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Your opinion about 4x12 vs 2x12 cabs please !

Anand Mahangoe

Active member
Joined
Jul 5, 2021
Messages
115
Hi !
In my 30+ years of playing always 4x12 cabs, I have always missed "mids" in my sound....Lately listening to other Guitarists like Joe Bonamassa, I noticed he split his 4x12 into 2x12 and using EV-L for his Marshall amps. I tried it with the Ownhammer Marshall 1966 2x12 cab loaded with EV-L and it does sound different. I can hear the less "colouring" aspects of the EV speakers compared to V30 & Greenback. I play all kinds of styles and low-medium gain sounds.

I have to say it is a close call for me between the EV-L and the V30 with my Marshall Silver Jubilee amp
Of course the Clean clips will show less differences than the Overdriven sounds

Very curious to hear your opinion / experiences !

 

jrgtr42

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
2,308
Are you sure the difference isn't just the speakers themselves?
Yeah, there's going to be a diffrence between the 2 and 4 speakers - that much extra acreage of cone making noise, and the bigger box does add some low end OOMPH to it.
I have a Marshall 1936 2x12, and it is a pretty big box, obviously not as bog as the 4x12, but |I'd say 3/4 the size or so.
Once upon a time I avoided work by selling guitars for a living, and one thing we did now and then was demoing the Marshall cabs side by side - the 1960 with the 75-watt Celestions, the 1960V with Vintage 30s (70-watts each) and the 1960X with Greenbacks. The boxes themselves were the same, other than a different color grill cloth, but the sounds were markedly different. (Needless to say it was the same guitar and same amp, same settings, Etc. )
 

Anand Mahangoe

Active member
Joined
Jul 5, 2021
Messages
115
Are you sure the difference isn't just the speakers themselves?
Yeah, there's going to be a diffrence between the 2 and 4 speakers - that much extra acreage of cone making noise, and the bigger box does add some low end OOMPH to it.
I have a Marshall 1936 2x12, and it is a pretty big box, obviously not as bog as the 4x12, but |I'd say 3/4 the size or so.
Once upon a time I avoided work by selling guitars for a living, and one thing we did now and then was demoing the Marshall cabs side by side - the 1960 with the 75-watt Celestions, the 1960V with Vintage 30s (70-watts each) and the 1960X with Greenbacks. The boxes themselves were the same, other than a different color grill cloth, but the sounds were markedly different. (Needless to say it was the same guitar and same amp, same settings, Etc. )
In real life I have never been able to try out the same speaker + cab in a 4x12 & 2x12 setting....BUT I know that the feeling of a 4x12 cab can not be matched with a 2x12 cab...that amount of pressure is definitely something special...

With Speaker Impulses though I can compare them how they would record in a studio or sound through FOH and in my video one can hear that the 2x12 EV-L sounds more mid focused than the 4x12 EV-L...that sounds bit deeper / heavier , more bottom end.....This should translate also quite well with REAL cabs I guess....
 
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