There was a deal on Reverb a couple weeks ago. $180ish and shipping for a 2x12 Panama cabinet.

I couldnt resist. Ivory tolex with a metal grill and Purple Heart baffle. It showed up yesterday.

Spent a few hours today and a 1987 clone. Pretty nice cabinet. Cedar box with solid hardware. A little dark sounding with a pair of speakers advertised as V30 voiced. But a little twist of the knobs and it sounds pretty good. Solid thump in the bottom end and the highs are decent.  For less than $200 this is a hell of a deal on a well made cabinet.

See how it sounds after a few hours to break in the cones.

Here it is.

https://reverb.com/item/2693849-panama-guitars-boca-series-2x12-speaker-cabinet-w-aged-v30-purpleheart-ivory-130w-b-stock#&gid=1&pid=1

I was looking at their offerings a year or so ago when I was looking for a 2x12 for a lower power rig... couldn't find on locally to try and ended up with a Carvin 4x10 that rocks before I ever jumped on the Panama.

I'd heard the cabinets aren't shabby but the speakers were lacking.  I recall reading they break in and sound better but will never match actual V-30s for tone.
I also looked real hard at Avatar and their offerings but ended up with a local deal.

Let us know how those speakers sound after 40 or so hours of play, would be curious.

I will for sure.

I have an Avatar 2x12 on the way with their Hellatone 60s which are rebranded V30s. Supposedly broken in. Will be interesting to compare. It looks to be quite a job to replace a speaker in the Panama cab.

Interesting that they use cedar. It probably has tones reminiscent of some older Fenders, since some had pine cabs. I bet it resonates well.

It does actually.  

The purple heart baffle is really cool.  And the cab is solid. The speakers are just blah.  They have no character but they are very new so I am gonna let them break in for a while and see how they develop.  For the money this was a no brainer.

Truth right there. Sometimes a deal is so good that it's worth the gamble. You'd be hard pressed to get an unloaded cab for that price. I got a local deal on a Sourmash 2x12 with Celestions last month for $200. The guy was surprised I didn't want to audition it first, but the price and cosmetics were worth handing over cash and grabbing it within hours of the ad posting. It's not character wood, just good old 11-ply Baltic birch.

Even if the speakers end up sucking, you can probably flog them cheaply on eBay or reverb and recoup half the cost of a new pair.



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Exactly

I got to compare the Panama cabinet to the Avatar 2x12 with the Hellatone 60s which are relabed V30s that are supposed to be broken in.

First the Avatar is a significantly larger cabinet. It's the vintage style cab with wheat grille cloth with black tolex/white piping.  Most importantly it blows the Panama cabinet away. Leaps and bounds. The Panama cabinet is solidly built but the speakers are lousy.  I'm gonna swap them out later on and see how that does.  Maybe I'll put a set of Creambacks in it.