Ibanez Tone Blaster 412A

I've been following the release date for this unit. When it arrived at Sam Ash (local store) I decided to do an A/B comparison to a Marshall 1960AC and a Crate GX412S and a Fender DT 412. The sound for the Ibanez was crisper, with better distortion and had a longer sustain before breaking up beteen the 3 others. With it having new speakers, the tone should even out and become not a harsh and spiky as the new voice coils are tight and need to be pushed some before they mellow. I paid $299.00 for it.

Excellent tone for a new cab. I was told that the speakers are Celestion made for Ibanez, but I seriosly doubt it. Ibanez states that they are "Power Jam" speakers. If they are, or aren't Celestions, they still pump out a better tone new than my 4x12 Celestion greenback equipped cab. The Ibanez has a 4 Ohm, 8 Ohm and 16 Ohm input that are all switchable from mono to stereo. The metal casters are heavy duty and being a large cab, the weight isn't too heavy for a large 4x12 cab. It can handle 400 watts at 4 Ohms.

I have doubts about the molded plastic carrying handles and the super thin tolex covering. I also do not care for the cloth grill, although I do like the pewter color of the cloth. They should have used a metal grill and a thicker tolex cover with diecast metal carrying handles. It should also been made with plywood instead of particle board, but the price and the sound compensates for all of the above.

Actually it is put together really well and I can push a full 120 watts through it without any buzzing or rattle from the cab getting in the way. There is an internal baffle to eliminate standing waves. The casters are heavy duty and it isn't so heavy that I can't lift it, although it does cause me to grunt a little when lifting.

The price and sound can't be touched by anything I've compared it to above. I have made my own custom cab that can beat the shit out of it, but you're talking over $1500.00 total constuction costs for a 4x12 on the custom and I really did quite a bit of mathematical calculations to get the size and speaker matching to work out just right. I'm sure it'll make a 5 on the scale after the speakers break in a little more.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Ibanez Tone Blaster TB412A is a 4x12 speaker cabinet that is designed to go with their budget line of Tone Blaster solid state heads. It's made of plywood as far as I know, and is loaded with Ibanez branded "Power Jam" speakers. These are reputed to be made by Celestion for Ibanez but I can't really verify this. I bought mine as a matter of necessity last summer when I needed a cabinet quickly and cheaply. At the time, I was using a rackmount rig with a Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp and a Mosvalve MV962 power amp and a bevy of Ibanez, Gibson and Charvel guitars.

It's a fairly heavy cabinet, and definitely a pain to move around. I would guess that it was about 100lbs and the casters that come with it are extremely helpful if you plan on moving it around much. The tone out of this cabinet is decent considering the price and questionable origin/quality of the speakers that it's loaded with. There is a good amount of bass, a fairly subdued midrange and a nice high end that forunately isn't as ear piercing as it could be. The cabinet works well at home jamming levels as well as in a band mix. I used it for a few gigs as well and never had any trouble hearing myself against drums or other guitars/bass. It's not the most unique sounding cabinet (IE: basically, it doesn't have a tone that makes it stand out, but rather it just has a fairly flat and general sound.)

For the $200 used that I paid I was fairly impressed. It didn't sound nearly as good as the higher end Marshall, Mesa, or Hughes and Kettner cabs that I tried, but for a player on a budget it works well.