800RB's with 15" cabs.

[Felpsy]

Sorry if this has been covered before, ive been wading through countless 800rb posts with no joy.

What are the tonal differences between 1x15s and 4x10s whilst running an 800rb?
What does an 800rb with 15" cones have that an 800rb with 4x10s doesn't? And vice versa?

I'm considering getting 2 1x15" trace elliot cabs for portability but dont know if there are any tonal sacrafices!!

[Razman]

You'll probably find more info searching for 4x10 vs. 1x15 cabs; I think that one has been beaten to death extensively - and it seems many threads digress into "why don't you consider a fEARful or other custom/boutique cab" discussion. Hopefully this one wont.

The main rig I play through is a SVT6-Pro and four Hartke cabs, two 1x15's and two 4x10's. I tried my 800rb through one half of that stack (1x15 & 1-4x10) and thought it sounded great; since the 4x10 cabs don't have tweeters I feel the smaller speakers deliver more highs then the 15's. If I get the time I might try A/B'ing the pair of 4x10's and two 15's to see what the differences are.

Prior to getting my GK I tried out a Trace rig for a friend who was looking for a decent amp. It was a 250-watt head into a 2x15 cab. If I would have had the $$ it would have come home with me, but he wound up buying it.

Only thing I felt it was missing was a compression driver for highs; I could get pretty close to the brighter, more mid-heavy aggressive sound I prefer with it, but it lacked top-end definition I need for my sound. A straight 4x10 will get closer, but adding a hi freq. driver would be best. Still, the beefy, full sound of that rig almost made up for the lack of highs - it was awesome.

It's hard to say without knowing your tonal goals, and it depends on how you configure your 800rb. Running it wide-open will get you the cleanest sound; less than that I don't think it would matter if you had 10's or 15's.

I found a Henry 8x8 cab so I'm happy - but I would be equally happy with the Trace cab, provided that I add a tweeter to it. I loved the solid sound of those two 15's together, and it sounds like two separate 15's would be an equally good combination. If the cabs don't have any HF drivers, adding one is cheap and easy - if that is something you need. Otherwise I've have no second thoughts about going with two 15's like that.

[CL400Peavey]

What you gain from two 115's stacked versus two 410's is better dispersion. The benefit of the two 410's is potentially greater sensitivity, but not always.

[dhsierra1]

I prefer running 2-15s (at 4 ohms) with the 300 watt section at full range. If I need more firepower, as for outdoor gigs, I add a 3rd 15 at 8 ohms full range with the 100 watt section. These are old JBLs so they're very high efficiency.

You could do something similar with 10s, though I've seen and heard 810 pushed by the 300 watt section alone with excellent results.

There's a TBer (Will33) who uses his biamped, 2-12 for the 300 watt section and a 6 midrange powered by the 100 watt section and crossed over at 800Hz IIRC.

Based on my own personal experience as well as the science I don't mix cabs with different sized drivers unless it's an actual 2 or 3 way system with active or passive crossovers. I've heard a number of people running 410s with a 15 and have never ever liked the sound, too many frequency dropouts, poor dispersion, etc.

[B-string]

The only thing I can add is it all depends on the cabs. A bad 115 or 215 will sound and perform much worse than a good 410 and vise-versa. The low end roll-off of the 800RB is really a speaker saver.

[haystack55]

yep. lots of difference between an EV or JBL-equipped Dietz and a standard Ampeg 1x15.

[4001]

I don't know, but for rehersals I run a GK 800RB into an old Acoustic 106 (2X15) and it kills.

[john m]

800 rb

2-10 gauss on the top
1-15 Sunn scoop on the bottom
No FOH support on most gigs


Got lots of complements on my sound.

Only switched rigs when the 4-10 became more desirable.

Now in my later years--- one or two 12's is enough.
Still miss the 15 (or 2-15 from the 70's)-but my back does not.

[tjh]

I have yet to hear either my 400 or 800RB through any cab that I was not able to easily find something very usable ... that is one of the reasons I like/use them, they are as 'plug and play' as I have found ... with that said, I personally prefer sealed cabs over ported, but that is just me, not specific to the RB's ...