
Going from one speaker to two can add depth, dimension, and punch. Here are 10 from across the stylistic spectrum.
Zilla Fatboy 2x12
This oversized closed-back 2x12 aims to emulate the response of a 4x12 with added low-end punch and can be preloaded with a handful of different speaker options.
Starts at $432 street
zillacabs.com
Blackstar St. James 212VOC
This newly designed cab is up to 35 percent lighter than a normal 2x12 set up. It also has a removable rear panel and comes loaded with Celestion Zephyr speakers.
$749 street
Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Compact 2x12
Modern metal-ers will rejoice with this 120-watt closed-back cab that is constructed with marine-grade Baltic birch. The rear-mounted Celestion V30 speakers round out the package along with the twisted jute-dipped grille filters.
$749 street
Avatar 3D Vertical Forte Replica
The standout feature of this cab are the side vents, which give your sound a wider feel. Itās constructed with 13-ply void-less Baltic birch and is available with either customized speaker options or totally bare.
$698 street
Marshall ORI212A Origin
Classic styling meets modern construction in this retro-flavored vertical cab. The Celestion Seventy 80 speakers offer 160 watts of power, and the angled setup is decidedly British.
$549 street
Orange PPC 212
You canāt miss the trademark Orange vibe of this beefy horizontal 2x12 cab. Brit-style tones are right at home with a pair of Celestion Vintage 30 speakers and a closed-back design.
$899 street
Vox V212C
For fans of that unmistakable chime, this Vox cab not only matches the vibe of an AC30 but spreads the sound out a bit with its open back. A pair of Celestion G12M speakers aim to offer clarity and warmth.
$599 street
EVH 5150III 2x12 Extension Cab
Designed to King Eddieās demanding specs, this straight-front cab is a powerhouse and features old-school tilt-back legs. Inside is a pair of Celestion G12H speakers and a very handy built-in head-mounting mechanism for the EVH 50-watt head.
$599 street
PRS HDRX 2x12
As a tribute to the sound of late-ā60s rock guitar, the PRS HDRX line is vintage flavored and full of vibe. This closed-back cab features the decidedly British Celestion G12H-75 Creamback speakers and poplar plywood construction.
$899 street
MojoTone 2x12 West Coast Cab
The wood wizards in the cab shop at MojoTone offer a mind-boggling number of options, right down to the piping and Tolex. This one comes stocked with Celestion G12M-65 Creamback speakers and an oval-ported rear panel.
$774 street
- Does Speaker Size Really Matter? - Premier Guitar āŗ
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- Speaker Geeks: The Lowdown on Power Handling - Premier Guitar āŗ
Xotic revamps a classic Vox-boost-in-a-box pedal, creating a new one in the process.
Smart, feature-packed update on a classic. Nice size and price.
Small boost knob.
$180
Xotic Effects AC Booster V2
Xotic Effects newest version of the Vox-flavored AC Booster, the AC Booster V2, adds a second, footswitchable boost circuit (tweakable via a small, clear knob tucked among the four main-channel controls), plus a set of four dip switches on the boxās righthand side which engage compression, modern or classic voicing, low-mid boost, and high-mid boost.
This new suite of features packs significant extra functionality into V2ās still-diminutive enclosure. The Vox sounds are all there, and with the high-mids juiced and treble nudged, youāre squarely in clanging Top Boost territory. The modern voicing trades some furry mid-range chunk for a bit more aggression and clarity, while the compression is useful for leveling leads and smoothing out unruly playing.
The boost knob is a little difficult to access, situated as it is in the center of the primary four-knob array. I donāt have particularly big fingers, but even I had trouble twiddling it. Thatāll annoy some. But itās a small price to pay for such a pedalboard-friendly footprint. The boost doses you with a healthy bump in level and gain thatās great for stand-out leads and solos. And speaking of standing out, the upper-mid boost switch is a treat. I found that creating a greater disparity between the high mids from the low mids made for a more precise and satisfying tone-shaping experience than I would experience using a standard mids knob.
There are no shortage of pedals that ape Vox AC30 mojo, but I havenāt seen many that will give you the range of utility that the AC Booster V2 will, for less for $200. Xotic nailed a smart and versatile redesign here.
Nashville luthier and guitar tech Dave Johnson shows us the baker's dozen of tools he thinks any guitar picker requires to be a guitar fixer.
3. Guitar Tech Screwdriver Set - 3000
4. Nut File Set (for medium guitar strings) - 0882
8. String Spacing Ruler - 0673
9. Nut and Saddle Files - 4556
The Ultimate Guitarist's Tool Chest Giveaway
Whether you're setting up your first guitar or fine-tuning a custom build, these are the 13 tools every guitarist needs. Now you can win them all. We've partnered with our friends at StewMac to give away a complete pro-level toolkit valued at over $750.
Click here to enter
Paul Reed Smith cradles one of his companyās Charcoal Phoenix limited-edition guitars in front of a PRS Sonzera amp.
The storied guitar builder reflects on his dozen months sharing his experience, knowledge, and perspective with PGās readers.
Over the past year, Iāve written a series of articles in Premier Guitar going over some of my, and our industryās, views of guitar making. You can find all of them all online (and for those reading this online, the articles are collected here). What I am going to attempt to do for this final piece is boil down each of these articles to a āsort ofā conclusion. I have enjoyed the process of writing and editing each one. For the most part, itās been a lot of fun. So:
Tonewood Doesnāt Matter. Wood Does (August 2024)
We donāt use the word tonewood in conversation at PRS. It doesnāt capture a lot of my experience of which combinations of wood make good instruments. First and foremost, we are looking for qualities of wood over species, and we make sure we dry and treat each one appropriately.
What Makes a Guitar Worth the Price? (September 2024)
Very often, the price of a guitar does reflect how good an instrument isāand very often the price of the guitar has nothing to do with how good an instrument is.
What You Can and Canāt See When Buying a Guitar (October 2024)
This oneās a pet peeve. When making a purchase, you can clearly see the color of a guitar and how beautiful it is, but you have no idea if the neck is going to warp over time because of many factors, including wood drying and truss rod installment design. Trust your experience.
Does Where a Guitar Is Made Really Matter? (November 2024)
There are really good, really smart, really talented people all over the world. While I wonāt deny itās helped our career here at PRS being in the United States, I do not believe it is a truly defining factor of our quality. A good example would be the PRS SE Series.
The Complicated Beauty of Electric Guitar Pickups (December 2024)
Weāve taken so many good stabs at humbucking design, and Iām getting incredibly good feedback on our new McCarty IIIs. But making pickups is a complicated art. There are a lot of ingredients in the recipe.
āI hope these articles have had some positive impact on you as a group.ā
In Guitar Making, Itās the Details that Matter (January 2025)
Well, that title says it. Whatās interesting for me is that all guitar makers believe that different types of details matter more than others. At PRS, we have our own beliefs.
When Building GuitarsāOr Pursuing AnythingāGo Down All the Rabbit Holes (February 2025)
This oneās about learning. Itās a process I really enjoy. Whether your passion is guitar making, guitar playing, or something else entirely, there is always more to keep discovering.
Paul Reed Smith on Buying Gear (March 2025)
Very often at a clinic, the people who donāt play guitar have a less calcified view of the sound of the instruments being demonstrated than those players who have already developed strong ideas. On the other hand, one time a very experienced player was at one of my clinics and heard something heād been looking for for a long time and did not expect it out of the guitar he got it from. Trust your experienceānot your predetermined views.
Learning from the Mistakes of Guitar Buildingās Past (April 2025)
I think my beginnings as a repairman gave me a lot of insight on this one. Even still, just the process of defining a past guitar-making mistake is its own art.
Paul Reed Smith on Where Amp Historyāand ToneāBegins (May 2025)
This one I love. Itās a greatly exaggerated version of mods you could do to a TS808 Tube Screamer, which has a history on the web. Amplifiers are āmodulated power suppliesā and can have so much impact on your tone.
The Lifelong Rhythm of Learning (June 2025)
In some periods of time, thereās a lot to be learned, and in some periods of time, you can barely hold what you had before. Itās different for everyone, and for me, itās been up and down. No matter where you are in the process, thereās always good work to do.
I hope these articles have had some positive impact on you as a group. I know some things resonate with some people and not others, and the opposite as well. I havenāt gotten a lot of feedback from these articles except that thereās not an overwhelming chorus saying āwhat an idiot,ā which I assume means thereās been some meat on the bone of some of the views shared. Itās been a joy. Thanks for listening.
The Billy Idol guitarist rides his Knaggs into Nashville.
Thereās nothing subtle about Billy Idol, so it tracks that thereād be nothing subtle about the guitars used onstage by his longtime guitarist, Steve Stevens. Famous for his guitar work with Idol and the Grammy-winning symphony of sustain āTop Gun Anthem,ā Stevens brought a brigade of eye-popping signature electrics and some choice other jewels out on the road with Idol this spring.
The tour touched down at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville in May, and while Stevens was jetting into town, PGās John Bohlinger met up with tech and guitar builder Frank Falbo to learn the ins and outs of Stevensā rig.
Brought to you by DāAddario
Cherry Pie
This cherryburst is one of a score of single-cut Knaggs Steve Stevens signature models in Stevensā arsenal. He plays with heavier Tortex picks and uses Ernie Ball strings, usually .010ā.048s.
More, More, More (Sustain)
This Knaggs Steve Stevens Severn XF, complete with a Sustainiac pickup system, was designed to mimic the look of one of his old guitars, and the stage lights make this finish go insane. It comes out for three to four songs in any given set, including āRebel Yell.ā
Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
This Knaggs Steve Stevens, finished in silver sparkle, is outfitted with a killswitch, push-pull control knobs, and Fishman Fluence pickups. Falbo was on the R&D team that helped design the Fluences.
Other guitars backstage include a red sparkle Knaggs with PAFs, a Godin LGXT with piezo saddles and Seymour Duncan pickups that sends three signals (synth, electric, and piezo), a pair of piezo- and MIDI-equipped Godin nylon-string guitars, a dazzling GibsonĀ Les Paul with stock Gibson pickups, a Suhr T-style electric, and a Ciari Ascender for travel and dressing-room rehearsal.
Tube Heart, Digital Brains
Stevens runs through a pair of Friedman headsāa B100 and Steve Stevens SS100, plus a third backupāwith each panned hard to either the left or right. Both signals run through a Neve 8803 rack EQ into two RedSeven Amplification Amp Central Evo loadboxes, and through their impulse response programs to front of house. A Neural Quad Cortex is on hand as a backup and for fly dates.
Steve Stevensā Pedalboard
Stevensā pedal playground is masterminded by an RJM Mastermind GT, which lives on its own board alongside a Fractal FM3 MK II. He orchestrates most of the changes himself, but Falbo is ready to flip switches backstage in case Stevens is away from his board for a key moment.
The centre hub, built on a Tone Merchants board, carries a TC Electronic PolyTune2 Noir, Xotic Effects Super Sweet Booster, Vox wah, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Mission Engineering expression pedal, DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Suhr Discovery, JHS Muffuletta, DigiTech Drop, ISP DECI-MATE, Walrus Voyager, Suhr Koji Comp, Zvex Super Ringtone, DryBell Vibe Machine, and Ammoon EX EQ7. An Ebtech Hum Eliminator, two Strymon Ojais, and a Strymon Zuma keep the wheels greased.
The board to the right carries a Boss RV-500, Fender Smolder Acoustic OD, Lehle Dual Expression, Boss GM-800, Empress Bass Compressor, Grace Design ALiX preamp, Fishman Aura, and a Peterson tuner. Utility boxes include an Ernie Ball Volt and a Radial J48.