Best cab for the GM36?

Thanks gravydb, I too am a DIYer and was considering a newer model SKB or Gator 4U shallow and rigging up some sort of suspension using the amp's 2 handles on the sides with heavy-duty plastic tie wraps (the ones used in computer network server room wiring schemes organizing (by the way my line of business, self employed IT guy, where I thought the whole thing up), the amp would occupy the lower area and using the wraps I would cross loop them through the handles to run into the rack case's front and back panel screw holes whre they would meet and lock. That would sort of suspend it slightly above the floor base and for added protection I would cut some of that denser gray insulation found in camera and lens carry bags to shove under the amp. The Alesis powertrip would mount at the top leaving 1U space between it and the amp where I would buy a perforated rack panel spacer. With that having holes, I might add an led light strip inside behind that which will illuminated a glow adding some WOW effects to it for others. I agree on a shallow one, the amp and powertrip 8 are not deep depth units compared to rack mounted power amps.

Since I use the Roland UM1 MIDI to USB connector so amp is controlled by remote app on my MS Surface and a Palmer PCABM cabinet merger box to use 2 speaker cabinets in parallel (see my avatar pic) amp only has the one speaker out, I would neatly have those mounted inside the rear of the rack case with some velcro strips. The only flaw in this design would be if I had to take the amp out I would need to cut the wraps and make sure I have spares.

Here, I found where I got my rack case:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Space-6-Sp-6u-12-Deep-1-4-Light-Duty-ATA-SHALLOW-EFFECTS-RACK-/221024619429?hash=item3376180ba5:g:5moAAOxy8HlScSVY

It's a lot less expensive than other cases, and it's plenty durable for guys like us. Mine has front and rear rails though, I'm not sure why this one only has the front rails. But anyway yeah 12" depth is plenty - when I had the G-System I had a couple extra fx pedals mounted inside the case with Velcro and there was plenty of room.

The zip-tie idea is interesting... I prefer my GM to be solidly mounted I guess... but then again if I ever need to pull the GM out of the rack, I'd have to unscrew the 4 rack screws and pull the whole shelf out. I've done it plenty of times at home but at a live show that'd be a pain...

Also I think I'd be careful about blocking the bottom of the GM with foam, for ventilation.

Checked out your link to the rack cases selling on ebay, definitely good priced and from the looks appear to be of professional grade and road worthy for sure. Not that I am on the road like rock bands going all over America, but I do like simplicity and protection when I bring it around to garage jam with my friends and of course if I do end up in a band again and begin gigging.

I know that the tie wrap idea seems a little flimsy but I use these tie wraps to hold very heavy bulk wiring bundles suspended from rack enclosures and skeleton framing. I am sure they will do the job, but I would prefer a better idea such as my original one of making an aluminum blanket if you will, that snugly hugs the amp wrapping it from top to bottom where the rack ears will be fastened to securely making it much more durable and simple to take the amp out on the fly.

I never noticed venting from the bottom, I thought the amps shell had all its ventilation from the rear panel's perforations. I'll have to look again, I definitely don't want to start a project that can ultimately cause the amp to overheat. Thanks for the info, if I do engage in such a project I will post pictures of the finished product. Keep on rocking!

Well I for one will look forward to seeing what you come up with pics would be great!!!

And yes the vents on the bottom are critical IMO, that bottom area is where all the critical electronic guts are...

Good luck! Keep us posted!

I have finally cleaned up my stomp boxes and foot switches, although I am really not much of a pedal using guitarist, I have always had them and nearly hated taking all that time associated with setting them up, out of gig bag, connecting them all on the floor, then the reverse when it was breakdown time. And not to mention maintaining ample supply of batteries. So I finally decide to find the right pedal board that would eliminate all this, but I knew I would want it to look cool and professional be sturdy and protective, must have its own power source, extremely easy to setup including changing out pedals if necessary, and ultra fast to connect and unplug.

I found that with the $99.99 Behringer Universal Pedalboard. Took about 1 hr to figure out what to put where, neatly organize the wiring, and on the right the guitar is connected and on the left to the amp and power. Kudos to Behringer! Take a look at it all setup...

Lookin good! Nice there's room for large volume/wah pedals.

So are you controlling the GM with the Midi Mouse?

Yes, the Tech MIDI Mouse is used with the GM36, I didn't want a large costly one like the model they make where you need to get a 2nd college degree to know how to use it. Plus this one fits nicely in the board, this one is easy, up and down to scroll thru the presets, my presets are saved counting backwards from 128 to 114 and I memorized them so that's simple enough. And yes you can customize this pedalboard to a certain point, just have to take a moment to look at it layout all your pedals, see how they will connect, run the wires thru, then secure the wiring under the panel cover with model number stenciled on it, it locks down and unscrews easily by hand.

I haven't started working on building the amp into a rack like I would have been busy upgrading present equipment. First I needed to seriously clean up my pedals which I did with the Behringer PB600 as you all have seen. Then I wanted to replace my two 112s with a nice 412 cabinet and I really did want it to be a white Marshall, a current model with Celestion G12 and I have it re-wrapped in classic white tolex to resemble the ones Randy Rhoads had, here is my new rig...
my new rig

That white cab looks great! Are the G12's greenbacks? I'm not well versed on the models.

Now get cracking on that rack...

Not greenbacks, they are Celestion G12 made for MG series Marshall amps, I know what other will say reading this, that the MG series was Marshall's value line making them cheap and low quality, but that's really not true. I tried the Jubilee edition silver 412 at $1,299.99, an Orange 412 with Voice of the World speakers at $1,099.99, an EVH 212 at $499.99 which was no different in sound from my EVH 5150 III 112 with the 30W Heritage, and my Blackstar HT Venue 112 with Celestion Seventy80, and I have to say that this cab sounded just right for my taste, loud and crisp clear with thundering bass for rocking power chords. It really opened up a lot of tones from this amp that I never got using the two 112s split with that Palmer PCABM device. I always wanted a white straight cabinet looking like the Randy Rhoads stack (I know, I know its all in my head!) and looked all over ebay and reverb, when I found one it was either pretty beat up (not knowing what hell the speakers inside went thru), the seller's ridiculous asking price, or local pickup only too far for me to consider it. So I came upon these MG series cabinet when I visited local Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores with my GM36 and tried all those other models. My guitar tech friend that does full restoration of guitars to virtually new condition also repairs amps especially when their tolex wrap get damaged, he ordered a roll of classic white from mojotone online and re-wrapped it. Could fool almost anyone. Been getting lots of kudos from others about how it will look on stage and I can vouch for how it will sound too.

Its a solid built cabinet, the speakers are Celestions only that these have the added "Marshall MG" series logo on the magnets, plus this cabinet's dimensions are a bit smaller than traditional cabs and lighter which suits me fine lugging it around, I had casters installed anyway, a lot less costly than all those other ones at $259.99 & $185 total for wrap, glue, and casters. I also wanted to step up to a single connected cab with much fuller sound rather than using that Palmer with two 112, it even makes for easier setup and breakdown as well. Next, racking, I do not know what I am waiting on!!!

I first tried mine with a Harley Benton/Thomann Vintage 2x12 loaded with V30's and it sounded shrill,Then I tried my Marshall 1936 2x12 G12 75's and it sounds great.Just take the treble down a little for live use.
My Orange Thunderverb 50 takes to the Harley Benton cab very well. I think that the Orange and Marshall amps have a more organic and forgiving sound where the GM36 is a little more focused. I guess thats why we have different amps and guitars for those different tones. It also sounded great with a 1x12 G12 75 16ohm cab too,just not as full sounding.

So far I have tried a number of 1x12, 2x12, and 4x12 cabs from Marshall, Blackstar, EVH, & Orange which local Sam Ash and Guitar Center stores had various models of. I never did try a H&K cab or Fender or even  Peavey as the local stores never carried cabs of those brands. But form the ones I have tried the best ones that worked with this amp were Marshall cabinets with Celestion G12-75s, Vintage 30s or like mine G12-MG Series and the Blackstar with Seventy 80 of any speaker configuration being 8 or 16Ohms and from any combination of speakers whether 1x12, 2x12, or 4x12, a very thunderous and bassy sound which is what I was after. All the others like Orange with their "Voice of the World" or EVH with Celestion Heritage just did not cut it, they sounded very high trebly or bright. And I never had the opportunity to try any Eminence speakers. In fact I tried the EVH 5150III 50watt head on both the EVH and Blackstar cabs and even that amp sounded better thru the Blackstar with the Seventy80s in it, everyone in the store thought so too. I am sure certain amp heads work better with specific cabinet woods and type of speaker, its not just any speaker will give you the same results.

That is why I moved from the two 112 cabs combined, an EVH 5150III Celestion Heritage & a Blackstar HT Venue Celestion Seventy80 (although the Blackstar 112 by itself gave me a great sound on this amp), its just that I always wanted a 412 and went with the Marshall MG Series with the G12s in it after trying it on my amp. But I might want to get another Blackstar HT Venue this time a 2x12 16Ohms which has Seventy80s, I did love the tone I got from that 112. Ibanez also makes a 212 TSA Series with Seventy80s in it at 16Ohms which might sound exactly the same as that Blackstar 112 and with a plus, its in white, my preferred color for amps.

In fact I feel starting from the wood used in building the guitar to its type of pickups to the material your pick is made from to the cables connecting everything to the stompboxes to the amp and to the speaker cabs makes for a unique sound which is why the best bet is to experiment with them all trying every combinations you can. But now I am just stating the obvious, everything and everyone being different makes what we do great, being individuals where we learn from each other and create new, there I go stating the obvious again!

I haven't tried as many cab/speakers as many on this thread, but I've tried a few, and it you are looking for weight reduction, the Eminence Lil Texas tames the highs and has a nice growl for rock.  When we release our CD soon (all my parts were recorded with the GM36 to a gutted, baffle complete Peavey Bravo as a cab with a Lil Texas), I'll post it referring to my parts.  I offered to use a AC30 with G12-75s that was in the studio for a cab, and the engineer said he loved my tone as is.

I'm extremely happy with the TM212 since I swapped the speakers. I yanked the v30's and installed Celestion G12K100's and it is a night and day difference. Much much better tone now.

Well I have finally found my tone, the one that's been in my head for so long. I originally had those two 112 cabs the EVH 5150II with Celestion Heritage and the Blackstar HTV with Celestion Seventy80. The EVH did not sound right with the GM36 but the Blackstar most certainly did. Yet I wanted a fuller sound wanting 2 or 4 speakers to push more air, went to GC with amp in hand to find that one right cab to replace the 2 I was using with that Palmer PCABM cabinet combiner gadget, and not even the EVH 212 I tried there cut it, nor did the Orange 412 with those Voice of the World speakers (both great cabinets from top brand but just didn't quite do it for me). Then I tried that one Marshall MG Series with the stock G12s and that did, great sound, loud, pushing lots of air in a good solid build cabinet, slightly smaller dimensionally than the traditional 412s which I preferred as well, and an affordable price.

I liked the sound it produced yet my ears still yearned for that Celestion Seventy 80 tone that came with the Blackstar HTV 112. You all know I modded the 412 straight cab changing the outside wrap of its black carbon fiber to anniversary white tolex, and now I changed out the insides as well. I purchased 4x Seventy 80s and swapped out the stock G12s. The ceramic magnets in the Seventy 80s are much larger, the cone seems more robust, and the baskets are sturdier metal. That did it, I was almost going to order one Blackstar 412 from their ID or HTV series which are the only 412 cab out there with Celestion Seventy 80s stock in them but wanted to keep my white Marshall look, I know the ultimate importance is the sound but if that was true then why does H&K build amps with clear front panels and blue led lights? Not needed right?. There is a bit of importance in aesthetics as well especially on stage. All in all its totally not an MG Series cabinet now. I guess this turned out to be more of a project as if I set out to build my own custom made cabinet from scratch. It was also a learning experience, gaining a better understanding of wattage, ohms, series vs parallel wiring, etc.

As easy as pie to change out speakers in these cabs, nothing to it, followed the wiring and presto 15 minutes later. It even handles more wattage now, the G12s are 30W originally at 120W now the Seventy 80s are 80W totaling 320W, with far more clarity with clean channel and crisp crunch on the overdrive channels. I ordered them from loudspeakerplus.com which has an array of brands and model speakers at great prices with free shipping.

Swappped the V30 in my H&K 112 cab with a WGS ET65 (along with a tube swap to v1 Ruby 12AX7AC7 HG+, v2 Ruby 7025SS HG, v3 Sovtek 5751 and Sovtek EL84s as suggested by Doug's tubes). No fizz at all.

I have used a Cannabis Rex, which is pretty good at taming the GM36, but the best result sound wise has been a powered monitor,  a dB Technologies Flexsys FM8, adjusted to "Male Voice" setting. I know many may think that that's ridiculous but I only do small bars - probably the rest of  my life - so I do what is easy and works. I have no more issues with the "fizziness" or too much highs ! My guitars have Joe Barden Two Tones and single coils + my slide has Duncan Antiquity humbucker and a Gibson 57 Classic. And I can connect it directly to our mixing console and get a nice live sound for where I play.

That's a really interesting observation HKPEKKA. I've often wondered why more of us don't use the option to put out the preamp signal to a different power amp.  Then I realised that most of the 'metal' tone which is impossible to completely remove is produced in the preamp and the suggestion of classic tone which I find impossible to get completely naturally is from the power amp in the GM.  Sadly it's the power amp tone which I want.  So I guess there is always the idea of a different preamp into the GM Return?

Come to think of it preamps are pretty easy to design and build!