Probably the best closed-back 1x12" cab you can get for the money

......and believe me, I shopped around before I landed on this one! I wanted something to mount an Eminence Man O' War 12" that I've been sitting on. I tried hunting for an empty cab for a long while, but a decent-quality 1x12" box without a speaker in it turned out to be significantly more costly than one that's not empty. So, I turned my attention to reasonably-priced cabs that included my short list of must-haves. These were:

• Plywood (absolutely no MDF) construction
• Finger-jointed corners
• Closed-back
• Under $250

That's it - shouldn't be that tough to find, right? I don't even care what color it is! The first two restrictions are just because that Eminence speaker is really, really loud and aggressive, and I needed something that won't get rattled to dust in a couple years. The price - well, you're living through the same economy I am; I'm sure you can imagine ;) So I went through literally every candidate I could find, and narrowed it down to this and a couple others. When I found a reasonable deal on a used one at the Wichita Guitar Center, I gave them a ring and had it sent up North.

My plan was to pull the factory speaker and swap in the Man O' War, but I decided to do a quick before-and-after recording so I could compare them with a less-biased ear (you can hear the results on YouTube by searching "VHT Cabinet Speaker Swap" if you want). You can imagine that I did not expect the VHT "chromeback" speaker to be very useful, but I gotta say - I actually really like it! I'm still playing the Man O' War for now, but I kept the factory speaker, and I plan to track down another empty cab for that Eminence and put the original speaker back in sometime next year. I would - and probably will - buy another one of these cabs at some point.

Finally, what does it SOUND like (with the stock speaker)? Well like I said, quite good - especially considering the price! A BIG reason I insisted on a closed-back cab is that I needed to get as close as possible to that tight-but-powerful low-end "THUMP" that we associate with massive, expensive 4x12" cabs, but in an apartment-friendlier format that won't get me evicted. Obviously there's limits to HOW close a 1x12" can get, but this one does an excellent impression of it - especially when you're in the room with it! This sucker is plenty loud enough for rehearsal or small gigs with a heavy-handed drummer, with well-balanced bass and treble combined with what I'd call a "relaxed" midrange that's neither too scooped nor too honky. This balance of frequencies makes it a great choice for just about any kind of hard rock and heavy metal, but also excellent for other styles as long as they don't require TOO big a midrange presence. I was especially impressed with the cleans; it does a very nice job of reproducing those Fender-esque "crystalline" scooped-mid tones that I love so much (think "position 4 on a Strat").

The only thing I didn't like to see was the PCB that the input/output jacks are mounted on - it looked a little flimsy and might be too light-duty for heavy touring or constant unplug/re-plug action. But, this could easily be replaced if it ever wore out, and considering everything that this cab DOES get right, I don't consider that sufficient reason for me to subtract any points from its rating.

To be fair, there are certainly things it won't do. It's closed-back, so you're not going to get that "breathing" effect that an open-back cab produces. It's only got room for a single 12" speaker, so even with the 120W Eminence that I put in it, there's only so much volume it's physically capable of reproducing. And while the build quality is quite impressive, I don't think it's reasonable to compare an import that sells for $280 brand-new to US- or UK-build cabs that go for two to four times the price (although I did research everything those brands offer in similar price ranges, and found nothing but a bunch of MDF with butt-jointed corners). This one gets 5 stars from me, not because it's the best possible cabinet at any price (it's not), but because it IS the best available in its class - by far.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Nice cabinet. It is what it is.

Primarily used in home studio but has been used in a recent music video and one live show.