SPLAWN SPEAKER CAB?

[gh9597]

Hello I am new on here. So not for sure if this has been brought up or not. But here we go. I have a 2x12 Nomad i have been using for atleast 10 years. Love the amp never had any problems except your normal stuff. I recently bought a marshall dsl from a friend who was needing some money. Also came with a 1960 lead cab 4x12 of course. The DSL sucked did not like it at all. So I thought would try the cab with the nomad and it sounded awesome so i saved up some money and got a mesa 4x12 standard slant cab. Got this cab for a great price used. The cab is in mint condition. Well the guy I bought it from has what they are calling a splawn speaker set up. It has the celestion g12-30 vintages and the g12h-30 70th anniversary speakers all four in an X pattern. Heard clips on the web and thought this was pretty cool sounding. Well for some reason it has no balls to it like the marshall did and the marshall had greenbacks in them. Now I have done some research and the greenbacks are not as good as the speakers in the mesa cab. I believe the cab is supposed to have 4 g12-30 watt speakers. Everything I have read on the web say these cabs absolutely have enormous low end to them. One more thing to note. They guy said the amp had barley been used. And it never left his house. Which I believe bcs there wasnt a scratch on this cab. Now could the combination of speakers not be allowing the bottom in or is it true the speakers need to be broke in? Right now it is extremely thin, bright and very medy?? Any advise be greatly appreciated. Also one more thing. Been doing some thinking on a Roadster or Mark V. I play lead in a top 40 country band but love playing alternative rock on the side.

 

[bgh]

If the speakers are new, they will start to mellow out some once they get broken in. People have had some pretty varoed ideas on TGP on how to break in speakers. Some like to simply crank it and play for hours. Others lay the cabs/combo face down on a mattress and crank an Ipod or something through it.

When I had bought a Peavy for kick-around, the speaker was sharp, twangy, and brittle sounding. Then, after the break-in period was over, it turned into a different amp. As the speakers start to loosen up you can feel the amp start to loosen up too.

 

[gh9597]

Yes that is exactly what it sounds like. Ok great. So the combination of speakers in nothing to worry about right?? Also I am an 1 1/2 from the closest guitar center. I've heard great things about roadster and the Mark V. I was leaning towards the roadster but now I am hearing all these great things about the Mark V. It really makes me mad that Mesa makes such great amps. Decision decisions. Is there a big difference in the two?? Both amps have made many people very happy with their tone.

 

[bgh]

Are you saying that your new/used Mesa cab gives no low end at all? If you go to channel 1 on your Nomad and dial in a bassy, boomy clean - does the cab give any low end?

I would also check to make certain that the impedence of the cab matches the impedence for the jack you plug into on your Nomad. Impedence mis-matches can have an impact on the tenor of the speakers.

You said the cab was almost mint. I would still check on how the speakers are wired. make sure that if he tried to wire them in parallel that he didn't cross grounds or something. That will have an impact also.

Finally, just to be safe, make sure that all 4 speakers in the cab all have the same impedence.

To answer your question though, there is nothing wrong with having different types of speakers in a cabinet. You can get some amazing results by doing that. You just need to make certain that (1) they are wired correctly and (2) that the impedence of the speakers matches each other and the amp.

I have never played through either a Mark-V or a Roadster. My Mark-IV is my 'go to' amp.

PS: My closest GC is over 2 hours away.

 

[gh9597]

Yes it has a little low end but not much or atleast like I think it should. I know the Marshall Cab had such a low end that I had my bass on all 3 channels about 9 oclock. It was so loud and low that it was missing up the bass player bcs it was so boomy. He couldnt tell if he was playing bass bcs of the rumble coming though the cab and I am on the complete other side of the stage.

The guy that I bought it from said it hadnt been played but maybe maybe 10-12 hrs and he played it at his house. He was using a 50 watt head to play through the cab. He was a 50 yr old teacher who played back in the day jsut never had time to play it. I actully met him in town and picked up the amp.

The tone coming out is very brittle, medy, scratchy, twangy exactly what was mention before. There is some low end in there but nothing like the Marshall 1960A. I played the cab the other night and had the bass at 2 oclcock and could barley hear it. I did take the back off yesterday and it appeared all the wires were hooked up right....but I will double check that. On the back of the Nomad for my speaker options is the combo speakers at 8ohms then two 4ohms outputs that says (use with 2 8ohms speakers). Which one should I be running the cab with. The cab has 4 8ohm speakers in it. If you get on Mesa's website go to out of production amps you can pull up a great few of the back and what I am talking about. Thanks!!