Are people scared of 2x12 combos (or a bit of weight) ?

Danny1969

I gig'ed a JVM410C over the winter, bloody hell that thing weighed a ton ... in December I was scheduled for  bilateral inguinal hernia surgery which I've now had done ....  I've often wondered if that poxy Marshall contributed to it

Tonight I'm gigging one of these 



It's a small pub, the little Fender will be plenty even without micing it

riscado

1x10" princeton reverb or 1x12" tweed deluxe cuts it for me. I also like bigger amps, but I definitely don't like carrying them around.

welshboyo

I've had a few 2x12's over the years, drifted towards 1x12's mainly due to the lower stage volumes required and the smaller stages - never really notice a massive difference, mainly due to always mic'ing things up I suppose.

Also, most of my 1x12's have been widebody Mesa's, Rivera's and the larger cabbed Bogners so perhaps thats why I haven't noticed the difference.

My thoughts on a 2x12 combo now is why bother - with the size of them being the same as 212 cabinet or the footprint being the same as a 412 its probably easier in some ways to go head and cab!! - and thats where I am now - easier to carry in the lump in 2 pieces!!! - so I have a 212 for the larger venues and larger stages and a 112 for the smaller ones (both with the Shiva head)

Winny_Pooh

Aside from specifically compact amps like Princetons I like separate heads & cabs. easier to carry, easier to mix and match heads/cabs plus you get less rattling around from the chassis and cab at volume.

My 18watt head has an ef86 pre amp tube and they are very microphone and prone to ring. The head sounds best actually not touching the cab at all.

Moe_Zambeek

Tube rattle is the one thing I dislike about combos. It's a pain, but I suspect that the all-in-one-box thing is also why combos sound better than head / cab variants of the same thing, in many cases.

ESBlonde

I was never one to wuss out on big and heavy, I used a JBL 2x12" as my main cab for years driven by the marshall head. Schlepped around a big PA and monitor rig too.

But now I'm gigging less and have less than a decade to retirement I find small is beautiful, but not at the price of tone. Since I don't need screaming stack tone I get by on much less gear but still require the essence of a good tone.
So my 3 options go like this.
Rehearsal - Marshall AVT20 combo, I even did a gig with it in a tiny pub once.
Typical gig, either The Fender HRD combo because it's simple and in a wheeled flight case or the Marshall 50w head into a 1x10" 60w celestion ticking over (best tone for me).
All these are pedal platforms but the basic tone improves as you go up scale.

menamestom

I've gigged the last few years with a 1x10 or 1x12.  Nothing against a 2x12, it's probably just more a power thing, I don't really play gigs that need a 2x12 and 50 - 100 watts.  

I prefer 2x10 to 2x12 most of the time as well, although I have always wanted to try the G12H / Blue combo in a 2x12.

If I was playing bigger gigs, I'd probably go for a 2x12, but a head and cab just to open up the possibilities of mixing and matching.

TTBZ

I'm probably going to downsize to a 20w amp (mini jubilee) and was wondering if a 1x12 would be enough for gigging - a good ported one like a zilla fatboy seems like a good shout ! Or the matrix 2x12 might work. To me the worst part of a gig or practice is moving the cab! It's nice to see there are light and portable options now without necessarily compromising tone. 

impmann

The spread you get from a 2x12 combo is nice, no denying.

Then you get to the end of the night and you have to move the feckin thing - and it puts a dampener on things. Then you drive home and you have to get the wretched thing into the house without waking up the neighbourhood...

Nope, the days of me schlepping a big amp out are over. I think my HRD is about as big as I'm likely to go. And no, I don't play metal - although I found it to be superb in the twin guitar punk band with a RAT in front of it but I'm no longer doing that.

Jalapeno

Prefer heads & cabs for the weight.  But A Pro Junior or a Princeton are a joy to play through. Possibly a 2x12 combo if it had  alnico speakers, but not otherwise. I'm resigned to never playing an AC30 again (without a roadie that is )

Haych

I used to own a Peavey Duel 212 and that thing was bloody heavy.  Sounded great mind you (much better than the Boogie Nomad that replaced it, grrrr) but was a right pain to cart about.  I sold it, along with the flight case, to a young dude in Bristol - he lived in the top flat of at least a three storey building with a spiral staircase at the top no less (and no lift). 

When I delivered it to him I couldn't help thinking it would be back up for sale very soon, sure enough it was on Gumtree a couple of weeks later!

One of the most portable rigs I had was a Peavey C50 head and a matching 410 cab. 

siraxeman

Danny1969 said:

I gig'ed a JVM410C over the winter, bloody hell that thing weighed a ton ... in December I was scheduled for  bilateral inguinal hernia surgery which I've now had done ....  I've often wondered if that poxy Marshall contributed to it

Tonight I'm gigging one of these 



It's a small pub, the little Fender will be plenty even without micing it

I sincerely hope you're going to use pedals with that for dirt, the drive on those things is a horrible pile of fizz.

siraxeman

octatonic said:

HAL9000 said:

Guitarists have enough paraphernalia to carry about as it is. A heavy amp is the last thing I need.

Try being a drummer!

Exactly - or a singerist as well! They (well ours anyway) own the PA and has all that to lug. We often give him an hand packing up after a gig. apart from when he sits on his bum chilling and gabbing to folks for ages after a gig while we are all packing away. Then I happily take my money n go, leaving him to pack his gear away on his todd...but that's another matter.

samzadgan

i recently got a 2x12 marshall combo at home...it sounds amazing. but to be honest, that thing isn't going anywhere, except to the studio if I'm recording an album. I would rather take my matamp and 4x12 to a gig over the 2x12 combo...its just unmanageable 

richardhomer

octatonic said:

HAL9000 said:

Guitarists have enough paraphernalia to carry about as it is. A heavy amp is the last thing I need.

Try being a drummer!

It's usually the drummer being too loud that causes guitarists to have to carry big amps!

Voxman

hywelg said:

I've never played a 1x12 combo that didn't sound loads better through a good big 2x12.

So your choice, compromise your tone or compromise your body. 

Oh  and as an oldie, I consciously do things that I find increasingly difficult, because if you stop that's it  game over. Things like putting your socks on standing up, bending down to pick things up rather than squatting, etc....

Joan Rivers:

"I'm Jewish. I don't work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, He would have put diamonds on the floor. "

siraxeman

them poor drummerists and singerists with what they have to carry......

Danny1969

siraxeman said:

Danny1969 said:

I gig'ed a JVM410C over the winter, bloody hell that thing weighed a ton ... in December I was scheduled for  bilateral inguinal hernia surgery which I've now had done ....  I've often wondered if that poxy Marshall contributed to it

Tonight I'm gigging one of these 



It's a small pub, the little Fender will be plenty even without micing it

I sincerely hope you're going to use pedals with that for dirt, the drive on those things is a horrible pile of fizz.

Actually that's the wrong picture, it's a champion 110 



It's a rockabilly gig so drive fineness isn't an issue, just needs to sound like it's on the point of blowing up 

siraxeman

ah...that's better then - not familiar with that amp but the first pic you posted - I've had loads of pupils with that amp and its awful, at least on OD...enough to put someone off learning methinks.

Bidley

I've never heard the term "schlepp" before, and I've seen it about 50 times in this thread.