Ampeg R412TA Cabinet

This cabinet was made in 1998. It has four 12" Ampeg Vintage Speakers. It has 2" removable castors which I must say are very sturdy, reliable castors, unlike the ones on Peavey cabinets. I give it a 10 in this category because it has everything I could possibly want a 412 cab to have.

I am using it with a 70's Ampeg V4 amp. It has a very real sound, like old tube amps. Most new cabinets are trebly and harsh, the Ampeg is warm and maybe a bit muddy, but in a good vintage tube amp kind of way. My Soundtank Powerlead distortion pedal sounds really warm and round through this cabinet; it sounds really grainy through everything else. It is definitely the the cabinet you want if you are strictly looking for a good clean sound. Not too great for a metal guitarist (too warm), but it can still rock.

Very solid. Wouldn't want it to fall on me. The blue covering is very nice looking, but it shows scratches very easily, but we don't have speaker cabinets for looks anyway. Well built, but like I said, reliability comes with a price; 102 lbs. You've got to have a good friend to help you get this thing up and down stairs.

St. Louis Music, the people are very friendly, 2 year warranty on Ampeg speakers.

I've had this cabinet for 4 months now. Its very dependable, I like it a lot. If it were stolen I would march down to Rob Payne's Music and get another one, maybe two.

This is the Diamond Blue checkerboard series cabinet. It features Four 12" Ampeg Vintage Speakers w/Paper Voice Coils, Infinite Baffle Design, Tuned Sound Post, 240 Watts Program, 120 Watts RMS, 16 Ohms, 2" Removable Casters. The only thing it's missing is a stereo/mono switch. It was a non issue to me, but some folks might prefer it. Hence, the 8 rating for this category.

The tone out of this cabinet is nothing short of incredible. It's GREAT for classic rock, blues, even country. Maybe not so great for metal, due to it's warm tone and lower wattage. For me, it makes all of my amps and guitars sound like I've always wanted them to. I'm presently running a Trace Elliot solid state combo with it, and it smokes. I've tried it with heads from VHT, Marshall, Mesa, and Peavey amps, and I swear it makes all of these sound better than their own matching cabinets. This is not a crock, and I'm not some Ampeg salesmen, but you truly are doing yourself a disservice if you're in the market for a 4x12 and you don't try this Cabinet. It sounds great both distorted and clean. It has a much more open sound than most 412's I tried.

It's pretty basic. The removeable casters and associated mounting look pretty heavy duty. The cover is pretty shiny, so I suspect it will show scuffs pretty easily. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt at this point, and subtract one point for the cover cosmetics durability, (But it really does look cool at this point).

I've been playing for 20 plus years. I play a Strat and a Humbucking Ibanez Concert series through this with My Trace Elliot SuperTramp driving it. If it were stolen or lost, I'd buy another in a heartbeat. It sounds like I've always thought a 4x12 should sound, but have never run across one that did until now. And when you consider that it can be had for such low bucks new, I personally don't think you'll find a better sounding Cab for the price. I'll give it a 9, since it's missing stereo input jacks. This could be easily remidied as there are two input jacks and all it would take is some wiring know how. But keep in mind, sonically (which is where it counts), it's definitely a 10. No question.