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i'm choosing between two cabs, 2x12 and 4x12, loaded with the same speakers (Marsh 1922 vs 1960), and apart from money reasons, my main concern is:

Is there anything i'll be missing (tonewise) going into the studio with a 2x12 cab instead of a 4x12? I'd hate to save 300-400 bucks and end up with a rig that will suck for recording..

2x12 won't rip your head off on the lowest volume setting, is easier to move, takes up less space.

EDIT: If it's for recording, wouldn't you be better with a 1x12? If your using tubes you need to get it cranked up for the saturation, you want to be able to do this without deafening yourself in the process. A power soak may also be useful but bear in mind they don't sound exactly the same as actually turning up the amp straight into a speaker as the loading on the amp works in a different way, even with stuff like Webber MASS which is meant to simulate the impedance of a speaker

I need this to be a decent live rig too. We play some kind of metal, i'm running mesa Triaxis into a 60W PA. 1x12 will probably be an open-back cab, and i need a closed one.

is there anything 4x12 excels in doing compared to 2x12? like, close-miked with two dynamic mikes, will it yield sounds that ould be bigger enough to justify getting a bigger cab?

Orange do a close back 1x12 I think. How are you going to tell what size the cab is over a recording- you can't see it. There is no reason to record with 4x12 if you have the choice, it's too loud, you want to be able to turn the amp to get a decent sound, then mic it for recording, it won't really make any difference how big the cab is in the end, other than the overall dB level. You don't need a massive amp for live either, that is what the PA is there for.

LowYaw wrote:I need this to be a decent live rig too. We play some kind of metal

Is that like Some Kind of Wonderful?
Seriously though, there shouldn't be any diff recording 2 versus 4 12"s. Go for the 2 unless you need to impress somebody, or if your head won't fit on it without balancing precariously. Bigger cabs do make nice furniture.

I have a 1x12" which I use at home all the time, and it lacks nothing. It's got plenty of bass. Not enough to fill a large room or anything, but...

I also have three different 2x12" cabs, two of which I use all the time as part of my "rig", and the third (which has 70's Fane speakers) is just too "nice" to gig with.

I only own one 4x12" cab, which I wasn't super interested in but got as part of a trade, which I have never used and will likely be selling at some point in the not too distant future.

Hey 4x12" cabs sure are heavy! Where moving a 2x12" cabinet around can almost always be a one-man job, moving a 4x12" cab is different, say, up and down stairs.

The only regard in which a 4x12" is much better than a 2x12", to me, is that a wide amp head won't hang off the edges of it. And that's a pretty silly way to pick a cabinet.

So yeah, that's my take on 4x12" cabs.

My 2x12's (old HH cabs which used to house dual concentric 12" drivers, replaced with Celestion Vintage 30's) are heavier than any Marshall 4x12 I've lifted. Bassier too.

And they take up less space.

The only "good" 4x12 I've used was a Mesa Rectifier one. Still, I wouldn't pay £800 or whatever they are for one.

I say 2x12. You can use 2 if you must.

Maybe it's just me but I really enjoy the full stack sound of two 4x12" or an 8x12" cab loaded with Greenbacks.

You could always buy a pair of 1x12's, use one in the studio, slave them on stage.

I can't stay definitevly but it sure seems to me that if your playing metal that your low open palm mutes will have much more low end in the 4x12 than in the 2x12. At least that kind of bass that you feel. At the same time I don't know if that kind of stuff is really picked up in a close mic anyway.

In the end I think get the cab that you thinks sounds the best. I use 4x12's for recording all the time and get great sounds. Lots of other people do as well.