Cabinet Comparison

[MikeStrat]

I was jammin with a bunch of friends the other day and had an opportunity to test out some amps and cabs. What I found kind of surprised me a little. I used my Mesa Dual Rec head and test drove Peavey, Bogner, Crate, Marshall & Mesa cabs. IMO the Mesa cleaned house. The Bogner was good but the Mesa just had that bone crushing bottom end. I guess it's no coincedence that you see so many Mesa cabs on stage with pros.

[adrenaline junkie]

It depends a lot on what kind of music you're playing, and the speakers in the cabinet.

[nonamemx]

Was it a traditional or oversized Mesa cab?

[Boxcar Willie 84]

I played the oversized Mesa cab with my Dual Rec head for a little over a year, then I ended up buying a Marshall 1960AV cab with the Vintage 30 speakers and I like it much better....that 'crushing bottom end' sounds great when youre playing by yourself but to me it just got lost in the mix with the band-the Marshall is definitely a tighter, more focused sound that cuts better.

[yabba]

I like the traditional sized mesa cabs much better than the oversized 'regular' ones; those are too boomy and muddy, IMO

[Shawn Lutz]

without knowing what type of speakers where in each its not really a scientific cab test

[Niccolai]

Mesa puts v30 speakers in all their amps if I'm not mistaken, so it's wierd to me that some people notice such elaborate differences between the traditional and oversize mesa cabs.

[Endrik]

dude, the bigger the cab is the more low end it has, physics my man.
traditional has more mids and cuts thru better.

[Niccolai]

but I mean, considering they are built out of the same wood also, the extra five lbs of wood can't mean the difference between the cab sounding good or bad.

[Infernal Death]

It doesn't have anything to do with the mass of wood. It's more about the volume of the speaker enclosure.
And also it's not about sounding good or bad, it's about more or less low-end

Flo

[MikeStrat]

without knowing what type of speakers where in each its not really a scientific cab test

I know there are several factors that could go into a comparison like this. That's why I said "in my opionion". There was nothing scientific about this. Not to sound cliche but.....It's rock & roll man! I had a bunch of gear there and Mesa just kicked ass. And there wasn't too much argument from the other guys in the room with me. It is what it is.

[Shawn Lutz]

cab constructionand quality of materials used is equally as imporntant as speakers are imho.

I like the oversized Recto cabs...they kick ass but the Bogner 4x12 with V30's is the king of my cabs. I htough it was all hype until I got one and played it

[Spivonious]

So if I had a Marshall 4x12 with Vintage 30s, and a Mesa 4x12 with Vintage 30s, they would sound different? I can see if they were different size enclosures, but I highly doubt that they're different enough to affect the sound.

Now, Black Shadows versus Vintage 30s I can definitely hear a difference.

[yabba]

So if I had a Marshall 4x12 with Vintage 30s, and a Mesa 4x12 with Vintage 30s, they would sound different?

they definetely sound different! find those cabs at a shop and try it out for yourself

[Spivonious]

they definetely sound different! find those cabs at a shop and try it out for yourself

My mind has been boggled.