Walkabout advice: combo or head?

[shrigg]

I just sold my LMIII and am now Walkabout shopping. I have a Schroeder 1212BMF and a well-used Acme B2 Gen I, both 4 ohm cabinets. Love to play a variety of styles from meaty fingerstyle to slap. Not much on picks, rock or metal. More Jazz and funk worship.

Okay, YOU are me: Would you get a walkabout combo or head?

How good would my cabs sound with the Walkabout head? Major improvement compared to the scout cab? I like the idea of small, light, easy to move which leans toward head only. But there is the magic of Mesa's engineering in that combo cab.

I also am intrigued by the idea of running the 1212BMF as an extension cab for some serious 3x12 Neo bark! Although I suspect the highly efficient Schroeder would drown out the Scout cab. Then there is the possibility of the B2 as extension cab for a big ol hi fi pillow. I think this may be the opposite of the schroeder, inefficient so low on relative volume when run as extension cab.

Then there is the third option of running the head into both the Schroeder+B2 for a 2x10x1212 stack.... Thoughts?

Of course I realize that these are risky 2 ohm loads. But I drive fast and take chances.

[RickenBoogie]

Honestly, I don't know about YOUR cabs, but for me, though I loved the Walkabout Scout 12, for what it was, I found it to be all but useless playing with my band. So, I sold the Scout 12, and kept the WA head, and paired it with several 2x12 cabs, until I found "the one", a Genz Benz Uber 212. Many other WA users have used various other cabs with great results, check the WA Megathread for details, but the bottom line is, a 1x12 is a 1x12, even when it's a Mesa 1x12 specifically designed for that amp. A bigger cab with multiple drivers will ALWAYS win.

[lomo]

The Schro BMF cabs and WA 12 cab are apples and oranges. IMHO it depends on your budget and needs. The WA12 alone will not cut it in a very loud rock setting with >1 guitar IME, but is plently loud enough for "reasonable" volume stuff with FOH. Ideally I'd get the combo and put it on top of your 1212-I suspect the forward mids of the Schro and the fatter, rounder bottom of the WA will balance well and sound great, and you'll have 3 rigs. On a tight budget, however, it depends what you can lay hands on. An older head will run about 550 and if that comes by before a reasonable combo I'd grab it. Trouble is that buying the ext cab separately from the head costs more than the combo. Lastly, keep in mind the separate head faces forward on the gig whereas the combo head faces upwards.

[shrigg]

Great info, thanks! Yes I realize the middy Schroeder will really dominate. I wonder of Jorg could make me a mid attenuator that could mount on the back of the 1212BMF...? That might be ideal!

PS: Just pulled the trigger on a combo!