To be sure, my GK's, eden, ampeg, former Warwick, all of the cabs I use in stores and even my 15 watt guitar amp, show my inconsistencies, mistakes and what have you. When the eq is set so that the cab is reproducing the mids and highs where those unpleasantries tend to occur, you're in business. Almost any cab can show the unpleasantries though a part of your posts suggests that only the boutique-y cabs are the only true reporters of such. My experience, as noted above, tells me that this isn't true.
Cheap stuff tends to muddy stuff up and obscure the things that the same part of your post implies are brought more to one's attention by boutique-y stuff. EQ greatly levels the playing field in the higher frequencies where most of a GC kid's "mistakes" (assuming you mean technique deficiencies) are most present.
There are massively diminishing returns as we go up the price ladder- almost to the point where there is no practical return. Increased power handling and the pride of owning something uncommon, yes, but once one is playing gigs requiring so much power then one is dealing with many other factors that no cabinet can overcome because a cabinet is located in one little part of the venue and will sound different in different parts of the venue so it's vain to think one can win THAT battle. So that leaves us with loud home and bar gig playing.... any decent off the shelf big guy cabinet can do it and do it true and well.
So, for me, and also seemingly for the vast majority of touring people and the guys on the clinic circuit, the big guys get it right (not just "good enough," either).
I can almost make my 25w ampeg combo sound excellent with good eq, albeit not enough volume.
The little guys might win the game at reproducing good sound at volumes necessary at giant gigs but, again, those gigs are too big to even think you can win good sound in more than one little area of the stage... and any good, "big guy" off the shelf cab can do that just as well... take a DI to FOH and that stuff fills in the gaps better than any stage cab possibly ever could. Diminishing marginal returns, possibly to the point of no real practical return. Nice, boutique-y, artisan stuff is certainly nice but to cloak it as being the only real truth teller to the kid at GC, or to me, or to Victor Wooton or to anyone, really, is not honest or, at least, not accurate.
