Rig-Talk

Eh, you got lucky on that one. Once I get back on Pacific Standard Time it'll be no earlier than 6 am PST.

Of course now that my wife gave me her sore throat/headache cold she got on the cruise, I may be sleeping in a little later since I'm flying on cold pills.

Expect some incoherent ramblings if I have to keep taking these things...not that it's unusual for that from me, but I may get off on a tangent if the antihistamine high kicks in.

I am totally impressed that Scumback Shipping Dept. was able to box up two speakers and get a Fedex tracking number, all before the rooster crowed and most people had their morning coffee!

Steve

Personally I'm an H series man, although lots of clients aren't. I tend to play a bit more on the higher gain side of rock and roll...despite certain RT members who claim I like easy listening music and my Champ amplifier.

Thanks for the tips Steve,
You are right.... It's all about trial and error! My first choice was the M75/H75, but I can this configuration in the future. My really heavy stuff is covered by Herbert/Afterburner (V30/GK100) now, and the XTC 20th will be more Rock and Hard Rock, although I agree with about his versatility. It's hard to find more "Swiss-Knife" amp.
Cheers,
Oz

Good move. Although, Jim likes easy listening music and thinks the Fender Champ is a fire breather...

You have a while to think about speakers. For me, I just find the M's too dependent on having a lot of mids to make them sound good. With the 20th XTC, you have a lot of ground to cover which includes the heavier end of the blue channel and the all out assault of the red channel. Here, you are going to be reaching for some low end and more scooping on the mids. My personal opinion through trial and error with high gainers is to think H instead of M.

That said, it is just my opinion....and like asshole, everybody has one and I would fully expect an onslaught of the mid-loving guys to chime in

Steve

Hey Steve,
I just ordered a Naked 4 x 12 with M75/J75 (FBI, 65w each). I talked a lot with Jim, and we agree that this will be a good match for the XTC 20th. We never know until try all, which configuration/speaker will work best.
But, this is a good start to find it.....
Best,
Oz

I have a Port City 2x12 with a H75 & M75 combo and it sounds killer for the record.

Oz,

The best money you can spend is to contact Jim and get an unloaded 69 Spec cab from him. They are custom built and kick ass. You won't regret it. I have the Naked version of it and use it as the benchmark for other cabs. Bogner cabs are a little bigger, but you are limited in speaker combinations. Their new front loaded cab with 30/75's is nice cab. Just got one yesterday. I haven't heard Mill's classic cabs or Mesa Stilleto cabs, but they are standard size and probably OK. But, without a doubt, Jim's custom spec cabs are the best you can do and the one to beat.

Steve

Nothing sounds better to me than my 73 Marshall straight cab.

Hmmm, maybe Yoeris early 70s 55Hz cab might top it

BTW, I'm not guest. I'm Rig-Talk Member, but I did some mistake. My bad!
Keep rockin',
Oz

Hey Steve,
Nice review brother! Thanks for sharing!
I'm almost in the same boat of you. Besides others amps, I have a Diezel Herbert and a Bogner XTC 20th Anniversary (both with EL34). I bought a Mills Afterburner 4 x 12 (V30/GK100) for my Herbie. Probably, I will receive it in the beginning of next month. I guess it will match very well with Herbie.
My problem is the XTC 20th. Im really like this amp. This is my favorite amp so far. I have a Port City 2 x 12 OS with Scumback M75-LHDC (65w each) that work fine with the XTC, but don't have the bite for really heavy stuff (maybe too smooth). For Rock and Hard Rock sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, I blew up the speakers. I guess it's too much WATTAGE for them, and I was very excited playing the XTC in loud volumes.....
Anyways, I'm started to looking for a new pair of speakers or maybe a new 4 x 12 cabinet (to be sure that I will not blow any other speakers). I'm also looking for a "classic size cabinet", because I'm already have a big one. There are few good options out there, like:
- Port City 4 x 12 (29 x 29 x 14);
- Mills Classic 4 x 12 (29 x 29 x 14.75);
- Bogner 4 x 12 (30.75 x 29.75 x 14);
- Scumback Naked 4 x 12 (29.5 x 29 x 14);
- Stone Age 4 x 12 (30 x 29.25 x 14).
I know that XTC works great with V30, but I'm looking for a different flavor. I like the Scumabck's, and maybe a mix of M75/H75 will work fine. I have to talk with Jim about that.
Pete Thorn uses Port City cabinet with Scumback. I know that he loves this combination. He sounds pretty damn good with them.
Hey guys, any thoughts will be very welcome.
Thanks,
Oz

I agree completely that is by far my favorite style cab.

Well, after talking to Senor Scum, the only combination of Scum I didn't try with the Mills AB was with the H55's. I removed the H55's and H75 LHDC's from the Naked cab and installed them in the Mills AB. I started to put them horizontal, but put them in an X instead at 16 ohm. The 55's, with the 55 Hz cone seems to be the ticket to filling the oversize capacity of the Mills AB cab. At moderate volumes this seems to be a great combination for heavy gain. I will go back and air it out with the real speaker killer (the Twin Jet in the "Oh Shit" mode) later on to make sure its got a decent thump to it, but I believe it will.

Steve

That's why I love a boogie stiletto cab in high gain situations. It just walks all over the oversized stuff.

Also, my old carvin 412 with 100 watt carvin speakers sounds better than the oversized cabs to me. It is close in dimensions to a Marshall cab.

There's a straight cab w/black tolex and S&P/basketweave cloth sitting here in stock right now. More coming in about 10 days.

Oh, and yes, I'm back...still on East Coast time. I woke up at 2:37 am and spent the last 5.5 hours answering emails/voice mails and getting orders together.

Going on vacation is nice...until you get back and have to work again, not to mention having your clients give you crap while you're unable to defend yourself since you're away.

Exactly why I don't like oversized cabs. I've tried the Mesa Recto and the Mills Afterburner and while both are very nice, they just lack something IMO. I've switched back to regular 4x12's and won't look back.

You got that right Dave and thanks for the opinion. I can hook up two cabs, say my Naked Cab or Vintage Marshall and Mesa. Crank stuff up and feel the blast of air out of the Naked and the old Marshall. I only feel the ice picks from the Mesa.

If the Scumback Production Department was half as good as the R&D Department, they would have some finished cabs unloaded and ready to ship. I would buy a couple more right now if they were ready.

Steve

You can't top a Marshall style cabinet build. Everything make a difference in how its made though. It has to be build like the old one or it won't sound right.

65w M75s. I'm running my EL34 Twin Jet with it. The tones coming out of this setup are staggering! I would like to try some J75-LHDCs after seeing the demo tape from Pete Thorn; they'd probably work a little better for a heavier sound. For now - and for when I get my 20th Annv. XTC in December or January (missed the previous run of orders by a week ) - the M75s are kicking some serious ass!

Likely a very good combination. For the post, what are you running in the cab and which amp?

Great post!

Bogner 4x12 and Scumbacks for me!

Yesterday, I made 5 Scumback speaker combination swaps in my Mills Afterburner cabs. Long story short.....I can't find anything that works.

I was using a 20th XTC and roaming through all 3 channels with the following arrangements:

4-J75's
4-M75's
2-M75's x 2-H75's
2-M75's X 2-J75's
2-J75 x 2-H75 LHDC's

I got tired of soldering after that, but came to the conclusion that cab size does matter, and more than you think. Clean channel tests were not a problem with any combination. But, flog the meat to it and there is just no wood to be had. I know several of you are using Scums in the oversized cabs, but I can't make it happen. I tried stuffing a cab too, but acoustic reflections being deadened are something to overcome. With the combinations above, they were too tight, not enough bottom and the mids were impossible to dial in to the point of satisfying my ears.

I went online and found a few good tech papers on sizing cabs based on resonant frequencies and what not, but could not reduce it down to layman's terms.

Lastly, I went back to my Naked cab and put the H75 LHDC's and H55's in and fired up the XTC. Instant bliss and a stiffy. Just like my 30 year old Marshall cab with the vintage Greenbacks, the smaller cabs just kick you right in the chest with very nice bottom end, silky and fluid leads, and let you adjust the mids just where you like them. Some I like more scooped, some with a little mid.

I think Dave builds an excellent cab and they are good for their applications and mainly with V30's. K100's work well in them too.

For those of you that like to play drop tunings, grab a could of the H55's to throw in your cab. With the 55 Hz cone, it really articulates a low E string dropped to B, C, C# or D. One thing I did pick up is the a low D resonates at around 70 Hz. If your speaker is designed to cut off at 75 Hz, you will lost a lot dropped mojo with a standard 75 Hz cone.

Anyway, one decision I made today is that standard size Marshall 69 type cabs are of the most favored design for me. Whether it is a special built cab from Sir Scum, an old Marshall, a Bogner, etc. the size, which I am sure was determined by someone more qualified than me, has a hell of a lot to do with projection and is not to be fucked with. So, that's that.

Opinions? I know Jim will like to comment when he gets back from working on his tan and sipping umbrella drinks. Point is, it isn't just the speaker, but the cab volume, baffling, and projection make all the difference. Many companies build the same Marshall blueprinted cab with the same ply wood, yet they can sound different. I want to feel the projection pounding me in the chest when I am playing. If I can't feel it, then the cab isn't the one.

BTW, these Naked cabs are really good cabs to use as a reference cab. Having spewed all this other rubbish for anyone interested, these Scumback speakers are crazy good, in the right cab.

Steve