Scott Henderson Discussion

[corramont]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for sharing your experience and advise.
I have a Blues trio, and I play a Marshall 2203 50W Master Volume head with a 2x12 open back Rectifier Mesa cab featuring 2x Celestion Vintage 30.

Listening to Guitarwank I heard you mentioned that Mesa cabs don't really have a great bottom end due to the excessively thick and heavy wood. So this started me thinking that perhaps I could do better...

As much as I'd like a 4x12, it is still a bit tough to carry this around, so I was wondering if you could please advise on your favourite 2x12 cabinet and/or eventually shine some light on technicalities in case of one custom build (i.e. type/thickness of plywood, sizes, open or closed back).

Also please can you advise on a choise of speakers? My gain levels range between BB King's and SRV's.

Many thanks in advance, your music, podcast and forum are seriously awesome.
Dodi

[Scott Henderson]

Yes, Boogie cabs are way too heavy and they basically kill bottom end. Cabinets need to vibrate just like guitars do - the lighter ones always sound better. I like open back cabs for live playing.

Here are some Suhr 2x12 cabs.

http://www.suhr.com/electronics/speaker-cabinets/2x12-cabinets/

I'm not sure if you can buy unloaded ones - you'd have to call and ask. Bogner cabs are good too - both companies use the same guy in LA to build their cabinets. If you want to spend a lot of money, Kerry Wright makes amazing cabinets and they're the lightest, best made cabs in the known universe - just very expensive.

Vintage 30's are cool - the only thing I don't like about them is they have the thinnest paper of any Celestion speaker, so that's what causes the weird "double note" sound when you overdrive them. Actually the Warehouse Veteran 30 speakers which come in Suhr cabinets sound better than Vintage 30's in my opinion, and they don't make that horrible sound. My favorite speakers are Greenbacks, but depending on how loud you play, 2 might not be enough for your head. Heritage 65 speakers sound the most like Greenbacks and can handle 65 watts, so that's another option. I have a 2x12 with 65's and I love the way it sounds. Just make sure your speakers are 16 ohm so they create an 8 ohm load for the amp.

Hope that helps.

[corramont]

That's great thanks again Scott, top man! Dodi