Single Rec solo head

[Icingdeath]

Hey, I just purchased my first Boogie. It's a single rec solo head and I'm looking for a cab to go with it, but before buying anything, I wanted make sure the one I'm interested will work. http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Marshall-MG412A-or-MG412B-120W-4x12-Guitar-Extension-Cabinet?sku=482951

The amp has a jack for 8ohm impedance and the cab says it's 8 ohm, from all I've read, this means they are compatible. Is this correct? Thanks everyone.

 

[YellowJacket]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
DO

NOT

GET

Unless you like crappy tone

MG Series cabs are designed to work with Marshall's entry level MG series amps, which are solid state. Totally different thing here. I'd suggest shopping used first of all. Older speakers generally sound better because they are broken in, and your tone will be much better.

Guitar cabs and speakers are really the last item in the signal chain, and they definitely have a very powerful tone shaping capability. I'm not sure what your needs are but depending on the style, your cab choice will fine tune your tone to be what exactly you need.

Here are some basic tips.

1) speaker affects tone. Consider how much power handling it has as well as the amount of breakup or 'cone wobble'. I find for more vintage, lighter, and classic tones speaker breakup is great. Any cab with Celestion G12M 25s or G12H 30s (or whatever copy you get) will get you in the ballpark. While both have great cone breakup and warmth, the G12H 30 is tighter with more defined highs while the G12M 25s are more round and midrangey. For a good middleground, go for a G12T 75 for a more cutting high end, phat lows, and scooped mids. Now, for the quintessential metal speakers, Celestion Vintage30s are upper mid heavy with very aggressive and defined highs. When driven hard, they ROAR. A Classic Lead 80 is more of an 80s sound with little to no breakup. Great for leads, as the name suggests.
Now, you can get whatever Eminence or WGS Celestion copy you want. Some people like Eminence, while I like what I have heard of WGS speakers so far. They KICK ***!!!

2) Cab affects tone. Each different cab colours how a speaker sounds. For instance, open backs tend to be more 3D and better for clean while close backs tend to be great for crunch and thump. I find that certain designs with vents or ports tend to retain characteristics of both open and close back cabs which can be nice. A 3/4 back or theile cab are two such examples.

3) Number of speakers affect tone.
i. A 1 x 12 can get plenty loud but you'll always sound rather one dimensional and 'blaring'. These are great in a situation where you don't want to override a weak sound system or levels are an issue. I suggest every guitarist with a head has a GOOD 1 x 12 such as a 3/4 back or a theile. These are suitable for low volume or practice situations.
ii. 2 x 12. Good middle of the road solution. These suckers sound phatter and project more. The two speakers add a lot of thickness and meat to distortion tones while moving twice the amount of air as a 1 x 12, yielding a great solution for medium volume gigs. If you put the 2 x 12 up on a chair so you can hear it, it should keep up with a fairly loud drummer and sound pretty phat.
iii. 4 x 12. One of these projects like crazy. Two is a wall of sound. These are really great for rock gigs, especially with a loud drummer or when you can't put guitars through the PA. They are also excellent for outdoors, with lots of projecting power. These suckers are cumbersome, heavy, and difficult to move but they really are an icon of rock and roll. Some 212s get close with how big they sound, but a 4 x 12 moves so much more air that they really just can't keep up by comparison.

For a serious gigging musician, multiple cabs with different numbers and types of speakers make for a very versatile setup. For instance, running a Recto with 6L6 tubes into a Rectocab will sound quite different than running a Recto with EL-34s into a Marshall 1960ac 4 x 12.

4 x 12s.
If you want Nu Metal Sag and a bit of a scooped tone, go with a mesa boogie Standard Rectocab. These tend to cost a bit more but they sound huge if that is what you are looking for. The Stiletto cab is voice more traditionally and is very similar to a Marshall 1960vintage except it is darker and more thumpy.

Marshall cabs are decent. Look for the 1960lead (G12T 75s 300watt cab) 1960vintage (Vintage30 240watt), 1960ac (greenback 10 watt) 1960a cabs tend to sound mega scooped while the 1960vintage is more mid heavy and tight, and the 1960ac is woody with more speaker breakup.

2 x 12 rectocabs also are loud and sound great!

http://instrument.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/music.cgi?cat=msg&itm=mesa
Look here or check the local buy and sell to see what you can come up with. It is a buyers market so if you know what you like ahead of time, you should be able to assemble a pretty killer rig!

Mesa 4 x 12s http://instrument.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/music.cgi?cat=msg&fil=4+x+12&itm=mesa&state=&ps=&pe=&ys=&ye=&submit=+GO+
$650 on average.

Mesa 2 x 12 http://instrument.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/music.cgi?cat=msg&fil=2+x+12&itm=mesa&state=&ps=&pe=&ys=&ye=&submit=+GO+
$300 - $400 on average

Marshall 4 x 12 http://instrument.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/music.cgi?cat=msg&fil=4+x+12&itm=marshall&state=&ps=&pe=&ys=&ye=&submit=+GO+

 

[94Tremoverb]

^ What he said.

Are they compatible? Yes - the cab is 8 ohms and 120W rating and the amp is 50W into 8 ohms. So you won't blow anything up if you use it.

Is it a good choice of cab for your amp - no. Or, not unless you've just spent almost all your money on the amp and now can't afford a better cab, and are using this as a stop-gap until better times. In that case, it will do. Even then, you may get better results from a higher quality 1x12", unless you really need something the amp will sit neatly on.

Why no good? Because it's a lightweight MDF cabinet with some cheap, small-magnet speakers in it. Not a good combination - it lacks projection, bottom-end resonance and punch, midrange body and attack, and top-end sparkle and detail. What you get is a soggy, boomy, hollow and buzzy tone - imagine four oversized radio speakers in a large cardboard box and you aren't very far away.

Even if you replace the speakers with something good - which will cost more than the entire cabinet, and should give you some idea of the overall quality here - it won't sound as good as the same speakers would in a solid ply cabinet. The cabinet shell itself is probably responsible for around a third of the overall tone of the cabinet.

Marshall nowadays make a wide range of amps and cabinets from high-priced, high quality, professional equipment all the way down to oversized toys like this with price tags to match - you can't just go by the famous name on the front any more. The only ones they make that are really any good are the full-sized 4x12"s with premium speakers (1960AV/BV, 1960AC/BC, the Vintage Modern cabinet and the Hand-Wired reissues)... even their full-size 2x12"s are MDF these days.

 

[Icingdeath]

Wow. Thanks for all the information guys. I did some digging after I posted here and as you both say, the MG cab is not well liked by people with an ear for tone. It was just going to be a temporary stop until I could afford a 2x12 recto, but all the same, I'm glad you filled me on what exactly the drawbacks to a cheap cab are. I ended up getting a mesa 1x12 widebody with a C90 in it for now. I've seen some of the rectoverb combos have that speaker in them so I assume I'll be getting a pretty decent sound coming out of it (well, it's a possibility right? heh) Thanks again for the post, very useful!

 

[94Tremoverb]

Excellent choice.

 

[Acesofbelkan]

I just wanted to chime in a little info here even tho the OP already chose his cab.
I heard that Recto's sound much better with Marshall cabs such as the 1960a or most Marshall cabs for that matter. And that Marshall heads sound much better with Mesa cabs since the Mesa cabs are very bassy and dark it balances out the Marshall's tonal qualities and vice versa for the Recto head and Marshall cab.
I have a single recto and 1960a myself but never had a chance of cranking it at gig or rehearsal level yet to really get the cab singing.
what do you guys think?

 

[94Tremoverb]

It's not a bad cab, although I think the plain 1960 model with the G12T-75 speakers is a long way behind the other two versions with V30s or G12M-25s - to me it's just not that great a speaker, it's kind of hollow sounding and a bit buzzy, and it doesn't really change much as you crank it up... not that you can really drive a 300W cab very hard with a 50W amp anyway.

If you wanted to improve it the most for the least cost, I would suggest replacing two of the speakers with V30s - the 75/V30 combination is one of the tried and tested standards that work well. I would fit them in the 'x' pattern with the same speakers in opposite corners of the cab. The V30 does still take a bit of power to get it moving, but it starts to respond a lot sooner than the 75 does.

 

[erectifier]

I just wanted to chime in a little info here even tho the OP already chose his cab.
I heard that Recto's sound much better with Marshall cabs such as the 1960a or most Marshall cabs for that matter. And that Marshall heads sound much better with Mesa cabs since the Mesa cabs are very bassy and dark it balances out the Marshall's tonal qualities and vice versa for the Recto head and Marshall cab.
I have a single recto and 1960a myself but never had a chance of cranking it at gig or rehearsal level yet to really get the cab singing.
what do you guys think?

no offense to you aces but i just dont see why people buy a cab with 4 speakers in it when they never get to turn it up. you'll never be able to properly use a half stack if your not in a band getting medium sized venues. i use a 2x12 cab with my solo rec in my band and have only once been allowed to turn it up to what i would consider the sweet spot by soundguys at a venue. even at practice i dont really turn it up past half power. 4 speakers push a lot of air and in a bedroom or small rehearsal space the percieved volume is way higher and things sound harsh quickly

 

[Acesofbelkan]

I just wanted to chime in a little info here even tho the OP already chose his cab.
I heard that Recto's sound much better with Marshall cabs such as the 1960a or most Marshall cabs for that matter. And that Marshall heads sound much better with Mesa cabs since the Mesa cabs are very bassy and dark it balances out the Marshall's tonal qualities and vice versa for the Recto head and Marshall cab.
I have a single recto and 1960a myself but never had a chance of cranking it at gig or rehearsal level yet to really get the cab singing.
what do you guys think?

no offense to you aces but i just dont see why people buy a cab with 4 speakers in it when they never get to turn it up. you'll never be able to properly use a half stack if your not in a band getting medium sized venues. i use a 2x12 cab with my solo rec in my band and have only once been allowed to turn it up to what i would consider the sweet spot by soundguys at a venue. even at practice i dont really turn it up past half power. 4 speakers push a lot of air and in a bedroom or small rehearsal space the percieved volume is way higher and things sound harsh quickly

Well, think about it this way. My 1960a which is probably a very common, affordable and very good marshall cab can be run in stereo. So you have a choice of 2x12 or 4x12. So just in case he will ever need to crank it up he can. Better to have it and not use it, than to not have it and NEED it. 8)

 

[94Tremoverb]

Have you actually tried running it as a 2x12", and if so did you not find that it sounded terrible?

If you run a cab (that isn't internally divided into two separate enclosures) with only half the speakers powered, the other ones move out-of-phase as they get pushed from behind by the air movement of the two driven ones. It usually sounds awful...

Also, a 2x12" with 100dB speakers (V30s, C90s, G12H-30s etc) is going to be just as efficient as a 4x12" with 97db ones (G12T-75s, G12M-25s etc), so it isn't really true that a 2x12" will be necessarily quieter - and even if it is, the difference is fairly marginal.

I don't see any reason not to use a 4x12" for low volumes, other than the hassle of moving it. If anything, you get a nice big tone without having to play *as* loud, and it's less directional than a smaller cab can be so it fills a room better.

I agree about it being better to have it and not use it than to need it and not have it!

 

[Acesofbelkan]

Have you actually tried running it as a 2x12", and if so did you not find that it sounded terrible?

If you run a cab (that isn't internally divided into two separate enclosures) with only half the speakers powered, the other ones move out-of-phase as they get pushed from behind by the air movement of the two driven ones. It usually sounds awful...

Also, a 2x12" with 100dB speakers (V30s, C90s, G12H-30s etc) is going to be just as efficient as a 4x12" with 97db ones (G12T-75s, G12M-25s etc), so it isn't really true that a 2x12" will be necessarily quieter - and even if it is, the difference is fairly marginal.

I don't see any reason not to use a 4x12" for low volumes, other than the hassle of moving it. If anything, you get a nice big tone without having to play *as* loud, and it's less directional than a smaller cab can be so it fills a room better.

I agree about it being better to have it and not use it than to need it and not have it!

It didn't sound terrible, but thats probably because when I use it in 2x12 is for bedroom practice so it doesn't really get the speakers moving. It definitely didn't sound great though but thats probably because I'm playing with a tube amp at low volumes. I wouldn't play it at gig volume or band rehearsal volume in 2x12 for sure. The problem you mentioned would be extremely noticable at those volumes for sure!
I would definitely like to try the v30 speakers mix with 75's like you said earlier. seems like it'll give a good mix of highs and lows.

 

[erectifier]

Well, think about it this way. My 1960a which is probably a very common, affordable and very good marshall cab can be run in stereo. So you have a choice of 2x12 or 4x12. So just in case he will ever need to crank it up he can. Better to have it and not use it, than to not have it and NEED it. 8)

oh true i didn't know that! i guess my point is that a 4x12 in my eyes is just a statement, theyre big and id love to have one haha but its just seems irrational. i needed portability and the cost goes up for 2 extra drivers and more wood.

Also, a 2x12" with 100dB speakers (V30s, C90s, G12H-30s etc) is going to be just as efficient as a 4x12" with 97db ones (G12T-75s, G12M-25s etc), so it isn't really true that a 2x12" will be necessarily quieter - and even if it is, the difference is fairly marginal.

this is another excellent reason! i built my 2x12 with two vintage 30's and its just as loud as a 4x12. it also disperses the sound around a room or venue perfectly

lots of people comment on how loud it is for its size - mainly my girlfriend