Since I got those Webers 12F150s into the 4x12 cab I hadn't tried them out with my head, the Small master volume amp. See, that amp is very close to the circuit in my Victoria 4x10 Bassman clone. The Vic has the Fender 5F6-A circuit but with the 1st 2 stages connected in series and the 'Normal' volume and 'Bright' volume controls functioning as gain and master volume respectively. The main differences between the Small and the Vic are the power tubes and transformers. They make a significant difference. The Small uses EL34s, and I've been running it through some British style Weber 10s. It sounds alright that way, but not as good as the Vic with its Jensen style 10s. I've wondered if running the Small into some Jensen style speakers would make it sound as good as or more similar to the Vic. It certainly helps, and because they're all 12" ceramics in a closed back slant cab, it brings out some other interesting characteristics. It's tighter and less forgiving, clearer, tougher, louder, more focused, and I like it. It certainly evens-out and broadens the frequency response, and alleviates the midrange concentration produced by combining EL34s with British style speakers. Some people can make a Marshall stack or half-stack sound great. Bruce Bohannon is the best example. Me, I could never work it right.

Anyway, I love playing 2 amps. What I've done for the past couple of years is use the Vic as the fundamental element of my tone and use the Small to extend and reinforce the low end. It sounds huge and rich. It also sounds a bit washed-out and muddy too. I think there's quite a bit of frequency overlap that reduces the overall fidelity a bit, and the speakers I've been using for the Small have a role in that. The experiment entiltled 'Much Swappy' involved dedicating a whole LDM practice(thanks fellas) to combining different amps and cabs together. You got the Vic combo amp with its Jensen style 4x10s, the Small amp, the British style Mesa 4x10 cab, the Jensen style Mesa 4x12 cab, and the '67 Dual Showman amp. I even used a phase reversing speaker cable to keep the Showman in phase with the others. In the end, the best sounding combination was the Vic with the Small through the Jensen style 4x12. Interestingly, the Showman by itself sounds great through the British style 10s. Those speakers are not quite as efficient as some, and their AlNiCo magnets make them compress pretty severely. You can crank the amp and get some great distortion at a usable volume. Unfortunately the thought of lugging the Small amp, the Vic and the 4x12 to a show makes my back hurt just sitting here. Plus, despite the fact that I wouldn't play that rig terribly loud, it's gonna scare the shit out of most sound men. Sound men are generally ill tempered to begin with and usually don't like the idea of dealing with and micing 2 guitar amps from 1 guitarist. The Vic next to the 4x12 with a head on top looks ridiculously unnecessary, like it couldn't possibly be doing much when it's actually generating half the sound. I'm rambling.

The point is, if I could get a satisfactory tone and volume from one amp, that's all I would use. I would swallow my pride and abandon my precious amp that I built myself and use only the Vic, but when I get it loud enough, it's tone has gone to mush. If I can tweak-out the Small some more and get a response that's as pleasing as the Vic's, I could blow it through the 4x12 and tear the ears off some Gundars. OR...if the Vic was loud enough and retained its tone running just the amp itself through the 4x12, I could use that. It might just be perfect. The cool thing about the Mesa 4x12 is each pair of speakers on either side is wired in parallel and connected to a jack labelled mono. Those two jacks are wired in series and connected to a third jack labelled stereo. So, since the speakers are all 8 ohms, the 2 stereo jacks are 4 ohms and the mono jack is 8 ohms. It beats the hell out of those shitty, shitty switches on the back of modern Marshall cabs. The Vic needs 2 ohms and has 2 speaker jacks wired in parallel(my doing from when I put in the Webers). All I have to do to try out the 4x12 with the Vic at the proper impedence is use 2 speaker cables to connect each amp jack to each of the 4 ohm stereo jacks on the cab, and Bob's your uncle. Of course if that works out I'll have to get a head cabinet for the Vic. I'm not gonna lug around 4 speakers I'm not using and put a combo on top of a cab. The question then will be, "Aged Tweed or Black Tolex?".

RSMLDM