Cab gurus...

[Ayrton]

Re: Cab gurus...

Need higher res and peeling tolex

Maybe for people who have never actually seen a 900 4x12, but those of us that have, we know how they are made.

 

[Securb]

Re: Cab gurus...

Bob I own one and think you will be very happy with that cab. Perfect for your style of music. At that price I would pull the trigger.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Cab gurus...

Bruce and I would be cab brothers!

 

[Aceman]

Re: Cab gurus...

By the way guys - great thread! Did not see this getting that deep. Very informative...

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Cab gurus...

View attachment 93944

 

[Securb]

Re: Cab gurus...

Bruce and I would be cab brothers!

Wouldn't be the first time we both had VS100s.

In all seriousness, I have a vintage set of G12H black backs sitting around. I have thought about putting them in my 900 cab but it sounds so good I have no desire to futz with it. It sounds great with both the Marshall and Roland heads.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Cab gurus...

Just buy an old Carvin cab and reload it. They're dirt cheap and solid.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Cab gurus...

Just buy an old Carvin cab and reload it. They're dirt cheap and solid.

Or use it stock.

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[Jacew]

Re: Cab gurus...

Need higher res and peeling tolex

See parallel lines on the ends, it's ply...see ~13 parallel lines iirc, it's Soviet GOST "Baltic Birch" ply.

See 5-7 parallel lines, it's crappier chinese ply. If it's dense and solid, it's voidless and better. If the faces have a bunch of patches and the sides a bunch of uneveness or missing chunks, it's utter crap.


/DONE.

Aside quality of the ply that's just complete misinformation. You can't tell the origin of ply by it's construction. Those are just different grades and could come from anywhere: Sweden, Finland, Russia , Germany, China etc...

Edit: Full birch ply is always the denser type. Ones made from smaller pieces are mixed or spruce.

 

[JMP/HBE]

Re: Cab gurus...

Just buy an old Carvin cab and reload it. They're dirt cheap and solid.

Peavey & Carvin gear is worthless when you try to sell it. Speaking from experience.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Cab gurus...

Peavey & Carvin gear is worthless when you try to sell it. Speaking from experience.

Which makes no difference to someone who plans on keeping it.

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[Adieu]

Re: Cab gurus...

Aside quality of the ply that's just complete misinformation. You can't tell the origin of ply by it's construction. Those are just different grades and could come from anywhere: Sweden, Finland, Russia , Germany, China etc...

Edit: Full birch ply is always the denser type. Ones made from smaller pieces are mixed or spruce.

Not quite true.

Modern chinese home depot type plywood doesn't come in a gazillion layers like Marine grade Baltic Birch... it has like 5-7 instead (for 3/4" / 19mm thickness)

 

[JMP/HBE]

Re: Cab gurus...

Which makes no difference to someone who plans on keeping it.

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Except when they try to sell it. Its a vicious cycle.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Cab gurus...

Peavey & Carvin gear is worthless when you try to sell it. Speaking from experience.

Tah-dah!

My point exactly

And the carpet and/or metal grate frontloader era had some tight Made in America builds. That people sell for $100-200 tops.


And then sometimes...if you buy a great sounding one, you unscrew a side handle, shine in your LED light, and find $700 worth of highly collectible vintage Rola Celestions in your $175 cab. For the Carvin, that tends to mean reloaded or special order... for the Peaveys, it can actually even be stock.

Mine came with 2x g12-65 up top, 2x g12-k85 (old brit k100's) down below... but you can also get em unloaded for $100 or less, presumably from people who part out valuable speakers when selling cabs. Or maybe shop around to loot speakers from cheapie cabs.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Cab gurus...

At one time, the 1960 cabs were all ply (later they were ply with a PB back), I thought they still were during the 800 series, but I'm not sure when they changed to the predominately particle board construction. I do know that the 900 series are PB, as evidenced in the pic of the open back in the pic in the link above. If you enlarge that pic, you can see that the whole cab is PB, it's plain to see. In any case, I used to have an all ply Marshall 4-12 and small box 50 head, those of course were from the plexi era. That cab was much lighter, I used to move it around by myself when on the road, the ply cabs are much heavier IMO.
Al

1960 cabs are all still Marine Baltic Birch play with a MDF rear baffle. Like somebody said above, they changed the rear baffle in the '60s. Marshall did this because they realized that the cabs were too boomy with a ply rear baffle. This is the same reason you see some high end cabs with carpet insulation stapled on the rear baffle. It cuts down on the return wave and makes the cab sound more clear.

The only MDF cabs Marshall has ever had in their lineup was and is their budget priced stuff.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Cab gurus...

I see the T75s get a lot of flack online, but my buddy runs his Plexi through a couple of 4x12s with them and it sounds great. They are kind of Porto-Metal/Speed-Metal, so maybe the slight scoop works well with the Plexi, Gibson HBs and the style.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Cab gurus...

The only MDF cabs Marshall has ever had in their lineup was and is their budget priced stuff.

And the 2x12's

Also, the back aint MDF, it's some other kinda particle board product

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Cab gurus...

The back panel is LDF (low density fiberboard)

The 1936 2x12 model went from birch ply tp MDF, and then back to birch ply. I don't know exactly the time frame for the MDF cabs, but should anyone be looking for one, don't assume plywood

 

[Demanic]

Re: Cab gurus...

Except when they try to sell it. Its a vicious cycle.

It's really quite simple, if one doesn't plan on keeping, or hopes to ever sell it without a loss, then don't buy it. If one doesn't care about those things, then one can pickup a decent cab for a reasonable price.

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[Darg1911]

Re: Cab gurus...

Not quite true.

Modern chinese home depot type plywood doesn't come in a gazillion layers like Marine grade Baltic Birch... it has like 5-7 instead (for 3/4" / 19mm thickness)

Depends on the store and what they end up getting in stock. I got a full sheet of 13 ply from home depot not that long ago. I only paid $17 bucks for it too as one end was damaged. Probably chinese but I used it to build a baffle and a back panel for a 4x12 and there wasn't a void in it (which was most likely just luck) That said, I agree. I've never seen marine grade ply there and none of the stuff they get in is top shelf so if that's what you need, go elsewhere. Most of the pine board I've seen there for the last several years is garbage. If you need something halfway decent you have to buy the way overpriced "select" grade. I have to pick through 2x4's whenever I go there needing some. Many years ago they used to have some decent lumber. Maybe some locations still get better stuff. Unfortunately there aren't any real lumberyards with anything but general construction grade stuff very close to me.

As far as the number of ply's go ... I used to get absolutely fantastic, 100% void free A-1 grade, 9 ply birch plywood that I used for small speaker cabinets (and sometimes, baffles for car audio sub woofer cabs). That was going back 20 years ago and beyond. Not at home depot or lowes though. That came from a lumber supply geared more toward craftsmen. I think it was over 50 bucks a sheet back then. I can't imagine what it would cost today.