Ok, I admit it.  I bought the Marshall 1960a because - 1) it was on Craigslist for a good price, 2) it was in brand new condition, 3) and it just looks cool in my pictures.  However, I also have to admit that it's really too much speaker and it loads up my iso-booth with too much bottom end.
 
This cabinet will never come out for gigs so there is no reason why I should keep it because, if a guitarist wants a 4x12 sound, I bet he already has one and it's probably better than mine or I just don't care.
 
So I'm thinking 1x12s or 1 x 10s with or with out backs.  Even my beloved 2x12 Lopo with Celestion Blues could be modified.  I'm thinking a 12" Greenback, maybe a Jensen and some other speakers in separate cabinets to experiment with.

Dave,
  I recently played a gig where the backline was supplied by the sound company running the stage so we just brought guitars and pedals etc.   They had 2 of the little fender hot rod deville amps mic'd up.  I played through a single 12" model and my other guitarist landed on the opposite side of the stage with a 4x10 deville.  I was really impressed with both amps.  Nice tube tones in a small package.   If I was to go to a combo (away from my 4x12 set up which I might do actually) I would really look at these amps.  Great little power houses.

Chuck,
I'm talking about studio use only.  I think that anything over a Deluxe Reverb is over kill in a small studio.  Right now, I'm diming a Marshal 5 watt and a Fender Pro Jr to get the distortion going and I think that even that is too much amp for a distorted guitar sound.  I'm thinking a 2 watt amp like the Microbaby would be cool to own for Rock tones.  Maybe a Deluxe Reverb for clean. 

ChuckC


Dave,
  I recently played a gig where the backline was supplied by the sound company running the stage so we just brought guitars and pedals etc.   They had 2 of the little fender hot rod deville amps mic'd up.  I played through a single 12" model and my other guitarist landed on the opposite side of the stage with a 4x10 deville.  I was really impressed with both amps.  Nice tube tones in a small package.   If I was to go to a combo (away from my 4x12 set up which I might do actually) I would really look at these amps.  Great little power houses.

I have a 3-5 year old hot rod.  They are tough in the studio because the volume pot is designed to give maximum volume at about a 1/3 of its throw.  I am planning to mod it with a different volume pot as soon as I feel comfortable enought to void the warranty (it ends after 5 years). 
 
I also hate the stock reverb on that.  Very metallic.
 
I like the amp when I can play in a loud environment (other than the verb).

Well I can understand that I suppose under the circumstances you are both facing.  For me, I've had no issues with a 57 on my 4x12 cab driven by either my mesa dual rec. (before I sold it), or being pushed by my 100w Peavey transtube head and using a Line 6 xt live pedal to shape all my tones and effects.  I didn't notice the reverb on those amps because I didn't (and wouldn't) use them anyway.  I asked the soundtech to just give me a nice warm clean tone out of the amp & I'd take it from there with my pedals.  It worked great for me.  Though I am generally on stage (albeit mic'd up) where I can use some volume, in my studio practicing where I need to be loud enough to compete with the drums anyway, or recording where I wind it up enough to start to engage the sonic qualities of the speaker cabinets and get that 4x12 chunk thing happening...  So those issues aren't as much a concern for me in my situation.

Ok, well I just figured I'd throw that out there because I was impressed with em'.  I liked the recognizable "fender clean" and yet it had that just breaking up tube warmth thing going on too.  When I kicked up distortion it screamed.  JMO. 

I hear ya Dave, my 50w classic is really too loud for the studio as well.  I pulled 2 tubes and it is still increadibly loud.  I have been eyeballing that 5w Marshall, how are you liking it?

Check out the Line6 HDs.  You can go direct in, program them to any sound (There forum also has a Preset Sharing site) and you can play through it with just headphones and it'll knock your head off.  They are real nice units and have had friends record professionally direct in and you really cant tell a difference and most of the time get a cleaner signal.  Just something to think about and a great idea if you are short on floor space.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/line-6-pod-hd500-guitar-multi-effects-processor

Mod Bod


I'm talking about studio use only.  I think that anything over a Deluxe Reverb is over kill in a small studio.  Right now, I'm diming a Marshal 5 watt and a Fender Pro Jr to get the distortion going and I think that even that is too much amp for a distorted guitar sound.  I'm thinking a 2 watt amp like the Microbaby would be cool to own for Rock tones.  Maybe a Deluxe Reverb for clean. 

 
I agree that your 1960 is overkill, but the two "little" amps you mention is where my money would be. Going any smaller than the Marshall and Pro Jr - you might as well get a POD HD and go direct. (in fairness, I do not know anything about the 2 watt Microbaby. I guess I should find out more about it before dismissing it so quickly)

I recently built a custom cabinet for my home made amp.

It is 21.5" x 27.5" x 12" outside dimensions with a sealed 3.15 cubic foot internal volume.

I am running a custom assembled Weber Legacy speaker in it. It has the 50oz ceramic magnet, the 55Hz cone, and the 65 watt rating.

I've been using it to get growling bass distortion tones out of the single speaker with my low wattage amplifier.


I have many other speaker cabinets and a lot of cool speakers, but I especially wanted something that accentuated bass tones to compliment the limited bass capability of the low power amp.


best regards,
mike

That's the direction I followed. All of the studio amps here are 40 watts and below. 81 Vibrolux 2x10 is at the high end of the scale. Next down is the Deluxe Reverb 22 watts 1x12, then a Princeton 15 watts 1x10 and a Vox AC15C1 at 15 watts 1x12. Low end of the scale is the Marshall Class 5 at 5 watts 1x12 Celestion.

You can create a wall of sound with just these 5 amps. The idea being to get the tone of larger amps but not the volume.