24.20, 08:49 AM

I have a bunch of marshall 1960 stereo cabs that I use with a modeler and solid-state power amp.

You can get a lot of different sounds out of a single cab by just tweaking the EQ. I highly recommend getting a decent quality cab with your favorite style of speakers and then tweaking frequency response to taste.

Sure it won't quite change the response, but it'll definitely change the sound more than a three-band EQ on the amp.

When I've been playing out recently, I only use cabs have the time anyway, usually on IEMs and playing directly to the console with an IR.

**iplayguitaralot** · 12.30.20, 10:44 AM

I would suggest buying used Evh 4x12s. You can get great deals on them and the speakers are broken in. I can’t speak for other cabs besides the peavey, it had good build quality but I didn’t like the speakers as much as the evh. Of course if you can get a Marshall 4x12 that would be tits, but they are too expensive for me when the evh is build the same with greenback clones. I’m sure the other boutiques who make Marshall 4x12 clones are also quite bad ass.