MT15 Matching Cab on the Way...

I think the OP who was having issues with the matching MT15 cab did put a folded up towel between the cab and head and still had rattle issues. I'll see when I get my cab if it was only an issue with his particular head and cab, or if it happens to me too. It's the first I've heard of the rattle issue...if it was common, I would think that PRS/Tremonti would have caught the problem.

You find this a lot, especially with combo amps. Mostly, because the quality of new tubes being made today is poor. No way around it, they just don't make them like they did 50 years ago. The new ones rattle more. A well known, and respected amp maker, who's name may be the same a city in Arizona, readily admits this. There are tube "sleeves" or dampers, or something that you can get to correct this. If Les chimes in, he can tell you for sure. He's put some on one of his amps for this very problem.
 
Well my cab came in and thankfully no issues with any rattle I was worried about based on the OP. Sounds really good, more than adequate for most gigs volume wise, not quite as huge sounding as my Splawn 2X12's or a 4X12 (which is to be expected), but really good and solidly built. The amp is obviously voiced with the vintage 30 speaker in mind, as I thought the amp had a bit too much low end with some of my other cabs, and had to dial it out...not really the case with the matching cab. Nice little, portable and great sounding rig...the affordable price is just a bonus!!
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Oh, and for anyone interested, I also have a Marshall DSL40C combo amp that I have used for light setup gigs...the Marshall cover for the DSL40C fits the MT15 cabinet quite well...maybe a 1/4 inch too long, but it works great.
 
Looks great, brokenromeo.

As for tube rattle - if anyone else is driven nuts by this problem...

I have a Mesa Lone Star combo with 4 6L6s. The tube rattle on the power tubes (4x6L6) was literally impossible to live with. I called Mesa and was told, “Modern tubes are not what we got even a few years ago, and we don’t know how to prevent tube rattle. Next time get a separate head instead of a combo.”

Oh great. Sell my special order, leather covered combo at a huge loss and buy a head. No thanks.

I was ready to order a set of NOS power tubes for $400+, or get an external cab for it. But I decided to try a set of the Eurotube damping rings as a last resort before blowing the dough.

They worked like magic immediately. Twenty bucks for a set of 4. ‘Nuff said.

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=8

Now the Lone Star is almost as good as my PRS amps, “almost” being not a bad thing. ;)
 
Looks great, brokenromeo.

As for tube rattle - if anyone else is driven nuts by this problem...

I have a Mesa Lone Star combo with 4 6L6s. The tube rattle on the power tubes (4x6L6) was literally impossible to live with. I called Mesa and was told, “Modern tubes are not what we got even a few years ago, and we don’t know how to prevent tube rattle. Next time get a separate head instead of a combo.”

Oh great. Sell my special order, leather covered combo at a huge loss and buy a head. No thanks.

I was ready to order a set of NOS power tubes for $400+, or get an external cab for it. But I decided to try a set of the Eurotube damping rings as a last resort before blowing the dough.

They worked like magic immediately. Twenty bucks for a set of 4. ‘Nuff said.

https://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=8

Now the Lone Star is almost as good as my PRS amps, “almost” being not a bad thing. ;)

This is a great tip Les. In fact, I've heard that many times the rings can extend the life of otherwise great sounding great old tubes if they just start to go a little microphonic, the rings sometimes solve it, at least for a while. There are certainly some great sounding combos on the market, but higher volume combos are a pretty tough environment for anything but the sturdiest tubes.
 
This is a great tip Les. In fact, I've heard that many times the rings can extend the life of otherwise great sounding great old tubes if they just start to go a little microphonic, the rings sometimes solve it, at least for a while. There are certainly some great sounding combos on the market, but higher volume combos are a pretty tough environment for anything but the sturdiest tubes.

Indeed. I think the Mesa tech was being honest with me when he said they simply can’t get new tubes that will withstand the vibrations of a high powered combo. I plan to go to NOS at my next power tube change, but will probably continue using the damping rings when I do. I’m already all NOS GE at the preamp, except for the phase inverter, where I’m using an NOS tube of unknown origin I originally got in a Two-Rock head (all of the NOS tubes so far indeed improved things, the GEs literally transforming the tone of the amp from merely ‘acceptable’ to ‘excellent’).

The weird thing is that my old 60s and 70s amps (back when they were new and yes I’m that old) never needed re-tubing. The tubes lasted seemingly forever. The first time I ever had to retube an amp was my early 90s Mesa Tremoverb, and yet there was no tube rattle despite being a 90 Watt combo. When people talk about NOS, believe me, it’s real.

Nonetheless, I’ll probably never buy another combo amp, though in all probability I’ll never buy another amp unless PRS makes an AC30 clone.
 
I have a similar problem with my MT15. When the head is on any cabinet I get an annoying rattle whenever I play a muted open A string or A power chord. Drives me nuts. At first I thought it was the metal enclosure rattling. Then I thought it was a tube, but it seems that it is something resonating from inside the chassis when I play those palm muted A’s. Really weird. I’m gonna open her up in the next few days to see if something is loose or can be tightened down. I’ll post back when I do.

Scott
 
Here we go, my initial impressions after playing through the matching MT15 cab for around 7 hours with volume about 1/3rd up on full 15 watts.

First off, the cab is built well and mine had no visual defects when it arrived. Looks sharp with the MT15 head for sure. Sound wise, it puts out a nice tight and articulate bass response, and really excels with detuned palm muted riffs. Does tend to rattle the head a bit much as it's a smaller cab, but nothing a folded towel doesn't fix. Compared to my Orange 112 closed back, this is not as boxy sounding, most likely due to the fact that the physical cab dimensions are bigger. That being said, it is a bit boxy sounding compared to all the 2x12's I have tried, which is no surprise due to air space. But, for a 1x12 it really does sound pretty nice.

I did also notice that it, like many V30 loaded cabs, is a bit mid-heavy to my ears. I had to turn down the mid on EQ even more than the infamous mid-heavy Orange cabs I normally use. I can definitely tell the speaker isn't broken in yet, but it's sounding better and better each hour that passes. I'm trying to get some A/B sound clips but my software is down at the moment.

Overall, I'm pleased with this cab but most definitely prefer the fullness of my 2x12's. But for a 1x12, this little cab really does sound nice and is built well. Rock On!!!!!!

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That Duvell is sick!!!
 
So I figured out what the Rattle was with the help of Sean at PRS. We determined that it was the chassis plate that was rattling against the chassis. I slid a pick in between and it was gone. Problem solved! Just wanted to report back on my finding.
 
So I figured out what the Rattle was with the help of Sean at PRS. We determined that it was the chassis plate that was rattling against the chassis. I slid a pick in between and it was gone. Problem solved! Just wanted to report back on my finding.
LIKE LIKE LIKE! Glad you got it worked out. Now, turn it up so loud it rattles the windows!
 
I decided against the matching MT112 and went with an all ply Peavey 112 for much less money.

I don't like V30s in 112s or 212s. Only in 412s.
So I pulled the stock Peavey speaker and installed a G12T75. Serious crunch and thump now with that speaker.

The MT15 REALLY benefits from T75's lower efficiency rating as well.

Dimensions are 20.5"W x 17.5"H x 11.5"D


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I've since done some speaker experimenting and I'm now using a Marshall MFV30 and a WGS G12C in each of my 1x12 cabs.
I like this combination best so far.
The MFV30 is thick and smooth, yet cutting.
The G12C has more modest lows and a very clear and a peaky highend that's not shrill or fizzy. Probably some of the most pleasing speaker highs I've experienced. The mids are upfront and pleasant. That are shifted a bit lower in the freq range than the V30, but can easily hang with the V30.
I like the multilayered depth this combo adds to the MT15's high gain tone.
 
my MT-15 sits atop my MT-15 cabinet, which sits atop a 2x12 deep cabinet. i have experienced no rattles.
 
I've since done some speaker experimenting and I'm now using a Marshall MFV30 and a WGS G12C in each of my 1x12 cabs.
I like this combination best so far.
The MFV30 is thick and smooth, yet cutting.
The G12C has more modest lows and a very clear and a peaky highend that's not shrill or fizzy. Probably some of the most pleasing speaker highs I've experienced. The mids are upfront and pleasant. That are shifted a bit lower in the freq range than the V30, but can easily hang with the V30.
I like the multilayered depth this combo adds to the MT15's high gain tone.

Interesting combo of speakers. Not sure what an MFV30 is... some form of V30 I'm guessing. But couplings a speaker voiced for a Fender with it is interesting. Especially if it works well with the gain channel.
 
Interesting combo of speakers. Not sure what an MFV30 is... some form of V30 I'm guessing. But couplings a speaker voiced for a Fender with it is interesting. Especially if it works well with the gain channel.
It really is something. Although the Jensen copy is known for use with Fender circuits, and I bought it for my clean ambient delay/echo/reverb playing, the WGS site demo clips of the G12C with gain really impressed me.

This is the MFV30 (Mode Four) I have in the other cab. It's another proprietary Marshall V30.
I use a number of other different V30s, and this one is different as well. It has a bigger lowend, and smoother highs and midrange. Very warm sounding for a V30.

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Hi Guys!

I just wanted to chime in since I also have the MT-15 with matching cab. I've had the cabinet for about three months now. Over time, it has developed a noticeable rattle at louder volumes. Similar to what someone posted above, it's only on certain notes. I've just started to diagnose it. It almost sounds like it's coming from the grill. I'm pretty sure some of it is from the metal caps on the handle as well. Hope I can figure it out! It's terribly distracting.

Best,

Rick
 
Hi Guys!

I just wanted to chime in since I also have the MT-15 with matching cab. I've had the cabinet for about three months now. Over time, it has developed a noticeable rattle at louder volumes. Similar to what someone posted above, it's only on certain notes. I've just started to diagnose it. It almost sounds like it's coming from the grill. I'm pretty sure some of it is from the metal caps on the handle as well. Hope I can figure it out! It's terribly distracting.

Best,

Rick

Can you verify that nothing has come loose inside the cab? I was thinking about getting one of these cabs to match my mt 15.
 
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