Mesa Split Back Vertical 2x12 With Celestion Alnico Cream 90s Came Today

[László]

I had to squeeze the new cab into my amp area, and move everything else around, re-cable the head and cab switcher, etc., but I got it installed.

Fortunately my brother was around to help me get it down the stairs to my studio!

I was glad Mesa agreed to install the Alnico Cream 90s at the factory, I hate installing speakers, but then, I also hate having to change strings on guitars, so you might call me lazy!

These speakers sound absolutely perfect for my needs with the Mark VII, and also sound quite excellent with my other amps.This is honeymoon time, of course, but I couldn't be happier with a speaker cab and the speakers I got for it. I did a lot of research on which speakers would best meet my needs (I'm not a metal player), and these were the result.

Here's a pic, kind of an Arc of Doom thing, but I'm really happy with the layout. I'll write a better piece on how everything sounds later this weekend. I'm just really happy with the whole thing.

 

[László]

Geez, this cab is great sounding -- I'm genuinely excited about it!

I figure Gibson will eventually turn Mesa into a shadow of itself, but for now, they're still making wonderful equipment, so I'm glad I got in for the Mark VII and this cab while the gettin' is good.

I officially have too much clutter in my recording area. I also realized I don't need the two V-30 PRS cabs. I'll probably send one to my son or move it when I can set up a shelf or rack to hold the heads. Right now, they have to sit on something, so it might as well be the cabs.

This is one very cluttered fucking room, and less conducive to recording than I'd like. I'll have to move a shelf or the emergency power cart or something. I dunno. I'm too tired to think about it after getting everything cabled and set up!

 

[AlbertA]

That’s cluttered?

This is clutter

 

[maddnotez]

Very nice looking stack, I really need another Mesa one day.

 

[László]

That’s cluttered?

This is clutter

That one's more like my storage room.

Very nice looking stack, I really need another Mesa one day.

Thanks! I'm glad I got this rig; there wasn't another cab like it with these speakers, so, honestly, I'm lucky it all worked out.

 

[la szum]

Still cracks me up they reissued these DIY/Mesa Boogie Garage-Era Cabs.


So silly!

Mine is beat to hell, and I would have bet someone $1000 that they would never
be in demand to be reissued. Maybe if more people cut themselves on the wrought
iron fencing disguised as a grill then they, too, would know better.

Seriously, not seriously, they are simply (some of) the best sounding 2x12s ever made. To me.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Still cracks me up they reissued these DIY/Mesa Boogie Garage-Era Cabs.


So silly!

Mine is beat to hell, and I would have bet someone $1000 that they would never
be in demand to be reissued. Maybe if more people cut themselves on the wrought
iron fencing disguised as a grill then they, too, would know better.

Seriously, not seriously, they are simply (some of) the best sounding 2x12s ever made. To me.

It's Gibson, baby!! We're well into the Land of Reissues! I'd love a DC-5 reissue with a fixed loop from the factory, and a volume taper that didn't go from off to "rip your balls off".

 

[László]

Maybe if more people cut themselves on the wrought
iron fencing disguised as a grill then they, too, would know better.

It's exactly like the grille material I had on the cab for my Bass 400+ amp back in the early '90s.

It's not really fencing material like chicken wire; it's nicely stamped, flat but fairly thick steel, fully finished with no rough or sharp edges anywhere. It's mounted on rubber stand-offs.

I don't love the look, either, but it's actually made well, and as you say, it's a great sounding cab.

You'd have to try very, very hard to cut yourself on this grille. Maybe if you launched yourself into it head first, running at full speed you could wind up with some stitches, but you'd also wind up with stitches running into a smooth door or a wall.

I wouldn't recommend either course of action!

One advantage of this type of grille is that it's very easy to place a mic where you want it without having to guess about placement.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

It's Gibson, baby!! We're well into the Land of Reissues! I'd love a DC-5 reissue with a fixed loop from the factory, and a volume taper that didn't go from off to "rip your balls off".

I'd be down with a DC series reissue, one of my favorite series from Mesa. I used to have a DC-10 that I really liked. I did the serial loop mod on it, which was really easy to do. Great amp.

 

[newholland]

I'd be down with a DC series reissue, one of my favorite series from Mesa. I used to have a DC-10 that I really liked. I did the serial loop mod on it, which was really easy to do. Great amp.

i loved my el84 50 cal! i wonder if knowing what i know now about mesa front ends if id do any better wthe the lead channel... ive heard them siund pretty great!

 

[GuitarBilly74]

i loved my el84 50 cal! i wonder if knowing what i know now about mesa front ends if id do any better wthe the lead channel... ive heard them siund pretty great!

I had a 6L6 50 Caliber. Loved that amp, I've actually been low key looking for another one at the right price.

 

[la szum]

It's Gibson, baby!! We're well into the Land of Reissues! I'd love a DC-5 reissue with a fixed loop from the factory, and a volume taper that didn't go from off to "rip your balls off".

Haha! You are giving me Corrosion of Conformity vibes! That's a killer amp. I


I do wonder when the Mesa Reissue Well will run dry. Will Gibson let it? I mean, there is not
that much left out there with the nostalgiac mojo to get people to separate from their $$$, is there?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Haha! You are giving me Corrosion of Conformity vibes! That's a killer amp. I


I do wonder when the Mesa Reissue Well will run dry. Will Gibson let it? I mean, there is not
that much left out there with the nostalgiac mojo to get people to separate from their $$$, is there?

I kind of think they’ll do a mark iv issue

 

[László]

I kind of think they’ll do a mark iv issue

I'd be kinda excited about a Tremoverb.

 

[laxu]

I do wonder when the Mesa Reissue Well will run dry. Will Gibson let it? I mean, there is not
that much left out there with the nostalgiac mojo to get people to separate from their $$$, is there?

Wouldn't be surprised if they end up reissuing the Lonestar Classic as part of this. Tremoverb could be possible too.

I don't think anything else has a big enough following to make it viable. Mark IVs and IIIs can be bought on the used market for reasonable money.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I officially have too much clutter

This is one very cluttered fucking room

 

[László]

I guess what I meant is it'd be nice to have more room when I want to record a small ensemble, f'instance for some classical stuff.

For recording guitars and most of what I do, this is fine.

 

[Solarflares]

I’m a big fan of the Celestion Alnico Cream 8ohm.
My journey has been a long one, and I began with EMG ‘S’ single-coils into a Lab Series L5, after ditching 70’s Fender pickups and Marshall MV amps. The L5 with an Echoplex was sublime.
But, being that bit older and hopefully wiser now, I’ve sought ways to improve my amp’s response, but also to be more guitaristic in stuff like sag and top-end roll-off. The days of in-your-face hard sounds are long behind me.
I rediscovered valves back in 2000, and went through rack pre-amps, and assorted setups, before settling down with a valve head into a Palmer, with a valve power amp after my Palmer-fed fx.

So fast-forward to today, and I use an S for neck pick-up, but now have Alnico SA and SLV as middle and bridge pickups in my Strats.
Both my Victory Sheriff 44 and my Seymour Convertible 100 have wonderful Mullard 161’s from 60’s Blackburn, and are adjustable-bias with very nice original St.Petersburg Svetlana winged-C’s.
Both amps are soaked down by Palmers, and a blended (filtered/un-filtered) signal from each high-gain amp feeds a modest stereo mixer/fx-rack, before hitting a modified Peavey Classic 50/50 valve power amp - with Mullards.
The icing on the cake was to go with Alnico speakers.
Two 1x12 Montage cabs with 8ohm Alnico Creams - I collected the drivers off the production line whilst the glue was still warm!
The great thing about the Cream was that it still sounds good at 1W, and was designed to be linear. So you can dial-in sounds at home comparatively quietly, and they will relate when you ask them to faithfully reproduce at gigging volumes.

I know people love the 65W Creamback, and I do have one in a Victory 10W combo.
But running that combo’s amp into one of my Cream 1x12’s - it’s simply up another level in terms of maturity, warmth, and linearity.

 

[László]

Both my Victory Sheriff 44 and my Seymour Convertible 100 have wonderful Mullard 161’s from 60’s Blackburn, and are adjustable-bias with very nice original St.Petersburg Svetlana winged-C’s.
Both amps are soaked down by Palmers, and a blended (filtered/un-filtered) signal from each high-gain amp feeds a modest stereo mixer/fx-rack, before hitting a modified Peavey Classic 50/50 valve power amp - with Mullards.

Like you, I'm a fan of NOS tubes, though I haven't decided yet what to install in the Mark VII; I generally like to live with an amp using its original tubes for 6 months or so to get a handle on what I want to do with it before installing the tubes. I have an RCA 7025 I've been saving that might go in v1, and a couple of NOS GE 12AX7s; I'll need a couple more NOS 12AX7 tubes to complete the installation. I'm actually pretty happy with the JJ 6L6s that are in the output section of the amp as it came from the factory, in fact, the amp sounds really good with the stock preamp tubes, so I guess there's no rush.

My PRS HXDA amp is a clone of Duane Allman's 'Live at the Fillmore' Marshall Superbass (the Allman Brothers got the original amp for PRS when they were still touring; they were PRS amp endorsers). So I installed NOS Mullard 12AX7s, and when one of the factory-installed Winged-Cs blew after a year or so, I replaced them with with NOS Siemens EL34s that sounded a little leaner, and more like Blackburn Mullards to me; this was Doug Sewell's suggestion when I met him, he designed the amp and his advice was most welcome!

I have a PRS DG30 that was a special 'first 20' run, and came with NOS Brimar 12 AX7s, and NOS Russian EL 84Ms, a high current version of the EL84. It has an NOS Mullard 12AT7 for the reverb return, but a JJ12AX7S for the phase inverter. In that amp, I found the JJ sounds best in that position.

The Mesa Fillmore 50 has NOS GE 12AX7s, and Telefunken 6L6s that aren't NOS but sound fantastic. Telefunken USA makes high end microphones, tube and solid state, and for some reason they also offer hand-selected output tubes JJ supplies them with, that they have cryogenically treated. Cryogenic treatment sounds like BS, but it was developed at a nearby university for heavy industry to stiffen metals. The nice thing about the cryo tubes is that the metal parts inside the glass don't vibrate nearly as much, so they tend to eliminate tube rattle in combo amps like my Lone Star (the rest of my amps are heads). Right now I have the Siemens EL34s in that amp, but being NOS, they don't rattle, either.

I have a quartet of NOS Siemens EL34s in the Lone Star 100, 4 NOS GEs, and a NOS Siemens E83CC in v5.

I mention this simply because I like talking about tubes, not because I think I'm all that.

The icing on the cake was to go with Alnico speakers.
Two 1x12 Montage cabs with 8ohm Alnico Creams - I collected the drivers off the production line whilst the glue was still warm!
The great thing about the Cream was that it still sounds good at 1W, and was designed to be linear. So you can dial-in sounds at home comparatively quietly, and they will relate when you ask them to faithfully reproduce at gigging volumes.

Awesome that you were able to pick them up like that!

So far I love these speakers. Mine still need a little break-in but I couldn't be happier with a speaker. In fact, it's exactly as you say, the speaker is very linear.

I know people love the 65W Creamback, and I do have one in a Victory 10W combo.
But running that combo’s amp into one of my Cream 1x12’s - it’s simply up another level in terms of maturity, warmth, and linearity.

I haven't used the ceramic Creamback 12" inch speakers, but I have four of the 10" Creambacks in a Mesa 4x10 cab, and at least in that application, it's a nice sounding speaker.