Versatility of Marshall vs Mesa cabs

somms

I am considering buying one of two cabs:

-Marshall 1960AV (w/ V30s)

-Mesa Dual Rectifier Cab (w/ V30s)

For these, I plan on getting BOTH:

-Mesa Dual Rectifier (2 channel - the older, better one)

-Marshall JCM 800

I have heard that Mesa cabs only sound good with Mesa heads, but Marshall cabs sound good with many other kinds of heads (including Mesa). I am sure a Marshall head/cab combo or a Mesa head/cab combo would sound good because they're more "made for each other". The thing I really want to know, is how well one or the other cabinet can handle a head from a different manufacturer. Does anyone have experience with this?

jellybelly

Personally, I've found marshall cabs to be absolute KACK, for lack of a better phrase. Mesas would sound good with plenty of amps, HOWEVER I would like to suggest the orange PPC412 4x12, probably more versatile than either and comes stock with vintage 30s. If you live in the UK you could even get matamp to make you one. Thats my two cents anyway...

jace

I have a friend who had a triple recto with the mesa cab and it sounded great. He sold his triple recto our other friend who had a marshall cab, with some tweaking of the knobs it sounded fairly close to what the mesa cab sounded like. My friend with the mesa cab has used several different fender heads and has gotten some pretty nice tones with the mesa cab. If I were to pick a cab it would be the mesa because of the versatility I have seen from it.