Tried a Thiele wide-body cab and did not like it!

The cab I tried was listed for $469 at guitar showcase. I plugged in a Gibson SG with SD's first and then an Epiphone with EMG's. I tried the 'burn' setting of a Express 5:50 set at 5 watts. I play mostly metal and felt that amp did not have enough gain for my taste (no surprise there!). I cranked the bass and yet the cab felt lifeless and thin. I then plugged in a Mesa single rectifier recto-verb. I turned to its Channel 2 'Modern' sound. Bass & gain was reduced/cranked, mids increased/scooped, presence around 12 o'clock and yet the cab seemed lifeless. Did not like it at all. The cab has the stock Celestion 90 whatever speaker in it. I must confess I did not turn it up very loud, but I could hear everything I was playing clearly and assume that's good enough to test a cab.

My reference: I have a Mark IV, running a Jackson Dinky with passive SD humbuckers. My cab is a epiphone valve junior cab which had a ported back. I closed it shut, unloaded the stock eminence lady luck speaker and replaced it with a celestion v30. Comparing this cab's sound to the Thiele makes me glad I did not pay $350 for the Thiele on a recent eBay auction. My cab has a tight bass gets very loud for its size and has all the clarity, presence, etc.

Are the widebody thiele's comparable to the regular thiele's? Or is the speaker at fault?

The brand new speaker doesn't help, but also this is a ported widebody cab, not a thiele cab. The thiele design is totally different. Maybe you just don't like the RoV tone? I don't like Express amps at all so no surprise the tone there was lackluster. If you are used to playing a Mark series amp then a Recto is harder to 'dial in'. Take your Mark IV down there and give it another try!

+1
Apples and oranges.

Yeah, I dont like the rectifier tone at all. but the same rectifier head, in the same shop plugged into a 4x12 brought out the characteristics of the amp better than this cab.

oh, it did say 'Thiele 1x12' on the sticker and that's why I posted saying so.

emperor_black said:

Yeah, I dont like the rectifier tone at all. but the same rectifier head, in the same shop plugged into a 4x12 brought out the characteristics of the amp better than this cab.

oh, it did say 'Thiele 1x12' on the sticker and that's why I posted saying so.

Click to expand...

The store just made out their sticker wrong...

I'd love to hear one of these new cabs - especially with a broken in speaker in it!