Mesa/Boogie 4x12 Recto Cabinet

Oversized Recto 4x12 slant cab.
Four Celestion Vintage 30 speakers
280 watts Power Handling
More input jack options for a cab then ive ever seen.
I also own a Marshall 1960B 4x12 which will be used as a comparison piece in this review.

Ok I got this cab as part of the first stage of my rig upgrade. Im planning to pick up a new amp along the lines of Bogner,VHT, Engl, etc in the future but for now ive got my current head which is a Line6 Vetta HD with the 2.0 software. Provided its a "modeling" amp, it actually provides some damn decent tones. Insane amount of power. My co-guitarist uses a 100 watt VHT Pitbull and he STILL tells me to turn down.

Mesa 4x12:

All i can say is even with the vetta this cab made my sound bigger than it ever was. My heavy tones are bigger and have expanded low end. The typical Mesa "chunk" factor" is there. The clean tones sound fantastic and also retain good projection.

Marshall 1960B 4x12:
Decent cab. Worth what i paid for it off a friend. $250 mint condition. The cab has its drawbacks tonally. Seemed a lil dark and muffled sounding. NOT a terrible cab but NOT great either.

Mesa cabs are built as tough as any other high end cab out there. I work in a recording studio and ive seen amps of every kind and condition. This cab is as solid as any Bogner or Diezel cab. Built with the finest quality.Unfortunately i lost my faith in Mesa amps due to past amps of theirs ive owned but their cabs are still top notch.
Marshall cabs are cheaply built. Everything that can be made from plastic is, the speakers are connected with wire thin enough to snap between two fingers. small casters which are a curse when wheeling it over unsmooth road or sidewalk. Mesa casters are big n' beefy and will roll over even a pothole with relative ease. Only caster better would have pneumatic tires. Cabs can be falling apart at the seams and still shake the house. Enough Said.

Mesa customer service is second to none from my multiple experiences with them. You get called back when you leave a message. They will stay on the phone with you as long as it takes to fix an amp problem. Friendly Techs. Only negative aspect is they stubbornly enforce list pricing on everything they sell. Even Bogner doesnt do that c'mon Mesa lighten that up a lil! Doesnt get a 10 for that.

Good Solid Cab. Would be nice if they were cheaper brand new. 800 bucks puts you in Bogner cab territory. Bogners have slightly better projection and resonance but also charge boutique pricing.
Good cab for recording and touring. Almost doesnt need a road case.
Killer product.

Yep, the good ol' Recto cabinet. Not many features since it's a cab, right? Just your basic 4-8 ohm plug for stereo or mono. It came equipped with 4 Celestion Vintage 30's, but being the souped-up type of guy I am, I decieded on replacing two of those for Celestion-built Mesa Black Shadow Custom 90's. Wow is all that I can say about that. The mids come way down with the help of those mc-90's. Much better tone.

Before switching the V30's, I would rate this cab an 8, but after....a solid 10. I run my two channel Dual Recto thru it, and it pairs up well. Nice beefy tone with distortion, and sounds like a gem on clean.

Never a problem with it yet, but unless you blow a speaker, it can't be very unreliable. Not like it's gonna fall apart when you're playing on it.

Very helpful and friendly. I've dealt with them several times, and they always were there to answer any questions.

Kicks ass! This is probably the best cab that I have ever played through. Almost enough to break your back trying to lift it, but thank God for those casters.

2000 Recto, tall cab with Celestion Vintage 30's. Ohm hole in's and out, stereo or mono, about average with todays demanding, corporate and boutique brainwashed, musicians.

Getting sucked into the Nu-Faggot hype, I went and bought one of these cabs used on ebay. These reviews had my member throbbing all the way to pick it up, I figured this is an entry level price to try one of these, low risk thank god for the secondary markets.

Using Schecter Elite w/ Bridge Duncan Invader, neck stock. Fender alder/maple Strat with Hot Rails bridge, HS-3 neck. Yamaha SGB500 w/ Pearly Gates and of course an 80's Kramer Stagemaster w/ JB bridge (swapping it soon)and floyd rose. I'm playing neo-classic Yngwie, Blackmore, VH, Rush, Zep, Maiden whatever mood rattles my sack. Blues SRV, and ZZ, Maiden, need I go on about my favs?

I've used a Marshall Jubilee, MP1 w/ 50/50 Marshall, Mesa 20/20 & Single Recto, and Triple Recto. What can I say, this cab is suited for the Recto head. The Marshall sounds much clearer, louder and in your face. It does throw a huge wall of Mids at you.

Speaking about in your face, has anyone really listened to V30's mids objectively? As I read on the internet and agree with, there is nothing, I repeat, nothing VINTAGE about them. Almost piercing mids, bright verging on spitty, and a very almost dare I say grainy mid when distorted. Bass, yes it does it very well but I don't prefer to play my bass through a guitar rig.

Cleans are a different story, that clarity pays off, beautiful..the nicest clean I have heard. Only problem is I don't play clean enough to justify these, I'm sure the average Trip-Recto owner isn't buying that head for clean either. The problem is having FOUR V30s in one cab, just way too much mids for me. Such a shame this cab suffers from the opposite of my Marshall 1960A cab with the too laid back G12-75Ts. Bottom line, sounds best with the Mesa stuff.

Sturdy, has the leg up on Marshall due to no shipping cost factor. $ go further on quality.

n/a

Objectively speaking, this cab is a 10 for build and 8 for speakers so I give it a 9. You be the judge but beware of the style of music you will be limited to with distortion...all the Limp Bizkit and Korn folks rejoice. Clean is fine, jazz or surf is marvelous.

Playing long enough, have too much gear and am not a multi-platinum selling critic or sold out endorser. If it were stolen, I would consider something else.

I bought this due to the hype, and once the hype settles your left with an excellently built cabinet but the whims of Celestion speakers. Have to suggest swapping 2 speakers out for sure, call Avatar and ask for Dave when your ready (no, I don't work for them but super prices).

It all led me back to my Marshall cabinet with the "X" pattern of G12-75s and G30Hs for a whole lot less and a much warmer, smoother, tone that does 80's metal and vintage blues with greater clarity and plenty of bass for me.

One final note, don't compare this to a Marshall Cab..particulary the 1960A that's Apples to Oranges all the way around. Go listen to the Vintage Engl cab or another cab with V30s and note the prices as your wallet cringes.

I use a mesa dual recto triple channel solo head, so basically they were made for each other. Sounds amazing and handles the high volume well with little noise. I also tried my old head with it, a laney tf700, made it sound a whole lot better. Also tried that head with a laney 4x12 and a marshall 4x12 and neither of them came close to sounding as good as the mesa.

Weighs a tonne so i'm guessing its pretty durable. Very well made.

havnt tried

best cab ive ever heard and have been playing to 12 yrs, and im only 19. Doubt i'll ever get anything other than mesa again.

i got this cab used for $500, it was pretty banged up lots of road wear but eveything works fine on it and it sounds great.
has 4 mono, 4 stereo, and 8 mono ohmage selection... i wish it had a 16 ohm selection but thats ok, doesnt really matter since my head has 4,8,and 16 selection.

i run my Marshall Jcm800 2210 head through this cab and the sound is unbelievable...i cant imagine getting any more thicker, bassier tone with any other cab...ive found my rig! This cab is perfect for hardrock'n/metalheads who love a beefy,bassy,loud in yourface guitar tone. The highs are also very nice on this cab... i love the sound thats for sure. only thing that sucks is my marshall head is a 100 watter and through this cab, its unplayable at home! house shakes with master volume at like the midway point between 0 and 1. LOL!
i cant blame the mesa cab for that though.
Need to get a thd hotplate or somethin!

this thing is a 130 lb tank.... very heavy, but solidly built... i like how the handles are made out of solid steel metal... everything seems like it would withstand anything.... only thing i dont like is the leather tolex rips apart too easy... but thats ok..... the cab seem's like it would never fail.

Mesa Boogie... everyone says theyre great... i bet they are.
i havent dealt with them yet though... hopefully i never will have to!
dont think so anyway!

this cab shouldnt get lost or stolen... just because of its size and its weight i think it be kind of hard for a punk to walk off with my mesa cab out of a gig at a bar without me noticing... but in the event of that happening, i would definately try to get another of these cabs, it works perfect with my jcm800.... it gives out some maxiumum crunch with a bass response from the cab that i dont think i could find anywhere else!

Well, I bought it from someone who purchased it from the Mesa Boogie store as a display model in about 1992, and being a very very early model, it has the pop in casters on the bottom, stamped steel name plate instead of cast, and the 90 watt Celestion Custom 90's instead of the Vintage 30's. This gives it 360 watts power handling. Why I would need that much capacity, who knows, but oh well. Everything else is the same as the newer models though...

This cab sounds great. Not the usual recto cab sound, thanks to the Custom 90's. It actually has kind of its own voice. It handles bass better than a V30 equipped cab, IMO, and it has a better top end. I guess more of a scooped tone, but the mids are still nice. That said, I would trade some bass for a better mid kick, but Im not complaining.

It has been to several gigs with me, seen its fair share of " hey, we're blocking the street, we gotta load in asap" abuse, and on top of that, its been a sexy piece of furniture all along. It holds up pretty damn well.

I have had one dealing with Mesa's customer service, and it was great. I called them to get info about this cab, and my Tremoverb head I just purchased, and they called me back within a half hour. Mike was very friendly, and helpful.

Its a great cab, with a different sound than every other recto cab out there. I have used it with a POD/Mesa 2:90, a Triaxis/2:90 and then a 20/20, a Rectoverb, and now my Tremoverb. Yep, Im a fan of Mesa stuff. But this cab has made everything sound great. Well, maybe not the POD, but the only thing that makes that sound good is a crappy pair of headphones. Anyways. The amps come and go, but this cab is pretty much a permanent fixture in my sound... although I would love to get an Orange cab to pair up with this and dish up a little midrange... ooohhh...

I Just bought this 4x12 vintage 30 loaded standard recto cab for 769.00, Features, its a fucking cabinet duhh!

OK lets make this short and to the point. I use a ESP explorer w/ EMG-81, through a dual recto (3 channel). I previously used a cabinet w/ vintage 30's and while it was the size of the recto cab, it sure sounds alot different. The recto cab has the most bottom end I have ever heard out of (1) 4x12 and its supper tight and punchy too.
bascially it kicks so much ass if you play heavy music and own a Mesa Recto you MUST have one of these, no substitutes. I thought as long as you had vintage 30's in a large closed back cabinet it really did not matter, but it SURE does. This thing puts the HEAVY into your tone. Oh yeah, I called mesa and asked why it sounded different than other manufactures vintage 30 cabinet's, ( marshall, crate, bogner, randall, etc...) is because celestion makes custom vintage 30's just for mesa that no one else uses that have much thicker paper in the speaker to retain a bigger and tighter bottom end.

Its a MESA!!!

Dealt with them with my recto head one time, (faulty tubes) and they were great. All though if you want to have something custom done or ordered your in for a wait.

I have been playing for 3 years and this is one the best things I have bought to improve my sound peroid. The only thing I wish I had was another one so I could have a full stack, I have one on order I just have to wait because mesa builds everything by hand and built to order, not mass produced crap like the cheapo immitaters. Yeah I also would like to have the diamond plated side armor too, because diamond plating is so METAL!

This is an older model from 1995. It has three inputs, two of which are for stereo operation (each runs at 4 ohms). The other input is for mono operation at 8 ohms. I wish it had the ability to run at 16 ohms, but for the price I got it for I'm not really complaining. The cab has 4 Vintage 30's at 280 watts.

I use this cabinet with a Peavey 5150 II. I play a lot of different styles, but mostly rock and ambient heavy stuff....the cabinet has a HUGE low end response. When I run it with my 1960TV Marshall cab with Greenbacks, my sound has a perfect balance that I love. The mids of the Greenbacks fill the void of the Mesa cab, which provides all of the low end that I would ever want and some sharpness to the soft, articulate highs coming from the 1960TV. Together, they sound amazing.

On its own, the cabinet sounds great. I love this cabinet now that I've had it for about a month or so. Vintage 30's have a very wierd habit of sounding COMPLETELY different in certian cabinets; the way the speakers handle the signal and dispense the sound is completely relying on the cabinet and construction themselves. The Mesa is built like a tank, and has 13-ply birch construction. It weighs a ton (I think a little over 100 pounds), but it is worth its weight in tone and projection. The only word that I can think of that accuratly describes every part of its sound is muscular. The cleans are well rounded, and powerful. The overdrives are, well, extremely tight and well-projected. It feels very strong and refined. Also, I love cabinets that can make you feel like you are at a concert....the Mesa does just that. I can get that certain feeling of my clothes jumping and my chest vibrating exactly by using this cab. Other cabs do that, but not like this one......

When pushed hard, the sound only gets better. The tone becomes smoother and the harshness dies down (my cab's speakers were broken in long ago, so that inherint problem of harshness with the Vintage 30's is non-existant). I love it.

Mesa cabs, unlike their amps, are extremely reliable. Very rarely does one break down, simply because they are built very tightly and with really good parts and wood. Mine's been bumped around a lot since I got it (and with the touring band who owned it before) and it has never given a problem.

I had a Mesa Tremoverb that needed some small parts (like some knobs and light cover). It wasn't much, but Mesa treated me like I was ordering a huge stash of amps from them (and I bought the amp used, too). I haven't had to deal with them since, but based on that encounter, they deserve a very high rating.

I've been playing for several years, and own a lot of other amps and guitars. I mainly use two Gibson Les Paul Customs and an American Deluxe Stratocaster, but I occasionally break out the Flying V and Ibanez JS from time to time.....If it was stolen, I doubt that I would be able to find another at the price that I paid for this one (tax time is the PERFECT time to buy used gear, because people are selling their stuff cheap just to pay their taxes). Easily smokes the 1960B that I was using before (the Marshall with GT-75's). If I had to buy one at sale or list price, I would compare it only to Bogners or Diezels, but I doubt that I'll have the scratch to spend on a $1,000 cabinet (or $799 one for that matter) any time soon. The only thing that I wish it had was the ability to run at 16 ohms. Other than that, I'm very happy!

2000 model Recto-Cab. I bought from a music store owner who claimed it was purchased for his touring band but it sat in an Anvil case and was never used it at all. Looked like it was just out of the box new.

Tons of bass, amazing high clarity, tons of power. Only thing I don't like, which pertains to all cabinets, is if you stand directly in front of it, the highs will kill your ears. I like to stand off to the side. Unfortunately, my drummer bears the full assault of this cabinet!

Built amazingly well. Solid and heavy as an anvil. No cheap tolex. I'm not sure what wood it is, but it's good quality I can tell. Seems to weigh twice as much as my Marshall 1960A cabinet did!

Haven't used them. I own a Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 head paired to this cabinet, so I doubt I'll ever have to contact Mesa.

Initially I owned a Marshall AVT412 cabinet with my Marshall DSL100 head. The sound was decent but I knew I needed to upgrade to the big leagues. I sold my AVT412 and bought a new Marshall 1960A cabinet. I found the cabinet to be thin sounding and way too trebly. There was no balls to speak of and I was highly dissapointed and wishing I had my AVT412 back. Luckily, I found a music store with this Recto-Cab on the floor and the owner cut my a deal. I can tell you, there is no comparison to this cabinet and Marshall's. Granted I did not try the Marshall with the celestions V30s which Marshall says is the comparable cabinet, but I can tell a worls of difference in the construction and quality of the Mesa, and to me, that means almost as much as the sound. With my DSL100 head and this cabinet (and an outstanding EQ), I have the tone I have been looking for. It's pricey brand new, try and find one used to save money but you won't be dissapointed (only your checking account will).

I bought this cab in July 2002. In terms of doodads, not much here, but then again, it's a cabinet. Compared to other cabinets, though, this thing has much better features. It features void-free birch construction (not cheap particleboard), steel reinforcement beams, and 4 12" Celestion speakers. Handles 280 Watts.

Mesa Recto Standards are widely regarded as the new world standard in 4 X 12 rock cabinets. Why? Well, for starters, the bass is just incredible. All the voluptuous bottom end you could ask for, just like your old girlfriend. The mids are nicely scooped, which I like, since I play mostly modern rock. The treble is all there, and the clarity is just amazing. No farty bottom end. This is due in no small part to the outstanding speakers, and this cab makes virtually any amp sound killer. I often use it with my 15-watt solid state Fender amp, and with the drive channel on, this combo is as close to a Dual Recto stack you'll get for the money (and it's pretty damn close!)Like previous reviews have stated, if you own a Rectifier, you MUST run it through this cab to get the most out of it. They were designed for each other. Even if you're like me and dream about rectifiers but can't afford one just yet, the Mesa 4 X 12 will be a massive upgrade to your rig. However, if you're not into lots of bass and scooped mids, you might want to look elsewhere.

This thing is built like a Sherman tank. Just knock on it, and you'll instantly feel how solid it is compared to other popular cabs, some of them costing more. Even if you're one of those people that hate the Mesa sound, you'd have to admit this cabinet is uncannily well-built. Only had it three months, but not even the slightest problem yet.

I've never had to deal with Mesa, but from what I hear they have the best customer support in the biz. In fact, I've never seen or heard a bad thing said about Mesa in that regard.

I really can't say a bad thing about this cab. If you're looking for the ultimate modern rock cab, it behooves you to give the Mesa a try. I've tried a couple other "custom" cabinets, and they're not as solid in the construction department. They also cost more, and I didn't like the sound as much. Some people say Diezel and Bogner make better cabs, and for those particular people, they do. Remember, THIS IS SUBJECTIVE OPINION. There is no right or wrong answer to what sounds good. Keep this in mind when you're reading this review as well as the reviews of others. Just try out everything you can and go with what you like best. I stand by my choice though. :)