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Jason,
The real question is whether the object you're trying to look at is brighter than the surrounding skyglow. If not, you're not going to see it with any size telescope. According to the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, if you were in a rural area you would be able to see stars to visual magnitude 16 with a 12" scope. In the city, a 12" inch scope would only see stars to visual magnitude 13 due to skyglow. However larger objects such as nebulae, clusters or galaxies, even if they have a visual magnitude brighter than 13 may not be seen if their overall surface brightness is much lower than the surrounding skyglow.
If the object is brighter than the skyglow, the bigger scope will be better at collecting its light.
Regards, Rob.
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