One cabinet for all

Tucson Thump

Mint Heavy Relic
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Yes, cabinets come in different configurations and sound differently.

Hypothetical question:

Let's say you had a PRS Archon head, a PRS Dallas head, a Marshall JTM45 head, a Vox AC 30 head.

Let's also say you could only have one cabinet to use with the heads.

What would you get?
 
This depends heavily on what you like tone-wise. Definitely a 2x IMHO (or 4 if you want) with a mix of two speakers. IMHO, the speakers I’d choose for each one of those amps might be different than all the others. But unless you’re going for the brutz with the Archon, I’d say my favorite mix of speakers for that lineup of amps would be an Alnico and a Greenback type. If you want the best, Scumback. Good but less money, Red Fang and Warehouse ET65,

I’ve not tried the ET65 but the samples I’ve heard are great. What I have tried with Vox’s and Archons and a Marshall type amp or 3... With the Archon, the Red Fang and Private Jack sound fantastic and very “boutique” M style... reminded me much more of the Ecstasy 101B I played, where two V30s make that amp sound much more modern. Assuming the middle two amps would also love that speaker setup, and I tried the Vox channels of my TA/15 and TA/30 with the Red Fang/ PJ combo and it was my favorite with it for sure.

I’m sure some will recommend a V or an H, and they are great as well mixed in varying combinations. But with that lineup of amps, at least 3 of the 4, the Alnico/Greenback type combo would be probably my favorite combo, and the Archon also sounds great with it, just not as modern as with the V30s.

Now if you’re asking about cabs, that’s a whole nother topic.
 
I’d get a nice rack for the heads, and a Kahayan multi-head/cab switching system.

https://www.kahayan.es/selector-8x4

And you were thinking I’d blather on about speaker cabs and such. No such luck.

The AC30 needs an open back cab with Alnico speakers, and the others do much better with closed back cabs. So the answer is...it’s un-possible! ;)
 
I'm a heretic to some, but this conversation is part of what lead me to a Kemper and a FRFR cabinet.
I had absolutely no idea I'd like a Plexi.
I’m one leg into this scenario and another leg into the old school approach. There’s a reason why I have several cabs with a variety of speakers for the few amps I have. OTOH, practice today involved the Kemper into my ancient Crate powered mixer into my equally ancient Yamaha 15” 2-way floor monitor and despite those shortcomings, it sounded glorious. The CU24 sounded so much like a single coil guitar in one setting, I thought something was wrong with it...complete with realistic pant-flapping effect and controllable feedback.
 
Agree with others above. I wouldn’t want to have to choose only one cab for those 4 amps, but I answered it the way it was asked. Agree with Les about the Alnico and open back for Vox. My Red Fang is in an open back cab and my Private Jacks are in closed back Avatar deep cube, convertible back Lopo and I had one in the deep cube Avatar with the dumble like oval opening, also similar to the PRS DG cabs opening. I was able to mix open back Alnico with closed back Private Jack (greenback type) to sort of get the best of both out of those two speakers. Vox and Marshall amps both loved that combo. Surprisingly (to me) so did some Mesa amps. (Marks and TA’s loved it, Rectos not so much).

That also brings up the reason I used to have ALL 1x12 cabs. Just so I could test different types of speaker combinations with different amps. At one point I had V30s, Mesa V30s, Celestion Greenbacks (3 different models) Emi Privatae Jack (GB) Emi Wizard (H type) Emi Governor (V type) Emi Red Fang Alnico, Warehouse Lead 80 type, and Mesa C90. I sold some of the 1x12s when I got the PRS 2x12 and the Mesa 2x12. But at one point I had that variety of speakers all in 1x12s. So I could use two at a time with varying combinations with every amp I tried til I settled on what worked best for each amp. Yes, there are many speakers I haven’t tried. Fanes, Webers, even EV, and most of the Warehouse stuff and the one I want to try most, the Scumbacks. But had have versions of most of the main flavors. Still, speakers are SO important, I really want to try more.

(Les impersonation). “So why haven’t you tried more speakers then, DTR?”
“Because I’ve found they don’t sound their best til after they are broken in and the prospect of buying 4-5 more speakers to try and not knowing for MONTHS if I’ve realized their full potential yet gets old. FAST!”
 
I had absolutely no idea I'd like a Plexi.

Neither did I, until I heard one of the HXDA demos, and decided to try one!

I was kind of, “I’m not interested in anything that sounds like a Marshall.” The late 70s and subsequent Marshalls killed the deal for me; I’d forgotten about the old Plexis and how good they sounded.

Who knew?
 
I think jxe's recommendation is really solid, but for that collection of amps, any single cabinet is going to be a major compromise. The speaker/cab combination has a huge effect on whether an amp can sound its best.

The Vox seems like the main outlier in that collection in the original post -- the cab that can make that amp happy is probably going to be very different from the one that works well with the other three. If you can find a way to do two cabs (maybe a 2x12 and a 4x12) you may be much happier.
 
This just in (for me anyway), while looking at some of the new speakers that Dave has at Avatar, I noticed something VERY interesting! Forte went out of business a while back. I’ve heard nothing but raves about those 3D cabs. While looking at the cost of a new cab with speakers, I noticed that Avatar now has Forte 3D replica cabs! I’m tempted to get one and at least will have one on “the list.”
 
This just in (for me anyway), while looking at some of the new speakers that Dave has at Avatar, I noticed something VERY interesting! Forte went out of business a while back. I’ve heard nothing but raves about those 3D cabs. While looking at the cost of a new cab with speakers, I noticed that Avatar now has Forte 3D replica cabs! I’m tempted to get one and at least will have one on “the list.”
I have a closed back Avatar with V30s in it. Great cab. It came to me as 4ohm (2 8ohm in parallel). So I rewired it to be 16ohm.
 
I've just been accumulating 2x12 cabs: An open-back "Vox" AC30 2x12 extension cab (actually from North Coast Music), a closed-back PRS SE 2x12, and most recently a front-ported Port City Wave 2x12. The PRS and Port City cabs mate up with my Archon 50 head, and the Vox cab mates up with a variety of Vox-y amps (an AC15CH and a couple homebrews).
 
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