Modern cab for old Mark

zebpedersen · Mar 9, 2015

I have a Mark II head being shipped to me at the moment and need to get a cab. My previous Marks have all been combos, although I had a great sounding 1x12 early 90s open back cab a couple of years ago so I'd love to get another.

Ideally an 80s/90s EVM12L open back would make itself available but the used market is unpredictable, so was wondering what experience anyone might have with modern cabs paired with their classic Marks?

morgan138 · Mar 12, 2015

I've used my Mark 3 with a 4x12 (an angled front Fender cab with two V30s, two MC90s) and it sounds great. Sturdy plywood cab with a reasonable amount of air inside, but nothing fancy or innovative. I've also used it with a 4x12 halfback (all MC90s) and the classic "combo with MC90 sitting on a ported EVM-12L" setup.

I thought the halfback and combo+extension were pretty similar: tight, with a midrange that was dry and punchy. Made the lead channel sound "cleaner" in a weird way, I guess by de-emphasizing the high frequency sizzle but not in a way that sounded muffled or anything.

The regular 4x12 had more low bass, less midrange, and more treble. Sounded more distorted at the exact same settings, because more high end came through and palm mutes boomed out more.

Anyhow, in conclusion I thought the head sounded fine through both cabs. But I hadn't realized how much those classic speaker/combo setups contributed to what I think of as "the Mark 3 sound," if that makes sense. That said, I still need to try it through an MC90/EVM-12L halfback. Purely in the interests of science, of course.

zebpedersen · Mar 13, 2015

Interesting, the half-back / Thiele is a pretty classic combination isn't it. My first guitar teacher, who introduced me to Boogies, ran a Mark IV EV combo with a Thiele 1x12 and that was *the sound* that convinced me that a Boogie was the only sensible choice.

I think I got put off the idea a few years ago when I ordered a Zilla ported cab to go with my Mark II. It sounded a-w-f-u-l (NEVER buy a Zilla cab), possibly from the fact that the dimensions were totally wrong (they made it at the top-depth of the Mark II rather than the bottom, so it was about 2" too shallow).

Anyway, I am picking up a Thiele this weekend as that's all that seems to be around…but I'm coming round to the idea of getting a half-back as well when one comes up.

Bit of a ramble – but that was an insightful post, so thank you!

kdorsey · Mar 16, 2015

I've found similar results to Morgan. The halfback 2x12s are a definitive ingredient to the Boogie sound in certain musical genre, but as I played in different projects, it became a challenge to maintain flexibility. Swapping speakers became an obsession.

The cabs, IMO, set the base for tone and the speakers are the fine tuning. Swapping the C90/EVs with WGS for classic rock applications became the winning combination. For more modern rock, a pair of C90s worked better for me. V30s just didn't work for me until I changed cabs.

As a result, I keep a variety of cabs and speakers handy...keeping a 26 year old amp in action.