Stereo vs mono 4x12 cabinets

[Sardocasm]

I'm going to get a 4x12 cabinet for my newly aquired Heartbreaker and I was wondering what are the advantages, disadvantages and differences of mono and stereo 4x12s?

 

[ylo]

I had a Triaxis + Simulclass 2:90 running into my Trad 4x12 in stereo. If I stood back where the audience stands, the stereo effect vanished. I also noticed some acoustic bleed-through from one side to the other within the cabinet. The only setting where the stereo seemed advantageous past a few feet from the speaker cab was when I doubled the guitar with a slightly delayed and detuned effect in the second channel. Also consider that depending on how the stereo cab is wired (par. / series etc.) you may not have the ability to use your chosen power amps.

Otherwise, stereo is a nice to have feature, but probably not worth spending extra money, IMHO. Whether you like the sound of the cabinet is much more important. My 2 cents worth.

 

[Sardocasm]

Well, I'm thinking about getting an Avatar and they give you the option of either mono or stereo.

 

[Sardocasm]

So there's no difference between mono and stereo?

 

[jbird]

So there's no difference between mono and stereo?

Not unless you want to run two sources into one cab! But whats the point? Stereo sounds better seperated!

 

[kylek]

about the only thing you might beable to do is run your amp a little hotter by running the cab in stereo as opposed to mono, but i'm not even sure about that

 

[Russ]

You may want to just get a mono cab. The idea of a stereo cab is nice however unless the two stereo sides are isolated it makes no sense because the speakers might be counter productive to each other. Besides stereo doesn't sound like much close to itself. Separation is the key. A stereo cab would be great if isolated inside the cab and if you had one on each side of the stage and another guitar player playing the other half of the two cabs also. Mono cabs work fine for most applications. If you need stereo get two cabs and spread them. I have heard of guys using the older Mesa 4x12 with the open top closing the top after rewiring then laying it on its side to try to achieve a spread stereo sound. I haven't tried it myself but I don't think it woul dmake much difference and 2 cabs would just sound better if you require stereo. Besides, If you stack those 4x12 cabs running in mono it looks really intimidating and cool at the same time.