Mesa/Boogie 2x12 Halfback Cabinet

I have a front loaded Boogie style halfback 2x12 (some ambitious carpenter built a copy of the cab with thicker wood). I also just had a closed back panel, and a 1/2 panel made, so I can run it with the top speaker either a) closed back for the heavier stuff, b) semi open which sounds great for heavy or more rock oriented tones, or c)totally open for the rock and lighter fare, yet still retain tons of punch from the ported bottom half.

I also wired it up with 12 gauge hook up wire to replace the shoddy original wiring, and quick connects so I can swap out speakers to experiment with different combinations.

I've got two Fane AXA12, two EV12L, and two Celestion V30 loudspeakers I can choose between. So for a cab, yeah, I guess it is pretty d**n versatile.

This cab has more kick than Chuck Norris. It will dust any 4x12 I've had the opportunity to play through in terms of punch, balls, low end, and utter clarity. This includes a few Marshalls, a Bogner, a Peavy 5150 cab, and couple of different Ampeg cabs.

Right now I have it loaded with an Alnico Fane AXA12 in the upper section, and an EV12L in the ported lower section. To me it sounds better with this set up than my Bogner 4x12 with V30s did by a long shot, and I loved that cab for the entire two years I had it.

The heavier stuff I play is in the vein of COC, Alabama Thunderpussy, Orange Goblin, High On Fire, the Melvins, DRI, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, QOTSA, as well as old school thrash ala Metallica, Slayer, Sacred Reich, Testament, etc... and the Fanes hold up just fine on their own in this cab. I love playing punk as well, and some just plain old heavy rock ala AC/DC, Zep, etc...

However, the mixed pair with an EV and a Fane is just unreal for heavy music. Hell, one EV12L can take everything my Mesa Tremoverb has and sound thick as hell doing it; add the rich grind of the Fane to the equation, and it's simply the best my amp has ever sounded.

Personally, with the sealed back I think it smokes just about every heavy tone I've ever heard live or recorded, but I may be biased.

When I remove the sealed back panel, and replace it with a semi-open back for playing cleaner styles and old school rock there's detail, clarity, power, punch, sweetness, everything in spades, and I can crank my amp to stupid loud (3:00 to max on the master, gain at 12:30-1:00, modern red, hit with a boost and sometimes a sweepable parametric eq) and it sounds thick and punchy the whole way while filling the room up more from the semi open top.

With the pair of Fanes on their own it sounds more vintage in nature; the low end is furrier/raunchier when driven, and the mids just scream when you dig in. When hit with heavy distortion they have a very evil mechanical grind to them. Even at lower volumes there's this rich midrange emphasis/grind, that sounds much more refined and sweet then a v30, or Hot 100, but also meaner and more ripped. There's no harsh mid-spike here, just rich ballsy midrange grind as you crank it. The top end is incredibly detailed, and smooth with a nice sparkle to it. And while it is a little warmer and less percussive the Fane is no slouch in the lowend: it's a very full yet articulate sounding speaker, with great warmth. It's just that my reference for taut kick you in the nuts low end is a pair of EV12L powered by my Tremoverb, and not much can compete with that.

For cleans the Fanes kick out a taut but sweet full low end, rich upper mid brilliance, and clear but smooth treble. If I crank the master on my clean channel with the gain at half I can pick lightly and get angelic cleans, but if I dig in just a bit I get a great vintage clean/crunch tone. This sound kicks all kinds of ass for vintage flavored rock and blues. There's a great deal of articulation both clean and dirty on tap with the Fanes for warm lead tones, and punchy chord work. With the tone control and volume rolled back a bit it can even kick out some sweet jazz tones closed or open back.

Anywhoo, you can play as heavy as you want with the pair of Fanes short of goat raping death grind core and they'll sound killer, hell they'll even sound killer for that IMO, just with a warmer vintage British vibe.

With the two EV's in there it's no contest, the low end and clarity is just unreal. The average 4x12 just can't compete. They excel in all situations, from squeaky country clean to doom metal these speakers will kick out exactly what you feed into them. To put it bluntly if you sound like shit through EV12L's it's not the speakers fault, it's what you're putting into it. I don't care how heavy you think your tone is, these speakers will take anything your amp can muster and will not flinch.

The cab is built like a brick @#%& house. ;)

I just rewired it with 12 gauge wire.

I think it will out live me, so I'm trying to get my kid into playing.

I have no idea who even built the d**n thing, and got it in a trade for an old SS Crate head, and 4x12.

I dont know when the cab was made, dont care. the cab (2 in my case)has never failed to deliver the sound I have sought after. acts on multiple ohm levels and it cranks out the jams as loud as I (and the rest of my bandmates) would ever care to hear. ROCK!

I use a PRS copy guitar w/ EMG pickups (self installed), along with the mesa triaxis & 90/90 simulclass power amp. this cabinet delivers the sound that ive searched for, which has been 10+ years. I am in a Christian Rock band and this is, simply put, a tone tank! pumps out the boom! Speakers have never fluttered out on me, and the distortion is completely bone crushing! a.k.a. pumps out the boom!

Totally dependable, even with no backup. One of my cabs lost signal to speaker during gig, but was no fault of the manufacturer. I had a pedal board stuffed in the back of it which snatched the lead off. My only upgrade would be to put a metal grill across the openback.

Never dealt with.

I've been playing a total of about 18 years and have owned cabinets from crate, ev,etc. If it were stolen, i would cry. love it all.
Built like a tank

This is a discontinued great product from Mesa. Two 12" speakers 8 ohm. One is a Black shadow on top (open cabinet) and the other an electrovoice with closed back. Very durable construction. Larger, deeper and higher than other 2x12 cabinet like marshall 1922 or legacy 2x12. Seems that surface is real leather. I paied 550 euro but it seems new....

Great ! I use it with a mesa 20/20 stereo and a carvin quad x amp. I use the two volume knobs to blend from a an open-back sound (good with clean sound and soft leads) to a closed back (good with hi gain sounds).

It is very very very reliable and well built.

dunno !

I play a lot in various band from hard rock to progressive to pop. That's the greatest cab I have ever own in 15 years of gigs and reconrdings (I'm 29).

Manufactured sometime in the late 1980's, it has the Mesa/Boogie logo on the front of the metal grille, black tolex casing, one 4 ohm input in the back, on the lower back panel. It has a 90 watt Celestion in the top and a 200 watt Black Shadow in the bottom.

I play through it using a Mesa/Boogie Mark III Simul-Class head, with an ESP crap-model explorer, for hard rock & metal. On lower volumes, the true sound of the amp comes through clearly, with brutal distortion and soft clean sounds. Unfortunately, my particular cabinet has gone through quite a bit of abuse (most of which before I bought it) and the more I turn up the volume, the more it seems to "blah" at me while I'm playing. I've tried putting more screws in the bottom speaker, as well as putting a back on and insulating the top speaker. I know that this cabinet is capable of more, but I haven't found a way to tap into it's true potential yet. Oh well.

As for reliability, straight up 10. This thing has fallen over, been kicked, had weights fall on it, fallen halfway down a staircase, etc...and it has barely even suffered cosmetic damages. I've read that Mesa builds their gear to last, and this cab is testament to that.

Never dealt with

I've been playing for over 2 years, which isn't long, I know. My main rig is my only rig, and I treasure it. If this cab were lost or stolen, I would probably look into the older 4x12 metal grille Mesa cabs, or a 4x12 rectifier cab. Before I bought it, I played a Dual Rectifier through a 4x12 and it sounded good, but too modern for me, which I think was due to the amp. I do wish this cabinet had come with a more convenient way to carry it, because it is HEAVY!!!

As for the guy above but mine has a Black Shadow in the top (open) and Celestion Vintage at the bottom (closed).
This is simply an awesome quality cabinet . Combined with my 50 calibre head (50W) this cabinet blew my mate's 100W Marshall and his Marshall 4x12 cabinet right off the stage. It just CUTS through everything even in a noisy club.
Mesa industrial's design approach makes this very durable (not too mention heavy). Big metal grid covers the speakers and the wood is inches thick.

Using this with an Ibanez JEM90 and above mentioned amp.
When recording you can mike up one speaker over the other or both etc. I actually prefer the sound of the closed back vintage even for Metal.

Lost a wheel at a gig (fell out somewhere). Covering can get damaged moving in and out of cars. NO problems with the actual speakers, just cosmetics.

Took 2 months to respond to my emails, other than that I can't say.

Awesome - good for home and stage.

I am not sure when it was built, but it surely did look as it has some life behind it. It contains 2 jacks for stereo operation at 8 ohm, and one four ohm jack for mono operation. It contans two 12" speakers. One Celestion MC90 90 watt speaker in the open top of the cabinet and probably one EVM speaker (comparing it with the 4x12 cab specs) in the lower closed half of the cabinet, which is closed and is ported. Nevertheles the cabinet is rated at 140 watts by the manufacturer

The cabinet is used with an Mesa Fifty/Fifty power amp, Triaxis preamp. The guitars I use are an Ibanez GRX40 and a BC Rich Warlock (Korean model), both with stock pickups. The music played is Hard rock and Metal and this cabinet keeps up with it pretty well. It has a very good Bass response and the cabinet itself does not make noise, unles everything else in the house

It looks at it has been used for gigs, showing the normal wear and tear. Speakers still sound good to me

Never dealth with

If it was stolen or lost I would definitely buy a Mesa cabinet again , but maybe not this particular one, but this has more to do with the looks of the cabinet than with the sound of it which is the best you can get.