How is the 5150 III cab?

Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to pickup a 5150 III shortly, and was curious if anybody around here has the matching cab.. if so, how is it? I already have a couple Mesa cabs with v30s in them... but I've been in the mood to change my rig around lately... wanting to change from an oversized to a traditional cab, and ditching the IIC+ for a 5150 III.... just been debating if I should grab the matching cab with it, I play punk mostly.. like an aggressive thrash/punk... I need a nice and tight sound, and I'm just not familar with the EVH speakers, or the G12m that they're supposed to be modeled after (or are the same as)

Any thoughts?

From every clip in all the environments i've heard, it's the Brown Sound in a box. Pure early blackback greenback speaker sound. Jangly high end, slightly scooped, kinda tight, with TONS of harmonic content; very very musical. But rated at 100 watts - like the best Marshall cabs, you are getting your "sound" from gobs of speaker breakup. I had some Eminence speakers loaded in a 2x12 that I LOVED the sound of the speaker breakup, but eventually you can't clean your tone up, and it sounds all fuzzed or buzzed out because you run out of headroom for umph, unlike the high watted Mesa cabs. If you push your amp hard eventually you get kinda fed up that you can't control speaker breakup on your cleans and your stuck with some speaker overdrive; pleasant, but unwanted. If you are just gonna push the piss out of them constantly...I don't see why not...but remember it's a 100 watt cab, and you have a 90 watt head Mesa likes to underrate.

With this new band I'm in I need a more rock sounding amp.. not a high gainer, and I need some warmth... I got a pretty good crunch out of Channel 2 of my Mark V... but I'm looking to add a more british voiced amp to the stable... I've narrowed it down to a Mesa Stiletto, a JCM800 2203, or a EVH 5150 III... Going to going to a cab with greenbacks, but I can't decide on what amp... not needing versatility so much as I just need an insanely good rhythm tone.

I think the 5150III should do fine as a cab.

As far as amps go, I have no experience with the Stiletto (other than internet clips where it always sounds too bright to me) or the EVH5150III, but if you get a 2203 you're gonna need some "volume room" to let it breathe a little.

Maybe a Royal Atlantic or ElectraDyne would be a good choice for rock crunch tones too?
If you're considering a Marshall I can recommend a Vintage Modern, it's a great rock n' roll amp and to me it's amazing how well the amp responds to changes made with the guitar volume/tone pots. The EQ is literally there just for show IMO, you can get about 5 tones with the volume knob alone. Or one of the classics like the DSL100/50, I would say JVM but it might be too much if versatility is not what you're after.

If the 30W rating isn't a problem (you don't need a lot of squeaky clean cleans) and you're not in the US, check out the Hayden MoFo. That little thing is off-the-hook. Rock n' Roll in spades, all day long.