Swizzy

I currently own a Peavey Tour 700 and a Hartke Hydrive 115 cab 8ohm 500W, a Warwick Corvette Jazzman 5 string and a fretless Warwick Corvette 5 string which has served me well for the last couple of years but the cab and amp are on the heavy side and the cab can't always keep up volume wise. Like many people here I've tried a few different bits of gear over the years, the list might help people give me more advice on where to go next. Hartke kickback combo was my first amp and it was used and abused for about 5 or so years Trace Elliot 2x15" great cab apart from the size and weight. Loud and low as you'd expect but for me almost prohibitively impractical size/weight wise. Ashdown 2x10" for home practice, hated it and sold it for as much as I bought it for. Never got on with Ashdown personally. I've gigged on a couple of Ashdown 4x10 and 1x15 and didn't really like either. SWR big ben 1x18" bought this more or less out of curiosity (and because it had a much raved about bag end driver, the later ones had different drivers I believe) and sold it again about a year or so after. Very responsive speaker for its size, even without a tweeter but damn, 18" cabs are NOT fun to carry around, it barely fit through my front door. Hartke Hydrive 1x15 found it on gumtree about 3 years ago for something like £200 so no hesitation there, bought it and sold the SWR 1x18. I do like these, I know you either love them or hate them but I got on well with this cab for some reason. Tweeter isnt necessary for me and is always off, the speaker alone is bright enough and very capable of treble. It's fairly loud but at the same time doesnt feel like it moves a lot of air though. The non-perforated part of the speaker grill almost entirely covers the vent that runs alongside the bottom, albeit with an inch or two in between, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. I think ultimately what I'm after is either a REALLY good 1x12, two half decent 1x12 or a fairly compact and light 2x12 cabinet. I know a reasonable amount about TS parameters and what effect the cab size and ports have on overall performance, trouble is, as you all know, you simply don't find these specs on most websites and if you do, chances are they are optimistic at best or downright misleading at worst. On top of that most reviews all sound the same (fat bottom end, punchy mids, crystal clear highs etc) no matter if they are reviewing £150 Ashdown cab or a £1000+ cabinet of your choice, so no help there. I have narrowed down my options over the last few days. single 1x12 options: Barefaced BB2, expensive, but is the only single 1x12 cab that I can think of that would come close to keeping up with 2-3 guitarists and a loud drummer but there's only so much a single speaker can do. Aguilar DB112, very expensive and probably not as loud as the 2x 112 options listed below or the Barefaced BB2. I'd be gutted to spend that much money just to realise I need another one. Fearless F112 expensive, no experience and no idea how loud they get. 2x 1x12 cab options: Hartke Hydrive HD112, can get two for about £600, that is surely louder than my 1x15 hydrive, they're light and I know roughly what sound I'll get, just not sure how loud it will be. Obviously more speaker area than the 15" but that's not the whole story is it. 2x Gallien Krueger Neo 112 close to £900, expensive but I quite like GK sound, read good things about these cabs but never tried. Almost Barefaced Super Twin money though which will surely annihilate these. Lean Business Montage 112 loaded with an 18 Sound 12ND930 500W neo driver. About £380, enclosure measures 390x400x500mm if someones fancies doing some maths. I'm very tempted to just buy one to see what it's like. It has a kickback option and is fairly light at 14kg. 2x12 cab options: Barefaced Supertwin, this is almost definitely what I'm after but probably overkill and the price does approach the pain threshold for me, although I feel it would be better value than the two Gallien Krueger 112s since its probably louder than all the other options. TC Electronic RS212, £450, has fairly good reviews, looks compact and is fairly light but not sure how loud these get rated at 400w Gallien Krueger 212 Neo, £600, better value than 2x 112 GK Neos by £300 but don't know much more about them other than that. I'm guessing it will sound very similar to 2x gallien 112 neos. Fearless F212, £1000 need I say more, its a lot of money for something I've never tried. This has turned into a pretty big post, it definitely reflects my habit of overthinking things but at least gives you guys an idea into what sort of direction I've been heading over the last few days. If anyone has experience with any of these, or even better has had the chance to do some A/B comparison between any of those above mentioned cabs then that would be really helpful.