Basson Sound B212 Cabinet

This Cabinet was made for me by basson in September 2007 as an endorsment deal. Runs at 8 Ohms with 2 eminence legend speakers. Built like a tank and weights close to 80 pounds. The cab has a 150 watt rating, im not sure if it is actually that loud. Im giving it an 8 as its a cab and can only have so many features

The amp is mainly made for heavy metal. I was kind of disappointed when i first recieved it as the low end was no where near as heavy as they said it would be and the highs were extremly shrill. I play music along the lines of Chiodos and Saosin, in which less low in isn't a bad thing for my style, but this thing seemed to have nonne at all. I ended up buying a mesa 212 to replace this cab, and jsut to try it out io ran both cabs together. The combination was actually mind blowing as the mesa cab has boomy low end and less highs. I run PRS guitars and Fender Telecasters through a signature 5150, the ones made after the block letter. My eqipment fits out style very well and are in the upper end of guitars.

I now gig with both this cab and my mesa. If i had to play with just this cab i wouldn't be to upset. but i wouldnt be happy either

Shawn was great from the first time i talked to him he made sure everything went well including the delivery, i do have to say they have some of the best customer service policies around

I've been playing guitar for 6 years now and own a ton of equipment, I run a studio so i keep pretty much anything i buy. I wouldn't replace this cab if something happened to it, i'd more than likely buy another mesa or a marshall to replace it. Like i stated before i play PRS and Fender telecasters live and in the studio. I play a signature series 5150 thats been modded so it doesnt sound like a complete gain machine and has more character. This cab is great, but only if you run it with another cab that has more low end than it

I bought this cab off ebay and the seller said that he's had it for a few months so I'm going to say that it's either a 2005 or 2006 model. It's about 70lbs and built like a tank. It has 2 Eminence Legend 125s and really has a tastful look about it. I have the black cab with the silver grill and i think its the best looking cab out there. It has inputs for both 8 ohms and 4 ohms.

The only reason this gets a 9 is because there is no stereo capabilities with this cab. I only run mono but i know a lot of guitar players are into the stereo type setup. And since this is a review that people might gauge a purchase on (much like i did) i'll point out some things that it doesn't have.

Before I go into the sound let me go through what else i'm running in this rig. I have an ESP Eclipse Deluxe with 2 EMG 81's and a Fernandes Ravelle Elite with a Duncan JB in the bridge and a sustainer pick up in the neck.... I run those guitars into a Vetta 1 combo upgraded to version 2.3 software (i can get all the Marshall, Fender, mesa, Diezel, Peavy, and Bogner tones). I then run the the vetta into the basson 2x12.

I recently went to a vetta after years of mesa boogie equipment. I don't have a band anymore and started working as a corporate bitch after 5 years of rebelling in college. With less time and a need to pay off some credit cards and loans i unloaded by whole mesa rig (triaxis, 2:90, ADA mp1, roland jazz chorus combo, mesa 4x12 recto cab, 3 rack effects units, power conditioner, compressor, and a slew of pedals). I has a lot of stuff and ended up saving a lot of money but i still needed something that could come close to the high gain sounds i was getting and the flexibility of a midi controlled setup... i eventually picked up a used vetta 1 combo for about 600 and fell in love with it. Great tones emerge when you tweak this thing. Yet the only thing that bugged me was a weak low end which was caused by the shitty speakers in the combo... i was ready to buy a mesa or vht 2x12 when i found basson sound... i found a used one on ebay for $215 and i figured why spend 500+ on a mesa or vht cab when i'm not in a band... well i'm happy i was a little more responcible in my choice because this cab is amazing.

It has all the low end you could want when playing through a high gain amp. It can handle all the amp models in the vetta (from the Diezal VH4 to the Rectifiers to the Ubershal). It possesses the tightest punch i've ever heard which i'm told is due to the speakers ability to not distort at high volume. For those in search of a cab that can handle the heavy riffage of metal and hardcore here is your cab. At the same time you can still get the smooth mids and highs which are characteristic of your Marshall cabs. Why spend 600+ on a 2x12 whne you can buy a Basson for $415 factory direct, brand spanking new?

Built like a tank... I had a Mesa 4x12 cab for years and it was built like a tank... this cab stands right next to Mesa's in its reliability and to those who know mesa's cabs thats saying a lot.

I've never dealt with a company that is more personable than Basson. I've dealt with reps from Mesa and they were great but just professional and once your dilemma was fixed thats it. Bassons reps are such great, knowledgible guys. I emailed them about buying a cab factory direct because there are no dealers here in the North East. I got a reply the next day via email from Shawn Green who asked me to call him. He then talked me through what i was looking for in terms of a cab and was very honest with me. He knew i was coming from the world of boogie and layed out on the table the differences between their cabs and Basson's. That part of the conversation took about 10 minutes of our hour long talk. He's a gear head just like all the people on Harmony Central and is truly a guy that cares about one. You'll never find a guy at any of the big name companies that cares as much as Shawn, unless your name is Slash or Jimmy Page.

Best amp i've played through. And when i think back to the price i payed for it i just have to sit back and smile. I'm the type of person who really believes that you have to pay big bucks for the right tone. I have been proved wrong in this instance and I'm glad for it. I hope people really catch onto Basson and the quality products they put out.

**4/16ohm switch
**Side handles (much better than the common top strap handle)
**Legend speakers (I prefer Eminance, so this is a nice change)

The only thing it should have that it doesn't is casters. I added them after it was recieved. Otherwise, what else do you want it a cab? I guess it could be lighter. Maybe different tolex to set it apart from the crowd. I do like the silver/gray though.

On this cab, I run a Carvin Legacy head with a Parker Fly most of the time. Thanks to the closed back and heavy duty build, it really thumps. The Legend speakers have great mids and highs. It sounds very smooth and punchy clean and will get as wild as you want with some overdrive.

I think that I have found is that this cab is fairly amp-fussy when it is not getting a lot of power. I have tried a few different heads with it. The Carvin Legacy really shines no matter the volume. Otherwise I have had to really crank some amps to get the cab to come alive.

I do not think I will have a problem. Solid.

Best communication I have had. Several phone calls.

For the price it is the best 2x12 cab out there. Traynor makes a 2x12 cab in the same price range, but the workmanship is poor in comparision. All other companies offer higher priced cabs that really aren't that much better.

No one will steal it. "Basson Sound" isn't a big name, plus it is heavy. Add a caster kit for $30... that is my advice. I know you all love MDF, but you could substitute it for something lighter in some other places on the cab.

This is a new Basson Sound 212 cabinet, MADE IN U.S.A., of all first rate, and heavy-duty components. Rather than the usual Plywood, or the particle board the cheapies are made of, this cabinet is made of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), which is sufficiently hard to be precisely 'machined'. Accoustically, it is well damped, which makes it ideal for speaker enclosures. It has a lower Modulus, and higher density than any wood that I know of.

It comes loaded with two Eminence Legend 12" Drivers, which might be the best speakers there are. It's 4 or 16 Ohm switchable, and the switch also has an 'off' position. The cabinet is finished with Tolex, a sturdy, tight face fabric, and piping where the Tolex and the face fabric meet, for a smooth, professional, finished appearance. It also has eight heavy steel corner protectors, four thick, rubber 'feet', so it will be steady, and not scratch your furniture or floors, and a pair of very heavy-duty, all metal handles. It's heavy; you'll need good, strong handles.

I was also impressed with the factory packaging; it comes packaged good enough to survive careless handling.

I have a big, heavy, old 12 tube, 200 Watt Peavey Roadmaster that, oddly enough, is about the same 'footprint' as the cabinet, and weighs almost as much. It's a cantankerous beast that isn't kind to speakers. The Basson seems able to handle it, though. The two of them look good, and more importantly, sound good together. I think I've finally found the right speaker for my 'bad boy'.

I have a Guild X-170 Manhattan 'Jazzbox', I like the fat clear tones, and the Basson cabinet suits me just fine, and delivers perfectly. There's no noticable noise. I haven't found a problem.

I haven't had this cabinet long enough to determine its long-term reliability, but it has passed every test I've thrown at it, so far. I've looked it over pretty close, and there's not a thread out of place. I've pushed it as hard as the Peavey could, and my big Evans FET 500. It just calmly did exactly what it's supposed to do, what I hoped it would do. Maybe it's premature, but I'm going to give this speaker a '10', and frankly, I don't think it is premature. This baby has shown some real strength. And even if I've missed something, the Customer Service has shown me that they're going to be there.

These guys are something else! I'm dealing with Shawn Green. When I first contacted them about purchasing a speaker, they first wanted to know what my requirements were, in case it would be necessary to customize the speaker in any way. They're real good about follow-up contact, or passing your question on to someone more qualified to answer a particular concern. I'm impressed. Customer Service is always a crap shoot: how do you know how someone will perform down the line? But I'm not worried about these guys, not one iota.

And the speaker comes with a 5 year Warranty, which will give me plenty of time, in case there's some accidental, stray bug somewhere.

I contacted Peavey's Customer Service; that is, I tried to contact Peavey's Customer Service...no luck, yet.

I've been playing a couple years. I like Bluesy, expressive music, Mark Knopfler comes to mind.

I have a big Peavey amp (200 Watt Roadmaster), an Evans FET 500 amp, a couple littler tube amps, a Peavey Delta Blues, and a Fender Blues Junior, any of which sound wonderful through my new Basson speaker cab.

My guitars are a Mexican Fender Strat (three single coils), for most playing, and a Guild archtop 'Jazzbox' (two humbuckers), for playing out.

If this speaker were stolen...well, first off, I wouldn't want to catch the guy, 'cause if he can run wiile carrying this beast, he can probably beat me up. But I'd contact my insurance agent, and go right out, and buy another Basson.

You know how you feel when you find a product that's built like it should be, feels right, in you hands, does exactly what it's supposed to do, and keeps doing it. Well, that's how this speaker cabinet, and this company is shaping up. Both are 'keepers'.

Bought it this year. It is a guitar cab... so feature-wise it has an ohm selector switch and a terminal cup with an input and output. I drive it with a variety of amps.

The sound is pretty tight. It is a closed back cab made of MDF so it is very solid. It will easily take a clean 150watts. I have heard better cabs, but not for under $500.

Pretty reliable. Solid... the MDF is not the norm to use in the construction on guitar cabs. Usually various types of grade A plywood are used and this is prob. why their cabs are cheaper than the norm. The MDF adds a fair amount of weight. So far so good.

Contacted by both Victor and Shawn. No problems.

This is a quality product that you could build yourself. Basson Sound gets most of their building supplies from www.partsexpress.com. You can find the recessed handles, speakers, tolex, terminal cup hardware and corner protectors there and a sheet of MDF for $16-20 at Lowes.

For $250 it is worth it. If they charged over $350, forget it. The finish work is top notch. Great quality product. I've had Marshall cabs in the past. I wanted something that sounded different (less vintage) and this fit the bill. It would be better it they would add some steel mesh between the grill material and speaker baffle to protect the drivers.

A very nice 212 cabinet, built VERY tough and loaded with Eminence speakers. It is covered in black (tolex?) and has a black speaker grill. There are not alot of other features but then again it is a speaker cabinet. It was built in 2003.

I play Stratocasters primarily in many configurations/pickups, however I do like to pick up my Les Paul on occasion. I have a number of effects that I use, but my Robert Keeley modded Blues Driver and Tubescreamer are the only ones that I use all the time. Perched ontop of my Basson 212 cab is a Fender Blackface Twin. As far as I am concerned, the Twin and my Basson cab are a perfect match. I have Eminence speakers in the Twin and this may account for part of it. The cab can get VERY loud and hold its tone quality through the entire volume spectrum. Translation: It does NOT break up until I tell it to which is important in the style of blues that I play. The Basson cab doesnt simply enhance my sound, it IS my sound. I havnt really tried it much with heavy distortion as that is not my gig, but I am sure that this cab would be just at home with a nice Marshall JCM 800 sitting on top of it..

It has the utmost of reliability! The thing is super tough. Basson installs quality speakers and backs the whole thing up with a 5 year warranty.. They believe in their products and it clearly shows. I am not playing out regulary at the moment, but I have had the cabinet out on a few occasions. This is the only thing I own that I am sure will be ready to go when I fire it up..

I have never needed to make a warranty claim yet, but I can already tell you that BASSON will be there, ready to help. Shawn is VERY customer orientated. He is very quick to answer emails and take calls at any time. He even called me once, several months after buying my cab, just to see how I was doing.. He even emailed me to see if I made it through hurricane Isabel ok... EXCELLANT contact, very nice people to chat with..

I have been playing for about 23 years now, and have seen alot of equipment come and go through experimentation. This cabinet, however, is a keeper and will be with me until I am no longer playing. It is solid, has all the tone and punch that I need to play blues, and was the most value for money that I have seen in along time. I would DEFINATELY buy another one, but they build them so tough that I probably won't need to!. Just an overall excellant cabinet!

Straight forward cabinet, Built very well. The recessed handles are nice. I bought mine before the ohm selector switch was added. Nice feature. Fit anf finsih was good on mine. Heavy.

Sounds great! I use old tube amp gear. This cabinet acts as though it was made for this type of equipment. I don't have anything over 100 watts, but it handles this with ease. I mostly use a 50 watt amp and it sounds great through this cabinet.

I have only had if a few months. No problems so far. I did have to open it up (see below) and the cabinet is built like a tank. Also the speakers have a great reputation for reliability.

Out standing customer support! My cabinet had a batch of speakers that were mislabeled (not the fault of Basson sound) so the ohm rating of the cabinet was not as listed. Shawn and Victor contacted me to let me know the details and how to correct the wiring. They also sent me a replacement sticker for back that indicates the correct ohm rating. They were great to deal with and very helpful. I only wish there were more dealers nearby.

Great buy and fantastic sound. Would get another.

Cabinet with two eminence 12 inch speakers. Mine has a four and sixteen ohm switch. Black tolex and black grill cloth.

I play both an American Telecaster and a Ernie Ball Silhouette Special through a Yamaha T50. The cab sounds amazing with this setup. The cab is very punchy and loud when playing clean. Maintains great clarity at high volumes during clean as well. Highs stay true and the bass is defined. Distortion with this cab is also amazing. For what i paid this cab has to be one of the greatest deals ever. I would have paid more, but hey i didnt have to.

Cabinet has a 5yr warranty. Havent had it very long, but it seems very reliable. Appears to be very well built after close inspection. The cab is also deceptively heavy for a 2x12 but i dont mind if its built well.

Basson sound is the most increadible company. Shawn has emailed me on several occasions to make sure he has all my contact info correct in case i have any problems. If you have a question ask them they will be happy to get back to you.

You will be amazed by how good this cab sounds. Great cab even better price and a good company to go along with it. Buy one. I will go back to this company again when i upgrade the size of my rig and i will make the other guitarist and the bassit buy from them too.

2x12 Cabinet. Built like a tank with black tolex, grey grill cloth on the front and eminence speakers. Wired for 4 ohms per my specifications. All the basic features you would need in a quality speaker cab.

Here's where this cabinet really cuts the mustard! I play a Carvin Holdsworth H2, and a semi-hollow G&L ASAT Classic through a Hughes and Kettner Tour Reverb head with a Line 6 DL4, MM4, and a BBE Stinger sonic maximizer pedal. This is an incredibly versatile set up, but, being solid state, the margin for error on getting good tone is slimmer than if I were using a high quality tube amp. Even with a great sounding head like the H&K there are several important rules to follow to get great tone from a solid state rig:

1) Make sure you use quality guitars.
2) Always run some kind of sonic maximizer in the chain to enhance the signal.
3) Use tasteful, mild chorus and slapback effects to gently thicken the tone.
4) Get the best speaker cabinet in your individual budget or the other rules might all be rendered irrelevant.

This is where the Basson cabinet comes in. In my opinion, there is not a finer sounding speaker cab in this or many higher price ranges. The bottom end is more well defined than any celestian equipped cabinet that I tried out, and the higher end of the sound spectrum stays focused and does not fall prey to the "frizzy" sound that can plague most cabinets at certain frequencies. Having wired for 4 ohms seems to have been a great move. I'm hearing people say that they are surprised that the emminence speakers sound so good in these cabs, but to be honest, I could care less about the make and manufacture of individual components as long as it is sturdy and sounds great. I'm not really into disecting why certain speakers sound a certain way in so and so's cabinets and not in others, I just know what works well with my rig, and this was definately the final piece of the tone puzzle that I was looking for. Victor at Basson Sound obviously knows what it takes to build a quality product at reasonable prices. I'm not usually one to hand out 10's, but for what this product is supposed to do I feel that it's essentially flawless.

This thing is heavy for a 2x12 and seems to be extremely sturdy. It also has a cool modern look about it. Matches nicely with my head. 5 year warrenty and a dedicated, hands on customer service department is enough to keep me feeling secure in my purchase. However, I haven't had it long enough to really give it a 10! Time will tell.

This is another area where this company shines. Shawn is seemingly obsessed with customer service. When dealing with Basson you can always expect the friendly hands on service that a small company can give you along with timely follow ups to make sure that you're completely satisfied with your purchase. Being in sales myself, I find Shawn's genuine enthusiasm for his product to be a great asset. You even get little thank you gifts like free T-shirts and stickers. They're counting on their customers to spread the word, so potential clients can expect a very buyer friendly marketing approach from these folks for years to come.

Overall, a great buy for the money. It's nice to have a very different rig than eveyone else on the local scene out her in DC, but I expect as word spreads these cabinets are going to aquire a solid national reputation that will push them more into the mainstream. For the sound I needed this cab is just right. As for others, I think the service from Basson makes it worth taking a chance on ordering these cabs direct, but if you get a chance to try one out, make sure you do. I think that others will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of this little "Best kept secret in amplification"

Made in 2003, just for me. 2 12" Eminence cones in a big tuff MDF box, black tolex, white piping. Smart looking, feels solid (I've been sitting/standing on it a bit). 8 ohms mono cabinet.

Well I have a bunch of guitars (Yamaha Weddington, Kramer Baretta with a Duncan Distortion bucker, Strat) and a bunch of amps that I've tried with this thing. It sounds pretty nice with all of them but it REALLY shines when hooked up to my Crate Stealth GT50H head. It's got a nice, tight, punchy sound with a lot of well-defined, crisp bass to go along with that "modern/high-gain" sound. I wasn't surprised to see a lot of Mesa players endorsing these on their website. For a 2x12 cabinet, it's VERY loud too!

I haven't had it long enough to say how reliable it is; I've used it for a couple small gigs and it's been fine. It feels really sturdy (it's heavy too!) so I don't worry about it too much.

Shawn at Basson has been great to deal with. I haven't had any problems yet but I suspect if I do he'll be on top of it right away.

I love the look and sound of this cab. If I were building a bigger rig I'd buy more of them or try their 4x10's or 4x12's. If I needed monitors or PA gear I'd probably buy it from these guys too. The low prices are a nice incentive and the quality workmanship is obvious. I haven't heard their bass cabs but I suspect they're just as good as these or better. I was surprised to hear Eminence cones sound this good!