2X12 cab and the Axe-Fx

M

Maxxas

Member
Hello all,

Im looking to get 2 2X12 cabs for my new axe-fx that im getting soon. I want to use these for stage monitors or for jams where I cant go through a PA and need a cab. Im getting too old for a 4x12 cab ,my shoulders cant handle it anymore and I alread have one that has bass issues. I currently have an old Randall 4x12 that was great with my old randall head. But when I switched to my rack gear ( All Rocktron ), my 4x12 could not deal with the bass. The speakers would fart out at almost any volume and I had to spend a lot of time dialing out the bottom end. When I used my friends Marshall 4x12, it sounded great. So im looking for some nice 2x12 that can handle the bottom end well.

Any one use 2x12 cabs? Likes/dislikes?

Thanks in advance !!
 
Hi Maxxas,

I use a Mesa recto 2x12 with the Axe, and it sounds amazing in my opinion. I mean that in a modest way too. The lows can be thunderous yet tight, the highs are smooth, and the mids are present in a good way. I mainly use the Mesa sims for distortion and lead sounds, and it just works very well. Btw, the speakers are V30s.

I also want to note that its not just the cab, its how you shape the sound with the Axe. That being said, suggesting on a cab is a little difficult when we don't know the general price range. General cab recommendations are Mesa, Engl, Bogner, Port City, Vader, etc. Those cabs can be a little expensive to very expensive, but I feel its worth it to get a quality cab to use for a long time. But obviously do and get what you feel sounds good to you and fits your needs.
 
Thanks for you reply. I wanted to get something nice but not "uber high end". I dont want to pay extra cause it has one name over another. Im just looking for something that is build well and isent 100 lbs.

Thanks again....
 
Avatar cabs. Highly recommend!

the one I use has two of their Hellatone 30 speakers in it. it sounds great.
 
+1 on the Avatars. Very good cab for the money. I have a 2x12 with one Hellatone 60 from Avatar, and one vintage G12-65 I already had. Great combination of aggressive (H60) and more classic sound (G12-65). Another thing that's great about Avatar is that you can choose combinations of speakers if you like. You're not stuck with getting 2 of the same. Only downside is no return policy.
 
Do you have to run a traditional guitar cab? I'm running a pair of FBT Verve 12M's FR pushing them with an SLA-2 and they sound great ontop of beeing lite. Running full range should give you the bottom end your looking for. Also running this way will give you the option of running a guitar cab if you want to as well as running FR, best of both worlds.
 
Sixstring said:
Do you have to run a traditional guitar cab? I'm running a pair of FBT Verve 12M's FR pushing them with an SLA-2 and they sound great ontop of beeing lite. Running full range should give you the bottom end your looking for. Also running this way will give you the option of running a guitar cab if you want to as well as running FR, best of both worlds.
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No, I dont have to use a traditional guitar cab. I was just looking this up. I have read a little bit about some people using monitors. Are these floor monitors? are they powered? Are these single 12 PA cabs? I still dont get this setup yet and need to read more about it. I would love to have this setup as light as possabile. However, all ive ever used is a traditional guitar cab setup. Im having a hard time seeing anything else. I want this setup tp have many options for different kind of guitars. I want to use my classical through this and still be able to get great clean sounds as well as over the top metal. traditional guitar cab...monitors....whatever lets me get this and is the lightest wins !!!

Thanks for your info.
 
I think that you could go with either setup in that case, regarding a traditional cab versus a PA cab. You can get PA speakers and use the cab simulations, which adds versatility but is also another thing to tweak. I can get a variety of sounds with a traditional cab as well though, even with this little Egnater 1x12 I use as well as the 2x12 Mesa. So, its really up to you, you can't necessarily go wrong with either choice as long as it gets the job you want it to do done.
 
Maxxas said:
Sixstring said:
Do you have to run a traditional guitar cab? I'm running a pair of FBT Verve 12M's FR pushing them with an SLA-2 and they sound great ontop of beeing lite. Running full range should give you the bottom end your looking for. Also running this way will give you the option of running a guitar cab if you want to as well as running FR, best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

No, I dont have to use a traditional guitar cab. I was just looking this up. I have read a little bit about some people using monitors. Are these floor monitors? are they powered? Are these single 12 PA cabs? I still dont get this setup yet and need to read more about it. I would love to have this setup as light as possabile. However, all ive ever used is a traditional guitar cab setup. Im having a hard time seeing anything else. I want this setup tp have many options for different kind of guitars. I want to use my classical through this and still be able to get great clean sounds as well as over the top metal. traditional guitar cab...monitors....whatever lets me get this and is the lightest wins !!!

Thanks for your info.
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If you can I wuld demo an FR system (rent or barrow) so you can have an idea as to what it can do. Yes it is a little more tunning on the cab side and a little more of a learning curve but in the long run I think it will serve your needs better. The Monitors I have are indeed a combination floor/main type of speaker with a single 12" coaxial type of speaker. They are not powered though sometimes I wish they were even though their not powered the SLA-2 pushing them will put out the volume to do a gig with. For what you want I would think that a powered FR speaker enclosure would fit the bill nicely.
 
Hey Adam, is your cab open or closed back? Good stuff on your recordings, alot of variation in tones... are those recorded direct or from your cab?
 
The THD 2x12's are one of my all time fav's. Excellent bottom end, yet it still has some of that open back character due to the port. They also have a steel handle up top, making it super easy to carry - I don't know why more cab makers don't do that. :)

I should also mention that one of the considerations of a 2x12 is that if you lay it flat on the floor, you'll likely have a hard time hearing yourself at shows since it's blasting sound straight at your ankles. You'll either want to tilt it, put it on a stand (or its case if you have one), or possibly standing it up vertically (which, will naturally look a bit odd).
 
hankstone said:
Hey Adam, is your cab open or closed back? Good stuff on your recordings, alot of variation in tones... are those recorded direct or from your cab?
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Thanks. All the stuff on the recordings was done direct.

I got the 2x12 cab with the open back in the middle. It has plenty of bass in this configuration and projects very well. I use it live for stage monitoring but in I also send a direct feed to FOH with various Red Wirez cab models turned on.

I have the sound guy give me just enough of the direct FOH feed in my front stage monitor so that on stage I hear that signal mixed with the 2x12 from behind and it sounds quite glorious on stage :D . I've tried it before without the 2x12 behind me but I missed the bass and "balls" of a real guitar cab so I had to bring it back. Eventually, I might try an Atomic Reactor to replace the 2x12 but I'm happy with my setup right now so I figured why fix it if it ain't broke?
 
I have a larger than normal cabinet ... dual 10"- eminence rajun cajun and copperhead. The cabinet is a custom built front ported cab. It was a mono cabinet (one input jack, speakers wired in parallel). I modified it so that each speaker now is independent having it's own input jack, making it a stereo cabinet. The L/R outputs of the SLA2 go to L/R inputs of cab. Axefx in the stereo mode. You would think that the speakers being that close together would not have no affect vs mono. But it does. Stereo effects are "richer" and sound much better now. Very happy with the result.
 
mikeyen said:
I should also mention that one of the considerations of a 2x12 is that if you lay it flat on the floor, you'll likely have a hard time hearing yourself at shows since it's blasting sound straight at your ankles. You'll either want to tilt it, put it on a stand (or its case if you have one), or possibly standing it up vertically (which, will naturally look a bit odd).
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If you lift the cabs off the floor, you lose a the low-end tightness. not sure how your cab sounds, but cabs on casters vs cabs on floor have a vast difference in low-end from my personal experience.

To the OP, I am presently using two DIY 2x12 cabs and my 2 cents is that with cabs whatever model of amp you dial on the AXE, they're all gonna have your cab's "flavor" which you can never get rid of. With FRFR, you can truly get different tones because you are mimicking different mic'd cabs.
 
emperor_black said:
If you lift the cabs off the floor, you lose a the low-end tightness. not sure how your cab sounds, but cabs on casters vs cabs on floor have a vast difference in low-end from my personal experience.
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I agree with that observation, actually. That said, as the above post alluded, it does depend on how bassy your cab is to begin with - I actually would prefer some of the bassier cabs on casters than on the floor. Also, much of the low-end on the guitar usually ends up being covered up by the bass amp anyway, so it usually ends up not making a huge difference either way.

On that note, tilting back the cab would be somewhat of a compromise, but obviously is difficult if you plan to stack the rack on top. You could also stand the 2x12 up on its side so the top speaker is closer to your ears - may or may not look funny, depending on your particular cab.
 
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