Hardwood cabs: good or bad

Bricketts

Search for some hive feedback on experiences with hardwood cabs. I’m not really here to argue the merits or lunacy of the aesthetics or weight etc, I’m curious from a strictly tonal perspective. 

I would be curious to know which woods and the impact on tone, if any… Love the look of a nice wood head/cab, but I’m more keen on function over beauty. 

thanks

strtdv

I'd be surprised if there were any tonal advantages, and whether you could hear any difference that wouldn't be down to cab volume/porting etc. 
If anything, good quality ply with its even density and cross laminations seems less likely to suffer from undesirable resonances etc than hardwood. In a guitar you're looking for the wood to sustain and resonate, in a speaker cab you're generally looking for the opposite.

There's plenty of PEFC/FSC certified good quality plywood around, chopping down the rainforests to make a cab (unless it's something that's genuinely heirloom furniture grade) seems unnecessary

ICBM

There is a noticeable difference. The only cabs where I’ve directly compared the same models in ply and hardwood are the Mesa/Boogie Mark series. The hardwood ones sound brighter and more complex.

Bear in mind that a guitar cab is not at all like a hi-fi or monitor cab - the sides resonate substantially and also radiate sound from their outer surfaces.

Part of the difference is that there’s no tolex on the outside - that changes the sound as well… if you don’t believe that, try comparing an old stripped to the (ply)wood Marshall cab with the same model cab but still covered. The stripped cab will sound livelier - the vinyl dampens the panels.

These aren’t huge differences but they are definitely easily audible.

rockmonster

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-eeC1XyZxYs

This was an eye opener for me!

ICBM

rockmonster said:

This was an eye opener for me!

Sure, it still sounds like a guitar cab.

All electric guitars sound the same too if you ignore all the fine detail.