Orange PPC212 vs Mesa Recto 212 for recording?

[electricred]

Has anybody made an A/B of these two cabinets with stock Vintage 30s? I'm wondering what the sonic difference would be assuming the same guitar, pickups, amplifier, with an SM57 in the same position?

I've searched through threads all over the place, but haven't found any clips, only comments that the Mesa is smoother and more suited towards metal, while the Orange is better for general rock/etc, then of course people saying the exact opposite. Yeah, overdone topic, but reading through past discussions certainly isn't helping.

For the record, I'm going to be using this for mostly metal but want the 212 for general use with an EVH 5150 III 50 watt and high output pickups. I'll probably eventually grab the matching EVH 212 too, so let's no bring that up. I'm looking only at the Mesa Rectifier and Orange PPC 212s at the moment.

 

[pipaguapique]

well...most of Ola's stuff (if not all) is recorded with a mesa 2x12, and it sounds amazing. I own a PPC 212 and i love it every time i record with it. To me, the orange has more low end (like a 4x12) but tbh, i haven't done an A/B test.

 

[Trevoire520]

Apparently the EVH 5150 sounds awesome with the matching 2x12, so maybe just give that a go first if you're planning on getting it anyway?

 

[jangoux]

I friend lent me his Orange 2x12 and it rocks, but it is a little boomy. The place I work in has a vertical Mesa 2x12 and well eheh it sucks. No depth at all, sounds BORING.

 

[greyskull]

Both are REALLY nice; I found the mesa a little harder to tweak and place a mic on; but that may be due to familiarity with the orange 4x12.
BUT at the end of the day if you can't get an awesome tone out of either; something else other than the cab is to blame.

 

[electricred]

Both are REALLY nice; I found the mesa a little harder to tweak and place a mic on; but that may be due to familiarity with the orange 4x12.
BUT at the end of the day if you can't get an awesome tone out of either; something else other than the cab is to blame.

I'm more comfortable with Mesa myself, which is part of the allure of Orange. It's almost as standard as Mesa cabinets are, and I've been miking Mesa and VHT cabs for long enough, it might be time to work with something new.

Plus... the white EVH 50 watt would plain look cool with an Orange cab, hah!

Apparently the EVH 5150 sounds awesome with the matching 2x12, so maybe just give that a go first if you're planning on getting it anyway?

The EVH is only 60 watts, and since I do use other heads it could be at risk if I did any high-volume practices. It shouldn't be a problem for most recording, but I would rather get something more standard with Vintage 30s for general use, than the EVH cabinet later. It's only 500 USD new, so it's not too expensive to grab fairly soon after getting another cabinet. The EVH cabs compliment the 5150 III so well it's impossible to pass at that price. But, I haven't heard too much about how those speakers are at handling modern metal since they seem to have quite a bit of crunch to them.

 

[Josh Burgess]

I friend lent me his Orange 2x12 and it rocks, but it is a little boomy. The place I work in has a vertical Mesa 2x12 and well eheh it sucks. No depth at all, sounds BORING.

I find this very hard to believe, but, just out of curiosity, have you played the 4x12 recto cab and do you actually like it? I'd just like to better understand where that opinion is coming from... haha.

I'm considering getting a vert recto 2x12 right now.

 

[crillemannen]

Both cabs are great but if i had 2 in the same room i would chose the Mesa. More balanced then the Orange.