Anyone familiar with Mesa Powerhouse 4x10?

[TedEH]

While poking around some used ads, I came across a Mesa Powerhouse 4x10 for 500 Canadian loonies, and I'm considering going to grab it. I thiiiiiiink it's the more recent "modern" version (I keep reading about there being three different versions of these). From what I can find from googling, people seem to like them, they tend to be pretty bright/hifi sounding, very loud, etc. If this is like other Mesa cabs, I'm expecting it to weigh a ton. I searched the forum here and found some passing comments that they seem to be well liked.

I currently use a Traynor 8x8 and I've been looking for something that will sound significantly different. I'm not aiming for "better", per-se, since I don't think the cab I have sounds bad, but the 8" speakers I find have some limitations, the cab can be kinda "pokey" or "punchy" for better or worse, the form factor is a pain (it's almost as inconvenient as an 8x10), and I've been wanting to try out a 4x10 instead.

My last attempt was a GK Neo 410 and it turned out to be in rough shape already when I got it - someone had swapped out the speakers with a bunch of mismatches so it sounded not-so-great and one of the drivers died when I tried to get it up to volume.

So that kinda leaves me with not much in terms of expectations from a "good" 410. Can a good 410 keep up with a drummer and a couple of Rectos on it's own? I would think it can, depending on a bunch of things. Should I expect a big difference between the 10s and 8s?

Anyone who has some familiarity with these have any comments or advice before I go look at or grab this one?

The full rig would end up being:
Bass (Jazz V) -> SVT-IIP -> Crown XLS -> Cab
Also have a borrowed B7K I can throw in.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I owned the Road Ready version of this cab for about 10 years. Same speakers and dimensions, but with bigger casters and a removable front rack-style cover.

Sounded great, the crossover/tweeter control was very usable.

Can it keep up with a full band? Eh, probably? But it depends on what you're playing and where you're playing. When I had mine, I paired it with a 2x12 GK cab, one on each side of the drum riser. Amps were an SVT4 and later Aguilar DB750 and GK2001RB.

Unless it's really beat, $500 CAD seems like a good deal.

 

[budda]

Yeah I dont think you have anything to lose by trying it out.

 

[TedEH]

Eh, probably? But it depends on what you're playing and where you're playing

The two most likely scenarios are in a small jam room, or if I ever use it live I'm likely to be DI'd anyway.

Maybe a really dumb take as far as volume goes but -> What I'm used to is 8x8, where I think most people think of "big cabs" as being 8x10. I've heard some people say that "loudness" in cabs can come down to (in part) how much surface area you can move. So if I had to make a guess, ignoring the enclosure and looking just at rough cone surface area - I think the difference between 8x8s and 4x10s is relatively small, compared to how much surface area you get out of an 8x10, etc. So unless I'm way off (and I might be), I shouldn't be expecting a huge loudness difference based on just the speaker sizes. I know there's probably a lot more to it than that though.

I have a feeling the big ol' Mesa logo on the front means re-selling it won't be hard if I don't like it.

 

[TedEH]

The more I think about it, the more the speaker surface area thing I guess is probably wrong. 'Cause it's one thing to say that you have a lot of surface area thus you "move more air", but that's only true if everything else is equal - the enclosure, the excursion, etc.- which won't be. Guess I'll have to use my ears.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Speaker surface area matters, but when you're comparing such vastly different cabs, I wouldn't really bother with an individual spec like that.

You can look up the sensitivity of the speakers, which will usually have more of an influence on in the room perceived loudness, but again, it's a single spec.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

I have a pair of the lighter weight Traditional PH410s. Awesome cabs. Relative to Ampeg they’re more aggressive sounding in the mids, and being Mesa there’s no shortage of low end. I wouldn’t call them HiFi. They’re more full range than an Ampeg 810, but they are heavily coloured in a good way.

My cabs are about 90 lbs each.

500 for a working cab is a great price.

 

[Crungy]

If it's this cab I say buy it.


Mesa cabs are pretty good sounding in my experience. Never owned one but have played through a few of them at gigs and rehearsals.

I'm not familiar with the Traynor cab and what speakers it has, but I would guess the Mesa 10" speakers can handle lower frequencies better. Another assumption is the Traynor is a sealed or rear ported cab and the Mesa is front ported. In my experience, front ported cabs give much better low end feel.

 

[TedEH]

^ That looks like the one to me. Went to see it this morning. Dude let me give 'er with a bit o' volume to prove it works fine, then I took it home. Super initial reaction is that the low end comes across much clearer than the 8s, but it'll be hard to properly judge without being in the same room I'm used to. It's probably a little quieter, but I expected that. Responded well to slappy nonsense. It's heavy for sure, but easily more manageable than the 808 is - it's about 50lbs lighter (hah) and an easier form factor to lift. With two people it's comparably a breeze. So far the biggest feature to my ears is that the controls for the crossover and horn level make the horn super usable, and it's not a clanky mess like some cabs can be.

I didn't get to try it in the usual room in the usual context, etc., yet, so we'll see how it holds up there, but so far so good.

 

[Crungy]

Congrats! They're really good looking cabs too.

Think you'll hook up the Mesa and Traynor to your power amp?

 

[Grindspine]

Nice! I am currently half-considering a Mesa 2x10 just to have something besides my record direct B7k setup. I have plenty of Mesa guitar gear that has been bullet-proof level dependable over the years. $500 for a 4x10 was a great score!

 

[TedEH]

I don't know that I'd use both cabs at the same time -> mostly because I'm too lazy to do the math on how the impedance differences would work. Also something something not supposed to mix driver sizes, which might be nonsense, but hey, why not.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

When it comes to mixing driver sizes, if it sounds good, it’s good. If it sounds bad, it’s bad.

Most of the time mixing just creates more mud and less clarity but some cabs do work well together.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

On a side note, did you pay $500 CAD for that? Or did you covert it to USD before posting?

 

[TedEH]

Yeah, in CAD. I dunno the conversion and I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I don't know that I'd use both cabs at the same time -> mostly because I'm too lazy to do the math on how the impedance differences would work. Also something something not supposed to mix driver sizes, which might be nonsense, but hey, why not.

I believe those Crowns can go down to 2 ohms, so I wouldn't worry about impedance much. The 8x8 is likely 4 ohms, and the Mesa came in either 4 or 8, so even if you're at 4 and 4 (2 ohm load) the power amp should handle it fine.

Don't worry about mixing driver size, especially with purpose built cabs like this.

 

[Crungy]

Your power amp is stereo right? Or do you run it bridged?

All you'd need to know is what the lowest impedance it can handle. Say it has a 2 ohm minimum: if one cab is 8 ohm and the other 4 ohm, you'd have a load of 2.6 ohms and you would be safe to run them as long as the wattage isn't way over the RMS rating for the cab.

 

[Crungy]

@MaxOfMetal beat me to it!

 

[TedEH]

I definitely run it bridged - with one cab, a lot of the poweramp goes to waste otherwise IMO. The mixing driver sizes I know as a thing that your TalkBass type purists would say is a bad idea, but I'm sure it's not a big deal.

I probably could run them both, but it seems like it would be a bit of a hassle. I don't want to get used to the sound of the combo since they sound pretty different and there's no way I'm lugging both cabs to shows or anything, so I'd rather learn how to dial for one or the other and leave it at that. If I leave it in bridged, I don't have control over the balance between the two cabs, and if I switch back to stereo, each channel loses some power and I don't know that I could drive them both off the one amp as efficiently as one cab on it's own and I'd be worried that I lose more than I gain in that scenario once I get up to playing-with-a-drummer volume. Plus the bridged mode requires one of those funky cables that uses different pins in the speakon connector, so it means I gatta get more cables and be careful that I don't mess up which ones I'm using when.

I mean, I certainly can run both cabs at once, and I might try it at some point, but I'm not expecting to do it regularly.

 

[TedEH]

Some quick googling just now suggests that the XLS isn't supposed to run with 2ohms if it's in bridged mode.

From the manual:


Even just from familiarity with the amp, as much as it sounds like a whole ton of power, that "1100 watts" runs out pretty quickly even just with one cab. Not sure I'd want to push it much more than that.