Marketplace cab score

D-Rock

D-Rock

Well-known member
Believe it or not, I've been looking for one of these cabs for a while. After seeing numerous low tier Line6 cabs come and go locally one of the V30 loaded cabs finally popped up on marketplace so a quick drive and $250 later and it was mine.
It's heavy and well built with tough Mesa-like woven jute cloth and similar Mesa-like front aluminum badge. Looks to be built to Mesa Trad 412 specs. I haven't dated the V30s yet but this cab is from the early 2000's and they have seen a decent amount of hours of play.

PXL_20250913_150707384-01.jpeg
 
Yeah. A lot of people confused those with all the shitty cabs because it says "Line6" on it. That's a good score. That one is real wood and speakers.
 
People get worked up over the name, but as long as it's good plywood and good speakers, it'll sound great. I picked up some Marshall Mode Four cabs cheap because people think they're junk since they came with the solid state Marshall.

Curious if you've got UK or Chinese V30s in there? I've been scoring some higher-end cabs (ENGL, Orange, EVH, etc..) and they've been Chinese V30s.
 
vultures said:
People get worked up over the name, but as long as it's good plywood and good speakers, it'll sound great. I picked up some Marshall Mode Four cabs cheap because people think they're junk since they came with the solid state Marshall.

Curious if you've got UK or Chinese V30s in there? I've been scoring some higher-end cabs (ENGL, Orange, EVH, etc..) and they've been Chinese V30s.
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They are MIC. Found a small sticker inside the cab itself dated 7/12/08 so that makes sense.
 
BeZo said:
As I have always advocated, I would rewire the cab. I never trust power through a PC board. Marshall cabs fail at that point pretty regularly, and I trust Line6 less.

Get a good Switchcraft jack and tape up the rest of the holes and wire it mono with good wire.
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Yup for sure. I've already ordered a new harness with a switch craft jack. The switch is wonky and would only read either 32ohms or 8ohms and would only run 2 speakers at a time so I'm redoing it to run parallel-series mono at 16 ohms.
 
vultures said:
I picked up some Marshall Mode Four cabs cheap because people think they're junk since they came with the solid state Marshall.
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Those days are long gone--I was lucky as well but now folks want $6-700 for them with the orig Vintage speakers
 
tallcoolone said:
Those days are long gone--I was lucky as well but now folks want $6-700 for them with the orig Vintage speakers
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One of my Mode Four 412's came with all 4 Celestion V30MF's, they're killer. All the V30 bark, no ice picky bite. The other Mode Four 412 came loaded with Chinese V30s, someone yanked the originals :( - The Chinese ones are noticeably brighter, way harder on the ears even for V30s.
 
BeZo said:
As I have always advocated, I would rewire the cab. I never trust power through a PC board. Marshall cabs fail at that point pretty regularly, and I trust Line6 less.

Get a good Switchcraft jack and tape up the rest of the holes and wire it mono with good wire.
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This^^^^
I realize the OP has said he's going to re-do the wiring, but I just wanted to chime in for any one who's on the fence about them Marshall cab PCB's.
Get those fukking things out of there ASAP.
When they fail, and they will, it's bad news for your power tubes, and likely your output transformer as well.
Best case scenario is a new set of tubes and pulling the chassis to change the screen grid resistors.
Worst case scenario is bye bye output transformer ( plus the tubes, the screen grids, and the tube sockets)
It's like runnin' your amp with no cab connected when they go.
They shit the bed with no warning while you're rocking out, and by the time you realize what's going on, you're fukked.
Don't say I didn't warn Ya!
 
With regards to different sounding V30s, l've resorted to the assumption that they all sound different and I need to hear the version before judging it. I have Mesa UK ones which are darker/smoother, had Marshall ones that I found too bright and sizzley, have a MIC pair out of an early 2000s randall cab that sound pretty mild, not spikey at all, sound good but not spectacular or anything.

Those two guys nobby and the bald dude said that the 07/08 V30s were the worst in their testing and the 01-02 ones were best...but these '07 ones I have now sounded great when I briefly played them, snappy, crisp, pushed mids, and a rather tight lowend response. I also the have a pair of Vet30s which I love, but even those don't always get a lot of praise. I liked them over the Retro 30s I had as well.

Some people say individual speakers from the same era or even in the same cab from factory can sound different from each other. You just never know until you get it/them hooked up with your own gears and ears.
 
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vultures said:
People get worked up over the name, but as long as it's good plywood and good speakers, it'll sound great. I picked up some Marshall Mode Four cabs cheap because people think they're junk since they came with the solid state Marshall.

Curious if you've got UK or Chinese V30s in there? I've been scoring some higher-end cabs (ENGL, Orange, EVH, etc..) and they've been Chinese V30s.
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Man those mode for cabs are highly thought of . And I have original v30s in my 1960BV and they sound huge and just thick and rich
The Chinese v30s in my Diezel FL cab is my fav atm . So damn tight . I like most v30s and they just give me that thump greenbabks don’t have . Or I’d be into those too
 
Some Chinese V30's sound great as well. All of mine do, but I can't say the same for my UK made V30's. Really is luck of the draw.
 
Get a SP/ST AC line switch (takes big power) from Home Depot or Lowes and use it to go from series/parallel to parallel/series. It can go in the empty hole.

Use it like a Rock/Metal switch. The Aiken diagram is perfect.

Also you might want to put some studio foam on the back panel to tame harshness. Bogner does it. I do it. If you don't like it, pull it out.

If you want for OS tones, you can always stuff the whole cab with polyfil and it will be so big and tight you'll wonder how you lived without it. So much fun to be had with cabs.
 
I’ve been hauling an old Line 6 2x12 around for 20 years now, I think it’s a Flextone? It had their early FRFR speakers in them but I replaced them with some WGS Retro 30’s and I have no gripes about the sound. I can’t think it’s MDF/particle board as that cab has gone down some flights of stairs and only the tolex took a beating. Same width as the Scumback 2x12 I have.

I just scored this a few weeks ago for $300-

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