mesa dual recto combo

i was reading something in the dragons pub about cabs and heads and got really confused. i dont know a whole lot about amps, i just play through whatever sounds good. anyways, can you combine example: a dual recto head with a marshall 4x12 cab. can you do this with any set of head and cabs?

[John Phillips]

As long as the impedance of the cab is correct for the amp (4, 8 or 16 ohms usually; most amps have more than one setting) and the power handling of the cab is at least equal to, and preferably greater than, the output power of the amp, you can use any cab with any amp head.

A Recto through a Marshall 4x12" will work just fine, assuming the cab can be set to 4 ohms (Mesas don't have 16-ohm outputs).

You can use the wrong impedance; but don't unless you know what you're doing. Stick around here and someone boring like me will explain it later...

Actually the 3 ch. Mesa Rectos do have 16 ohm outputs. 1 16 ohm, 2 8 ohm and 2 4 ohm outputs to be exact.
Although you can mix different amp brands with different cab brands you may not always like the resulting sound. I own a VHT Ultra-Lead and VHT 4/12 plus a 3 ch. Mesa Triple Reco and Recto 4/12. The amps through their respective cabs sound great but I don't like them swapped.