Thiele Compact Cab (1x12) or Widebody Closed Back (1x12)

[shredhead72]

Hey all,

I'm sure this has been widely discussed before, so my apologies if this is a repost.

I'm looking to add a 1x12 to my Mark V combo. I played a Mark V head through an orange 2x12 and was blown away by the hugeness of it compared to the 1x12 combo.

1) Will adding a 1x12 to the Combo make a significant difference?

2) Thiele Compact Cab (1x12) or Widebody Closed Back (1x12)? What's the difference? Will it sit nicely on top of the combo or vice versa?

3) How will the cab respond at lower wattage (10 & 45)? Does it make a difference?

Any help is appreciated. I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to the ins/outs of amps.

 

[jb's 52]

Hey all,
1) Will adding a 1x12 to the Combo make a significant difference?

2) Thiele Compact Cab (1x12) or Widebody Closed Back (1x12)? What's the difference? Will it sit nicely on top of the combo or vice versa?

3) How will the cab respond at lower wattage (10 & 45)? Does it make a difference?

Any help is appreciated. I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to the ins/outs of amps.

The cab and speaker combination will make a difference.
This is gonna be trial and error.

I have a open back 1x12 with a V30 that I'm currently using
and I think it complements the C90 nicely.

The compact cab, I believe has less width than the combo, so if you
want it to "fit" the widebody will match up.

The cab itself will make a difference. I put the same V30 in a old
Egnater closed back extension cab and it sounded like crap. So
matching cab and speaker will determine what you'll hear.

I'm still curious how a closed back Mesa widebody with a V30 will
sound, but I'm liking my current set up as is so I'm not really ready
to take that route.

Oh...and the cab matching stuff in the manual helped me as well.
Nice to have that info in one spot.

Good luck!!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Hey all,

I'm sure this has been widely discussed before, so my apologies if this is a repost.

I'm looking to add a 1x12 to my Mark V combo. I played a Mark V head through an orange 2x12 and was blown away by the hugeness of it compared to the 1x12 combo.

1) Will adding a 1x12 to the Combo make a significant difference?

2) Thiele Compact Cab (1x12) or Widebody Closed Back (1x12)? What's the difference? Will it sit nicely on top of the combo or vice versa?

3) How will the cab respond at lower wattage (10 & 45)? Does it make a difference?

Any help is appreciated. I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to the ins/outs of amps.

1) Yes.

2) the Widebody cabs are the matching cabs for the Mark V combo.

3) it'll respond fine.

 

[PeterSchut]

Hi Guys,

I am in a similar situation, and need a cab for my recently purchased Mark V head. I have a hard time deciding what to do. I currently use an open back 23" transatlantic 1x12 C90 cab. This works fine. But the cab will be gone soon as I sold it together with a TA15.

I am interested in either a dual 12" cab (Lonestar or Three Quarter closed back) or the closed back wide body front ported. The TQ isn't in production anymore but still available in some shops in the Netherlands.
For cost and space the Widebody closed back front ported cab is best but I had an old Fender Twin reverb passing by for a few weeks and I loved what this amp did for clean channels and sheer unlimited dynamics. The reaction to light and heavy playing within one amp setting is amazing.

Some stuff I have investigated: The Compact Thiele is smaller (less wide) than the Mark V. The Closed back front ported widebody has the same footprint as the Mark V head, maybe a bit deeper. This cab is in fact a differently tuned Thiele Cab. There is so much mystery around the Thiele cab but it original design is tuned for an EVM12L.
For every speaker you could in theory design a Thiele cabinet, but the optimum result for any given speaker will result in a different volume of the cabinet and different port size with port depth.
The theory says that the impedance spike of the original speaker in free air will be replaced by two equally high impedance peaks that are centered around the original peak. This gives a balanced increase in low frequency energy. This is the theory and is a pure mathematical equation used for ....... hifi speakers.
Also if a slot port is used (as with the mesa compact Thiele cab) the port depth is a result of the opening area size (the larger the hole area the deeper the port for the same result) needs to be less deep than when for instance a plastic tube is used, this has to do with the interaction of the walls that are part of the port.
(so if you want to change the slotted port to be replaced by one or two plastic tubes, these tubes need to be deeper with equal surface area)

I did see a picture of a closed back front ported Mesa Boogie cab that seem to have two round ports left and right from the speaker instead of the triangle shaped port Mesa shows on their website. Equally tuned this should give the same result and is most likely easier to manufacture.

Nevertheless, the compact widebody closed back front ported seems like a tuned design and if they tuned it for the C90, most other speakers will be a mismatch. It doesn't mean that it is tuned in a theoretical ideal way. This is a tone creation device and by all means doesn't need to sound neutral.
Knowing Mesa for investigating tone, they probably tuned by ear for whatever result they wanted to achieve at the end.

But the burning question remains. What will sound best?
The closed back widebody compact (0.TXCBB-W) or a 2x12 (three quarter or Lonestar) for all styles except metal?
And how different are the 2x12 three quarter vs the 2x12 Lonestar?

A longer mail than anticipated, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Cheers, Peter