Mesa Cabs?

[brutus627]

I would like to know which mesa 4x12 cab would pair well with the ENGL fireball 60. It would be helpful to hear from those who have experience with a Mesa/FB60 combination. I believe everyone to be talking about the recto cab when comparing the orange cabinet to the Mesa cabinet in all of the threads that I have searched in this forum. Knowing that there are a number of different mesa cabinets, would I be correct to assume your all talking about the recto cab? Would there be a difference (mostly live) if I were to go with a straight or angled cabinet? The reason I ask is because in my past experience it seems that a straight cab is more "thunderous" in nature with possibly less projection, but would the fireball benefit from the possible "brightening" that an angled cab can bring to the table?
I appreciate your input!

 

[Nights_Blood]

I haven't played live or recorded with an Orange, so I can't comment on those things, but the things to keep in mind:

- They're heavy.
- They have no casters - they use some skid design that is supposed to translate to tighter bass.
- They're colored fucking Orange. (unless you find one of the black ones)

Yes, most of the time, people are talking about the Recto cabinets. They'll usually have vintage 30's, unless someone has swapped the speakers or it's a different Mesa cab.

Slant vs. Straight - This is really just personal preference. A slant cab will disperse some of the sound at a slightly upward angle, which means you hear a little more of the high frequencies (since, obviously, the top speakers are pointed closer to your head). The trade-off is that the bass response will sound a little diminished.

Hopefully, someone more knowledgable than me will be able to clarify these things a little more.

 

[Mop]

Orange and mesa are pretty similar in terms of size, weight and quality. Some people reckon the orange cabs are harder to get sounding good when recording them but I have no experience there.
Oversized vs. traditional recto cabs (stiletto); to me the stiletto cabs are less 'boomy' sounding, plenty of people prefer the oversized cab though. Straight vs. slant is really just personal preference too, try them out and see what you think. Whichever way you go you'll have a nice sounding cab...

Have you considered a 2x12? I know the horizontal recto 2x12s are really nice cabs (I have one on order right now), lots easier to move about than a 4x12 and cheaper too.
Doesn't have the wank factor of a halfstack though I suppose.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

I haven't played live or recorded with an Orange, so I can't comment on those things, but the things to keep in mind:

- They're heavy.
- They have no casters - they use some skid design that is supposed to translate to tighter bass.
- They're colored fucking Orange. (unless you find one of the black ones)

Yes, most of the time, people are talking about the Recto cabinets. They'll usually have vintage 30's, unless someone has swapped the speakers or it's a different Mesa cab.

Slant vs. Straight - This is really just personal preference. A slant cab will disperse some of the sound at a slightly upward angle, which means you hear a little more of the high frequencies (since, obviously, the top speakers are pointed closer to your head). The trade-off is that the bass response will sound a little diminished.

Hopefully, someone more knowledgable than me will be able to clarify these things a little more.

The Mesa cabs are available new with C90's as well, you just ask the dealer for one. They cost the same too.

 

[TemjinStrife]

Also, with a dark amp like the Fireball, I'd recommend the Traditional (now called the "Stiletto") Mesa cab, as the oversized Recto cabs can be incredibly bottom-heavy, and not necessarily in a good way.

They can also be found with C90s occasionally.

 

[brodjentle]

I think for your sound any cab loaded with 90s would sound boss I have both a recto cab with v30s and a stiletto cab with c90s and I definitely prefer the stiletto more your head will compliment the c90s very nicely but in the end you can't go wrong with either I'm not an orange guy however they still sound great just gonna cost you alot more than a mesa

 

[eyebanez333]

I think one reason that people prefer oranges is they seem to hold their resale value...I see mesa recto cabs go for $400 all the time used....I've never seen an orange go that cheap. In my personal experience...an orange and a mesa with the same speakers (v30s)...the orange always seems to be a bit darker, and the lower mids seem to come out more. The mesa always seems to be a tad brighter, especially when under a mic. I own both cabs...and they're both great. But like everything, just comes down to preference. Everybody hears differently, so I would just try both and see which you like the best.

 

[TMM]

FWIW, there are at least 3 Recto cabs on Craigslist within an hour of here right now, all pretty reasonably priced. I was watching one of them myself

I personally prefer the Mesa Recto cabs for a 412 - they are more directional, and in a room they don't necessarily project as well as the Orange (or a few other nice cabs), but they have a really cool dark tone that I think would probably match well with the Fireball. I can't say I've tried mic'ing up an Orange cab, so I can't comment on how well those track, but Mesa cabs definitely track well.

 

[iff]

I personally prefer the Mesa Recto cabs for a 412 - they are more directional, and in a room they don't necessarily project as well as the Orange

You've got those two cabs mixed up... Oranges are laser beams compared to Recto cabs.

 

[drenzium]

You really cant go wrong with either of those cabs dude.

It really comes down to your aesthetic preferences:
- Mesa cabs are bigger in size to Oranges, thus oversized.
- Oranges can be either orange or black, Mesas are black.
- Oranges do not have casters, Mesa's do.
- My Orange is the heaviest cab i've ever moved, i'm not 100% sure if the Mesa is more or less of the weight of an Orange.
- Don't pass on a Mesa cab out of fear of it sounding dark, a change in your EQ would probably resolve a lot of this.

The truth is they both sound amazingly boss. And you'd be happy with either guaranteed.

 

[Larrikin666]

This subject has been talked about death at this point. A search of Mesa or Orange cabs would probably get you a faster response.

 

[brutus627]

i'm not really debating between which cab is better and i have searched the threads and read about everything there is ad nauseum about the orange mesa debate...the thread WAS titled mesa ?'s because i don't really know a lot about them and wanted to know about which ones people prefered when pairing them with the engl head because they seem to come up when being comared with the orange cab...SO pardon the retarted way i may have worded it really but i was just wondering about what people prefered with regards to the mesa cabs.

 

[Spondus]

Full stops - how to understand and use them correctly Mantex

But seriously:

1. Take head to guitar shops stocking both desired cabs
2. Try cabs
3. Buy prefered cab
4. Profit

 

[brutus627]

this area sucks for trying anything (i.e. stuffy small guitar stores with jerks working in them) so personal opinion from people playing 7's/erg's is cool to hear and i'm at work when i post normally so i'm sorry if i don't use proper punctuation i don't really see why it would matter anywho not complaining just wanted some opinions

 

[Spondus]

I completely understand, decent gear is hard to come by where I am too. I can't really help you out with the mesa/orange debate as I've always used a laney cab with my rectifier and mesa cabs are prohibitively expensive in the UK (about the equivalent of $1500).

Is there any reason why you're not considering the matching ENGL cab?

 

[TMM]

You've got those two cabs mixed up... Oranges are laser beams compared to Recto cabs.

My experience says otherwise, as do many posts on this site by others who have used them, including recording engineers.

Holy fuck - can't even be bothered to read this mess.
-Mod Squad

Who's the fucking 12-year-old that added that and changed the title? Way to be helpful. Let me fix it for you:

Holy fuck - can't even be bothered to read.
-Mod Squad

 

[TemjinStrife]

I'll admit it took me like three tries to read it all.

Grammar, people. It makes a difference.

 

[brutus627]

i fixed the OP sorry for the shittyness of it. i tend to just write and not really worry about people having to read it (probably because i've been out of school and working with less than scholarly characters for too long).

Also, with a dark amp like the Fireball, I'd recommend the Traditional (now called the "Stiletto") Mesa cab, as the oversized Recto cabs can be incredibly bottom-heavy, and not necessarily in a good way.

They can also be found with C90s occasionally.

This was exactly the type of reply that i hoped to get. thank you!

i haven't had much experience with the engl cab, but i'm also looking to buy used in the price range of around 5-600usd so i think the engl might be hard to come by for that price...

 

[iff]

My experience says otherwise, as do many posts on this site by others who have used them, including recording engineers.

If I had disagreed with anything else you had posted, I would have quoted that part as well.



That said, would anyone like to be the tie-breaker? Which cab is more directional (ie. laser-beam): Recto or Orange?

 

[TMM]

i haven't had much experience with the engl cab, but i'm also looking to buy used in the price range of around 5-600usd so i think the engl might be hard to come by for that price...

Another FWIW, there's someone in Concord, NH (around 1-1.5hrs for you) selling an empty Engl Pro XXL 412 (Craigslist) for like $300 or $350... you could move your current speakers over to that cab, and replace the G12T75s with 2 more V30s in the future if you wanted to get the full effect, and still be under $500.