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OK doombros, I'm satisfying my midlife-crisis needs by buying my first half-stack instead of a sportscar or hookers. I've got a Laney AOR 100 inbound, and I need to pick up a 4x12 to go with it. What should I be looking for when evaluating a used cab? Are there particular failure modes that are common to road-beaten cabs that I should be aware of? Any particular budget gems or anything-but-that recommendations?

You can never go wrong with a marshall 1960.
Plenty to be had for under ~350 loaded.

:edit: beat me to the punch while I was rambling /\/\/\/\/\/\/\

marshall 1960 cabs. plentiful as fuck, come with gt-75s. dark, bassy speakers that handle 75 watts a piece. fuck ive prolly owned 10 or so in my years of never having enough cabs.

you should be able to find them all day for under 300$ and if you really really get lucky 200$ or less.

use your ears, listen for speaker cone noise, take a screwdriver or even better handheld drill to pop out the handles and make sure factory wiring / speakers are there. ive been fucked over once. never ever ever again.

genz benz Gflex cabs are the best built cabs ive ever owned. and theyre loud as fuck bassy and suuuuper dark. only downside? theyre fuck UGLY and scream nubro.

early 90s randall cabs are built like brick shithouses, usually have celestions in them and can be had for 100 bucks. downside you can NEVER EVER sell a randall cab.

unless its the 2x12 + 1x15 cab. but avoid that piece of dicks like the plague. super bright, built like shit, and instead of doing the smart thing like having the 212s be 16 ohms and the 15 being 8 for a nice even 4 ohm load, all the drivers in it are 16 ohms. so it creates a 5.someshit ohm load. fuck you randall. fuck you in the ass.

don't dismiss old school peeby 2x15s. I love black widows on guitar. however most 10" bass cabs sound like shit on guitar.

uhm yea. . . why stop at a halfstack.

Conky recently raved about an older Peavey 5150 4x12. Can be found for cheap. Cheap cheap cheap.

Most late 80's to late 90's peavey 4x12's are fucking awesome and cheap. I love the MS412 loaded with sheffields, great cab and usually dirt dirt cheap.

Muff_Diver wrote:You can never go wrong with a marshall 1960.
Plenty to be had for under ~350 loaded.

co-signed. They sound fucking awesome.

Do a 9v battery test. I always take a speaker cable, a flashlight, and a 9v battery whenever I'm looking to buy a cab. If the seller is nice enough, I open the cab up and check the speakers are correct and wired up correctly. The 9v test just lets you know the speaker isn't frozen or blown. Besides that, just check for busted corners or edges and obviously if you can try it then do that and listen closely. As posted, Marshall cabs are decent and cheap. Old Ampeg v4 cabs, Traynor cabs, and a handful of other 412's will be of good quality and sound good with the right speakers. Good luck.

I'd definitely pick up a 1960 if I had the cash, but I'm trying to keep this under $250, and you can't even spit near a decent Marshall cab around here for that kind of money. Got leads on a couple of Peaveys, though, so that's probably where I'm going.

Possible you could find an Avatar cab for that much too.

But seriously consider giving hookers a second look

Peavey 412MS with Sheffields, or with G12K-85s? Why?

One thing that I don't think people have mentioned yet is check out what it is made of. If it sounds great then go for it but I would say be wary of mdf or cheap plywood construction and try and go the full baltic birch construction. Most of the marshall cabs are birch but they may be mdf or just have an mdf back board. MDF is less desirable because it often absorbs more moisture and starts to fall apart. It is also usually more dull sounding. Cheap plywood also tends to fall apart too. I have seen cheap baffles basically become usless at holding speakers in place because they chipped away around the screws that held the speakers.

The studio I work at has two marshall cabs, one from the 60s made of birch and the other is a reissue made of mdf. The mdf sounds alright but is nothing compared to the the 60s cab. Now it maybe the speakers or some other factors. But I think the material has something to do with it.

the material makes a big difference. mdf and cheap plywood are just that.. cheap and shit. You pretty much described why and I was going to say exactly what Ancient said about the Peavey's the old ones are fucking monsters and built to knock over walls if you used them as a literal wrecking ball. Usually very cheap.

celticelk wrote:Peavey 412MS with Sheffields, or with G12K-85s? Why?

g12k-85 for the win, they are alot like the hundreds, pretty balanced, and a pronounced low end, not gonna give ya a big mid hump if thats what your looking for, the sheffields are kinda dark and generic sounding, nothing about them I can really compliment, but never really gave them a chance.

celticelk wrote:Peavey 412MS with Sheffields, or with G12K-85s? Why?

Both are good choices IMO. Sheffields are neutral but crystal clear, the 85s have more low end and are probably perceived as louder but lack the clarity of the Sheffield.