Different cabinet/speakers to get rid of loudness/muddy tone

[frogjames]

Like the title says, I'm thinking of changing my cabinet setup. Right now I play a splawn quickrod running at half power (still extremely loud) into a marshall 1960a slant with two v30's and two lead 80's in an X pattern. I only ever really crank my amp up when at band practice, the other guitarist in my band has a fender hotrod with one 12' speaker in it. You can imagine how much I have to turn down at shows and all the time pretty much. When I turn down, the volume is usually somewhere around 9 o'clock and is so muddy I can't stand it. So lately, the thought has crossed my mind of trying getting a 2x12; this way both of our rigs would be even out more; mine wouldn't project too much space, 2 speakers would move more than 4, for a less muddy tone, and I could probably turn my volume knob up a bit (I hear mixed things on that last one, so please correct me if i'm wrong). Is this how it would work or is my amp more of the the problem? I do love the tone when its loud, the 80's and v30's are amazing together, they give me the coolest clean tone and distortion with this amp. So I'd probably put one of each in a 2x12. What would the tonal difference be like from switching?

 

[GCDEF]

I don't think a smaller cabinet would help. There's be little to no volume difference, so just going to a 2 x 12 wouldn't let you run your amp harder. An attenuator might be a better solution for you.

 

[dave_mc]

if you love the tone, then as gcdef says, attenuator might be the thing. v30s (and even the cl80) are pretty loud speakers, though- if you don't mind changing speakers you should be able to get quieter ones. Whether they sound the way you want, though

 

[Onioner]

It may be those speakers. V30s are notoriously best used at volume. Other speakers don't mind being turned down a bit. V30s are great for loud, full band, gotta punch through, situations, but not so much at lower volumes. Not sure just how low you're having to go (and in my experience, you don't exactly have to be blasting to get them to sound good, just not quiet), but that could be the problem.

The cabinet itself could be the problem as well. It'd be awfully handy if you could try a different cabinet without having to shell out a bunch of cash to try things. Nothin' beats personal experience.

In any event, a 2x12 aint a bad option. Unless you need crazy projection, IMO and all, 2x12s work really great. I don't think the volume difference will be very noticeable, but each speaker will see more power, and, of course, smaller is easier...