Farewell, 4x12. Farewell, dreams of youth...

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crduval

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I just sold my Mesa Road-Ready 4x12 cabinet yesterday. This sale, along with the sale of my Studio Preamp and 50/50 power amp a few weeks ago, has given me some cash so that I can pick up a Mark V 35 combo.

As I watched my cabinet roll away towards the happy buyer’s van, I was suddenly overcome with a murmuring wave of loss. Not so much for the cab itself; since though I loved it, I really have no real need for it. It just occurred to me that for 43 years, since I was 15 years old, I had played guitar through a half stack of one sort or another. It started with a Heathkit 2x12 amp (and a Univox Super Fuzz!) on top of a pair of old wooden Stromberg-Carlson stereo speakers, each with 12” woofers. Then a Peavey Roadmaster head and a Sound City 4x12 cabinet. Then a Fender bassman with a Music Man 4x12. Then a Park 100W Rock and Roll head and an old Marshall slant front. Finally to the Boogie rig (which included the incredible greenbacks that were in that old beat up Marshall cab) that I bought in 1990.

I had big musical dreams in my teens, and worked like a dog to try to achieve them, right up into my late 30s. And having that roaring set of four 12” speakers at my back was like having a little army behind me, supporting me and standing up for my bold dreams. When non-musicians saw that 4x12 rig, I suddenly wasn’t just like their cousin who played in a wedding band once a month, I was a serious rock and roll aspirant. Musicians would see the 4x12 rig and assume that I might know what I was doing before playing a note. A 4x12 rig conveyed a certain belonging back in the day, a seriousness and commitment to your music. Those later rigs sounded incredible live and in the studio, and I have some wonderful, life-affirming memories of playing many great shows in front of those rigs, blasting away, playing music that I wrote; loud and proud and powerful.

When my big dreams finally died, suddenly and painfully, I still had that rig to comfort me, my little army picking me up when I was down, able to heal the pain with glorious sound and power.

Now though, my dreams are for my kids, no longer for me. I am now a musical hobbyist. I still practice and record original music in my home studio, and still share my music with a small group of friends and post it up on soundcloud for posterity’s sake. But I never play out any more. So I no longer needed that big rig - a combo will do just fine. And it will sound great, and will keep me happy and making music until I can no longer function for one reason or another.

With the sale of that cabinet yesterday, I realize that I have finally been able to truly let go and say farewell to my youthful dreams of rock and roll glory. Even though they were in fact extinguished many years ago, there was a tiny part of me that still smoldered for them; the last embers of the massive bonfire that consumed my life for so long.

But no longer. The embers were snuffed out when that cabinet rolled away with its new owner.

Now, I am free.
 
I think I feel your pain, but I'm not quite ready to share it . My 4X12 sits in a room under its cover waiting for the rare occasion to arrive again when I can take it out and crank my Mark 1 at the 100 watt setting and feel my pants legs flap in the air it creates. Still just a kid at 63 years old!!
 
Shortly after I took up the guitar I realized that I simply had no interest in practicing enough to ever get good enough at it to make any money.

And that never stopped me from acquiring more gear and more guitars and making many guitars.

Today in my 50s I restore vintage Marshalls to a level that literally nobody else takes restorations to, and my bedroom practice amp is a full blown Marshall stack with a 1973 vintage Super Lead 100 watt head on top. Actually I have two full stacks. And much more.

Everybody has to choose his own path in this, but I choose to collect gear without the slightest intent of entertaining anybody but myself with my sadly underwhelming guitar playing.

Never let a lack of gig prospects keep you from having the gear you WANT. You don't have to justify it. Just have the space for it and the money to buy it when the deal comes along.

And if you're looking to sell vintage Marshall gear (JMP era, up to about 1980) then give me a call.
 
woodbutcher65 said:
Shortly after I took up the guitar I realized that I simply had no interest in practicing enough to ever get good enough at it to make any money.

And that never stopped me from acquiring more gear and more guitars and making many guitars.

Today in my 50s I restore vintage Marshalls to a level that literally nobody else takes restorations to, and my bedroom practice amp is a full blown Marshall stack with a 1973 vintage Super Lead 100 watt head on top. Actually I have two full stacks. And much more.

Everybody has to choose his own path in this, but I choose to collect gear without the slightest intent of entertaining anybody but myself with my sadly underwhelming guitar playing.

Never let a lack of gig prospects keep you from having the gear you WANT. You don't have to justify it. Just have the space for it and the money to buy it when the deal comes along.

And if you're looking to sell vintage Marshall gear (JMP era, up to about 1980) then give me a call.

I couldn't agree more! I know I suck at playing guitar, but I only do it for me. So what if I have two 100 watt heads and six 12" speakers in a bedroom, it makes me happy!
 
I just came across this post.

I have a buddy who just got rid of probably the best example of a Marshall SLP and a 4x12 that he restored after many years on the road when he was a younger man. His wife finally convinced him to get rid of it as it is only been played a handful of times in the last 15 years.

Well I tried to convert him over to Mesa, he did invest in a Marshall 20 watt Classic head into matching 1x12 cabinets. It took him a while, but he has made his peace with the solution. He freely admits that he does miss his old rig but acknowledges that he's definitely playing more at home these days because of the lower power and to crank it hard in his man cave.

Now if I could only convince him to sell me his old Klon for a price that I can afford.....
 
You don't have to give up the big rigs just because you're not young or not gigging anymore.

I got my first two 4x12s at the age of 53. At the age of 54 I got my first two Marshall 4x12s and first FIVE 100 watt Marshall heads from the 1970s.

Now I'm 55 and I have even more.

My practice sessions almost always include spending at least a few minutes with my fully restored 1973 Superlead stack cranked up with the volume up at 5 or beyond. It's brutally loud, almost peeling the paint off the walls, but I can not get enough of that sound, a sound you can not get at lower volume levels.

Let the better half have her hobbies and her She Den. You have your hobbies and your Man Cave. You have no say over what she keeps in her den, she has no say over what you keep in your den. This is fair, this is equitable, this is a key to a happy marriage. The freedom to be YOU and do what YOU want, at least some of the time.
 
I've sold my 4x12 cabinet a long time ago. As the saying goes, we "get paid to move equipment, play for free" and lugging that **** thing around was just not worth it.
 
woodbutcher65 said:
Everybody has to choose his own path in this, but I choose to collect gear without the slightest intent of entertaining anybody but myself with my sadly underwhelming guitar playing.

I feel this 100%.
 
I'm quite opposite actually. I was always 1x12 type of a guy. It was making sense as I was moving a lot in past 20 years and only recently I settled. I have two 2x12 cabs and never been happier, I enjoy playing more than ever
 
crduval said:
I just sold my Mesa Road-Ready 4x12 cabinet yesterday. This sale, along with the sale of my Studio Preamp and 50/50 power amp a few weeks ago, has given me some cash so that I can pick up a Mark V 35 combo.

As I watched my cabinet roll away towards the happy buyer’s van, I was suddenly overcome with a murmuring wave of loss. Not so much for the cab itself; since though I loved it, I really have no real need for it. It just occurred to me that for 43 years, since I was 15 years old, I had played guitar through a half stack of one sort or another. It started with a Heathkit 2x12 amp (and a Univox Super Fuzz!) on top of a pair of old wooden Stromberg-Carlson stereo speakers, each with 12” woofers. Then a Peavey Roadmaster head and a Sound City 4x12 cabinet. Then a Fender bassman with a Music Man 4x12. Then a Park 100W Rock and Roll head and an old Marshall slant front. Finally to the Boogie rig (which included the incredible greenbacks that were in that old beat up Marshall cab) that I bought in 1990.

-snip-

When my big dreams finally died, suddenly and painfully, I still had that rig to comfort me, my little army picking me up when I was down, able to heal the pain with glorious sound and power.

-and another snip!-

With the sale of that cabinet yesterday, I realize that I have finally been able to truly let go and say farewell to my youthful dreams of rock and roll glory. Even though they were in fact extinguished many years ago, there was a tiny part of me that still smoldered for them; the last embers of the massive bonfire that consumed my life for so long.

But no longer. The embers were snuffed out when that cabinet rolled away with its new owner.

Now, I am free.

I also just came across this and a couple things struck me. First, you started playing on a Heathkit 2x12! I wonder how many of us there are out there that did that? At that point I was 16 or so years old, extremely unsophisticated, and had absolutely NO concept of tone. I don't have any memories of how that amp sounded but I can’t believe it could have done much for tone. That didn't stop me from "graduating" to a Heathkit stack with, I think, a 100w (!) head and 4x12 cabinet. I really had no concept of tone and would never have been able to use 100 Watts but I was a kid and was one of the few in my poor town that had an amp at my age. I only began to appreciate tone after auditioning for a band and having no idea what the guitarist was trying to do when he kept adjusting my amp to try and get it to "sound right". It was an 80s Peavey combo amp, transistor based. Somehow after that I began to wake up and went to a Marshall (of course, right)?, head and 4x12, then finally discovered Boogie. And besides starting on that Heathkit, I seem to also have landed by finishing with a Mark V 35. 8)

One other thing is that I hope your dreams didn't die literally suddenly and painfully, like in an accident of some kind. You speak of healing the pain, of dreams being extinguished and of smoldering and of embers. That kind of poetic language seems to describe an overwhelming pain that I hope you weren't forced to go through. Now you are free, and that's great, but with that background I hope the life behind your story wasn't something like an accident.

Maybe I'm over reading or over analyzing. In any case I wish you the best and thanks for reminding me of those old Heathkits!
 
Good story with a happy ending as I am sure the Mesa cab is getting used.
I sort of fell of the 412 but I do get them out once in a while. Besides my RA100 does not fit on top of a single vertical 212 cab, I either have to used 2 or just bring out the 412 along with it.
 
It's hard to justify such a huge rig if you never play out or only play at home occasionally. Hopefully, it got onto a big stage and spread some sonic joy in the last few years.
 
It's hard to justify such a huge rig if you never play out or only play at home occasionally. Hopefully, it got onto a big stage and spread some sonic joy in the last few years.
Sorry and in all friendliness I disagree completely.

Life is a sh!ty proposition in so many respects that plugging in to a 412 even if it is once a year pissing off (treating?) the neighbors is worth the feel and only better if a full stack. Sanity has its cost too.

Now I don't have a gf or wife telling me 80 guitars is too many or that we need the space walls of mesa consumes. But I am prepared to build a shoe closet as an olive branch if it comes to that.
 
Sorry and in all friendliness I disagree completely.

Life is a sh!ty proposition in so many respects that plugging in to a 412 even if it is once a year pissing off (treating?) the neighbors is worth the feel and only better if a full stack. Sanity has its cost too.

Now I don't have a gf or wife telling me 80 guitars is too many or that we need the space walls of mesa consumes. But I am prepared to build a shoe closet as an olive branch if it comes to that.
I lost my daugter this year after she was born prematurely. She stuggled to survive for 55 days in the NICU fighting chylothorax caused by a random genetic condtion (that neither myself or my wife carry). I have reassed what is important to me. A heap of gear that is not used to its potential or its intended use is something I think about a lot now. Actually, I have decided to delete my account here based on this which will take effect in 15 days. These discussions are all useless. No one can convince anyone of anything unless they already agree.
 
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I lost my daugter this year after she was born prematurely. She stuggled to survive for 55 days in the NICU fighting chylothorax caused by a random genetic condtion (that neither myself or my wife carry). I have reassed what is important to me. A heap of gear that is not used to its potential or its intended use is something I think about a lot now. Actually, I have decided to delete my account here based on this which will take effect in 15 days. These discussions are all useless. No one can convince anyone of anything unless they already agree.
I am really sorry to hear about your daughter. This site will miss you and certainly welcome you back if the time is ever right.

I just lost my 3rd dog this year after a full year of doing nothing more than critical and hospice care. I know to many it is not the same thing but to me I lost the most important part of my family while I grow into a new era.

I too feel a need for a reset and a trip to the coastal redwoods always replenishes me. My 1st loss this year was particularly damaging and I needed decibels most people will not and cannot tolerate to pull me through.

My sincerest condolences to you and your wife for whom as unbelievable as it must seem is in more pain.

Take care.
 
I lost my daugter this year after she was born prematurely. She stuggled to survive for 55 days in the NICU fighting chylothorax caused by a random genetic condtion (that neither myself or my wife carry). I have reassed what is important to me. A heap of gear that is not used to its potential or its intended use is something I think about a lot now. Actually, I have decided to delete my account here based on this which will take effect in 15 days. These discussions are all useless. No one can convince anyone of anything unless they already agree.
My condolences to you and your family on your loss. I am deeply saddened to hear of this. Family is more important than trivial material things. I wish you well.
 
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