Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Recto Cabinet

Its a Cab, the only features you need are inputs...

This cab is beautiful, solid construction, soldered guts, quality through and through. I play an older Peavey VTM 60 through this thing and let me tell you it is amazing. Loud and clear no matter how the amp is set up, I play metalcore/hardcore tuned to B and this will handle it and not sound sloppy all day long. My set up is as follows: Ibanez RGT42FM > Behringer 1501 15 band eq > BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer > Peavey VTM 60 > Mesa Oversized Recto Standard Cab > Shaking floor and windows.

Havent had a problem with this cab since i bought it 7 months ago, sure i havent had it too long but oh well i guess.

Never had to deal with Mesa at all but friends who own Mesa products have had good things to say.

All in all this cab great, tight even with the B tuning and handles anything I throw at it with ease. 280 watts power handling is nice and yes if someone stole it I would get another no ifs, ands, or buts.

It's a cab. Do cabs ever really come loaded with a ton of features? I guess you could complain that it's really only wired for 8 and 4 ohms, but that's really not a big deal at all.

I find that Celestion Vintage 30's tend to be a real bone of contention with some people. With others, they are the speakers with that intangible "it" quality. I fall into the latter group, as I like a nice midrange honk (after all, electric guitar is mostly a midrange-based instrument). I currently play out of a Peavey Triple XXX I've been using for a few years now (used to own a Marshall JCM2000 DSL100; the overdrive just didn't saturate enough for me and was flat at the same time). I was previously using a Marshall standard 4x12 before this cabinet, and the G12T75's just didn't do it for me. While articulate, there just was no midrange response from those speakers, and the cabinet construction didn't lend itself to much low end, either.

I recall demoing a Boss Loop Station through a Triple XXX that was sitting on top of a used Recto 4x12 at a local music store and asking, "Damn, why does this amp sound so much better than mine? It's the same model." I soon realized that it was the cabinet, and embarked on my quest for a used Mesa Recto 4x12. Of all the gear purchases I've made, I think this cabinet is the most satisfying.

Let's not forget, ladies and gentlemen, that what this cab does best is chest-thumping distortion/overdrive. It is, after all, a closed-back, mostly birch cabinet loaded with speakers that accentuate midrange. Unless, like me, you like warm, midrange-spiked cleans ala Mogwai and other post-rockers, it's not the best choice for cleans (though you won't hear the speakers break up, that's for sure). Open-backed design with flat response speakers like the aforementioned G12T75's will give you that open, airy sound much better. But for thumping, thick, midrange-based distortion, I don't think you really can get much better, except maybe with Orange's cabs, which are largely similar in design, anyway.

On a side note, I a/b this (usually running both at the same time for at least distortion so I get a super, super-thick sound) with a Fender DeVille 4x10 combo. Best of both worlds, though I may be switching to a Fender Twin Reverb with a Maxon OD881 out front soon. I was thinking of trading my head in for a Mark IV, but I'll likely hang onto the Triple XXX because it has treated me so well and I need to pinch pennies. Either way, this cab is a perfect complement.

It's like a rock. The tolex, while not particularly great-looking, is even pretty durable (I want Jim Marshall's head on a pike after half of the tolex tearing off of my old 4x12). The casters are solid. Everything about this cab is solid.

Never dealt.

Given that I bought mine used, it was a fantastic deal for me (since, as we all know, they cost an arm and a leg new). But hell, I'd even go so far as to say that they're worth the $700-800 new. Mesa has generally put out very solid products (as evidenced by the sheer lack of cheap products), and this cabinet is no exception. I've never played a more reliable, resonant, midrange-response, bass heavy cabinet. Believe the hype.

4 Celestion Vintage 30 speakers rated at 70 watts each. Cab is rateda t 8ohm with stereo separation at 4ohms each. Has sweet casters that roll soft and smooth. Good solid handles.

I think this thing sounds pretty crappy. I switch between a Mesa Boogie dc-3 shorthead and a Mesa Tremoverb combo. I thought it would beef up the dc-3 and it just made it more brittle and harsh. THe tremoverb is less clear that it was before. I thought for sure when I bought this that I was gonna love it. I was very wrong. I switched back to the cab that I used before which was a custom built Collins 2x12 with Celestion 75's in it. That cab is awesome. It is made from SOLID birch, no plywood. IT was so much clearer and bigger sounding than the mesa recto crap, I mean cab. I don't know why people like them so much. I am currently selling it.

No problems. It seems very solid. It weighs a ton!

I have been playing for 20 years and am pretty disappointed by the sound of this cab compared to many others. If it were stolen I would never get another. The only thing I really like about it is the casters. I wish all cab's had these ones. IT doens't compare to the VHT with p-50s or the Orange 4x12's. It sucks.

Speaker inputs - what more could you need?

I went to a music store 200 km from home, layed my eyes on the Dual Rectifier, and thought: i dare not try it! Can't afford it! But guess what, I couldn't resist it. I had some hope that it was a myth, no amp could be as good as everyone claims. Was I wrong... bought it! Well, my economy didn't allow me to buy the Mesa cab, so I went home and plugged it in to my Marshall 1960 AV, it sounded real good but not mind-blasting. I sold my Marshall, my comic book collection, and bought 100 packages of noodles and got me two recto-cabs. let me put it this way: since I got the Mesa cabs, I don't need food anymore! It's better than sex! When you're finnished, just go and have a beer. No cuttling, no talk! The sound is amazing, high gain hevay metal distorsion, and still every single note is clear. I will defend these cabs with my life if nessecary!

Heavy duty (and I really mean HEAVY!), could probably run it over with our tour van. Reliability amongst band members is a problem. -Oh no, do I have to carry that cabinet-trying-to-impersonate-a-bank-safe again?

Haven't had any reason to contact them yey-

I will never ever buy any other cab. This is it! I have playefd a number of marshalls and combos, had an excellent combination of a Metaltronix head and 1960AV cab. it was great, but is nothing compared to Mesa.

let me revise my review below. it has 3 inputs.2 stereo at 4 ohms. 1 mono at 8 ohms. and one output,i dont know what for. it can handle 280 watts.it contains vintage 30 speakers. this can is soo loud it can blow the pants off your mom for easy access.
super nice i wouldnt trade for the world.
i use my fender esquire custom gt(telecaster body with a invader humbucker)
i run this through my marshall g100rcd solid state head.

very good for loud music,ie. metallica.box car racer.the offspring etc.
i use it in my garage when i turn it up so the house doesnt fall apart.
can't describe the sound i havent heard anything close to it.
it can play any style you throw at it without breaking up.

i have had it for 3 days without any issues.

no reason for it.

super nice cab. mesa is the best of the best, it broughts out the thickness of my pickup(seymour duncan invader).i got mine for 450 plus the cover,which is basically a steal.

4 inputs.2 stereo at 8 ohms.1 at 8ohms.1 at 16ohms. it can handle 280 watts.
has g12 celestion speakers.
super nice i wouldnt trade for the world.
i use my fender eqsuire custom gt(telecaster body with a invader humbucker)
i run this through my marshall g100rcd solid state head.

very good for loud music,ie. metallica.box car racer.the offspring etc.
i use it in my garage so the house doesnt fall apart.
can describe the sound i havent heard anything close to it.

havent had any problems yet.i have only had for a day but what a wonderful day it has been.

havent had any issues yet.

super nice cab. mesa is the best of the best.i got mine for 450 plus the cover,which is basically a steal.

pretty much everything you could want for features

ive used this cab with various amps (a 3 channel triple, a dual rectifier rackmount, and a marshall jmp-1 with 5100 power block )all of which i own and this thing can handle its own. i compared this too many other cabs with different speakers and the mesa v30's sounded the best overall . they sort of sound a little tame at first that because the take the brightness out of the mid and high end but dont tak away the punch of those frequencies.this thing chugs very nicely but once i retubed my mesa with tubes from eurotube the bass became that much tighter which meant my loose bass wasnt a limitation of the cab being oversized. the cab has 2 different kinds off bass first is the upper bass(which i compare to the deep lows a marshall v'30 cab makes)and a sub sonic low end bass that is almost exclusive to this oversized cab and believe me it roars with any amp attached especially a recto. the cab pushes out the subsonic bass and upper bass to make that deep ass sound that no other cab can make which is in large part do to the oversizing of the cab extending the low end presence while making it a bit deeper and looser. so thats kinda the trade between the traditional sized and the standard a tighter higher bass or a slighlty looser deeper bass.i used to think tighter would be better until i retubed my amp with tubes from eurotubes.and now my amp sounds about as tight as i want it too in the upper bass and plus its got that extra low end prescence the standard offers.

its been on 2 tours and its covering is top notch but its construction joints hold up well to abuse

im waiting to see whats nextbut i dont think they could retool this design anybody only make something different sounding.

stereo, 4 ohms or 8 ohms. i guess thats as good as it gets for a cabinet.

prs custom 22 with dragon 2 pickups. used with varios amps, mesa mark 4, line 6 hd147, carvin something? diezel herbert. e.q. in fx loop with bass and highs turned up slightly. i got this cab to play down tuned (C)metal. these cabs are supposed to be able to handle massive low end, and they do NOT. tried it out for a month and it farts out way to much, every low chunk sound just farts. ive played my set up through crate cabs that are half the price and they handled the low end just fine. i think its the vintage 30s. these arent made to handle that much low end. i also have 2 traditional mesa 4x12 cabs and they dont handle low end well either but have a much fuller sound than the recto cabs. i was very disappointed with this cab, returned it to guitar center. am going to try vht fat bottomed cab.

it rattles and i hate the speakers so i cant give it a score because i feel this amp doesnt suit my style so i make it unreliable by useing low end tones.

dealt with them and they are great.

mesa doesnt have that tight sound that i want and these cabinets dont help much with that. for the lack of tone this cab doesnt get a good review.

Custom Ordered Creme vinyl Wheat grill cloth 412 oversizes Recto Standard Cab to match same colored Tremoverb Head. Removable casters are a Plus and overall Construction is great. Back plate jack has all the options you would need. 4 Vintage 30s.

I'm running mostly a PRS Custom 22 through this cab so no problems with the sound of that guitar. Honestly I'm a little dissapointed. The cab has a real beaminess to it that I never experienced with my piece of crap Marshall 1960 Cab. I think it must be from the way the speakers are angled or something or maybe it has something to do with the baffle? It's like standing in front of a light beam. The sound directly in front is pretty decent but if you stand slightly to the side the sound becomes muffled. Didn't expect that from a Cab of this caliber. I assume that with another cab in stereo that problem could be solved but it's tough to shell out another 800 beans to fix a problem in the design of an Cab that should be top of line to begin with. Second problem was with the sound post. When I turned the amp up to playing levels(not too loud, around 8:00) a farty noise would follow every bass palm mute. I originally figured the screws were loose and tightened them. No Dice. I tracked the problem down with a friend playing chunky fifths while I listened to the back. It was happening right below the input jack for the speakers.The sound post was undercut and the little piece of foam they slapped on wasn't cutting it. Called Mesa they said they've heard of the problem and sent me a bigger piece of foam with a sticky adhesive back. That worked! Overall I feel that the Cab should have never passed Mesa inspection. They know people aren't playing blues on these things their for jackhammer metal riffs! Lastly, What's up with the 4 Vintage 30's? The Recto amps were designed around the 90watt Black shadow speakers that originally came in the Cabs and the bass had a ultra tight response. I feel that mesa changed this to turn a profit because the 30's were out selling the shadows but at the expense of the sound of the cab. I think I'm gonna do what Mesa should of done and put two black shadows in the cab in either an X pattern with the v30's to get the best of both worlds or put the two shadows on the bottom to improve the loose bass response. These are my concerns with the amp that I think anyone should know about before they spend the $800 on the cab. Overall I like the cab but it isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. With some tweaking I think It could be alot better.

Except for the Sound post issue stated above I think it's built great. Light years ahead of Marshall.Mesa Custom options are Killer.The Cabs are pretty tough too. They are a work of art. The Mesa engineering logo looks great. The cab has become a Rock/metal icon. It's an 8 overall though because there is better cab makers like bogner and Diezel. You pay alot more however but your in pretty deep already with Mesa so why not have the best?

This is where Mesa kills any other Company. Top notch for me so far. Some employees are a little short with you like they have something else to do but overall I've had great experiences and advice. They seem bias on some issues like their crappy tubes and the New 3 channel recto's being good amps. Whatever. Their quality control has gone done with their increased visibilty. Their stuff is in every Guitar Center in the country so something was bound to be looked past in the production line. Its simple math I guess.

A little dissapointed but I still think it's a real decent Cab. I'm trying to be real objective here because I can't stand all the bias love fest honeymooner reviews you read on HC. I don't think you get what you pay for applies here. You get alot of hype from this company but they are an upgrade from marshall and the prices are similar so I still think the cab is somewhat of a value in today's market place. I just wish mesa would take more time sweating the small stuff like they use to when they were a small ambitious company,

4x12 celestion v30 guitar cab with 2x4ohm and 1x8ohm inputs. Handles 280 Watts which suggests to me that the V30s are 70 watts each.

Okay I have waited years to buy this cab. Read all the reviews seen all the players using it and totally had my heart set on this being the "ultimate" guitar cab. Unfortunately for me I was very very wrong. I don't know what the hell is with those Vintage 30's but to my ears they are one of the most unmusical and muffled sounding speakers ever created. Players simply MUST be using replacement G12T-75s to get good sounds out of these cabs. I have a home made 2x12 half back cab with G12T-100s hooked up in parallel (4ohms) using gold plated connectors and audiophile grade heavy duty speaker cable. This little monster sounds SO much better than the Mesa cab for both clean and distorted tones. I feel shattered - this mesa cab was supposed to be THE best cab. I have listened to the speakers on the celestion website and basically the V 30s sound exactly like what you hear there. I thought those setting were done with some amp on like 1/4 - 1/3 gain and was like "well these are by all accounts the BEST speakers ever made and I'll just dial them in right myself". No ammount of tweaking my Mesa Nomad head could get rid of that woody, nasal muffled sound. It is as if these speakers are sucking the life out of my amp (and yes, all connections are correct). If I can I'll post some sound files with the same amp setting so you can see what I mean. Not happy. I am able to get usable clean sounds (which are still eclipsed by my home made 2x12) and some distorted solo sounds are a little smoother than the G12T-100s. But as far as powerchord distortion goes this cab is just lifeless and bland. Like you're listening to it through a wall.

I cannot fault the build quality of these cabs. The components are certainly a cut above most maufacturers but unfortunately this doesn't add up to a better cab. The bottom end is over emphasised (especially combined with what can be an already bottom heavy head). Maybe the thicker cabling and gold plated spaded in my DIY cab make the difference...I dunno.

I have dreamed about this cab for literally 3 or so years and when I finally got one I was ready for the best tone and nastiest distortion I'd ever heard. In theory, the Nomad 100 head paired with this cab is a match made in heaven but the sounds - both clean and distorted - that I was getting from my DIY 2x12 half back were FAR superior. I wanted this cab to be the best and honestly believed it would be (it's built like a tank!) but in the end it's just an overhyped and dissapointing piece of gear. All I can think to do is replace the V30s with G12T-75s (75s have less bass than the 100s which will mean they are better suited to a closed back cab). While this wont be cheap, at least it will mean I can make the most of the only good thing about this cab - its construction. Anyone had similar experiences? I'd like to hear from anyone with similar problems or anyone who's swapped out for some 75s. The search will continue - I'll let you all know how the 75s sound in about a month or 3.