i´ve never tried a recto cab
but i´ve tried to play the amp in stereo on a engl cab and it sounded weak and very undefined
the low end gets a lot more muddy
i also have a 1960A JCM 800 cab with G12-65 speakers
and this gets the best sound out of the recto
sounds a lot like greenbacks but...
i´ve changed the tubes to some cheap sovtek EL34WXT and it helped a lot (i´d like to know how it sounds if i put in some better el34)
the sound is a bit more compressed but in a positive way
for me it seems that the amp has a lot more punch even if (or because of) there is less low end
so i...
i think you´re right that this has more to do with the head
because most (or all??) tube amps (only for example)
have 100W on 4 or 8ohm, but only 80W at 16ohm.
and marshall amps are known and loved for their poweramp distortion.