Iommic Pope wrote:Two cheap 412s are floating around and I'm finding the temptation to sell my orange 212 and nab one of them to refit with decent speakers too much to resist.
One is a laney GS412IS. $250AU. Has shitty cel. 70/80s.
The other is a Hiwatt HG412, that moose already poopooed, but is made out of ply and identical in dimensions and features to the expensive hiwatt cabs. Probably also made in china, but everything (almost) we get on the Oz market is. Could get it for $300, has hiwatt not-faners in it. (Moose, I know you know your shit, but construction-wise, I'm finding it real hard to split the diff on those hiwatt cabs. Both are the same ply according to the hiwatt site, the cheap one has segmented internal bracing behind the front baffle, but seems to be in all the critical spots. However I've seen new orange cabs with the same technique, so I dunno what to go with there. Seems like the same shit, just without a primo label. From what I can tell from wordworking dudes is that dovetails and the like don't really make a cab stronger, they just look good, moot point here as: tolex. If they even do that on their fancy expensive new ones.)
Ok, so that's gonna start some arguments.
I know what whiskey and summit are gonna say...I'm kinda with them.
But if there's something critically wrong with them, like they were made in a death labour camp where Black Sabbath records were burnt while the Old Testament was read then I won't go there.
I think the Laney Cabs are generally good cabs, but bad speakers...even the cheaper IRT cabs are good cabs but horrible speakers.
i have never owned any hiwatt cabs, but i do play through them sometimes at rehearsals, and to me they seem very flimsy and lack any depth in the sound...ofcourse the amps and the speakers have a lot to do with it...so take that advice with a grain of salt.
If it was me...i would go with Laney
Edit: shit, i just looked up those Laney cabs, and they are built for the GH amp range...i would definitely go with the Laney's
