Possible to play 80's metal with a 1x12?

[Axewielder]

Ok this is driving me crazy. I have a pair of Mesa Boogie closed back 1x12 Thiele cabs, and am looking for 80's metal tones. These have C90 Black Shadows. Anyway, I am really not getting a good sound with these at all, and I have tried the following gear with them:

Mesa Boogie 20/20 amp
Mesa Boogie 2:100 amp
Mesa Boogie Recording Preamp
Soldano SP 77

I always find myself maxing out the gain and bass on these preamps, and still have a paper thin sound. No balls at all. I am playing quite loud, too. Thinking it was the C90's, I replaced one side with a V30. It had a slightly better distorted rock sound, but still quite thin and brittle, and it seems impossible to EQ out. Halp! This is mostly a practicing/recording rig, and I don't want to go with a 4x12. Comments?

[Rupe]

Try lowering your gain and bass. Too much of either can frequently kill the tightness of your low end. Try adding some mids as well if you haven't already. You should be able to get a good 80's metal tone with that rig depending on how you dial it in.

[horns666]

1 X 12" + loud drummer = loud drums with a hint of flatulence.

[MetalMedal II]

That's puzzling to me. I've had good metal sounds from 1x, 2x, and 4x12s. There's probably a little more inherent bass as you increase speaker size, but it all should be good for recording purposes.

Out of your gear, I have the SP 77 (paired with a mesa 50/50), and I found a better metal gain by placing a tubescreamer in front with medium gain, and backing down the SP's gain, instead of it all coming from the preamp. Also, most of my eq settings are around 12 o'clock.

[Axewielder]

1 X 12" + loud drummer = loud drums with a hint of flatulence.

:ROTF: :ROTF: Yeah, can't argue there. I'm really just looking for a decent sound at reasonable volume so I can throw a mic in front of it.

Out of your gear, I have the SP 77 (paired with a mesa 50/50), and I found a better metal gain by placing a tubescreamer in front with medium gain, and backing down the SP's gain, instead of it all coming from the preamp.

A pedal in front of the SP-77, eh? I wouldn't have thought to "go there", but thanks I may give that a shot.

[thetroy]

I had a Soldano Astroverb that I played through a Mesa 1x12 with the black shadow. It sounded great with the Soldano's gain around 1 o'clock and a BOSS SD-1 with the level at 3 o'clock and the gain at 9 o'clock. It's probably not all that different from your SP-77.

[markD]

1 X 12" + loud drummer = loud drums with a hint of flatulence.

my open back rivera 1x12 combo had NO problem sounding full and large over a loud drummer.

i prefer 1x12 cabinets and have had a ton of success over the years with them. i HATE the sound of a 4x12. tweak your amp. sometimes less is more on bass and gain...

[El_Kabong]

This is it! All 80s LA tones, super loud and no pedals required. Yes, it is a Crate and it is also the secret bargain of all things metal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Crate-Stealth-GT-50S-1x12-Guitar-Amp-All-Tube-FS-50_W0QQitemZ120224992541QQihZ002QQcategoryZ38073QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Endrik]

I used a 1x12 with my Boogie MKIII 300, I barely turned the vol. on... it was enough to get complaints from a drummer and a bassists with Ampeg stack that I was killing everything

[charvelguy]

I would lower the gain and the bass, should be no need to have them maxed unless your sound is really clean, in which case you should be using a pedal but with your setup, it shouldn't be needed.
Smaller cabs oftentimes sound better with a open back or half back config as they'll sound much more open and full.

[AlexL]

This is it! All 80s LA tones, super loud and no pedals required. Yes, it is a Crate and it is also the secret bargain of all things metal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Crate-Stealth-GT...QQcmdZViewItem

I had one of those. Sweet, sweet amp. Between that and the new V32/Palomino series of amps, Crate has a few true hidden gems in their product line.

High, high value on the Crate Stealth and V32/Palomino amps. Used my Stealth for both clean and high gain tones without using a distortion pedal. Was great for Queensryche, etc.

- E.

[åron]

I'm with those that are suspicious you have your settings a bit off with perhaps too much gain or bass. Unless thiele ports really do not work for metal, it has to be a classic boogie situation. I love them, but they can be a true PITA to get set up just right. My current workhorse, a 4x10 nomad with a 1x12 ported cab can get just about anything - good and bad :ROTF: . However, with the way all the controls interact with each other, big adjustments and extreme settings just don't work.

[jtr]

As said add mid's lower the gain. Where do you set these cabs if on the floor you might not hear the lows also how far away are you from the cab. Record it you might be shocked.

[Trem]

you can play 80's hair metal with a gorrilla, if you have enough confetti explosions, and shiny spandex.
lol...sorry

[RR05xx]

For what it is worth, while I have a couple of mesa cabs (a recto and an older metal grill job that I have had for a long time), I play by triaxis 2/90 rig through a Marshall 1960 lead with the 75w celestins. About as 80s as you can get using the Mk IIC or Mk IV voicing on the triaxis.