New to the board - few questions

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

Hello all,

I've recently bought a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo, and I'm extremely pleased with it. Loud enough to gig in my band etc.

My question is, what benefits would I get from an extension cabinet?

Thanks!

 

[Buddy]

Go with a Theile (ported} cabinet . Increased punch , projection , and you can carry it in your other hand to somewhat balance you out .
I like the boogie style cabinet with an EV .
It sounds great and is plenty loud .

 

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

if you add an extension cab, your rig will most likely sound louder.

:razz:

Yes, which is what I'm afraid of. I don't need it louder by any means, and I've always wondered why people get cabinets to "change the sound of their amp" because when playing live the sound tech only mic the one speaker anyway!

You have to help me because I've only ever owned combos and never felt the need to buy a cab until reading about them here!

Theile, is that a brand? I've never heard that before.

Thanks

 

[rvschulz]

you have a 1x12 combo ?? then if you get a different 1x12 cab, and hook it up to the 8 ohm, unhooking the built-in speaker on your combo, you will not necessarily be louder, just a different sound wall based on the speaker/cabinet design.

then again, if you hook into a 4x12 or 2x12, you can move more air - louder.

if you need louder with this combo, mic it.

 

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

I don't need it louder by any means, and I've always wondered why people get cabinets to "change the sound of their amp" because when playing live the sound tech only mic the one speaker anyway!

most guys use heads, not combos (they're smaller, lighter and thus easier to transport) so changing cabs/spkrs will obviously change your sound tremendously.

Theile, is that a brand? I've never heard that before.

look up the thiele in the cab section on mesaboogie.com.

I'll look up thiele :smile:

As for Cabs, I meant as an extention for combos! If I got a kickass cab, would it make much difference?

 

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

you have a 1x12 combo ?? then if you get a different 1x12 cab, and hook it up to the 8 ohm, unhooking the built-in speaker on your combo, you will not necessarily be louder, just a different sound wall based on the speaker/cabinet design.

then again, if you hook into a 4x12 or 2x12, you can move more air - louder.

if you need louder with this combo, mic it.

Well, my amps are always miced when I play a gig.

As for buying a cab, does the combo speaker always have to be unplugged/inactive when hooking up another cab?

Say for example, if I got a 1x12 cab as an extention, it WOULDN'T make it a 2x12?

Sorry for the n00b questions, as I said, I have no idea about cabs and whatnot, I've only ever had combos, but people say buying cabs can make for a fuller sound :smile:

 

[HamerFan]

An extention cab will widen your sound. If you have a different speaker/configuration it can fill in your sound a bit as well.

I always use an extention cab live and put it on the other side of the stage. It helps the other guys hear what's going on a bit better.

 

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

An extention cab will widen your sound. If you have a different speaker/configuration it can fill in your sound a bit as well.

I always use an extention cab live and put it on the other side of the stage. It helps the other guys hear what's going on a bit better.

So they just help for unmiced purposes? Like I said, when I play I just have the one speaker miced, so the other cab wouldn't be miced. But it will sound better onstage, and upclose, as opposed to out of the PA?

 

[jerseydrew]

An extention cab will widen your sound. If you have a different speaker/configuration it can fill in your sound a bit as well.

I always use an extention cab live and put it on the other side of the stage. It helps the other guys hear what's going on a bit better.

I do this too. I put one cab on one side of the room and the other cab on the other side of the room. You get a nice full sound from anywhere. I wouldn't say it's necessarily louder, just more full.

 

[PRS-Ian]

Theile, is that a brand? I've never heard that before.

Theile is the maths behind speaker enclsoures sizes, ports sizes, etc. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiele/Small if you are interested.
Ian

 

[Buddy]

Scroll to the bottom of the page
http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/MarkIIC.html
They can be purchased new from boogie , home built , and there are some outfits and/or board member's that would be happy to build you one .

 

[Tuna141]

I agree. A Mesa Thiele makes combos sound much larger than they are. A Theile will add come nice thump to your combo rig.

 

[MarkofXlnts]

You can't go wrong with the Thiele. I use mine primarily with my Mark I head. The Thiele is one of the largest sounding 1 x 12 cabs I have ever heard. It is very focused, so as others have mentioned it works well with a combo to fill out the sound. I mic my amp as well, and use it as my monitor, so I do not need the sound spread out over the stage.

Occasionally, I will use the Thiele with the DC-2 combo, which sounds HUGE. It makes a 20-watt amp sound much bigger, and gives some bottom end thump to the open back combo. I am very happy using the Thiele with both the Mark I head and the DC-2 combo. Extension cabinets give you more flexibility and options for coloring your sound.

One reason I switched to Mesa Boogie was my desire for small, powerful and portable rigs. I used to own a Rivera-era Fender Twin Reverb II (great amp), and hated moving it out of the room (80 lbs!). I would rather move two 30 pound cabinets than one 80 pound cab. Mesa Boogie gives you the power plus the portability.