Mesa 4x12: Standard (oversized) vs Traditional

[ultimatemetalguitartones]

I had a 2010 412 Mesa OS which I hated and sold if after a while. Then I found a late 2004 if I am not mistaken and I love it. I tend to believe the pre 2005 sound better.
Personally, I feel the OS cabs is the perfect match for Recto type amps and probably lower tuned guitars. Also, it's super easy to record.

 

[BeZo]

I have both and prefer the Traditional to the OS. My OS isn't boomy though. I don't know what year it is, but I'm sure it's an older one. The Mesa Traditional is one of my favorite cabs, on par with the Rivera K412T and my Bogner cab. The Splawn cab is still king to me though.

 

[jasonP]

I've owned both larger OS cabinets and smaller traditional ones. I now own 4 traditional ones both angle and straights. I found the OS cabinets to have overly harsh mid and top end and very beamy sounding, but not boomy. Every amp I put that cabinet through sounded like shit lol.

 

[thegame]

I have 3 Wizard cabs, a Fryette FB, a Bogner Ubercab and the Mesa Traditional. The Mesa doesn’t sound as good as any of those other cabs. I mainly use it as furniture to set my recto on while I play it though other cabs. Lol

I Hope thé Mesa has a complimentary tolex/grille color scheme to match the drapes. That would really bring the room together!

 

[Shask]

Just a thought but, With the often-used adjectives of, "Honky'-Hollow" along with all the speaker swapping... it makes me wonder how many of you check for proper wiring polarity, when you acquire these cabs?

I personally tear down every cab that enters my studio that I buy. which is often new out of the box. I rewire and make modification to each cab as well. and in doing so, I have discovered 2 of the brand-new marshal 1960B's were improperly wired, and one (out of the box) celestion speaker that was wired backwards. (I test everything, as most things are built by people that make low wages and don't care) I worked in factories for 30 years.

Being someone who records almost every day and is often surrounded by those that do the same.... anything that is out of phase, gets quickly picked up on as everything I record goes through phase checkers, spectrum analyzers and my ears a pretty seasoned for such things. I've had a fair share of client cabinets come in sounding funny, and when I pop off the back Pannel...I can quickly see that the problem is most often improper wiring. (is why I started collecting cabinets)

I have OS and traditional mesa cabs that sound incredible under the mics so, I wonder about the ones that are mentioned on this thread?

I have also found cabs to have speakers wired out of phase, backwards. The cab had no low end.

I also like to line them with weather stripping foam. People would be surprised how much putting foam under the handles will increase and tighten the bass.