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Cabinet's Impact on Tone


diablo175

Question

I'm already reasonably sure the speaker and cabinet construction impact overall tone to a degree. Looking to add a little more oomph to my tone without mucking about with p'ups, the amp settings, or the string gauge.  Can changing my cab (and the resultant change in speakers) offer up a little more low end?

Current set up JVM 250 and a M412A ( former budget-minded 4 x 12 offering by Marshall) and I'm wondering if a proper 1960A slant might offer a bit more low end punch?

 

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3 hours ago, diablo175 said:

I'm already reasonably sure the speaker and cabinet construction impact overall tone to a degree. Looking to add a little more oomph to my tone without mucking about with p'ups, the amp settings, or the string gauge.  Can changing my cab (and the resultant change in speakers) offer up a little more low end?

Current set up JVM 250 and a M412A ( former budget-minded 4 x 12 offering by Marshall) and I'm wondering if a proper 1960A slant might offer a bit more low end punch?

 

Instead of the A cab, get yourself a proper 1960B cab. They have a slight bit more "oomph" to them.

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A straight front cab will yield more oomph than an angle front. Speakers loaded play a large role as well in the choice of.

I have owned many 4x12's. My Uberschall cab defiantly out thumps anything I have had in the past, vintage / modern Marshall, HiWatt, and variants of.

want thump, go straight.

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33 minutes ago, murkat said:

A straight front cab will yield more oomph than an angle front. Speakers loaded play a large role as well in the choice of.

I have owned many 4x12's. My Uberschall cab defiantly out thumps anything I have had in the past, vintage / modern Marshall, HiWatt, and variants of.

want thump, go straight.

The Uberschall Cab is a Tall TV Style cab isn't it?  Another budget minded cab that is a good value are the Marshall Mode 4 Cabs. This is an A Cab, but as you can see its a taller style cab that also has the center beam already installed from the factory. 

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Marshall/MF280A-Guitar-Cabinet.gc

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In addition to straight versus slant (straight is boomier IMHO too) and speaker selection, good solid wood throughout definitely helps too, so you may want to compare what your current cab is made of and what your target cab is made of. I found this phenomenon out accidentally with my first Boogie 4x12, one of the old half-backs with metal grate, back in the early 90s. I had decided to make a pedalboard the exact size of the top open-half. My logic was I could pop the pedalboard into the back of the 4x12 for transport. So I started making the pedalboard platform with a scrap of old big chip particle board I had lying around in my shed. I noticed it was slightly warped after I cut it and tried to seat it flat in the cab's frame. Since it was going to require more effort and a nicer piece of wood, I went and got some multi-ply birch, like the actual cab was made of. Twice as thick, twice as heavy, flat as a pancake. After I had finished the two boards and before I stuck pedals all over the "good" one, I decided just to bolt them in to see how the cab sounded fully closed, I had never tried that. Neither sounded as good as the half-back to my ear, but the solid birch back definitely threw more boom and authority compared to the shit wood. Similar thing went down about six years ago when I inherited a old 1936 series horizontal Marshall 2x12 from a buddy. I noticed it had a particle board backboard when I was tinkering with it. I soon changed that out for a heavier (and I assume stiffer) multi-ply back and it definitely made the cab sound bigger than it was.

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1 hour ago, bubs_42 said:

The Uberschall Cab is a Tall TV Style cab isn't it?  

I do not about that, appears to me as a marshall varient in size, but, it is way thicker, heavier, overbuilt. Reminds me of my vintage hiwatts, but deeper in width.

http://www.bogneramplification.com/4-12-cabinets

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The Bogner 2x12 is the best cab I've ever tried.  I had it and a Bogner 4x12 at the same time and, honestly, the 2x12 had better bottom.  It may not perform as well on the higher volume end, but it definitely out performed the 4x12 that came with my Ecstacy.   I use the Celestion G12-65s.  And I love tight bottom end. 

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Diablo, the good thing is that if you don't need it to say Marshall the sky has no limits. More cabinet companies with great cabs out there to shake a stick at. I have a friend that just switched from his Splawn 4x12 to an Aftermarket 2x12 with a "tuned ported back". He is a technical savvy guitarist who loves 70's, 80's,90's ,Hard, Heavy, Hair Music and says he will never go back to a 4x12 again. I know he nearly killed me with air he was pushing with this two CV75's. 

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2 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

D, is this for gigging or playing at home...or recording?

Gigging then rehearsal.

It's a tricky situation wherein I have to adapt to various venue environments - varying venue sizes, stages/no stages, different acoustics, varying audience size, etc. The number one criteria seems to be adequate volume (not a problem) then sound disbursement (not much of an issue with mic-ing)  and proper tone. The low end on my rig has been a tad lacking and I felt a tweak of the cab might help.

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If we are going to "Tweak" then, if it does not have a Center Post ADD ONE. Then a speaker swap maybe in order. After that another cab all together. IMHO if you can do it, i'd replace that cab with a better built cab. 

Good Luck, the chase is never totally over. 

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45 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

Bubs, what tonal diff do you find the center post adds, and why?

It anchors the back panel on a 4x12 so you get better bass response. It keeps the back panel from vibrating as much, especially on cabinets made of lower grade "budget" wood. 

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On 11/25/2017 at 5:19 PM, bubs_42 said:

 IMHO if you can do it, i'd replace that cab with a better built cab. 

Good Luck, the chase is never totally over. 

Took this advice and snagged a '98 Marshall 1960B. Theoretically, it's better built with better speakers than my cheaper M412A.

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1 hour ago, diablo175 said:

Took this advice and snagged a '98 Marshall 1960B. Theoretically, it's better built with better speakers than my cheaper M412A.

You did good, now the cabinet itself is out of the equation. Next step is a speaker swap if you still not happy. My guess is it has Vintage 30's which would pair up nicely with 2 ET65's or 1265 Celestions. 

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