Marshall Bass 4x12

amptech · January 26, 2014, 07:26:49 AM

As mentioned somewhere else, I´ve been looking for a 4x12 for my ´73 Superbass head.
I have more or less given up hope of finding an empty vintage cab locally, the plan was to find a cab from the late 60 - mid 70´s and put in decent bass speakers.

A 1960TV (the big one..) , 2013 model popped up on a local net auction now. It has 25w greenbacks, which I can use for my guitar amps.

The question for you folks; what is the weight of old cabs compared to new ones?

The new are really decently priced, and I guess they sound the same as the old except for the speakers.
Any comments on old vs new cabs?

godofthunder · January 26, 2014, 09:26:17 AM

I have a 80's JCM800 bass 4x12. it's deeper than the 1960 4x12s. all birch ply construction, nicley made and relatively light.

Granny Gremlin · January 26, 2014, 10:03:21 AM

Yeah, the older (60s) cabs were just guitar cabs with almost the same speakers in them (stamped frame Celestions with either heavier or the same guitar cones but coated - to to provide stiffness and lower resonance).

They later used actual bass drivers (not sure exactly what) in the 'bass' 4x12s and had a larger volume to match as GoT says, but the old 4x15s used some sweet cast frame Celestions. I'd love to try one of those sometime.

They also used Goodman drivers at some point and I know I really like those - you can get those in a 12" (even though Marshall didn't use the 12s as far as I know, which is not far) and they'd be a good candidate for your project I think.

If you do get an empty 4x12 and put bass drivers in there - definitely stuff the cab as it'll match the drivers better and help damp internal resonances. You'll have to play with stuffing density to get it right -what ever that is for you.

Bionic-Joe · January 26, 2014, 10:57:01 AM

As long as the speakers can handle the wattage, you'll be ok.

amptech · January 26, 2014, 12:27:50 PM

Well, the question was about the weight of the cab itself. I´ll be fine with the speakers - got a bunch of 12"s, both new and re-coned, and that´s why I was looking for an empty cab.

Just wondering if there´s any reason NOT to buy a new if I can find an old. I´d hate to go for the new and find out later that a certain vintage is half the weight...

Highlander · January 26, 2014, 02:12:31 PM

My old 1970 slope just doesn't want to die and weighs a ton, sort of... seems to get heavier and heavier every year... it's survived a number of drops too... wheels got ripped off a few times... presently has industrial wheels on the beast...

Psycho Bass Guy · January 26, 2014, 07:44:45 PM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on January 26, 2014, 10:03:21 AMbut the old 4x15s used some sweet cast frame Celestions.

My vintage Marshall 4x15 has Gauss speakers, which look exactly like that one in the bottom picture.

Granny Gremlin · January 27, 2014, 10:30:25 AM

They switched it up a lot it seems. Smooth cone with a metal vented dustcap isn't exactly a distinctive look - lots of manufacturers did that, though yeah, that front pic is probs not a Celestion now that I look at it closer (I searched for pics and that came up along with that greenback 15, so I assumed; my bad).

The Gauss 15s had supper heavy cast frames didn't they - later than the Celestion and Goodmans phases? Certainly look it. Is yours the pair above a pair 4x15 or the zig zag tall kind?

Psycho Bass Guy · January 27, 2014, 10:53:03 AM

Mine is probably the latest "vintage" era 4x15, with the basketweave cloth and plexiglass handles. It looks like an oversized slant faced 4x12, although it has rudimentary ports behind the grille. the ports serve almost no function at all and I think they stuck them on there without actually applying T/S calculations to try and get some low end out of cabinet that doesn't have enough air volume to have a decent bass response. The earlier Marshall 4x15 cabs in the fridge shape did use Celestions, in both the staggered and straighter tall cabs, did not have cast frames or aluminum dustcaps; they were very much guitar cabinets. The Gauss speakers are 8 ohms with cast frames.

Granny Gremlin · January 27, 2014, 11:27:38 AM

The first 4x15s were stamped frame Celestions, yeah, but the greenback pictured above is a cast frame Celestion from a Marshal zig zag type 4x15 (1982 apparently - later than I would have guessed... they could be replacements then I suppose). The Goodmans likewise were cast frame (though they look like stamped frame, shapewise, they are so thick I just figured they had to be cast) - not sure which was used first but the Goodmans look older design-wise (of the cast frame types).

Happy Face · March 02, 2014, 10:00:36 AM

When I had a Marshall 2003 (8 6550s @ 375 watts), I used two of the deeper Marshall cabs. They were 17" deep rather than the standard 13 or 14". One had two 15s the other a 15 and 2 tens. But I do believe that there were some 17" 4x12" cabs made. I wanted to switch to them never found one.

Psycho Bass Guy · March 03, 2014, 05:12:32 PM

Marshall made a relatively recent VBA 4x12 bass cab with more depth, but like the amp that was designed to power them, the VBA400, they're very rare.

Happy Face · March 08, 2014, 02:32:20 PM

You know PBG, I used my sealed Sunn 4x12" cab last night. I forgot how much mid-range punch a cab like that has. Almost painful if you crouch down in front of it, which I did.

(I'd changed the Sunn transducers since I'd blown two of them and put in JBL MI-12s back in 1989 or so. I used it for keyboards back then. But now & then it's sure fun to use it for bass.)