Looking for closed back 2 x 12 guitar cabinet

[Bradley Walker]

Would like to find a horizontal closed back cab with Celestion Vintage 30's.

[thedudeabides]

You ever heard of Avatar cabinets? They will build you one with whatever kind of speakers you want, even two different kinds in the same box, for a good price. My friend has got one and it sounds f'n awesome. avatarspeakers.com check it

[thedudeabides]

Check out the hellatone on their site. It's a celestion 30 that has been aged by them, chris has got a vintage 30 and a hellatone 30 in a 2-12 and it's sweet. Built like a tank also.

[Blake_T]

2nd that avatar are probably some of the best on the market for wanting specific configurations.

[Bradley Walker]

Yah, I saw the Avatar.

There are several companies that make similar cabinets. Sourmash, Mather, Weber,

this one is cool (Diamond)


Lopoline is even nicer than Avatar for the money.

[thedudeabides]

If looking for used try craiglook.com it's a cragislist search engine with lots of options

[Blake_T]

it's going to be tough to find a 2x12 in general. most people buy 4x12's. i have always played 2x12's and would go for a pair of 2x12's to get my 4x12 rather than actually buying a 4x12.

the downside is that 2x12's generally will cost more than used 4x12's.

it's even harder to find the 2x12's that were meant to be stacked with a 2x12 combo (e.g. the marshall 1922 vs. the 1936 which was designed for a head).

[Bradley Walker]

Bought a Carvin 4 x 12 with Celestion Vintage 30's. Cabinet is literally brand new and I got it for $400. I had to break in the speakers...

Carvin cabinets are incredible BTW. Built like a tank with nicer features than the Mesa.

[Blake_T]

Bought a Carvin 4 x 12 with Celestion Vintage 30's. Cabinet is literally brand new and I got it for $400. I had to break in the speakers...

Carvin cabinets are incredible BTW. Built like a tank with nicer features than the Mesa.

Doh, Brad... you should have consulted me beforehand...

I've owned a few carvin cabs... unless they've changed over the past 10-15 years, the external build is decent but the internal build leaves much to be desired. basically, i've found most of them struggle to push vs. other cabs.

[Bradley Walker]

I will put this cab up against any other brand, including the Mesa Recto with V30's I had a few days before and returned it to Guitar Center. IT is as nice as I have ever seen (and there is a lot of junk out there these days).

It has Celestion V30's and simply pounds exactly as should be expected. The speakers did need to be broken in though, as they were brand new.

I have a friend that designs and builds speaker cabinets (and builds his own tube amps too). I will open the sucker up some day and check out the bracing and a few other things, but I do not expect to find much in the way of poor construction. It will take everything that 4 EL34's will dish out (100 tube watts). The cabinet and amp I use pretty much have the classic Marshall tone (EVH, Judas Priest, Randy Rhoads, Dave Meniktti, John Sykes, etc).

[black udder]

what amp do you have?

[Bradley Walker]

I have a rack unit.

Digitech 2120 into a Carvin TS100. I use a Johnson J12 control pedal to control the Digitech head. Basically, it is the louder, more capable, refined, tube version of my Johnson M150 combo.

After changing the Digitech 2120 preamp tubes to 1960's Sylvania's I have to say I quite pleased with it. The tone is so sweet now. The Carvin unit runs off of 4 EL 34 tubes for the power stage, it has JJ tubes in it. I am interested in seeing how it will sound once I change the 12ax7's over to the Sylvanias also.

[mzuleger]

I'm seriously considering selling my Mesa 4x12 to get a 2x12.... I'm so sick of lugging that damn thing around. $600 for a 2x12 is just a little crazy. I'm thinking of making my own cabs and splitting my mesa 4x12 into 2 2x12s

[black udder]

what's pushing the 4x12 Mesa?

[black udder]

I have a rack unit.

Digitech 2120 into a Carvin TS100. I use a Johnson J12 control pedal to control the Digitech head. Basically, it is the louder, more capable, refined, tube version of my Johnson M150 combo.

After changing the Digitech 2120 preamp tubes to 1960's Sylvania's I have to say I quite pleased with it. The tone is so sweet now. The Carvin unit runs off of 4 EL 34 tubes for the power stage, it has JJ tubes in it. I am interested in seeing how it will sound once I change the 12ax7's over to the Sylvanias also.

Hey Brad, without taking too much time - can you tell me something about the 2120? I've read a little online, but it's out of production, so not a ton of updated info. Is it like an effects unit/amp modeler? Or is it like some of the amps that have a tube pre-amp and then model amps on top of that? I saw a couple videos with folks using it and it looks pretty cool.