Mills Acoustics Afterburner 4x12, advice solicited.

[rickenbacker198]

Anybody out there still rocking these mills cabs?
Never had the chance to play through one.
There’s one for sale a couple of hours from me, just wondering if it’s worth the trip.
I currently use a German Diezel FL cab.
If you did have one and got rid of it,
What didn’t you like about the mills?
And what did you replace it with ?

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

They are horrible. Avoid, avoid, avoid. I bought one new when he was still in business and it sounded bad. Dark, dead, distant, boomy, zero cut, too empty sounding if that makes sense. I swapped in/out a bunch of different speakers too. I think the cabs were too overbuilt, too stiff, too rigid and killed too much of the sound enhancing acoustics most normal Marshall, Mesa, et al cabs have. Keep your Diezel FL 4X12... I have one as well and it is light years better sounding than the Mills.

 

[RedB4Black]

You're crazy Mike.

I've owned 4 of them. I've since moved on for more traditional cabs, but they're great cabs. My friend Flavatrocious here on RT still has 4 or 5 of them. To me they sounded best with a mix of Scumback H55/H75LDC, but v30/K100 was a great mix too.

 

[thegame]

They ARE horrible......with the wrong amp. They are GREAT.....with the right amp. Very picky cabinet in my experience of owning one for years. This is probably not an unbreakable rule, but they sound full, balanced and tight with modern voiced amps that push a ton of low mids with a wide soundstage (Rectos, Ubers, Diezels, etc). With more slender sounding amps (Marshalls, Mesa Marks) they sound hollow, feel distant, and generally "off". Its like the more vintage amps don't have enough low end energy to excite the cab.

 

[maddnotez]

I second Mike being crazy.

My Mills 4x12 is the one item I will never part with under any circumstance. I drove 6 hours each way to get it and do not regret.

Absolutely the best cab I have ever played. I've done Marshall, Diezel, VHT, Peavey, Avatar, Mesa and many others. The Mills was by far much better.

I have also ran it with more than a handful of amps and for me it sounded fantastic every time.

With that said the only thing I play is brutal metal so YMMV.

 

[Flavatrocious]

“My friend Flavatrocious here on RT still has 4 or 5 of them.”

Yeah, that’s me. I had 4 Mills but now only 3

I’ve heard pretty much everything and to me you can’t beat them. They take anything you can throw at them. Mine are loaded with Austin Speaker Works Peacemakers (basically an EVM 12L with v30 flavour, 16ohm). Downside is they’re heavy as fuck and not gig friendly.

I think the only other cab I would like is a Fryette Fat Bottom with Fane Speakers.

 

[Meeotch]

Interesting spectrum of experiences. I had one from 2009, and never got along with it. To begin with, the construction was pretty sloppy for such a pricey cab. I tried it with several high powered amps but it never seemed chug friendly, and as mentioned just seemed "off". Dead, dull, these are accurate descriptions. I never cranked it to stadium volumes though, which I suspect is what the cab wants.

I've now moved on to more traditional style 412's (Marshall dimensions, with one-piece slanted baffles) and I get everything I'm looking for. The EVH 412 being the best cab I've ever had!

 

[braintheory]

I’ve never tried a Mills, but what I find curious is how is that so many guys say it sounds either dark, dull, muffled, distant, flat or things about it having trouble cutting through, yet it sounds best with low-middy amps like the uberschall, recto or Herbert? I’d think that would make it even worse and if anything would be best with something like a JCM800 or Wizard, but again never tried one so who knows

The descriptions make it sound like a more extreme version of the bigger Engl or Recto cabs. I hated those Engls cabs. It made me think a lot of Engls were more processed sounding than they were. So that turned me off of Mills, but still vaguely interested

 

[the4thlast1]

I had one of them , the big oversized one but mine was an angled version. Would have rather had a straight . Anyways I had v30s in it and was a unconventiinal sounding cab in a sense that it added very little colloration to the sound of the speaker . Did not give any warmth or bloom it was just an in your face projection which cut through the mix like no other cab I have ever used ......

I had it at my rehearsal space and used it a few times with the band , it actually cut through too much if that's even possible. All you could hear was me , lol. I took over the entire band with that cab ! It was a little strange , I didn't keep it long. I would have liked to try another in a straight version with different speakers. For me it had too much midrange and was too forward sounding. I actually wanted something that cut well in a mix but that thing took over the mix completely lol.