Combo, Heads and cabs

hotpickups

Just musing after tonights gig over a gin and tonic and I'm thinking Heads and Cabs are more popular than combos (I could be wrong). What is your preference and why?

sw67

Combo - mine is small and light. Had head / cab back in the day but my amp sits out at home so needs to look nice ( wife said )

shaunm

No combo projects like a big 2x12 and certainly not like a 4x12. 

Plus point of the combo is less trips to the car

Weight doesn’t really come into it for me as my gigging combo has been a 4x10 which is far more of a pain in the arse to carry than a separate head and 2x12. 

I am talking absolute and utter bollocks here though because I’ve just got an ABY pedal again so I can use a Head, Cab and Combo set up. 

ICBM

Guitar - combo.
Bass - head and cab.

Because those are the best solutions for the sounds I want and the type of music I play.

Moe_Zambeek

I love combos. I used to think they were gash, but over time I came to realise combos were cooler

I also love the way certain amps sound better when the mechanical interaction between amp and speaker is more intense. Matchless DC30 for example I think sounds better than the HC30 / 212 cab.

ICBM

Moe_Zambeek said:

I also love the way certain amps sound better when the mechanical interaction between amp and speaker is more intense. Matchless DC30 for example I think sounds better than the HC30 / 212 cab.

That’s definitely a factor with valve amps. It’s not good for the valves, but it does improve the sound. (Or not, if you want very tight, focused sounds.)

RandallFlagg

I have always preferred combos, most of the guitars idols I had as a kid used combos and they are what I started out using (Peavey). I'm using a Mesa Mark V 35 combo at present.

When it comes to valves though, a small head and cab can avoid the tube rattle that some combos can suffer.

viz

Both:

https://youtu.be/B0hlNFaQnLY

FreddieVanHalen

Head over combo all day long as I use them with IRs and need to get as many as possible into my tiny guitar room :-)

hotpickups

I've always had combos myself but I feel I should go for a Head ad Cab to try them out. I know it'll be another trip to the car and back for the box but at least the weight will be disbursed between them. It's a consideration I have t think of nowadays unfortunately

hotpickups

viz said:

Both:

https://youtu.be/B0hlNFaQnLY

Awful lOL

ecc83

From a purely engineering point of view it is a bit crazy to put valves in a box and expose them to 130dB SPL+ sound levels* and expect them NOT to feedback! There is also a big compromise in cabinet design when it has to hold both amp chassis and speaker. Combos can be a bugger to "de-rattle"!

Not! That there is much science involved in guitar cabs. There is, or should be in a bass cab and in any case, if you had an SVT with internal amp you would need a forklift instead of a Transit.

*Mind you, I have always thought that a combo's sound MUST be influenced by the speaker/valve coupling to some degree? Has anyone tried comparing an amp going from internal speaker to a nominally identical external? Easiest to do with two identical combos.

Dave.

IvisonGuitars

Moe_Zambeek said:

Matchless DC30 for example I think sounds better than the HC30 / 212 cab.

My back also agrees with this...

ICBM

viz said:

Both:

[Marshall ms-2 with the 412 cab. (loud)]

In a shop I used to work in, I did that - I had an MS-2 on the counter to test guitars when they came in for work, but I had fitted an extension speaker jack and connected it to a Laney 4x12" which was in the amp display area next to the counter - it wasn't immediately obvious where the sound was coming from so at first it made it look like the MS-2 was making all that noise . A whole half a watt is quite a lot through an efficient cab!

ecc83 said:

I have always thought that a combo's sound MUST be influenced by the speaker/valve coupling to some degree? Has anyone tried comparing an amp going from internal speaker to a nominally identical external? Easiest to do with two identical combos.

Yes, I have - and there's very definitely a 'microphonic' component in the sound even when it isn't obviously whistling or ringing. I was actually experimenting to see why two nominally identical amps sounded different, by ruling out the speakers - but the difference in sound was the same whichever amp section was connected to the opposite speaker, rather than its own.

ecc83 said:

Not! That there is much science involved in guitar cabs. There is, or should be in a bass cab and in any case, if you had an SVT with internal amp you would need a forklift instead of a Transit.

Trace Elliot did make an 8x10" bass combo, who knows why! And admittedly the amp section was solid-state, so it probably didn't make a lot of difference to the weight of the cab. It was an unwieldy pig to move though, partly because it was slightly top-heavy.

ecc83

Ah! The T Elly might be a bit more practical theses days with SMPSUs and class D!

Dave.

TTBZ

Always head and cab for me from now on. The head version always sounds better through a 2x12 or 4x12 imo. Combos are just a pain in the arse to move as well, even 112s can be heavy.

hotpickups

TTBZ said:

Always head and cab for me from now on. The head version always sounds better through a 2x12 or 4x12 imo. Combos are just a pain in the arse to move as well, even 112s can be heavy.

Yes this is my thinking too as I'd like a 2x12 cab but from experience a 2x12 combo is just too impractical now

TheBigDipper

After a lifetime of using combos, with the odd period of "ghost rattle" from valves or chassis from time to time, I now find myself using low powered combos at home but a head and cab away when playing with drummers. As we're talking a Bluguitar AMP1 and a 1x12 FatCab, there's a big difference in weight that my back thanks me for. 

randella

Head (lunchbox) and cab (small).  If I could carry heavier weights I’d use a Mk. Boogie of some kind but I can’t, so it’s the Bonsai version.

I’m looking at more and more Helix reviews though...

supes

Head and cab. Gigged for years, tried both but i always come back to head and cab. I think it’s the spread of sound you convince yourself is much better with a cab. 

JD50

Every time I pick up my Tremoverb I'm glad it's a head....