New cab for JCM800?

[Frank666]

Just bought a JCM800 2205 50w head and I was wondering what cab would work with it? I'm thinking a Marshall 1960A but if anyone has a better suggestion let me know.

[TwilightOdyssey]

There are lots of amazing cabs. Depends on what your budget is, but I would say if you can find a vintage Laney or Hiwatt cab, you'd be in good shape as both are loaded with Fane speakers. Rivera cabs are great, too, and you can find them used occasionally.

For new, there is Avatar, Splawn, and Ear Candy.

[hunter]

Go take your top and guitar and go to the shop within reach that has the most different cabs on stock. Don't limit to 4x12, test both, 4x12 and 2x12 (and 4x10?) against each other.

I always thought cabs wouldn't make that big a difference, but after a similar exercise, I can tell you, IT DOES MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!

Go and try and you'll hear and feel the difference.

(For me it was a Heritage 2x12 with Thiele openings and one Vintage 30 and one G12H30. Amazing Cab.)

[Twinfan]

I find speakers make more of a difference than the cab, so you might want to narrow it down to what speakers you like first, then find a cab that suits.

Depends what you want it for too.  I have two Marshall cabs for different uses:

JTM 2x12 with Vintage 30s - more mids, great for practice and I'd use it for recording.

1960A 4x12 with G12-75Ts - more treble and bite, I use it for gigs to cut through the mix.

[hunter]

I find speakers make more of a difference than the cab,

Disagree. I tested 3 different 2x12s which all had Vintage 30s and none sounded like the other. I wouldn't have believed it, but the cab DOES make a HUGE difference.

[Twinfan]

Interesting - were they all the same impedence?  An amp run at 16ohms sounds very different to one at 8 ohms for example.

[hunter]

Well, 2 were 16, one was 8 AFAIR.

But my amp has dedicated outs for 8 or 16, which are adjusted for either resistance, so it shouldn't sound any different ...

[fps_dean]

Just bought a JCM800 2205 50w head and I was wondering what cab would work with it? I'm thinking a Marshall 1960A but if anyone has a better suggestion let me know.

Avatar makes good cabinets for fairly cheap and gives you a large speaker selection.  I personally would go with Classic Leads.  Very smooth sounding speaker similiar to a Vintage 30 with a little more lows and rolled back highs.  Vintage 30 gets a second, or a G12H30 if you want something lower wattage that will break up - I find them to be significantly better than Greenbacks.

I would not recommend G12M-75s by all means unless you want a Zakk Wylde tone and nothing else.