Best Cab for a 5150?

[dmguitarist99]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but I've narrowed it down to 3 choices and I want to see what you guys think would be the best suit for my 5150.

A Mesa Rectifier Cab, a Vader 4x12, or a Marshall 1960A?

Pros and Cons?

thanks in advance!

 

[JeffFromMtl]

The other guitarist in a band I used to be in rocked a 5150 through a Mesa Rectifier cab. The low end was massive and that mid-rangey mess that 5150's are known to emit seemed less present than it is through a standard-sized cab. It sounded really great IMO, which is why it's a pretty standard set-up. The build quality is also really solid. The only con I can think of as far as the Mesa goes is that it's pretty heavy compared to other cabs I've used (I think it's in the ball park of 100 or so lbs), but the heavy-duty casters make moving it no big deal. I run my Framus Dragon through a Mesa Rectifier cab, and couldn't be happier with my sound. I've never tried a Vader cab, but you'll get a lot of recommendations for those guys. The Marshall will be the thinnest-sounding of the cabs you've narrowed it down to, in my experience.

 

[renzoip]

From my experience, I can suggest a Marshall 1960AV or even better e Mesa Rectifier 4X12!

 

[jamesy_pwd]

i tried out the Orange and the mesa together, and actually liked the orange's sounds more then the mesa rocto cab, the orange PPC had more low end and more was beefy then then mesa i thought.

 

[Leuchty]

MESA and VADER are standard for metal with 5150's

 

[abysmalrites]

Vader
/thread

 

[helly]

I've used all 3 with my slightly modded 5150, and I've had bandmates that have used all 3 with stock 6505s and 5150s.

Here's what I've found out:

Vader:
The 'creamiest' sounding of the bunch. It has a very loose low-end, but it keeps tight as long as the guitar is well setup and the amp settings are good. There's not much grit to the tone at all, even at the high gain levels of the 5150, it comes out really nice and buttery, and with extremely heavy, fat sounding low end. The high end is nice as well, but the mid-range can get a bit honky because it doesn't have much breakup.

Mesa:
The one I use on my rig, and my personal favorite through any tuning and variation of metal/hardcore I've played throughout the years. The low end is very tight, though not as heavy and big sounding as the Vader, with a solid 6-6-6 knob setting and the right tubes it'll still sound very huge. The speakers also offer a really unique grit to the tone as they break up, because they have a much lower wattage tolerance than the Vader does. The mid-range is much nicer sounding to me because of this, as it seems to curb the mid-range honk that the 5150 can suffer from in a lot of cases. The high end can get a bit shrill on the bridge pickup, but I do have a habit of playing guitars using a lot of maple (maple top and fretboard) or ebony (neckthrough with mahogany and maple and an ebony fretboard) which can do that all on it's own. You'll see a lot of use for cutting the presence dial back to the 4-6 range and boosting resonance up to around 6-7.

Marshall:
It has similar characteristics to the Mesa in that it breaks up nicely and loses a lot of the mid-range honking that you can get, but it never quite gets as big sounding as the oversized Vaders and Mesas. It is however a very tight sounding cab and can be pretty creamy sounding as well. Good for the highs, IMO, but in today's world of tuning low, the other two cabs definitely edge out the Marshall in my book.


Hope this helps, I know it's all based on opinion, but it's what I've been able to figure out from using all of them.

 

[kmanick]

I've run mine thru a couple of different cabs and my recto cab is my favorite so far.
the Vader sounds intersting but I've never tried one.

 

[Rick]

Vader
/thread

 

[agoz20]

Vader 4x12 is amazing with the 5150. Don't get me wrong the mesa recto cab is great if your looking for avintage 30 ish tone. The vader is just epic though. I played me 5150 through the orange ppc4x12 marshall 1960 , bogner uberkab, recto cab. I just really like the response and punch you get off the vader no matter the tuning. Playing in drop e with my new 8 string sounds fucking huge. Just depends on what sound ur looking for

 

[kazE]

Can't recommend Vader enough.

Orange's/Avatar's are great too.

 

[Rotatous]

I'm planning on getting one of these three cabs. I really want a Vader the most, because it will take the most abuse. Vaders go for cheap used most of the time, but if I can't find one for cheap enough, Ill look for mesa. Then if I can't fond one of those for cheap enough, Ill go for the Marshall.

 

[dmguitarist99]

that's for all your help guys, now if I can just find a used Vader for around 450

 

[BurialWithin]

THE DOOMINATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JoshuaLogan]

The Mesa Oversized will mic up the best by far.