Deciding on a cabinet

So now I had my head. Next thing to do? Find a cabinet. Again, this was a daunting task. Seemed easy enough at first. When I had considered the DSL20 and Code 100 all cabinets had seemed to be of a suitable size. I want the cabinet to be the same width as the head or wider, definitely not narrower, at least not by much. The Code 100H is just 52.5cm wide. The DG130H though is 71cm wide. Obviously, the range of suitable cabinets shrunk significantly.

I started looking at used cabinets. There were surprisingly few cabinets that were wide enough that weren’t also either a bit much and too far away compared to ordering one. And then there was the issue of speakers… When I had looked at the Code 100 head I was thinking the Code 412 cabinet would work great with that. Except I kept reading that it really needed celestion speakers to shine, Vintage 30 and Greenbacks seemed to be preferred. Speakers do matter, I do not question that at all. So I started going through youtube videos and forum discussions to figure out what speakers I should look for. And the Vintage 30’s did not really look that great at this point.

By this time I was very annoyed at this whole thing. I had no idea which way to go. Then I recalled. The DG80-112 had come with Celestion Vintage 30’s. And checking the manual for the DG130 I found that the matching cabinet, the S412V, came with 4 8ohm Vintage 30 speakers. Ok, so I figured that would be a good starting point. I ideally needed something with Vintage 30 speakers.

Again, this of course did not help much. I was offered a Marshall 1960 cabinet with greenbacks. This might have worked but the wattage was really on the limit there. I was also offered a Peavey 6505 cab, which may or may not have had Vintage 30’s, Peavey seem to not have been very consistent. A good friend found a Mesa Boogie 2x12, which had vintage 30´s. I do trust him on these issues. We were getting into some rather expensive options though, in relation to my budget for this. But it got me back to looking at 2x12’s. A certain german online retailer has a brand of music equipment which offer some very attractive budget options. So a 2x12 cab with vintage 30’s, that would be 120W at 8ohm. But… 130W amp… Ok, so in hindsight I can say that I’m certain that 120W at 8ohm would have been fine. The amp is rated 130W at 4ohm and 100W at 8ohm. But since doubt had been placed in my head…

I just went ahead and ordered the Harley Benton G412A Vintage. Just to get it done. The price was pretty much the same as other cabinets I had considered used. Except this was with shipping and not spending hours driving back and forth. Slightly lower than the used Marshall options. Noticeably lower than a new Marshall 1960A.

The cabinet arrived a few days after placing the order. Now, I have previously ordered things from this german online retailer and have bad experiences with the shipping (broken guitar). So I specifically asked them to make sure the packaging was sufficient and, if possible, remove castors to reduce the risk of damage. When it arrived, there was a big hole in the carton. No extra padding for protection. Castors still on. Seriously, just adding a layer of carton would have been sufficient to protect from some rough handling. The condition was good enough though that I didn’t want to bother.