2x12 Half-Back

[gts]

Fwiw the indicator of an older vs newer metal grille half back cab is the handle. Earlier cabs had a handle that was sort of rectangular albeit with rounded edges. The handle was silver and black in color and had a “Mesa” label on it. The newer cabs had the all black round handle (which were way more comfortable on the hands when lifting the cab - those rectangular handles were kind of brutal on your hands.

I’ve owned more than a few of the metal grille 4x12’s and 2x12’s over the years. Both the 4x12 bottom cabs and top cabs. Most common speakers in them are the EV12L’s, MS-12’s, and C90’s. Cabs could come with a mix of these speakers or be all the same speaker (you can only imagine how heavy a 4x12 loaded with four EV12’s would be)!

Last but not least Mesa made a metal grille half back 4x10. I’ve only seen one. It could have been a special order or a one of experimental cab. It had Celestion G10S-50’s up top and EVM-10L’s (or 10M’s) in the bottom. (Rivera might not have grabbed all the 10M’s. I still need to check which EV-10 was in that cab).

Of yeah I’ve also seen an EV “Force 12” too.

 

[Doug Doppler]

LOGO ON HALF BACK CABS // As I was trolling Reverb solds looking for other examples of the "Half Back Rack" cabs like this one
https://reverb.com/item/80019747-me...k-series-model-half-back-slant-cabinet-1980-s
per additional examples of the G12-50 speakers. I came across this listing
https://reverb.com/item/67312182-19...al-pickup-only-in-milwaukee-wi?show_sold=true
for the below cab which features the 'Boogie' logo plate. It has the early jack, so I was wondering if anyone else has seen or owns any Half Back cabs with the Boogie logo or if this was a head logo that got screwed onto a cab. On some of my cabs, the logo plate was glued and left marks after the plates were removed, others were simply screwed in. This one doesn't show any glue marks, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. THOUGHTS?

 

[user 41014]

I converted and beefed up one of the 4x12's for 12L's. The baffle was old and weakly held on. Then I came across one loaded with the 12L's so I've got 2. Yes boat anchors but localized hurricane transducers.

The VS-12 was in the bottoms of many.

I would love to have that 4x10. Mesa I believe had the OEM 10L exclusively but the 10M was a retail and OEM production before Rivera snagged the after production ended stock. It, unlike the 10L was offered in 8ohm so it makes sense from the normal mesa standard 8ohm cab that a 4x10 would have the 10M.

Doug, I have seen logos removed to not advertise and everything across the board to a Rod Steward owned purple stripe that he preferred the mesa/boogie logo at an angle I've not seen others do.

And I think when you say rack half back which I've never heard before you mean a road ready aka RR cab.

My search for Mesa's designations on the main standards is incomplete but this is as good as any place to post it. They could be 2x12 or 4x12.

4HB - not sure but believe this is VS12 down and MC90 up
4JB - EVM bottom MC90 up, "CEL/EV 360W"
2LB - EVM bottom V30 up, "CEL 30 / EVM 150W", e.g. C08854
4YB -V30 bottom MC90 up, "CEL/VNTG"
Mesa p/n H.4RP-B is the top piece to make a halfback convertible.

I have not seen these in a halfback yet but in a recto:
K = greenbacks
E = EVM, I think classics -the example I saw was 4ohm drivers

I've heard the old style handles referred to as knife blade handles. Speaker driver swaps were common but I have original drivers in more than one cab to start dating them. I've never heard a year for the handle conversion.

Force is available in 10, 12 and 15 at least and are known to be great guitar speakers so no surprise there. But I am surprised I've never seen a JBL in one or any 12" drivers mesa cab. I have a 1x15 blonde ext cab which you don't see everyday with a JBL loaded. Made me wonder if it was a Jerry Garcia cab.

 

[Doug Doppler]

Fwiw the indicator of an older vs newer metal grille half back cab is the handle. Earlier cabs had a handle that was sort of rectangular albeit with rounded edges. The handle was silver and black in color and had a “Mesa” label on it. The newer cabs had the all black round handle (which were way more comfortable on the hands when lifting the cab - those rectangular handles were kind of brutal on your hands.

I’ve owned more than a few of the metal grille 4x12’s and 2x12’s over the years. Both the 4x12 bottom cabs and top cabs. Most common speakers in them are the EV12L’s, MS-12’s, and C90’s. Cabs could come with a mix of these speakers or be all the same speaker (you can only imagine how heavy a 4x12 loaded with four EV12’s would be)!

Last but not least Mesa made a metal grille half back 4x10. I’ve only seen one. It could have been a special order or a one of experimental cab. It had Celestion G10S-50’s up top and EVM-10L’s (or 10M’s) in the bottom. (Rivera might not have grabbed all the 10M’s. I still need to check which EV-10 was in that cab).

Of yeah I’ve also seen an EV “Force 12” too.

HANDLES, JACK PLATES, TOP CABS, and 4x10 HB // I must not have refreshed the thread and just saw this post which reminded me why I offloaded the pair of top cabs I had. I prefer having the extra surface on top of the cabs be it to give the heads a bit more space as well as for picks, slides, and an occasional pedal.

The two HBs closest to me have the two variants of handles as well as the mono and stereo jack plates, another designation of newer and older cabs. At some point I amass the various questions and reach out to a contact at Boogie for clarification, in this case did the change in hardware (handles and jack plates) happen at the same time.

4x10 HB - holy cow, I've never heard of one until now. WOW!!

 

[gts]

LOGO ON HALF BACK CABS // As I was trolling Reverb solds looking for other examples of the "Half Back Rack" cabs like this one
https://reverb.com/item/80019747-me...k-series-model-half-back-slant-cabinet-1980-s
per additional examples of the G12-50 speakers. I came across this listing
https://reverb.com/item/67312182-19...al-pickup-only-in-milwaukee-wi?show_sold=true
for the below cab which features the 'Boogie' logo plate. It has the early jack, so I was wondering if anyone else has seen or owns any Half Back cabs with the Boogie logo or if this was a head logo that got screwed onto a cab. On some of my cabs, the logo plate was glued and left marks after the plates were removed, others were simply screwed in. This one doesn't show any glue marks, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. THOUGHTS?

View attachment 3572

Doug the older Mesa 4x12’s had the “Boogie” logo plate. The newer had the “Mesa Boogie” logo plate. If memory serves me correct the “Boogie” logo plates were screwed on like the one in your pic. The “Mesa Boogie” logo plates were glued on. I’ve owned both the older and newer 4x12’s with their respective logo plates. I’ll look through the (my) archives and see what pics I can find/ have kicking around.

 

[gts]

Mesa I believe had the OEM 10L exclusively but the 10M was a retail and OEM production before Rivera snagged the after production ended stock. It, unlike the 10L was offered in 8ohm so it makes sense from the normal mesa standard 8ohm cab that a 4x10 would have the 10M.

The 10” EV in the 4x10 is an EVM-10 (no “L”, no “M”).

There’s an extensive thread about these 10” EV’s on the gearpage. (I’ll find the link and post it). It seems there’s been a few different iterations of it.

From what I read the specs on the EVM-10M and the EVM-10 are the same. Supposedly they are the same speaker except the EVM-10 was the OEM version (not the 10L). The EVM-10’s in the 4x10 cab have OEM on the magnet. There’s no label on the back. They say the 10M’s all had labels which makes sense because as you wrote the 10M was meant for retail sales.

 

[gts]

Here are links to page #2 and #3 of the thread on the EV 10” speakers. The thread is four pages with over 150 posts. It’s quite extensive. I found the most informative pages to be #2 and #3. I think the most extensive info is on page three but the posts at the end of page two are informative too as they lead into, and are sort of the beginning of the discussion that continues onto page #3.

Here’s page 2:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/seeking-ev-10-inch-speaker-info.1073258/page-2

Here’s page 3:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...nch-speaker-info.1073258/page-3#post-22675573

 

[Doug Doppler]

Here are links to page #2 and #3 of the thread on the EV 10” speakers. The thread is four pages with over 150 posts. It’s quite extensive. I found the most informative pages to be #2 and #3. I think the most extensive info is on page three but the posts at the end of page two are informative too as they lead into, and are sort of the beginning of the discussion that continues onto page #3.

Here’s page 2:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/seeking-ev-10-inch-speaker-info.1073258/page-2

Here’s page 3:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...nch-speaker-info.1073258/page-3#post-22675573

well, there goes another hour of my life (surely will be well spent)! THANKS @gts

 

[user 41014]

That tgp thread is one of the better ones. I read the whole thing years ago.

I have yet to read an EV thread without a lot of horrible information in it. There is no good archive and guitarists seem to forget EV was a speaker company, not a drivers for guitars company.

If you want to know if you have an EVM (10,12,15,18, S, M, L), weigh it. If it's under 20lbs you can eliminate EVM. I've seen many EVI 10's sold as EVM's yet much much lighter. and the code is right on the magnet.

A EVM 10L is only 810 1320 xxxx. The 10M had a handful of different retail versions or at least stickers and magnet cover styles covering up the codes.

I take people's opinions of 200W and 300W with a grain of salt. Idk about 1st version vs 2nd version- sounds like hot air. The pro-line is 300W. If it wieghs out and is not a pro-line it should be a 200W EVM until I see a data sheet showing otherwise. I have quite a few EV data sheets somewhere.

There are countless EV made speaker cabs for countless applications out there and only the more well known drivers like the DL series are recognized outside of EVM and Force. Some of the model numbers I would have no clue on if I hadn't at one time bought EV speakers from GC to have them show up as sawdust and drivers that you can see the codes. I have never seen EV use retail stickers in their own cabs, only codes so "OEM" was most often for themselves. This leads to confusion when the 12" woofers get pulled and listed on ebay as whatever they call it to be.

It's a shame there is no guide to them all or an an equivalent to t-numbers archive.

 

[Joey1970]

I have the 200W all EVM metal grille 4x12 cabs. They do not lie.