bogner 4x12 + Road King = fail

[stratotone]

So, was testing cabs in the mancave yesterday, came to a scary conclusion:

Mesa Road King or First year Racto + Bogner 4x12 = FAIL.

This amazed me, because pretty much most amps I plug into the Bogner sound great. It's a slant cab loaded with V30s. It was incredibly dark, and when I turned up the pressence/treble on the channels, it just made the tone very shrill. Didn't like it much at all.

However, plugged into my 4x12 oversize recto cab with Armor was sweet. Clearer less congested high end, nice thump when I used 6L6s, ok thump but nice mids with EL34s. I'm actually glad about this because I found another armor cab online and put money down on it - these cabs are awesome but weigh a ton. This way I can keep a cab at my rehearsal space and then also keep one in my Mancave.

I remember an interview years ago with Mike Soldano, where they were asking him about swapping tubes - Mike said swapping speakers or cabs made a much larger difference in your amps' tone than anything else. The man was right.

Pete

 

[RSRD]

its hard to sound bad thru a bogner cab. bummer.

 

[reverymike]

I don't know. . .when I plugged in my '92 Ref F Recto into my Bogner 4x12, it was like the Gods Of Tone had just woken up from a 1000 year sleep.

Maybe not that dramatic, but it was seriously amazing. So much that I'll never sell that amp. I had been playing my 101b (which also sounds great), but the Mesa sounded the best it ever has with that cab.

 

[stratotone]

I don't know. . .when I plugged in my '92 Ref F Recto into my Bogner 4x12, it was like the Gods Of Tone had just woken up from a 1000 year sleep.

Maybe not that dramatic, but it was seriously amazing. So much that I'll never sell that amp. I had been playing my 101b (which also sounds great), but the Mesa sounded the best it ever has with that cab.

My rackmount is a '92 Rev F also. Not so amazing for me. Have you played through an oversize recto cab yet with that head? I think you'll be amazed.

BTW, I have a '04 101B that I'll never sell, and it just kills through the matching cab. My '70 and '72 Superleads sound great through the bogner too.

Pete

 

[reverymike]

How are you running the Recto? The only setting I use is Orange, High Gain. Sounds killer.

Sounds like we have similar amp collectons. . .I have a 71 superlead and a 78 JMP 50 watter in addition to the Boogie and Bogner.

 

[RSRD]

my tremo thru my bog cab sounds like odins beard! though my shiva 20th sounds even better

 

[stratotone]

How are you running the Recto? The only setting I use is Orange, High Gain. Sounds killer.

Sounds like we have similar amp collectons. . .I have a 71 superlead and a 78 JMP 50 watter in addition to the Boogie and Bogner.

Ran the rectos both with EL34 and orange vintage, and EL34 and red modern. bold and with diode rectifiers. favorite tone I had was 6L6 red modern as above... was evil as hell through the cab. I have a few other marshalls - 74 superlead 50, 87 Jubilee 2553, 87 JCM800 50 watt, '68 plexi clone, 18 watt clone I built and modded, and of course, the marshall that everyone needs - a solid state stack that is kid sized.

Pete

 

[reverymike]

I tried the EL34s in the Recto, and it wasn't for me. To me, that amp is 'supposed' to be 6L6, so that's what I went with, Orange channel, high gain.

 

[stratotone]

I tried the EL34s in the Recto, and it wasn't for me. To me, that amp is 'supposed' to be 6L6, so that's what I went with, Orange channel, high gain.

I prefer 6L6s with the mesa cab because it gives that low end gutbucket thump, but I was also comparing the RK to the rackto and the guy I bought it from was an EL34 guy.

Did you ever play your recto through a oversize cab? Maybe it just sounded so much better to me that the bogner sounded bad in comparison

Pete

 

[reverymike]

I haven't tried a Recto cab, but I don't know man, I've played for over 20 years and this amp thru the Bogner 4x12 is pretty damn good.

 

[fluff191]

The Vintage 30's in the Mesa cab are custom made for Mesa and have a slight rolloff in the highs. Does the Bogner cab have just regular chinese Vintage 30's?

 

[joolzriff]

maybe.............the bogner cabs padding in the rear makes the cab sound darker? cos the recto is a dark sounding amp,,,
my SLO sounds like a million bux through my bogner 4x12 greenback cab....
if i had mesa again i would match the cab....same brand....no question

 

[reverymike]

Speakers will depend on the year of the cab. My Bogner 4x12 has English made V30s.

 

[stratotone]

I have to say the bogner cab sounds great with everything else, and the only cab I have that sounds better (and it's close) are my '72 Marshall cabs with stock greenbacks that have pulsonic cones. Those cabs kill, but I don't gig them and my '72 stack never leaves my house. I think I'll record a few clips real fast, the bogner is at my practice area, but I do have the mesa cab set up in the mancave. stand by for recto audio mayhem

Pete

 

[some dude]

My Orange 4x12 is the same. It sounds kind of dark until I turn the treble up, at which point it just sounds harsh. The Recto cab by comparison produces more midrange and a deeper bottom end, with a bit of a reduction in the upper bass. That reduced upper bass produces a lot more clarity in amps with a strong lower mid voicing, whereas the Orange 4x12's strong upper bass tends to make low mid voiced amps sound really muddy.

The end result is that with the Orange 4x12 I usually wind up with the Recto's midrange cranked and the treble and bass cut way back in an effort to get it to sound the way I like it to sound. By comparison, with the Recto 4x12 I run everything much closer to 12:00.

Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with the voicing of the speakers. I've installed two Mesa V30s in my second Orange 4x12 and it's starting to sound a lot more like a Recto cab. One of these days I'll get around to snagging another two and complete the experiment.