blackba
Well-known member
Did this cab shootout a couple of weeks ago with my buddy. He has a TA-15 so we first setup the amps to sound as similar as possible with the 2 CL80 cabs and then went through pairs of cabs. No clips, as I am sure someone will ask. I hear the normal mode as more American voiced, so when I refer to American voiced, I am talking normal, tweed, and Hi2. British is Top Boost and Hi1.
I consider this TA 15 to be my little lunch box sized tube modeling amp. So its tough to find a cabinet that does every voicing well. Would have liked to try a greenback cab, but didn't have one. The Fender bandmaster 212 with the webers was a surprised as it sounded great on normal and not so great on every other mode. Contrast that to the 210 with the 2 Webers, which dominated the American voicings and sounded good for the British ones.
Here are the overall rankings:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Mesa recto clone with Chinese V30
3. Fender Brown Super 210 combo cab with Weber 10A125 and 10A150
4. Tie between Avatar 112 with CL80 and Marshall 1912 clone with CL80
5. Marshall 1936 212 clone opened back with to Mesa eminence MS-12's
6. Vox V12N with weber build scumback H75 and Scumnico
7. Marshall 1922 212 clone with two anni G12H30s
8. Marshall 2556AV with to WGS ET-65s
9. Fender Bandmaster 212 with 2 Weber 12A125As
Best all around:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Mesa recto clone with Chinese V30
3. Tie between Avatar 112 with CL80 and Marshall 1912 clone with CL80
4. Marshall 1936 212 clone opened back with to Mesa eminence MS-12's
Best for American voiced:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Fender Brown Super 210 combo cab with Weber 10A125 and 10A150
Best for British voiced:
1. Vox V12N with weber build scumback H75 and Scumnico
2. Marshall 1922 212 clone with two anni G12H30s
3. Marshall 2556AV with to WGS ET-65s
So my key learning from this is when choosing a Cab for the TA-15 decide if you want best all around, best for American voicing, or best for British voicing. I did not find one cab/speaker that dominated every mode, it was always a compromise.
I consider this TA 15 to be my little lunch box sized tube modeling amp. So its tough to find a cabinet that does every voicing well. Would have liked to try a greenback cab, but didn't have one. The Fender bandmaster 212 with the webers was a surprised as it sounded great on normal and not so great on every other mode. Contrast that to the 210 with the 2 Webers, which dominated the American voicings and sounded good for the British ones.
Here are the overall rankings:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Mesa recto clone with Chinese V30
3. Fender Brown Super 210 combo cab with Weber 10A125 and 10A150
4. Tie between Avatar 112 with CL80 and Marshall 1912 clone with CL80
5. Marshall 1936 212 clone opened back with to Mesa eminence MS-12's
6. Vox V12N with weber build scumback H75 and Scumnico
7. Marshall 1922 212 clone with two anni G12H30s
8. Marshall 2556AV with to WGS ET-65s
9. Fender Bandmaster 212 with 2 Weber 12A125As
Best all around:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Mesa recto clone with Chinese V30
3. Tie between Avatar 112 with CL80 and Marshall 1912 clone with CL80
4. Marshall 1936 212 clone opened back with to Mesa eminence MS-12's
Best for American voiced:
1. Mesa halfback 412 with 2 C90's/2 EVM-12L's (both sections closed)
2. Fender Brown Super 210 combo cab with Weber 10A125 and 10A150
Best for British voiced:
1. Vox V12N with weber build scumback H75 and Scumnico
2. Marshall 1922 212 clone with two anni G12H30s
3. Marshall 2556AV with to WGS ET-65s
So my key learning from this is when choosing a Cab for the TA-15 decide if you want best all around, best for American voicing, or best for British voicing. I did not find one cab/speaker that dominated every mode, it was always a compromise.
