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NCD!! - White Box Engineering 212 cab!

FastRedPonyCar

By FastRedPonyCar
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FastRedPonyCar Newbie

FastRedPonyCar

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Lookie what showed up this afternoon!

 

 

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Here's what I think so far:

 

 

I wasn't a fan of the legend speakers so I swapped a pair of V30's in and liked those better so that's what is in the cab now.

 

It's fatter sounding than the port city but the upper end presence that the port city has isn't there in the WB. not to say the WB isn't a cutting or clear cab. It is. It's just got more beef to it.

 

The beefy low end is nice and clear and clean. Not muddy at ALL. I thought with the JCA's big thick lower midrange that it would be overpowring but it's not. The V30's stay nice and clean.

 

 

With the cab fully closed back, it sort of reminds me of an orange 212. It's not as stuffy or boxy/beamy as a mesa 212 and not as loose as a bogner OS212.

 

After playing around with it closed back, partially open and half open (both bottom pieces removed) I found it sounds the best, at least for now in this room, with both bottom parts removed. So it's technically half open back.

 

The sound is much more filling as far as the spread through the room and there's no loss of tightness or composure. I had it louder than what I typically use as stage volume and everything was clean as could be. I used the JCA 100HDM for all my initial testing and it sounds AWESOME. All the amps do to be honest but again... it was only after I put the V30's in. Those legends just rubbed my ears the wrong way...

 

 

BUILD QUALITY

 

So far I'm impressed with the build quality. Everything is 3/4" plywood. Corners are re-enforced with a strip of 3/4" plywood, tolex appears to be virtually identical to the stuff Mesa uses, good quality screws rear mounting the speakers with T-nuts stuck into the front of the baffle for the screws so they're not mounting in the bare wood (CARVIN!! :mad:) It's 19x29x13 inches in size and it's about 66 lbs so it's not a lightweight.

 

 

So that's my initial review of this thing. We have a week or so before our next show so I've got more time with it here at the house before it hits the stage for it's real test. Till then, I'll do some videos and I've got a few sound clips just messing around with it.

 

It's obviously fairly difficult to accurately capture the essence of a cab with a mic. I can give you what the speaker sound like but actually portraying what the sound in the room sounds like is fairly difficult. So far, I'm playing with room mic positioning and have found a decent spot I think for the CK1 and doing a 70/30 blend with 70% of the mix the room mic and the other 30% direct mic with the Apex205.

 

I haven't got any "real" recordings done of it yet. Just a couple of clips of me noodling around.

 

 

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/88-whitebox1.mp3

 

That one was done with the JP6 and no room mic'ing at all. just the speaker and a little reverb in the loop.

 

 

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/2-Whitebox_LongTest.mp3

 

The long test, I didn't actually intend on uploading but it turned out ok so I figured why not. I used the Tokai for this one and went through the clean channel with some FX from the nova system then to a mild gain (9 o'clock) on the lead channel then bumped it up bit by bit.

 

No boost used on any of the clips.

 

 

I also dusted off the Carvin C66 and did a video doing improv to "blue on black" using the neck pickup split coil, fairly low gain on the amp and the CM2 boosting occasionally.

 

[YOUTUBE]Q-If9TqqlwQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Plenty more to come this weekend! :cool:

 

 

My final thought for now though is that it's every bit as good as the $700~$800+ 212's on the market. I think it (personally) sounds better than the mesa open back lonestar 212 and the smaller closed back 212.

 

I've only heard a splawn 212 very briefly but as much as we hype those as well, I think that this is on par with it too.

 

So so far, this is shaping up to be a real major player in the lots of tone for not a lot of $$ cab. I see it similar to how splawn builds their stuff in house and sells without the retailer's mark up. Only Doug is offering any eminence speaker and a few different celestions? So far, it looks good. We'll see what I come up with this weekend and if I have time, I'm going to take it to our local boutique store with the bogner, engl and diezel stuff to see what it does vs those.

 

 

And you can't un-see the Pringles mustache in the logo :cop:

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Dolf Newbie

Dolf

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You fucking thunder stealer! :mad:

 

 

My whitebox 4x12 has been sitting at work since yesterday afternoon. I had to take the day off, so I didn't get to get it yet :cry:

 

My "NCD" thread will probably go up Saturday. It will include pictures from the show tonight.

 

Good score, man! I can't wait for mine.

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NinjaRaf Newbie

NinjaRaf

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Do you know which legends came in it? The model number should be under the rubber around the magnet. One thing to keep in mind about legends is they take kind of a while to break in. I wasnt in love with my vader until those fuckers broke in, and it took almost 2 months to do so...though I didnt play it everyday, and I didnt play it at high volumes. Until then, they are kinda harsh sounding, but once they break in...:love:

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FastRedPonyCar Newbie

FastRedPonyCar

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The legends aren't really harsh in the ice pick type way, it's more of just a very abrasive 2.5 kHz spike in the sound. I hooked my DBX215 eq in the loop and fiddled with the various sliders and when I hit 2.5k, pulled it all the way down, the tone was 1000% better.

 

The legends are a GB128 and a 1258 I think.

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NinjaRaf Newbie

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The legends aren't really harsh in the ice pick type way, it's more of just a very abrasive 2.5 kHz spike in the sound. I hooked my DBX215 eq in the loop and fiddled with the various sliders and when I hit 2.5k, pulled it all the way down, the tone was 1000% better.


The legends are a GB128 and a 1258 I
think
.

 

 

I guarantee thats from them being brand new!!

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jet city amps Newbie

jet city amps

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You fucking thunder stealer!
:mad:


My whitebox 4x12 has been sitting at work since yesterday afternoon. I had to take the day off, so I didn't get to get it yet
:cry:

My "NCD" thread will probably go up Saturday. It will include pictures from the show tonight.


Good score, man! I can't wait for mine.

 

Ha ha ha! He had NO right to do that! I shipped yours a day EARLIER than I shipped this one!!!

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jet city amps Newbie

jet city amps

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Plenty more to come this weekend!
:cool:


My final thought for now though is that it's every bit as good as the $700~$800+ 212's on the market. I think it (personally) sounds better than the mesa open back lonestar 212 and the smaller closed back 212.


I've only heard a splawn 212 very briefly but as much as we hype those as well, I think that this is on par with it too.


So so far, this is shaping up to be a real major player in the lots of tone for not a lot of $$ cab. I see it similar to how splawn builds their stuff in house and sells without the retailer's mark up. Only Doug is offering any eminence speaker and a few different celestions? So far, it looks good. We'll see what I come up with this weekend and if I have time, I'm going to take it to our local boutique store with the bogner, engl and diezel stuff to see what it does vs those.



And you can't un-see the Pringles mustache in the logo
:cop:

 

FRPC, thanks a lot for doing this - you always come through and I appreciate it. I also am happy for your honesty...

But why does HCAF never like my logos??????? :facepalm:

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jet city amps Newbie

jet city amps

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a link to order a 2x12 and how much do they cost????

 

 

well the site is supposed to go LIVE on Tuesday but I don't think we will make it!!! check my signature for the link.

 

Right now I am pretty sure the 212 as FRPC received it with an Eminence cocktail will be $379. $399 with V30.

 

And my cab shop just hit me with final costs and I need to do some math!

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NinjaRaf Newbie

NinjaRaf

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Raf, if they do need breaking in, in that case, I'll load em in my avatar 212 and drape a few blankets over the cab and let that run any time I'm playing.


I'll give em a couple of weeks and if still no luck, back to doug

 

 

For sure!! I was very on the fence about my vader when I first got it. After a couple months, I started noticing a MUCH warmer and smoother tone coming out of it, and I was in love. I didnt have that problem with my M12s, since they were used.

 

Doug, is there anyway that you could pre break in speakers? Kinda like what avatar does with the hellatones? I think legends typically take a bit longer to brake in since they are rated at higher wattage. I would hate for people to get the cabs and not like them because the legends arent broken...Im a HUGE proponent of these speakers because I think they do SO much SO well, and are MUCH less than the cost of celestions.

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NinjaRaf Newbie

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Being an Eminence-tard, will someone with some experience with them compare them to comparably-rated Celestions for me?


I know that the Legends come in both 35w & 75w configurations and I've heard that the 35 watters are similar to Greenbacks, which are my personal favorites.


'Presh!

 

 

You cant, really...they are their own thing. Very balanced, smooth, and tight sounding. They dont have any spikes in the sound spectrum, generally speaking. I dunno what wattage you are talking about, but they dont have a variable wattage...they make 2 that are 120 watts, 1 50, and 1 75...4 different models. They are high powered and clean/clear sounding speakers that take a while to break in. IME, they dont really match up with any celestions in particular...I think the patriot and red coat series match up to celestions a bit better...

 

On a side note, if you want some high powered green backs, check out ear candy green machines.

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Sheik_Yerbouti Newbie

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You cant, really...they are their own thing. Very balanced, smooth, and tight sounding. They dont have any spikes in the sound spectrum, generally speaking. I dunno what wattage you are talking about, but they dont have a variable wattage...they make 2 that are 120 watts, 1 50, and 1 75...4 different models. They are high powered and clean/clear sounding speakers that take a while to break in. IME, they dont really match up with any celestions in particular...I think the patriot and red coat series match up to celestions a bit better...


On a side note, if you want some high powered green backs, check out ear candy green machines.

 

 

 

Thanks, Raf!

 

Just curious, because a 2x12 whitebox may just HAVE to happen here some time REAL soon! Any experience with those Emi-Fryette P50Es, per chance?

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