Berg HS/AE 410 vs Mesa PH 4x10

[chaosMK]

I've been very interesed in how these cabs relate to each other. There isn't a lot of info on TB about how these compare or from the perspective of someone who prefers aggressive sounds for modern metal rather than tones for smooth groovy stuff (my bias, this thread is more for people in my zone).

Bass: A fancy looking Ibanez 5 string model with some switches and steel strings. It's not the ultimate bass, but at least mid range.
Head: Mesa M9 (pretty mild round settings, slight boost to low/mid, slight cut to treble, no EQ)
Tests: All fingerstyle, slapping and tapping, harmonics. Response to B string slapping is of crucial importance to me (ideal: controlled, defined, punchy, not too dark).

Berg AE 410

Nice sounding cab right off the bat. My findings are the same as what I've generally heard- nice mids/upper mids definition, just not extremely beefy on the lows and low mids. Nothing wrong with this cab. I was concerned this would be too glassy or modern, it wasn't. When I started raising the volume, to a certain point which was not "super loud," I started noticing some strained looking speaker excursions and decided to move on.

Plug into PH 4x10: Noticeably louder (at least 2-3db, I thought Berg cabs were going to be impressively sensitive), punchier, clear aggressive mids, a little too much upper mid sizzle. More "open sounding" with room for the real low lows.

Berg HS 210

Impressive for a 210. Great rounded sound. Could get pretty loud for a 2x10. Seemed like it was a little more accomodating to the B string range than the AE.

Berg HS 410

Nice sounding cab, more similarities to the PH than the AE. Thicker low mids, possibly more lows than AE. Nothing bad to say about it.

Plug into PH 4x10: Noticeably louder and bigger, more aggressive, perhaps not as rounded, tons of room for the low lows.

SWR Golight 4x10

I saw this next to these other cabs and it was used/good shape for a low price so I thought I'd give it a spin. Surprisingly- very nice sounding, quite punchy and well defined. I didn't think I'd like it so much. I was starting to think that I liked it more than the Bergs (I feel the Bergs have lots of potential for great musicality though... this was a little more direct) and cranked the volume- still sounded good- but started noticing some serious looking excursions (my Goliath III often looked like it was going to blow out, Golight definitely seemed more B string friendly).

Plug into PH 4x10: Again.. way louder, bigger lows, could handle the level of cranking and my aggressive slapping without breaking a sweat. At low-medium levels the SWR sounds a little more balanced in the midrange than the PH, but the PH really comes together when cranked.

All in all, the non-PH cabs I tried were pretty good. I liked the Berg dimensions. They are probably almost half as deep a Mesa cube. SWR Golight- impressively light, half the weight of a PH probably. With a good head and the right tweaking I could probably get an ideal sound out of any of them. The PH just won on volume all around (significant boost relative to every cab) and could handle my more percussive style with the huge roominess it seems to have on the bottom. I suppose having a "cube" design and weighing ~100 lbs helps that type of performance.

I'm really trying to consider other gear than Mesa this time around. Just not sure if anything can be beat them for me. Too bad PH cabs are somewhat scarce on the used market these days. I used to see them for ~$400-500 all the time.