GAME CHANGER! The MESA BOOGIE 4x12" KILLER is here! 

Who's gonna get a Marshall MF cab now? Or what's your MESA killer?

It's kind of crazy how much of a difference there is. Both sound amazing.

Theres something about the low end in the Marshall i hear the bass guitar more prominently when the full band kicked in and i like that

Great videos I like the behind the scene aspect of recording I could watch videos all day

I remember the times when I was in the market for a new 4*12 with V30. I knew a lot different cabs from different backlines playing live and needed one for my own. Long story short: I spent hours in a big store comparing and finally bought the Mesa OS after playing it for 5 minutes. Everything else (Marshall, Engl, Orange..) just felt off back then, harsh etc. I couldnt believe the vast difference and asked several times: "Really, same speakers here?!" Salesman: "Yes". Years later I discovered, he was wrong.. The Mesa just delivered this combination of a smooth top end and right aggression in the higher mids, you mentioned. We are all biased to love this well known sound. I played one cab back then, which killed it for me at a gig: Mesa Halfback 4*12 w EVM12l at the bottom. Incredible. Keep up the good work, Kohle. Greetings!

Nice ! Cold beer already in hands! Now let's watch !

Awesome demo comparison!! Thanks!!

Again such a good video! A comparison done the right way! Somehow I like the slightly darker tone a lot. I think I could be used pretty well to fatten up the sound of the Mesa cab if needed!

Great experiment mate, the two together sound ace.

Fantastic comparrison. I will definitely buy the Marshall for my 6505.

And now that I've watched it properly, you did a great job matching the tones and I think they'd be excellent L/R in a mix with chuggy, downtuned guitars.

What i love about Kohle vids is that he teaches you how to listen, he is the best at this. I don't produce metal nowadays (although i still listen to the genre) and still i take away sooo much by his vids, it applies to everything. P.S. I'm starting to dig a lot the "woody/vintage" unusual tones for metal, it's refreshing that's why i loved that marshall tone (the first example). The interesting thing is the tone is going to dictate what genre and how the riffs are going to go, so it would be a challenge if a guitarist/composer uses the tone as a source of inspiration (and limitation), that's how creative/innovative things are made.

Fantastic video, brotha!!

Nice video and great attention to detail

And suddenly the MF cabinets rose in price on reverb... :-P

this vid just reassured my love for the mesa 4x12

I have the MF350 half stack. I LOVE IT!! Playing down in the shallow end ( drop A and B standard) is so gratifying.

Good lord in heaven they do sound different but they both sound soooooo killer!!! Cheers man! I love your channel, you kick ass!

Kerry King has been using Mode Four cabs since the early 2000's I believe.

Had my Mode four cab for 15 years. Kill’s 🤘

That Mesa cab is amazing!! King of the hill for sure!

Cool, now we can all sound the same using different gear. Not a jab at you, love your videos.

Super awesome video! 🔥🔥🔥

Interesting comparison. Thank you for taking the time to isolate (or at least get close to isolating) so many variables for a good comparison. I use an 80s Mesa Halfback (2xMC-90 + 2xEVM-12) for high gain stuff, which I think sits somewhere in between in tone (mostly micing the MC-90s means closer to your recto than the Marshall). I usually dislike Marshall cabs, so it is interesting to hear one that sounds usable that I can also bring up to people that can't afford (or find) the Mesa of their dreams. Was it just me, or did the Mesa also somehow sound more compressed, for lack of a better term, than the Marshall? Maybe that had to do with slight changes in amp gain or the mics being slightly farther away.

Awesome video! As a Mesa 4x12 OS owner, I have a hard time choosing a cab over it, but the Marshall in this slaps. Also, as a viewer I appreciate all the hard work you put into your videos. Stay Bro0t4L!

I'd like to hear it with straight vs straight cabs. That way it truly would be apple to apples. Love what your doin' bro. Keep doin' it! 🤘🔥🤘

I always thought the Mode 4 cab was Marshall's best cab. I sold mine years ago and wish I had hung onto that cab. I did not have room for to many cabs at the time. Now I have plenty of room go figure lol. I often used the MF cab with the Boogie Roadster that cab just made the dark voice of the Boogie come alive. The K100 speakers had something that the V30 did not have from what I remember. As usual great video Kristian.

Great video, as always.

I picked up a MF400 2 weeks ago. Someone already changed out 2 speakers for g12-75s. I took all the speakers out and put in 2 70th anniversary Celestions and 2 Fane/Avatar M65. Sounds killer. Build construction doesn’t match the Mesa but it’s half the price.

Great video as usual Kohle. The MF400 was a very pleasant surprise. I suggest you to check the PRS 4x12 because in the description says that it's loaded with Celestion Modified Vintage 30, so, maybe are the same as the Mesa ones or a completely new breed. Also, the PRS Archon 50W Head looks (And sound) very promising. It comes with some power tubes that I didn't heard of before (JJ 6CA7) that gives the sound a character between 6L6 and EL34. Again, thanks for this videos.

Great video as always kristian !! 🤘🏼 greetings !!

great review i currently use 2 mesa 4x12 and am looking for anither cab ,im on the hunt for the marshall now

Good experience, thank you for sharing!

I couldn't explain what I heard, when you said the Marshall way maybe boxxy and sounded smaller there it was.was glad you chose to go for matching tones by changing up mic position. Fun! Based purely on construction, id stay with my Mesa for hauling around to shows. should be sturdier. Recording at home and in studio that Marshall is legit even if the sound in the room isn't exactly what one would want

Kristian, thanks great video ! For your stale screws, just drill the head with a metal bit, then with some pliers, you will be able to unscrew it from the cabinet.

Great work!

Also for what it’s worth, the V30 in the Marshall cab is a phenomenal speaker, and unfortunately not made anymore. You used to be able to buy them, WGS would relabel them and sell them because there was a huge surplus of them at one time, we are talking 10+ years ago. I believe the speaker is a V30 with a 55hz cone vs the 75hz cone that comes in all of the other V30 models. This gives them that “darker” V30 tone. A phenomenal speaker and a phenomenal cabinet all around.

Got mine! Got an MF400, and I’ve had a 280 as well. I’ve ended up putting Celestion Alnico Golds in the 400 and it’s an amazing compliment to the OS Mesa

Hey Christian, great video! Could you do a video on recording with some of the "metal" distortion pedals? Inexpensive ones, like the DOD, Digitech, Boss, etc. pedals. I would be interested to see what you could do with them, get your take on the sound of them.

I've been rocking a Mode 4 cab for 12 years now! I've had people ask me to buy it after a gig many times.

I have the oversize MF400 G12k-100 slant. One of the best sounding cabs ive ever played. Pair it up with another v30 cab in stereo and It absolutely slays! This cab also sounds similar to the diezel 4x12.

Checked the video again. ^^ I really like the mesa. The Marshall is sounding good too. In the past a bandmate hat the Moude Four amp and the cab. As i remember the sound was more open and great attack and good low end. Here the cab sound really more boxy. The amp was a solide state amp and this amps sound often less "dulled" as a full tube amp. So the cab was fitting extreme well to the amp. In the rehearsals i learned the Moude Four half stack is a great made from Marshall. Amazing gain sounds and, for a Marshall not so familar, amazing clean sounds too. In this context with this tube amp the cab show a different side. Great video u made again with lot talking about details like frequemcies.

Hi Kohle, very interesting video, you've done what we'd like to do, and comparaison is pretty much instructive then I thought ! Could we conclude that the positioning of the microphone can "catch up" with the manufacturing quality of the cabinet ? because you managed to have a very similar result when you freely placed the microphone at the end, a very soft equalization must be able to do the job, right ? After the HP, isn't the positioning the big deal, for modern or vintage sound ? Thank you for sharing your personal questioning. Peace.

I have both cabs and the Mesa kills it..just saying..rock on🤘

wow, it sounds so good!

The Mode Four cab was insane back in the 2000s.

I actually prefer the Marshall in the mix. It's a darker, punchier and to my ears better suited to what I like. Both are excellent. I remember borrowing a Boogie 1x12 thiele cab for a small gig and it blew me away with the size of the sound. I had to keep checking it was really as small and bijou as it was.

I am very happy with my MF400A cab. Old school DM sound

The Mode Four cab I've always thought was a sleeper. I've got to record one several years back for a doom metal album with the Mode Four head. It sounded so good!

Very good comparison! it would be interesting to put the two signals side by side (Marshall / mesa) and to reverse phase to see exactly what adds the Mesa compared to the Marshall;)

Damn you for sharing the secret of this cab!

Great test again! I like that! But I have another test idea: How does the sound of the speaker change depending on the other speakers in a cabinet? I recently build a 4x12" cab with 4 different speaker. And I bet that the V30 for instance sound different compared to a pure 4xV30 cabinet. Why? Two reasons: 1. If your put two speaker of the same type together in serial they behave like an ideal voltage divider. If both have a different impedance curve (e.g. different resonsance frequency) than theres a frequence dependend voltage divider and speaker one works as kind of EQ to speaker two. This should be bigger as different the impedance curves are (->datasheet) and should be less prominent when connecting the speakers parallel. Parallel means they get the same voltage independently. And even power amplification works with voltage adjustment, not power adjustment. So they suck differnt current of the amp, but the amp should deliver it anyway. In a specific range. But: we dont deal with sinus signals. So the interaction is more statistical and may middle it out. Guitars are more like white noise. 2. Second reason is acoustical interaction. Two speakers are not independent from each others in the same cab. Especially closed ones. If one speaker produces a high pressure in the cabinet by moving inside the other speaker gets a pressure from behind and therefore some dampening because it also wants to move inside at the same time. Shortly spoken two speakers form a kind of one big speaker with one big membrane. And that forms a new speaker with different resonance frequencies. Its not just doubled. Some mechanical forces especially the elasticity of the air behind the speaker is different now. I dont remember any details. Its more than 20 years ago we calculated this at the uni. That's the resaon why a 6x10" bass cab sounds differently - mostly much deeper - than a 1x10". 6x10 is not just 6 times a 1x10". So my suggestion would be: - a close 2x12" cabinet - both speakers serially connected - use 2xSpeaker A and listen - than replace the second speaker with a type with a different inpedance curve and listen again Than you can variate this setting. Parallel connection. Open cab. etc. Metallic greetings Thomas

Hey man! Another great video. Well done. I have to tell you about a dark horse cab that to me has a great sound. It is a Carvin slant 4x12 from around 1984 (approx) It is loaded with eminence speakers. I originally thought they were swapped out but think they are original? Don't hear much about the Carvin's. I bought it from a friend and will take it to my grave. Haha. Continued success.

The old Randall Warhead cabs was oversized The 4x12 and the 2x15 cabs was brutal

Cool video. I'd imagine that with a graphic EQ in the loop of the amp you'd get the Marshall cab to have more of that upper midrange bite.

I've been into metal since o......1988 I guess. Marshall still to this day crushes. I used to have an old 'Park' amp made by them and it was a THRASH MACHINE! It wasn't even a 'good' or 'real' amp and it still crushed. I so badly want to get back into music but I have no support in any way. I wish I could. Love your channel man.

I really like the mesa 4x12 straight. If dialed in right u can still get great mids from it. Just sounds more meaty to me

i just replaced all the caps and tubes in my 2204 jcm800. I recorded 4 songs with it using a mf-400 cab and a tube screamer ish clone that i made. There was used sm57 at cab and some room mic. LTD ex-401 with EMG and drop c tuning. i'm happy with that sound

Daumen und Kragen hoch! 😁 16,000- nok here in Norway for a Mesa cab and no used Mode 4 cabs, but I've seen them go for as little as 1000

I like the Mesa still lol sounds like it has more resonance.

Good luck to anybody actually looking for mode four cabs to begin with. I currently have three of them and snatch them up whenever I can find them at reasonable prices, but it seems that availability has been scarce for the last couple of years now, or people are pricing them right at the same price as used Mesa cabs here in the us. I do love the mode for caps but at the price I'd much rather have the Mesa build quality.

I REALLY liked the way the Marshall sounded, and I already own the Mesa haha

keep in mind angled vs. straight impacts the sound as well.

Awesome video Kristian, love the sound, where can I get a vst plugin of the grindstein from?

Following this video, I see ONE MF400, for $1500. HA! Great job as always. I absolutely love your content dude!

great comparison. i bet they'd sound great blended together... but that's what my brain says every time i listen to any comparison! in this case, i bet they'd sound better than most things though. lol.

Kerry King from Slayer do use Mode Four Cabs too.

I had both at one time. The MF has slightly less air space also has a vented back style. Also the mf vintage 30 has a different voicing than the regular Marshall v30. Thanks for your review of it. Hopefully the mf made someone a good cab after I sold it. I’m still happy with my rectifier cab

Killer man. Would love to hear the 100s heard a diezel cab with them I was blown away

Also, Angled cabinet’s sound different to straight cab’s, even if just one of the bottom speaker’s are 🎤. The Mode four A sound’s more aggressive than the B 🤷‍♂️ From the international dimension’s

would love to see a speaker shoot out using the marshall cab to see which are the best speakers for it! I have a mf400 with the k100's and would love to change the speakers to something better

Maybe a cool video idea, the slanted mesa cab vs the straight one. Im very curious if they sound different miced up

What screen model is it exactly, because on the boogie table page I see that 4x12 there are several models thank you

Question: if you had only these two cabs to work with, which one would you assign to rhythm and which one to lead?

I would love to hear what these sound like with the new 2022 V30's.

Food for thoughts, what would be the difference with a 2x12 vs a 4x12 cabinet ? I'm considering getting a slanted 4x12 cab (don't know yet make and model), though it would take a lot of real estate in my tracking room, which is tiny.

Could you do the Orange cabs too? I think it's an interesting comparison too.

Here's my way of getting an oversized cab sound: take a regular Marshall 4x12 model 1960 (which is all plywood, except the back panel is MDF, by the way), get rid of two speakers, cover up the holes with pieces of plywood (you can get the materials at the hardware store), and that way I get an oversized closed back 2x12 cab. Still looks awesome like any 4x12, is lighter to carry, and you can sell the speakers for even more cash! I swear this configuration makes even G12T-75s sound better!

I wonder if the off mic’d speakers are affecting the tone.

You just accounted for the straight vs slant config. ALL straight cabs sound more present and darker at the same time than a slant.

So it sounds like their cabinets are sort of built to sound the inverse of their amps. The marshall amp is dark while the mesa cab is brighter with punch on the mid and higher frequencies.

I remember enjoying the Mode 4 back in the day when I played around with it. Sounds excellent here. The mids might sound a bit better on the Mesa though. Or maybe the mids are just more defined & present. I don't know. A blend of the two with select speakers would be interesting. Maybe like some German man's IR pack.

Hey Kristian! Just curious, are you sure the MF400 you have is MDF wood? I own 2 of the mf400 and 2 mdf280 and all 4 are made of birch ply. Just curious, as this would present some interesting info I wasn't aware of, i.e, Marshall made all MDF mode four cabs at one point

Very impressive.

from the year of 2005 my constant fav cab is the mf400b

either one will work for me!

They sounded pretty similar once you played with the mic positioning, and could always tweak around with the EQ? Think even with the middle frequencies pushed on the EQ the Mesa would still have that extra punch because of the ply construction? Not related to this particular video, but any thoughts on 4x12 compared to 2x12? Both Marshall, sold my 4x12 1960B (vintage 30s) as preferred the 2x12 1936 also loaded with vintage 30s. The 2x12 sounds less fuller but more aggressive and tight? Or are my ears playing up? Main benefits of 4x12 versus 2x12, and the oversized vs a standard 4x12?

the Mesa still sounds bigger... The Marshall sound more focused.... Interesting video indeed!

thanks for this, i was waiting for it! Another great oversized cab is the blackstar artisan, it also comes with v30 and the construction should be top notch. I have to admit i still prefer the mesa , the marshall sound "dryer" and less resonant to me. The only thing i am missing in this video is the sound of the MF280 with its original Marshall v30 speakers, but they should be pretty similar to the mesa V30 according to what i read.

Awesome comparison! Now let’s see the price go up on Reverb

I still love my Uberkab's. Kristian another cracking video, you are the man! Fucking love your content!! I would like to see/hear a Kohle crafted bass tone using the Grindstein. Something big and pissed off with clarity and a tonne of character.

But how different do they actually sound in the room compared to close mic setup I wonder? 🤔

Great video, as usual. My take is that the Mesa cab sounds insanely clean, direct and polished. The Marshall has that hi mid resonance it's a little muffled and dinstant, which can be very interesting for some guitar sounds, but imo, it comes nowhere close to the Boogie sound, if that's what you're after.

great video Marshall MF 400 has crappy construction but sound pretty damn good

Interessant für die Kemper Fraktion :D Selbst mit 4x Kone Speaker immer noch bedeutend günstiger als die Mesa Box. Saubere Sache Mr. Kohle =)

But if I buy the Marshal MF with V30's what does it sound like? Because if it's harsh and brittle I'm not getting the tone I want cheaper.

Dieser Kragen macht mich fertig :D

Great vid!!! I have a Mesa OS with the four V30 speakers and I would like to experience into the world of tone design and home studio... do you recommend to change one or two speakers for others than V30’s??? Il thinking omega ampworks speakers... Thanks!!!

4x12s: Fryette FB p50e, Fryette Deliverance v30+wgs+h30, Marshall 1960bx with 71’ greenbacks, Port City wave os with old 80’s T75. Works good enough for me.

Mesa sounds more mix ready but Marshall is a bit tighter in the mix on the first comparison. Closer on the second one but Marshall still a tad tighter. Something to do with the chip board back?