Marshall 1960B Cabinet

2005 cab. you know the features. this is an update review.still wish it had 8ohm mono. but thats ok.

i reviewed this cab back in dec.05 and i thought it was great. guess what? i still do.i just bought anotherone. i now have a 1960a 2004, 2 1960b 2005 models.i still think these are wonderful cabs. have never tried anything else but the mg cabs or avt cabs, but i love the sound im getting, its perfect in every way. ive read about the farting bass and ive heard it my self in disbelief at guitar center through a dsl 100 w/ no external fx using the ultra gain channel.i think the speakers need to be broken in before giving opinions on these cabs.anyway i mainly use a boss metal zone for hi-gain sound and i get my dream sound with this. huge sub sonic bass, unreal!!! no farting at any volume. im in a 3 piece hard rock, punk band and everyone tells me after shows that we have such a huge concert sound for 3 guys. sorry but im sticking with marshall 4EVER!!! OH AND GIBSON TOO!!

HAVENT HAD THESE TOO LONG SO WE'LL SEE. ONE REVIEWER SAID THE TOLEX SUCKS AND WILL RIP RIGHT OFF AFTER ONLY A FEW GIGS. MAYBE HIS IS DEFECTIVE. I GIG WITH THESE 3 TO 4 NITES A WEEK AND STILL LOOKS BRAND NEW AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS AND 20 OR SO GIGS. IF YOU TREAT YOUR GEAR LIKE SHIT THEN IT WILL LOOK LIKE IT!!!

MIXED FEELINGS ON THIS SUBJECT

I FEEL BAD FOR THE GUYS WHO BOUGHT THIS CAB HOPING FOR TONAL BLISS AND GOT NOTHING. LIKE I SAID I BOUGHT 3. 1 2004 1960A AND 2 2005 1960B CABS AND ALL 3 SOUND LIKE ANGELS PLAYING HEAVENLY HARPS TO MY EARS. YES I WOULD REPLACE IF LOST OR STOLEN..

2005 1960B cab. Needs 8ohm mono switch but what ever.Very nice cab.Hard rock,punk.

Gibson L.P. standard and special faded. I like it.Unlike other reviewers I have massive bottom end. This is my sound. Smoother sound than 1960A. I own both,love both and need both for differnt type set ups. Handles high volume well too me.JCM 600 head and Lead 100 mosfet head is what I use depending on the club. Boss metal zone, super overdrive, ce5 chorus, phase shifter,dunlop cry baby and dunlop volume pedal. These cabs are the industry standard period. Nothing else gets the attention or respect than a Marshall stack.

Seems very solid.Grill cloth a little week but beautiful. So be careful, buy a cover or flight case, you should anyway with any piece of gear.

tried E mail them for general questions on other products but got no place.Also the local Marshall sevice center looks like a scene from Sanford & Son and the amp tech has been missing for 3 weeks. The next closest one is 100 miles from me.I needed a volume knob once for an old G100R CD head .The owner of the so called Marshall service center REFUSED TO ORDER ME A NEW VOLUME KNOB UNTIL HE FINDS OR REPLACES HIS AMP TECH. Things that you make say,(what the fuck?)

Playing acoustic since 1975,11yo.Gigging acoustic electric shows since 1989. Playing electric guitar for only 2 years but Im the lead singer and guitarist for my gigging 3 piece hard rock and punk band.If this cab were stolen I would buy it again in a minute. I love the 1960a & b cabs the best for me. I know what I like to hear and I like what Im hearing through my rig.

1999 with basketweave - gold piping and vintage marshall logo.

It has all the features you ever need on a cab, an input for mono 4ohm, mono 16ohm, and stereo 8ohm. Why anyone would run ONE cabinet in stereo is beyond me, but there you go. It's on wheels, so you wont have any trouble shifting it anywhere.

This cab has a very clear midrange and tight high end. I run a Soldano Hotrod 50+ and an old PRS Standard with Dragon I pick ups into this cab and it sounds fantastic! My styles vary a lot, but i do use a lot of high gain lead and rhythm work, which this cab really handles well. Theres plenty of defination, and i havent had any problems any of the 'farting' sounds or flabby low end that some people have described. When i palm mute, it still feels like a kick in the gut, but it could use having a little more low end to it.

The cab and speakers themselves hold up really well. But i have a few issues in this department. The plastic handles and corner guards feel quite cheap, although fairly robust. My main problem is the tolex. Absolute rubbish - the stuff rips if you as much as look at it the wrong way! There are plenty of patches on my cab where ive resorted to duct tape to hold the tolex together. It's a shame, because if it wasnt for this then the cab would score really highly because the wood, and general workmanship is pretty good, especially for the price.

On the plus side, if you like your amps looking worn in and well toured, it wont take too long!

Never needed them. Not much support you really need for a speaker cab.

Marshall really do have the formula right with these cabs. Regardless of any cosmetic complaints i might have, they sound great. They dont have any ridiculously boomy low end like the recto cabs, nor do they claim to.

My only real complaint is that for the price they could make these a lot sturdier and with a finish that is a bit harder to rip!

For pure build quality alone, mesa cabs smoke everything out there. But hell! with the money you saved, you can put the marshall in an ATA flight case and never have to worry!

You know the features. I give it a 10 because it's a freaking cabinet. I'd give a Behringer cab a 10. It has 4 speakers and two input jacks. A+.

I likey this cab. Definetely has that Marshall personality, not very noisy. I noticed some crackling but I found out it was my bad tubes. Most certainly not a bassy amp but that's why I like, nice smooth midrange and defined highs. I run a DSL 100 through it, standard marshall scream. I also run a 5150 sometimes and OH.....MY...GOD!!! The sound is so tight, so brutal!!!
I have only played a few other cabs so I don't think my opinion is all that reliable. I do prefer 2x12 cabs though, tighter bass response. But you have to look cool on stage, and the only way to do that is have a F*&^in marshall behind you.

Workmanship not all that great, I noticed some things were loose inside. Just tightened them, but c'mon, for 600 bucks you think they'd have the work down. Guess not. It's reliable enough, been gigging with it a year but the input jacks are coming loose. Frigging plastic. But it is mass produced....

I have heard the horror stories but never had a problem.

Ok so I am going to agree with the bloke a few reviews below me.....I really bought this cab for the logo. It's amazing. The name Marshall screams so much frikking rock n roll just by being on stage. I think there are better cabs out there for much cheaper. But who wants a Genz-Benz cab with a Marshall head? You have to coordinate man!!!!

Standard 4x12 straight cabinet, loaded with Celestion gt75-12's. Four and 16 ohm input's also 8 ohm stereo. Removable casters and handles on the side of cabinet.

I use either an Ernieball Luke or and ESP M-II both loaded with EMG's through a Peavey Triple XXX head into my 1960b. The sound is really nice. It has a nice smooth midrange and a good low end to the sound. It definitely doesn't put out the low end of a Mesa oversized cab, but for a traditional cab it is no slouch. I have played many heads through this cab in the years I have had it and they all sound good.

Well, Marshall is notorious for shoddy workmanship. My cabinet used to fart out with any kind of substantial low end going into it. To resolve this, I took the cabinet apart and had to tighten all the screws holding in the speakers as they were loose. The most noticable improvement I made was to add another screw to the main support beam as it was loose. This was causing the farting sound. I have read a lot of reviews saying these cabs fart out and this is why. It has nothing to do with the speakers. Once you do these things this cabinet is rocksolid!

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For the money this is an excellent cab. I wish Marshall would mind their quality control a bit more, but at least the materials are top notch. This cab will keep up with most anything out there as far as sheer volume and tone. Like I alluded to earlier the only thing it won't do is add extra low end to amp that is lacking in that department.

300 watts, 16 or 4 ohm mono, 2 x 8 ohms stereo. Its a speaker cab, what else do you need?

I'm playing a gibson les paul with EMG 81/85 pick ups into a 31 band EQ, into a Mesa Dual rectifier into the 1960B cab. I play stuff thats ranges from very clean and melodic (with whispy effects like phasers, delays, etc etc...) to extremely heavy, articulate and meaty (Dual recto, d'uh!). This cab really brings the Recto's crunch out. The mesa 4 x 12 is great and all, but I don't honestly think any guitar player needs the combined low end boom---its just too friggin much! I play in C tuning, so my tone will be naturally darker/bass heavy and the marshall keeps the bass nice and tight-nice balance with the mids and highs--THICK AS A F*CKING BRICK.
Sounds friggin awesome when I pulled some of the rectos tubes to make it 50 watts--the tube saturation of the recto at 50 watts combined with the natural speaker break-up of the cab when pushed sounds so sweet!!!--I've finally found a full-balls, thick, hi gain distortion that actually has a kind of sweetness to it. The cleans also sound great--plain cleans as well as cleans loaded with cathedral type reverbs, huge sounding choruses ,phasers, flangers, tremolos, delays, yadda yadda

Also, to some of the guys complaining about the way the speakers sound---you have to understand that your amp is going to sound different from cab to cab (different speakers, different build, different materials, etc). You have to adjust your amp with each different cab, just as you would with a different guitar. Also, as you turn your amp, your tone gets "fatter", especially with tubes. What sounds good at 1 or 2 might not at 8 or 9. Best way is to set your eq at gigging volume. If you wanna make your guitar sound like a distorted bass, buy a randall 2 x 15 cab. If you want a rib rattling thick ass smack you in the nuts distortion, get the the 1960b cab, and tweak your amp settings for crying out loud. I'll stop my rambling here.

Original wheels still work fine, this a first for me. The handles seem kinda cheesy. Its pretty sturdy, I mean, i got like 200 pounds of gear--2nd cab, amp head, rack full of shit--sitting on top of it-not wobbly at all.

The cab is great, haven't had to call marshall about--however, called em about stuff in the past, basically....F*CK YOU Marshall.

I been playing for about 8 years now, i mean, seriously playing, not just picking my ass with a guitar in my garage. The cab is great, tight, thick, sturdy. Looks purty too. I played it next to a mesa recto 4x12 under my dual recto--Sounded tighter, with more definition, especially with the lows. Cheaper too, heh

Everyone has covered the standard features of the cab. There's no need for me to talk more about them.

For anyone who says that this cab doesn't have enough bass, they need to reevaluate what their definition of bass is in a guitar sound. This is a 300W cab that features 4 75W Celestion GT12-75 Speakers. These speakers hold a very tight low end and project a very sharp amount of treble in your tone. They also hold tighter than Vintage 30's (which are typically rated at 65W-70W).

If you plug in and want a "boomy" sound, then you're playing through the wrong cab. Try a Mesa Recto cab. This cab is intended for a guitarist who wants a tight "crunch," not a "boomy" low end...and that's exactly what it delivers.

I'm giving the reliability a "6" because of Marshall's components they use.

Never dealt with them personally.

For the money and sounds it produces, I give it a "10" in overall value. You can pick one up for $599 new, and that's a damn good deal for a new speaker cab. Considering the the Marshall 1960BV cab is the same thing with $40 more worth of speakers (but will run you between $200-$250 more in price), you really can't complain about the "value for price" of this cab...as long as you don't expect it so sound a way it's not made to. Don't listen to Godsmack and expect this cab to "boom" like that. Listen to an Iced Earth album. Then you'll hear what the cab is supposed sound like.

Mine is a 2003 1960 4x12 straight front with the castors and the inputs as 4 or 16 ohm I believe ..stereo/mono...the usual speaker cabinet stuff.

I am using a Les Paul Gothic with EMG 81/85...PRS Tremonti switched out PRS pickups for EMG's and ESP EC 1000 w/ EMG's. I play Hard Rock, modern metal styles. I run this with a Mesa Dual Recto w/Groove Tube el34's and a BBE Sonic Max.(DON"T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT) ... This cabinet is a great cabinet I have enjoyed playing it very much but as some have said it does break out a little at high volume and that started to bother me when playing in my last band. Clean is great,as is the distortion also but as before high volumes broke up a little. It is a Marshall and has that great Marshall sound. Yes the distortion is brutal, and comparing to the Mesa 4x12 is a different story all together.

Not a single problem.

Never had to use any of Marshall's support service.

I would have to say an 8 for overall. It is a great Cab and sounds good with the Mesa Dual Recto (You just have to have Patience with it!!) You Can "tweak" the head to help a lot with the breaking up of the low end. I just went and bought a Mesa Standard Recto 4x12 and of course there is a difference(the quality materials is my #1 noticable difference) I did keep my Marshall and plan to use both...but to anyone in the same boat....just have patience with the Marshall it is a great cab.

Switchable stereo and mono operation. It's a stock Marshall cabinet, it looks to built well and has been reliable so far (owned for 3 years)

I really have a hard time not liking the sound of this cabinet. I tend to use a more mid heavy guitar tone as opposed to a bass heavy tone (ala Dual Rectifier) and it suits my musical tastes just fine. The highs are very crisp and the mids cut through the most dense mix. i have noticed the dead zone so to speak in front of the cab. It seems if you stand next to it it sounds alot more harsh than if you go out front and listen to it from an audience point of view. It's a odd thing maybe its the straight design opposed to the slant, but as a whole I think the straight cabs are warmer and have more kick that the slant cabs. I think it depends on how you like your tone so to speak, my cousin is way more of a metal guy than myself and he thinks it's too weak when he plays it but loves the sound of it when I play it. When I play his rig It sounds like a bass to me and to me a guitar shouldn't sound like that, that is what the bass guitar is for. i should mention that I'm using this in conjunction with a straight cab with greenbacks and a DSL 50 watt head and a JCM800 2204 head ran in stereo. I mainly use PRS MCCarty or Fender Strat guitars.

Aside form your std. tolex tears and scuffs it has held up to 3 shows a week for the past three years. I did rework some of the screws holding the back panel on, some of them weren't even touching the wood!!!

Never Dealt with them

It's a Marshall and to me that screams Rock N' Roll. It's a solid cab with all the features you need to creat your signature sound. In my opinion it handles the proper amount of bass for a guitar and cuts extremely well. Wehn combined with the green back these speakers deliver all of the frequencies that a guitar is supposed to with excellent tone and to me that is what counts. Everyone has there own idea of tone and I have never liked the sound of the Rectifiers or the vintage 30's, these speakers combined with Marshall amps give me that classic marshal sound that everyone loves.

What features!? I can't even get a hi-fi sound out of this piece of crap. All the high harmonics are missing. Its like this thing was made for am radio.

Is it noisy? YES! But I guess that's what is currently POPULAR with the kids nowadays. The distortion is absolutely brutal. I play in a church and I swear, people were walking out. It was so darn loud that even the pastor came up to me halfway through the mass and got me to use my limiter pedal.

Well if by reliable you mean loud and disturbing, then yes.. this thing is very reliable. It will in fact get you fired from your church choir leader job though.

I must call Marshall about the hi-fi problem I'm having. It just doesn't seem to cut it for most hi-fi applications.

I would really have to get my head examined if I were to buy this thing again. I bet if you dropped it off a staircase, it would probably fall apart like a peice of crap. Well, I have to admit I really do love the sheer sound volume of it. I usually plug it in at my bedroom and go into the basement and play. I got a 30 meter guitar cord for this purpose.. and even got an audio jack in the wall so I can do this. Try it! You'll like it!