mesa or bogner cab

[vchizzle]

I've owned a ton of Mesa cabs (and love them), own a Mills cab and have A/B'd them all side by side with Ubercabs and my thoughts on the matter are this. Get the Mills, if you can't do that, get the Bogner and if you can't do that, get the Mesa. I doubt you'll be unhappy with any of them though. All are very nice. I hear a lot of complaints about the size of the Mills, but it isn't any heavier/bigger than my Mesa Road King cab. Granted, both the Road King and Mills are huge when compared to the Bogner, so if lugging a 110lb+ cab around is an issue, stay away from the Mills or an Oversized Mesa and go with the Bogner.

What speaker combanation are you running in the Mills? and would it be fair to say that if you ran the same combanation in a Mesa cab would you like it the same?. After all the Mills and the Mesa boxes are identical wood wise so other than the slight internal volume advantage that Mills has which would equate to a lower Q freq giving the Mills that slight advantage in the lower end responce. Not trying to split hairs or saying the Boogie is better just trying to get to what actually defines one cab from another when the meterials used are the same.

I would say that middle brace has got to be a big factor?

In which cab... or are you referring to cab build in general?

The Mills Afterburner cab...I would say it always will have an effect(in different types of braces), but the afterburner is a monster size brace between the baffle and back of the cab:
http://millsacoustics.com/quality.html

 

[Digital Jams]

IMO cabs have a specific purpose depending what you are doing which is why I have 4 cabs each loaded different. The user and type of music should determine what to get and just stating a cab's name is not enough, the speakers are more important.

There is no best esp if you have different amps or like trying different amps.

 

[RedB4Black]

IMO cabs have a specific purpose depending what you are doing which is why I have 4 cabs each loaded different. The user and type of music should determine what to get and just stating a cab's name is not enough, the speakers are more important.

There is no best esp if you have different amps or like trying different amps.

Agreed. Which is why I traded one of my Mills Afterburner cabs for a VHT Deliverance cab and bought FL Diezel cab. All are great, but each has it's own flavor.

 

[FixXxer]

I think their both going to be the same wood wise the only difference is build technique. The Boogie Cabs weigh a ton and if I'm not mistaken are made by Boogie. The Bogner cabs are made by a company that also makes cabs for Soldano, Fryette and Suhr. The Boogie cab is much stiffer than the Bogner cab so you will have more resonance with the Bogner. For a standard tunning this type of cab IMO is better to get a warmer tone from. If your drop tunning you can't beat the Boogie cab, and because it's stiffer cab the resonation will be more controlled at lower Freqs. I always thought a Boogie cab sounded cold and sterile untill I played a drop tuned guitar through it much nicer than a typical guitar cab, Marshall and the like. They are both great cabs... you just need to look at your playing style and tunning that you use the most and go from their my 02.

The Boogie factery tour is really cool

I have heard two bogner cabs with the same everything sound different. Same with MESA.

 

[tlingen]

I just bought a new Mesa straight cab. I would have tried a Mills but didn't really know much about them. I should have asked

 

[mincy]

I've owned a ton of Mesa cabs (and love them), own a Mills cab and have A/B'd them all side by side with Ubercabs and my thoughts on the matter are this. Get the Mills, if you can't do that, get the Bogner and if you can't do that, get the Mesa. I doubt you'll be unhappy with any of them though. All are very nice. I hear a lot of complaints about the size of the Mills, but it isn't any heavier/bigger than my Mesa Road King cab. Granted, both the Road King and Mills are huge when compared to the Bogner, so if lugging a 110lb+ cab around is an issue, stay away from the Mills or an Oversized Mesa and go with the Bogner.

What speaker combanation are you running in the Mills? and would it be fair to say that if you ran the same combanation in a Mesa cab would you like it the same?. After all the Mills and the Mesa boxes are identical wood wise so other than the slight internal volume advantage that Mills has which would equate to a lower Q freq giving the Mills that slight advantage in the lower end responce. Not trying to split hairs or saying the Boogie is better just trying to get to what actually defines one cab from another when the meterials used are the same.

I've owned Mesa Oversized, Tradational and Road King cabs. I've run all V30s, all C90s, C90s/Vet30s, C90s/V30, V30s/ET65s, Vet30/ET65, Reapers/Vet30s, Reapers/Retro30s, all Reapers, K100s, K100s/V30s and V30s/T75s in most them at different points in time. Most of those combinations have been run in the Mills as well. I have A/B'd them with all V30s in the closed back Mesas and the Mills, and IMO, the Mills won out clearly. More focused, tighter, better low and high end response. The stock oversized Mesa 4x12 is way to loose and boomy for me, two problems the Mills doesn't have. The stock traditional (stiletto) Mesa 4x12 sounds great, but lacked low end. Again, no problems with the Mills in that area. For a while, I would run my Mesa 4x12 Traditional with my 2x12 Oversized (all 6 speaker were V30s) to add low end and it sounded almost as good as the 4x12 V30 loaded Mills.

I've sold most of the Mesa cabs off since getting the Mills, though I kept the Road King and my 2x12 oversized because they're pretty awesome cabs in and of themselves and sound different than the Mills. Currently, I've got G12-80s (old Rola ones) in the Mills. The Mills isn't just a metal cab either. I don't even play metal at the moment and the cab still shines for what I use it for. I can't think of practicing with my band without it because it is so present in the room.

 

[crabby]

what is this nonsense talk of mesa cabs farting out? plz explain yourselves, some i believe is just people pumped up on hype, if this was such an issue , why do so many bands use them, and why if their is a problem , dont you think mesa would have addressed it?
I am all for new products , but the happiness hype is frankly a load of shit! Mills blows mesa away and bogner blows this away, wtf? i guess there should only be one amp and one cab on the planet......better reviews re what we need. Chevy is better than ford, how so, if i get in both vehicles they would both get me from point a to point b? so how the fuck can one be better than the other?

 

[crabby]

ya know what some of these reviews are beginning to be just like harmony central!

 

[nighttrain69]

diff taste for diff folks huh,i dont think my mesa is bad,it just didnt have that bottom end or thickness i was looking for ,not sure what speakers were in it, when i called mesa he said they used 3 diff combinations at the time ,all i can tell ya was 2 were brown and 2 were green,i replaced all 4 with vintage celestion 30,because one of the originals sounded buzzy,the 30"s helped but the bottom isnt there,i have some celestion g12 t 75"s im gonna try in an x pattern, i would love to buy a bogner or mills but after a new motor in truck 3 months ago and a transmission this week ,funds are LOW HAHA

 

[nighttrain69]

and that is one mans,paradise,plank. nice collection indeed,the herbert is my dream head .

 

[Jay Strange]

I prefer Bogner cabs myself. I do like the Meas Traditional cab.

 

[Sixstring]

I've owned a ton of Mesa cabs (and love them), own a Mills cab and have A/B'd them all side by side with Ubercabs and my thoughts on the matter are this. Get the Mills, if you can't do that, get the Bogner and if you can't do that, get the Mesa. I doubt you'll be unhappy with any of them though. All are very nice. I hear a lot of complaints about the size of the Mills, but it isn't any heavier/bigger than my Mesa Road King cab. Granted, both the Road King and Mills are huge when compared to the Bogner, so if lugging a 110lb+ cab around is an issue, stay away from the Mills or an Oversized Mesa and go with the Bogner.

What speaker combanation are you running in the Mills? and would it be fair to say that if you ran the same combanation in a Mesa cab would you like it the same?. After all the Mills and the Mesa boxes are identical wood wise so other than the slight internal volume advantage that Mills has which would equate to a lower Q freq giving the Mills that slight advantage in the lower end responce. Not trying to split hairs or saying the Boogie is better just trying to get to what actually defines one cab from another when the meterials used are the same.

I've owned Mesa Oversized, Tradational and Road King cabs. I've run all V30s, all C90s, C90s/Vet30s, C90s/V30, V30s/ET65s, Vet30/ET65, Reapers/Vet30s, Reapers/Retro30s, all Reapers, K100s, K100s/V30s and V30s/T75s in most them at different points in time. Most of those combinations have been run in the Mills as well. I have A/B'd them with all V30s in the closed back Mesas and the Mills, and IMO, the Mills won out clearly. More focused, tighter, better low and high end response. The stock oversized Mesa 4x12 is way to loose and boomy for me, two problems the Mills doesn't have. The stock traditional (stiletto) Mesa 4x12 sounds great, but lacked low end. Again, no problems with the Mills in that area. For a while, I would run my Mesa 4x12 Traditional with my 2x12 Oversized (all 6 speaker were V30s) to add low end and it sounded almost as good as the 4x12 V30 loaded Mills.

I've sold most of the Mesa cabs off since getting the Mills, though I kept the Road King and my 2x12 oversized because they're pretty awesome cabs in and of themselves and sound different than the Mills. Currently, I've got G12-80s (old Rola ones) in the Mills. The Mills isn't just a metal cab either. I don't even play metal at the moment and the cab still shines for what I use it for. I can't think of practicing with my band without it because it is so present in the room.

Fair enough...

I love the sound of a Vin 30 as well and with the right amp to my ears it's the tone of Rock. Hell even my crappy 412 Lee Jackson cabs sound good and they still have the orignal Vin 30's that came with the cabs and after 17 Years of use they sound really good. If I was using a back line of 412's of what ever the cab they would be loaded with Vin 30's.

I used to own a pair of Vin 30 loaded Mesa 212 Recto cab's and it has to be one of the best in your face 212 cabs I have ever played through.

 

[FixXxer]

what is this nonsense talk of mesa cabs farting out? ?

Look, by the way your post reads, you can believe what you want. I personally invested a shit ton of money in stuff, and will state clearly any day of the week, the Mills cab is a better cab than the MEsa, especially for the recto's (which I play / own). I have no reason to make stuff up, and this is based on fact.

The way it handles bass is superior and the way it projects especially the 2x12 is unreal. Play one and you will see.

 

[WhammybarAllstar]

i own and tour with a mesa oversized cab with vin 30's in it. it's the one that is an angle with the top being like a shelf. i never really liked the way it sounds compared to the 1960bv i used before. during namm week, my band played a gig for a guitar manufacturer's namm party and they had a backline of bogner cabs there. i have no idea of what kind of speakers were in there, i just plugged my head into one of those and i noticed a huge difference right away. it sounded so much more punchy, focussed, and raw at the same time. i liked it way better and it reminded me of the 1960bv i ran before but even better. i think that i like the sound of standard sized cabs better. i cant afford to buy a bogner cab, or any other one at the moment, so i was thinking about measuring the volume of airspace in a traditional cab, and then putting something inside of my oversized cab to make the internal airspace volume the same as a traditional and see if that makes it better for me. at least it wont cost anything to try right?

 

[nbarts]

I like the Mesa 4x12 Traditional, Bogner 4x12 & Bogner OS 2x12. Each one is good for its own thing, they are different. There is one thing that I don't like about these stock, the V30s. Mesa 4x12 Traditional has a unique character, very cool in the right place. Shit, this cabinet had been used in so many great recordings & live performances, it's like the U87 of guitar cabinet world.

 

[blackba]

diff taste for diff folks huh,i dont think my mesa is bad,it just didnt have that bottom end or thickness i was looking for ,not sure what speakers were in it, when i called mesa he said they used 3 diff combinations at the time ,all i can tell ya was 2 were brown and 2 were green,i replaced all 4 with vintage celestion 30,because one of the originals sounded buzzy,the 30"s helped but the bottom isnt there,i have some celestion g12 t 75"s im gonna try in an x pattern, i would love to buy a bogner or mills but after a new motor in truck 3 months ago and a transmission this week ,funds are LOW HAHA

Do you have both sections closed? I would try that before you do anything. My cab has 2 MC90's in the top and 2 EV's in the bottom with both sections closed. Plenty of low end. https://cgi.ebay.com/Mesa-Boogie-4x12-HA ... 45f0b6a9a0

What I find interesting is that everyone jumps to getting a new cab, versus tweaking the cab you have now. I am not saying that the mills or bogner, or mesa traditional 412's might not be better for you, but at least look into doing something with the cab you have. CL80's or MC90's mixed with V30's should give you more clarity and low end. Plus I would make sure both sections have a back....

 

[mincy]

I love the sound of a Vin 30 as well and with the right amp to my ears it's the tone of Rock. Hell even my crappy 412 Lee Jackson cabs sound good and they still have the orignal Vin 30's that came with the cabs and after 17 Years of use they sound really good. If I was using a back line of 412's of what ever the cab they would be loaded with Vin 30's.

I used to own a pair of Vin 30 loaded Mesa 212 Recto cab's and it has to be one of the best in your face 212 cabs I have ever played through.

I moved away from V30s for a while but find myself coming back to them. I regret selling of a lot of the V30s I had. I only have a single pair left. Nothing seems to cut through and have that bite like a V30 does.

And I couldn't agree more on the Mesa 212. It's a kick ass cab. I doubt I'll ever get rid of mine.

 

[sg guy]

if ya wanna hear what a bogner cab sounds like,...staple some 1-1/2" insulation (the pink stuff) on the inside of your current mesa cab,...as far as the mills cabs,....the divider running vert. has holes in it,...so besides decreasing some of the inner volume it adds in making it very strong structualy.

i have never heard any say a mesa recto cab farted out before,..must have some serious low freq's happening!

 

[nighttrain69]

thanks thats a good suggestion,ive replaced the stock speakers with vintage 30s,ive got a set of celestion g12t 75s im gonna try in an x pattern,like the bogners,thanks for everyones help,and replys

 

[crabby]

isnt a bogner n diezel just factory type specs? again 29x29x14 its like a stock marshall, right? however, diff speakers and bogner puts foam in theirs?