Some cabinet common sense needed.

[KingsXJJ]

I want to be careful about shitting on people’s favorite gear, but the sheer number of used listings and negative chatter I stumble across on the EVH 2x12 cab has pretty much sworn me off them permanently. It’s likely a speaker issue since it’s pretty hard to fuck up a wood box in 2025 but what do I know.

I’m really only interested in the following 2x12 cabs:
1. Mesa Rectifier (horizontal or vertical)
2. Orange PPC212 in black
3. Newer Marshall 1936 w/ plywood
4. Bogner 212 oversized

I think they put the wrong speakers in all of the EVH cabs except for the 4x12 personally. I do like the build quality though so I bought up all of them that I “needed” before the prices went up and reloaded them. If you’re in to buying used gear and don’t mind swapping speakers it’s a good way to go IMO.

 

[laxu]

So what's the issue with the EVH cabs?

 

[JiveTurkey]

So what's the issue with the EVH cabs?

The speakers. My 112 is well built and looks great. Stock speaker for me was a little underwhelming.

 

[Chocol8]

The speakers are OK, but not for the uses most people are buying an EVH cab for.

They are a reproduction of the 1965-66 20w Greenback or the 30w Heavy magnet, which is not the sound most modern higher gain players want. They are also not particularly good at the vintage greenback sound either. I am not sure why Eddie chose them other than his hearing was probably well on the way out.

 

[EOengineer]

Yeah I really expect the cab is fine. You probably want to plan to put your own speakers in it, especially if you’re opinionated about speakers.

 

[Mikael Dez]

Yeah I really expect the cab is fine. You probably want to plan to put your own speakers in it, especially if your opinionated about speakers.

If a cab is made of plywood, and it’s built well, then it isn’t better than any other cabinet made of plywood and built well. Dimensions vary and will have an effect, but everything else points to speakers and closed vs open back. There ain’t no magic there

 

[CorrosiveMatter]

Over on SevrenString Raf is posting some nice sounding demo's of the Karnivores. He has me wanting an X pattern with them at least. Maybe a nice EVH Cab with these would be a decent combo.

 

[KingsXJJ]

The speakers are OK, but not for the uses most people are buying an EVH cab for.

They are a reproduction of the 1965-66 20w Greenback or the 30w Heavy magnet, which is not the sound most modern higher gain players want. They are also not particularly good at the vintage greenback sound either. I am not sure why Eddie chose them other than his hearing was probably well on the way out.

I agree completely on the Anniversary G-30’s. And I would agree that the EVH GB’s aren’t the best for modern high gain sounds. While I don’t have vintage GB’s to compare them to, I like the EVH GB’s because to me they have a nice “softness” in the upper register that I like. Similar to why I prefer the 65 watt CB’s to the 75 watt CB’s. But I’m not shooting for modern high gain either.

 

[Chocol8]

While I don’t have vintage GB’s to compare them to, I like the EVH GB’s because to me they have a nice “softness” in the upper register that I like.

They certainly are not bad speakers, but they need to be used for the right applications, just like any other speaker.

I have a pair of the Heritage labeled 20w's and while I don't THINK they are as historically accurate as Scumback's take, every vintage speaker I have heard has been a little different so who is to say what exactly a 1966 greenback would sound like if it was new today? How similar/different did they sound in 1966? Who knows!

 

[Jarick]

I have a Bogner 212 oversized - I think it's a great cab!

View attachment 51090

That thing is gorgeous. Bogner cabs are typically my favorite IR's always so it's my "win the lottery" cab for sure.

 

[joezlo]

Why not just get an empty 1x12 from somebody who makes it out of baltic birch and put the speakers in it as opposed to canabalizing the EVH ones? (Economically speaking)

I really wish I had gotten the Crate 4x12 blue voodoo model back in the day - never realized it was baltic birch, had that awesome stereo/mono setup and I think it had decent celestions in it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Why not just get an empty 1x12 from somebody who makes it out of baltic birch and put the speakers in it as opposed to canabalizing the EVH ones? (Economically speaking)

I really wish I had gotten the Crate 4x12 blue voodoo model back in the day - never realized it was baltic birch, had that awesome stereo/mono setup and I think it had decent celestions in it.

Because I have a couple of Amazon 112 turds already. The EVH speakers suck and if I got another EVH cab; it would just match the existing aesthetic. It's kind of a backburner project that would be more "urgent" if the Mark III had a headshell.

 

[JiveTurkey]

See also

https://thegearforum.com/threads/th...lready-made-up-my-own-mind-about-thread.7957/

 

[KingsXJJ]

Why not just get an empty 1x12 from somebody who makes it out of baltic birch and put the speakers in it as opposed to canabalizing the EVH ones? (Economically speaking)

I really wish I had gotten the Crate 4x12 blue voodoo model back in the day - never realized it was baltic birch, had that awesome stereo/mono setup and I think it had decent celestions in it.

Going Ghetto!

 

[Frodebro]

Why not just get an empty 1x12 from somebody who makes it out of baltic birch and put the speakers in it as opposed to canabalizing the EVH ones? (Economically speaking)

I really wish I had gotten the Crate 4x12 blue voodoo model back in the day - never realized it was baltic birch, had that awesome stereo/mono setup and I think it had decent celestions in it.

The store I managed in the early 90s carried St Louis Music (Crate, Ampeg), the Blue Voodoo amps were no joke.

 

[Chocol8]

Because I have a couple of Amazon 112 turds already.

LOL, there are unloaded cabs at a variety of quality and price points, so no need to limit yourself to Fender/EVH or turds!

 

[JiveTurkey]

LOL, there are unloaded cabs at a variety of quality and price points, so no need to limit yourself to Fender/EVH or turds!

I realize this. But I am not mismatching as there is too much of that already So it's either move the EVH 112 and get 2 Mesa 112s or get a second EVH and load it up so they at least match themselves.

 

[KingsXJJ]

The speakers. My 112 is well built and looks great. Stock speaker for me was a little underwhelming.

Flip it.

 

[laxu]

Why not just get an empty 1x12 from somebody who makes it out of baltic birch and put the speakers in it as opposed to canabalizing the EVH ones? (Economically speaking)

It's often cheaper to just buy a used cab, and then sell the speakers if they're not what you want (and are not unsellably obscure).

Of course you have no say on how the cab looks. But if drab looking black boxes are fine for you, there's no problem.

 

[greatmutah]

Blue Voodoo cabs were excellent. You can find them around occasionally cheap. And some came with Vintage 30s. The other speakers were some kind of eminence OEM thing but nothing special. But I think aside from the combo they only did 4x12 cabs.

Re EVH: 5153 cabs are solid. I like the G12M EVH/Heritage GBs. Whenever George Metropoulos gets back to making 4x12s (he’s started doing 2x12s again) I’m going to order one with a quad of those speakers. Back to EVH: I’m a fan of Greenback speakers as my 1960 has a quad of the MIC G12M25s (not the same as the Heritage/EVH) that I love and that cab is perfect. So anything G12M based would be fine for me. If you wanted to stay in the G12H camp you could always go for Vintsge 30s or Creamback 75s. I really like those speakers too and they’d be great in 1x12 or 2x12 applications.

Mesa cabs are excellent but I wasn’t super fond of the Horizontal Recto 2x12 I had. On its own it was very bass heavy and almost scooped. Even with V30s. However, paired to a Mesa OS Recto 4x12 it was God’s 3/4 stack. Could have been hearing the differences between cab construction as well as 16 ohm V30s and 8 ohm V30s. Both cabs were rated at 8 ohms so the 212 had 16 ohm speakers in parallel while the 412 had 8 ohm in series parallel.

Also I know they’re not necessarily cheap but if you’re looking for just a good 1x12 or unloaded 2x12, Avatar still exists and makes cabs. So does Mojotone. Buy one unloaded and go from there.