Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

[Ben1962]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I have a 2x12 H&K closed back cab. Best purchase for me as far as tone goes I made so far. Has 2 Vintage 30s and a nice tight thump. I wouldnt spend too litlle on your cab, its what you hear after all. I bought a cheaper cab before and I wish I didnt, just wasted money

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I love my Tubemeister 18 into a 4x12 cab. I’ve had it on a friend’s 5150 and my own 1960A V30/G12-T75. All the way down to 1W, it sounds great.

I’ve also played my Randall RD1H through half of a Line 6 4x12. At reasonable volumes, it sounded huge.

 

[vmbarrera]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I've been running a Mesa Dc2 through a 4x12... Sounds majestic.

 

[Diego]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

Hey,

I tried my Tweaker through a cheap Laney 2x12 (I think the speakers were branded Laney as well) and it sounded like crap. Uninspiring in every aspect.
Flat, cold, dark. You name it, it had it, at every volume level.
The same head through my 2x12, custom built with a Vintage 30/Celestion K100 combo, kicks ass.

My suggestion to you is to never, ever, EVER go cheap on your cabinets. You'll regret it.
Get a great 2x12 like the Orange PPC and you'll see for yourself.

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

im runnin a laney 15 watt ironheart with a harley benton v30 loaded 212. the harley benton stuff is exceptional for the money. I would say go for a harley benton v30 412, but im gonna say line 6 spider valve cab. Cheap as hell, v30 loaded. ive seen em go for like $160

 

[Ascension]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I have a number of times. Have to agree with the heard here cheeping out on your cab/speakers is not a great idea. You don't have to break the bank but buy quality and match the speakers to the head tone wise. I'm runnng my 25 watt Zinky and the little Jet City 22H custom through a Blackstar 1/12 wth a WGS retro 30 and getting some solid tones. However have a nice old 1980's Fender over sized 2/12 that i made the mistake of dropping a pair of 70/ Eightys in that just is not cutting it. Have gotten great tones in the past with 70/Eightys but with these 2 rigs it's just not happening. Key is matching everything to each other for the tone you are shooting for.

 

[LonePhantom]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I run my Orange Jim Root Terror into backline 4x12 cabs regularly at gigs, and my Blackstar HT-5 prior to that. No issues what so ever, and compliments on my tone, and from the sound guy for not running 100w heads. :lol:

 

[dystrust]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I'd rather save up the $200 for a quality 2x12. Those budget Marshall 4x12's aren't very good.

+1

With low wattage heads speaker efficiency is everything. I'm not familiar with the Marshall Code 4x12 and specs aren't published, but most inexpensive 4x12s have speakers with ~95db sensitivity compared to G12M Greenbacks at 97db or Vintage 30s at 100db. Doubling the number of speakers in a cabinet provides 3db more volume, so a 4x12 will be 6db louder than a 1x12 using the same speakers.

My primary rig these days is a 20W Marshall Mini Jubilee through an Egnater Rebel 112X loaded with an Eminence Wizard. Wizards have a ~103db sensitivity, so that 1x12 cab is as loud as a 2x12 loaded with V30s, while my Wizard-loaded 2x12 is as loud as a V30 4x12. The Code cabinet is rated at 120W and is very lightweight for a 4x12, so 95db sensitivity isn't a crazy assumption. Given those figures, the 4x12 would have a total sensitivity of 101db, or ~2db quieter than the 112 I use.

 

[6stringerguy]

Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

If you’re in the market for a excellent quality 2x12 that isn’t crazy expensive I reccomend Zilla Cabs, handmade in the UK custom cabs with whatever speaker combination you want, tolex and grill cloth options.
I got their vertical oversized 2x12 known as the Super Fatboy with celestion v30/k100 combo and it’s crushingly huge sounding.
At the time they were same or a bit more than a standard 2x12 with proper speakers and they easily compete with the bigger names putting out stuff at the same price.
I’ve admittedly modded mine to reduce the noise floor abit when I’m recording.
I updated from an open back 1x12 too and it was such an improvement
You can specifically ask for it to be multiback design so it can be open back or closed back for whatever you need.
http://www.zillacabs.com/phone/index.html

 

[Wattage]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I run my Dual Terror thru a 4x12 most of the time, usually run it at 15wts.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I put an Orange Dark Terror through a Mesa 4X12 once and it sounded MASSIVE! Do it!

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I usually run my Mesa Express 5:25 combo through an external cab, for two reasons: 1) I don't really love its stock speaker. It's too stiff. 2) I love its tone, but it's a little "small" sounding. It really benefits by pushing more air. I often use the amp in 15W class A mode, as opposed to 25W class AB or 5W class A.

Sometimes I run the built-in speaker as well as the speaker in my Ampeg 1x12 combo (Eminence GB128). I just pipe in to the Ampeg through the Ampeg's external speaker jack, which I added years ago. This is a good solution for times when two 1x12 open backs will do, rather than a whole 4x12.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I mostly use heads that are at least 50w and usually more than 100w but i love the sound of my Marshall Class 5 into one of my 4x12s. You can feel the amp working it's ass off.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

Yeah, I used to run my original Super Champ into my Mesa 412 Half-Back C90/EVM cab. (I removed the hard-wired speaker connection, and put a jack in the amp.) Definitely fun and massive, but not quite enough headroom for the clean rhythm parts I was playing in a VERY loud band. I wish I still had that Super Champ. It had the optional EV 10" speaker and you could just run it wide-open all day long.

I bought one of the Mesa Mark V:25 rigs a couple of years ago, including the two Recto 112 V30 slant and straight cabs. Plenty of volume there for the band I'm in now, but running that little head into that that Half-Back cab is just wicked! Haven't maxed it out yet, but those 412 Half-Back cabs are magical!

Bill

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

My Friedman Wildwood edition Pink Taco 20-watt head running into my 4x12 sounds amazing. The cab is loaded with Heritage H30s on bottom, and the EVH G12 Greenbacks on top. It sounds huge at all volumes. So the right little amps can do amazing things. Btw... the cab is a Line 6 cab that came loaded with V30s. I've had many Bogner, Marshall, Friedman, etc cabs and this current setup is my favorite of all of them. It's the only cab I have right now and other than the portability issue, I just don't care if I get another cab. If I do, it'll be another Friedman 2x12 and I'll load it with one each of those two speakers. I didn't care for the V30-loaded Friedman 2x12, or the Creamback loaded Friedman 1x12. Don't get me wrong... they sounded great. But the speaker combo that I'm running in my Line 6 cab just sounds so crunchy, soulful, and 3D. My favorite cab of all time used to be my Bogner Uberkab. But this cab sounds better.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?



Holds up fine with the band, a lot of fun to crank this little one into saturation. A 100W or 50W amp will have better clarity and power but I could see a future moment where I just bring my small 20W head to a gig.
Speakers are 2 Celestion G12H100 and 2 V30.


I have another 2x12 cab that I bring to gigs as an extention cabinet for my mesa F50 combo. The Harley Benton 2x12 with celestion V30's are well build and cork sniffer approved as far as build construction goes It's the best bang for the buck 2x12 cab out there with maybe only the Jet city stuff rivaling it.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

Yeah, I run my 6 lunchboxes (..two 30W Laboga's, a 15W Chinese Goldea Rex 3200, a 30W Cicognani Brutus Live, a 50W AMT Stonehead & a 40W custom-built medium-gain head) through my cheap-yet-awesome Laney & Bugera 4x12's & 2x12's. I would'nt do that if they did'nt sound awesome :bigthumb:

There's also a 1960B 4x12 with G12T-75's & a Harley Benton 1x12 with a Vintage 30 that's often at our practice space that I've played through a zillion times. I would'nt say there's any earth shaking difference between them and my Laney/Bugera cabs at all :laugh2:.

It usually takes a bare minimum of amp adjustment (and my ears) for me to get pretty similar tones through all those cabs. Maybe there's a massive difference with recorded tones or something lol (I kinda doubt it though..), but there sure as hell is'nt when your jamming out in front :bigthumb:

It's never been my experience that my cheap cabs sound darker or colder/flatter at all...in fact the Laney's sing with bright overtones, thick aggressive mids & a very sweet top. While the Bugera 4x12 has a really nice smooth rich midrange & is really warm, clear & glassy sounding...

Now this might be a pretty ****ty recording 'cause I had the bright idea of putting my metronome next to the mic when I recorded it, thinking it would help me align my drum-machine tracks to the guitars later (which it did, but it sounded like ass in the process :lmao..but the amp/cab tones are anything but dark & cold..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

And with less gain on the crunch channel ...again not what I'd call dark or cold/flat etc..

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Anyone rocking low watt heads through a 4x12?

I practice at home with a Vox NTH2 Night Train head into a Marshall JCM 2x12 cab loaded with a V30 and a 12L. It sounds pretty darned good to my ear.

I played this rig out at a gig a few years back. It kept up well enough in the small space we were playing (I mic'd the cab), but I had no real clean tones to speak of. With that said, I was surprised at what 2 watts through efficient speakers can do.