Mesa mark iv. What cab for home playing ?

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psihiatros

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Hi !

I live in an appartment and i have this head (plus a hughes and kettner triamp wich i consider to sell).

Anyway, i am in search for a cab that can play good with the mesa at low volumes.
I thought about mesa thiele, recto 2x12, royal atlantic 27", bogner 2x12, and evh 5153 4x12.
I will buy used.
I read that the thiele doesn't sound good at low volumes, the recto has v30 in it and these speakers dont sound so good when you playing alone.
I have read good things about the royal atlantic 27" but i missed one a week ago and also good things about the evh 4x12 cab that because of the greenback been smaller speaker with low sensitivity, make it a better overall cab for lower volumes that compliment also the boogie.

What do you guys think?
 
Either 2x12 would certainly suffice- but at the same time playing at low volumes will never yield mind blowing tone and sound- as the tubes need to be pushed and saturated to attain the sound your looking for.

Unless you pick up a attenuator or some type of load box i.e. Rivera Rock Crusher Attenuator/Load box-- or Mesa Cab Clone ( which has been hit or miss with some folks) or a Two Notes Torpedo Live or Reload.

Otherwise you'll still still be getting less than ideal tone at minimum volumes that you need to jam with unless you want to piss off your neighbors- haha
The MKIV and any full size amp yearns to be played loudly- so Id pick up what ever cab you can afford and try and swing a quality load box or attenuator such as the ones I referenced above..

Hope this helps
 
The Mark IV is a loud amp by nature. It has a very sensitive master volume that goes from whisper at 1.2 to band practice volume at 1.5, haha. Your best bet to smooth out the taper is either a volume pedal in the loop (cheap) or an attenuation device (more expensive). Greenbacks could be a nice speaker choice for you, but I've always been plenty pleased with V30 in all situations (any volume, by itself, and in a band context). Mesa gets a bad rap for low volume tones, but I think they sound fine at lower volumes since they get their tone mostly from the preamp. Sure, the power tube saturation and speaker cone influence add to the tone to create a bit of mojo at higher volumes, but I doubt you will be disappointed at any volume (assuming you can control the Mark IV's master volume). That all being said, I have been very happy with my mini Recto 1x12. It is versatile enough to sound good for most anything I play. You may want to consider a 3/4 back cab as well if you want a nice mix of open and closed back. Plenty of options! Just go plug up at a music store if possible and try a bunch of cabs. You may settle on a non-Mesa cab that floats your boat. Who knows?
 

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