Marshall 1960a Cab and GM-36?

I asked this on the Deluxe 40 side but thought I'd ask here too.
Does anyone use their GM-36 with a Marshall 1960a cab?

Good? Bad? Opinions?

Thanks

Hey Spikey!

Yes, I use my GM36 with a 1960A slant cabinet. But, I modified my cabinet. I cut a 14 inch square hole in the back of it; to make it open backed, and loaded it with two G12M green backs (floor loaded) and two G12M Vintage 30 black backs (top loaded). 16 ohm speakers. I have used this cabinet this way since 2001.

So, I wouldn't really call it a 1960A cabinet, but it is.

Speakers are such a personal thing. I really wish guitar stores set up their cabinets like stereo stores do. This way you could A/B the different speakers using the same head.

Agreed Hwy, to my mind the choice of speakers is the absolute starting point in getting a good sound out of the GM series.  Forget valve choices they are of limited effect, the speakers' contribution is way higher than the valves'.

I use a 1960A myself.  It is from before 1970 as that is when I bought it second hand for £60.  I have the original G12H speakers which were in there and are still working but they are retired now as too valuable to gig.  I found there is actually only a slight difference between them and the G12M Greenbacks I replaced them with and it isn't important in a live context.  We should also consider that the choice of speaker is tightly bound up with the music you want to play.  We have had discussions here before where some of us have been absolutely adamant that Celestion Vintage 30s are a  disastrous sounding combination, (myself included there), and yet others have posted that they love them.  I play only classic rock from the 60s/70s and the other side generally plays high gain modern.  As in so many things, (not ALL!), it's really a matter of taste but it's still interesting to hear the other sides.

Mind you butchering a hole in the back of a Marshall cabinet seems to be a step too far for me.  You have an element of the Phillistine in you my man!    Did you prepare a back panel of your own to keep the real one in its original condition?

Back in 2001 in the band I was playing in at the time, myself and the other guitarist experimented with closed backs, removing the handles so there were openings on the sides, taking the backs off temporarily and tested at gig volumes (97dB - we used a dB meter). We both agreed at the time to play open backed. I had two 1960a cabinets and had nothing to lose. A full and slant cabinet. When we went to gigs he un-screwed the back and had it leaning against the cabinet when we played. He used a full cabinet and I prefer the slant since it has a little less bass.

For me, the speakers just tend to breath better and the boxeyness-thump of the cabinet goes away.

My favorite sound of an amp can be heard by listening to the 'Fly by Night' album by Rush. I usually am finding my tone sounds like that album and this speaker setup sounds a lot like this recording.

Here's a picture of my cabinet. I think I got this cabinet in 1994:

BB wrote:Mind you butchering a hole in the back of a Marshall cabinet seems to be a step too far for me. affraid

Yep I just "cant" do that... I know I just can't...

Hwy wrote:I really wish guitar stores set up their cabinets like stereo stores do.

I agree that would be awesome, but then they would only sell the best sounding speakers and manufacturer's would be in a tizzy wondering who the hell came up with that profit killing idea!

spikey wrote:
I asked this on the Deluxe 40 side but thought I'd ask here too.
Does anyone use their GM-36 with a Marshall 1960a cab?

Good? Bad? Opinions?

Thanks

Ciao Spikey,
I normally use the setup you're askin' for.
I have to say my 1960A Vintage is quite an old one (bought in 1988) and the option to replace the speakers with the Greenback always sounded great to me but didn't make it yet. By the way, doesn't sounds bad at all.

I'll try soon a Hughes&Kettner TM212 and I'll let you know the difference.

I have(sorry had)a Vintage 30 in my Orange Combo,after playing through a GM36,i can't imagine the 2 as a combination,the term "cut your ears off" comes to mind