Marshall Mode Four MF400 4x12 Cabinet

[Sloan]

Anyone have any experience with the Marshall Mode Four MF400 cab?

There is one for sale locally (loaded with Celestion G12H) and I'm wondering if it's worth messing with.

I have a Mesa Standard to use as a baseline for comparison.

 

[Sloan]

Ah, I knew there was an old ass thread about this cab:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/backline/698238-marshall-mode-4-cab-vs-mesa-rectifier-cab.html

 

[Manicompression]

I have a MF400 and the 280. The other guitar player in my band has a Mesa oversized and the Marshall 1960. Ive put mics infront of all of them at one point or another. The MF cabs are not as awesome as the oversized Mesa in terms of sheer ability to just get to results quickly and build quality, but they shit all over any other Marshall cab I have tried.

The MF400 in particular comes with the K100 speakers stock and it really holds its own. It sounds great under a microphone, projects really well, and is a tad more directional than the Mesa which tends to fill up the room just a bit more imo.

The MF280 has some kind of V30 variant stock which is the only real difference between the MF cabs. I like the sound of this one too, just different.

Overall, I would say if you want a different but definitely good alternative cab option these are the steal to keep an eye out for. I picked up both of mine for $250 or less. Are they a Mesa or a Mills, no, but they hold their own and sound great.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I have a MF400 and the 280. The other guitar player in my band has a Mesa oversized and the Marshall 1960. Ive put mics infront of all of them at one point or another. The MF cabs are not as awesome as the oversized Mesa in terms of sheer ability to just get to results quickly and build quality, but they shit all over any other Marshall cab I have tried.

The MF400 in particular comes with the K100 speakers stock and it really holds its own. It sounds great under a microphone, projects really well, and is a tad more directional than the Mesa which tends to fill up the room just a bit more imo.

The MF280 has some kind of V30 variant stock which is the only real difference between the MF cabs. I like the sound of this one too, just different.

Overall, I would say if you want a different but definitely good alternative cab option these are the steal to keep an eye out for. I picked up both of mine for $250 or less. Are they a Mesa or a Mills, no, but they hold their own and sound great.

Just curious: How does the MF280 compare to the Mesa? To my understanding, the speakers in the MF280 were some sort V30's tweaked with higher headroom and more low-end.

 

[Manicompression]

My MF280 is my most current acquisition so I haven't actually picked it apart side by side with the Mesa under a mic, shootout style yet. I think the main sonic difference really comes down to the construction of the cabs. The speaker sounds closer to the Mesa V30 to me than say the standard issue Chinese V30 in the newer 1960bv cabs, but again I dont know how much of that comes down to the construction of the cabs. They are both oversized but the Mesa is a bit heavier, is a tiny bit more oversized, and just generally feels a bit more sturdy. If I were to describe the sound to you I would say, take a Mesa oversized and then take the Marshall 1960 with v30s and imagine a sound exactly in the middle.

 

[Rex Rocker]

Ah, cool, thanks!

 

[Sloan]

Good info, thanks for sharing.

 

[Manicompression]

I was dicking around with some riff ideas and tracked my MF280, not huge volume but on the upper end of what I can do in my apartment without pissing off neighbors. I thought it might be cool to link it up in case anyone wanted some audio examples. I kept processing pretty light, T-Racks EQ81 doing Filtering at 82 and 12, pulling up 1 db at 390 and pulling down 1 db at 2.2. I spent about 5 minutes on placement so I am sure it could be better. Slate stuff on the mixbuss VCC, VTM, VBC, and FGX on the metal preset because I didnt feeling like farting around trying to get things perfect.

https://soundcloud.com/dzpak

should be at the top of the page, let me know if that doesn't work

 

[Machinated]

MF400 is decent. similar to v30 but slightly different top end, great lows. goes great with 5150 for something slightly different to the v30 sound everyone goes for. i'd say grab it.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I was dicking around with some riff ideas and tracked my MF280, not huge volume but on the upper end of what I can do in my apartment without pissing off neighbors. I thought it might be cool to link it up in case anyone wanted some audio examples. I kept processing pretty light, T-Racks EQ81 doing Filtering at 82 and 12, pulling up 1 db at 390 and pulling down 1 db at 2.2. I spent about 5 minutes on placement so I am sure it could be better. Slate stuff on the mixbuss VCC, VTM, VBC, and FGX on the metal preset because I didnt feeling like farting around trying to get things perfect.

https://soundcloud.com/dzpak

should be at the top of the page, let me know if that doesn't work

Sounds great!

 

[Manicompression]

Thanks man