Block the ports on a bass cab?

[madmatt]

Has anyone ever blocked the ports to their bass cab to tighten it up a bit?

[MuzikMan]

Yes. The experiment proved to me that blocking ports is a bad idea. All it does is reduce efficiency at the bass frequencies. You can accomplish the same thing and use less power by turning down the bass knob.

[RickenBoogie]

Bad idea, +1. The cab has ports because it was designed, with the drivers, to be a ported cab. If you don't like it, sell it and buy a sealed cab.

[will33]

That would turn it into a hopefully lined but definately not stuffed sealed enclosure. Whether or not it's advisable depends on the driver. Some can work either way, others not so much. If you do, be careful of your volume and bass settings until you learn where your new-found farting threshold is. By "tightening up the bass" what you're really doing most of the time is giving yourself less bass, making the 100hz+ frequencies sound more pronounced, none of which are really "bass". If it sounds better that way, do it, just listen to the speaker so you don't overdo it and make your judgements in a band setting at a gig, not in your bedroom or a little rehearsal room.

[Mr. Foxen]

If you bock some but not all ports, it lowers the tuning an can tidy up some low end mess you might not be digging, can give a more oldschool sound. Only problem is sometimes what you plugs the port with sucks in or shoots out and your sound changes suddenly.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Mr. Foxen

If you bock some but not all ports, it lowers the tuning an can tidy up some low end mess you might not be digging, can give a more oldschool sound. Only problem is sometimes what you plugs the port with sucks in or shoots out and your sound changes suddenly.

The other problem is that it reduces the total port area, which can result in much higher chuffing levels.

You can accomplish the same thing and use less power by turning down the bass knob.

+1.

[will33]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

Yes. The experiment proved to me that blocking ports is a bad idea. All it does is reduce efficiency at the bass frequencies. You can accomplish the same thing and use less power by turning down the bass knob.

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Bad idea, +1. The cab has ports because it was designed, with the drivers, to be a ported cab. If you don't like it, sell it and buy a sealed cab.

+1 to both these guys. One thing that is more of a tone thing than sheer output is the slope of the rolloff of a sealed cab, usually around 6db/octave as opposed to the steeper rolloff of the ported cab. This can be somewhat mimicked through eq although most "bass heads" don't have enough eq to do it. You can also get closer to that by tuning a ported cab really low, but not exactly the same.

To the OP, yes, the drivers and box are designed to work together but in the case of some commercial offerings, not as much as you'd think, leaving the door open for some experimentation, within reasonable limits.

[JimiLL]

I know the SVT 810 and 410 HLF use the same speakers

[madmatt]

Thanks for all of the input.
It is a Hartke 2.5XL cab. The speakers, according to Hartke, are the exact same speakers used in their sealed cab 210XL.
I just like the sound of the 210XL better, figured I would go the cheap route, but after experimenting I found it will not come close.
Oh well. The 2.5 sounds good for what it is, but man is it a little boomy.

Edit: Actually the 2.5 and the 210 together make a pretty good poor-mans 410HLF.

[rodl2005]

Originally Posted by JimiLL

I know the SVT 810 and 410 HLF use the same speakers

Don't think they do. Iirc

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by madmatt

The 2.5 sounds good for what it is, but man is it a little boomy.

Ported cabs are no more boomy than sealed; if anything it's the other way around. Boom is usually a result of the cab being too small and/or the being tuning too high. Insufficient cab lining can also be a factor.

[madmatt]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Ported cabs are no more boomy than sealed; if anything it's the other way around. Boom is usually a result of the cab being too small and/or the being tuning too high. Insufficient cab lining can also be a factor.

Well when I say "boomy" I may not be using the right term. It is just mostly lows and the mids do not come out so well.

[will33]

Originally Posted by madmatt

Well when I say "boomy" I may not be using the right term. It is just mostly lows and the mids do not come out so well.

Listen to it from further back or angle it up towards you? Try setting it on end so there's a speaker farther off the floor? Mids are more directional, if you're right next to the cab they can kinda fly past you at knee level. Placing it next to a wall or in a corner will enhance the lows thereby masking some of the midrange. If it's like this, pull it 2-3 ft. away from the wall. Adding lining to the cab will help clear up the midrange. Lowering the tuning will roll the bass down more. Mess with the amps tone controls or better yet an eq with a lot of bands. Find out where the problems are, ie: what you need more of/what you need less of, go from there.

[derrico1]

The Thunderchild 112 comes with port plugs for situations in which you'd want to shed some low end response. For most cabinets, though, running the cab w/ ports blocked is generally not part of the design goals.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by madmatt

Well when I say "boomy" I may not be using the right term. It is just mostly lows and the mids do not come out so well.

Here also sealed or ported makes little to no difference. Ported will have more bass, which can subjectively seem like less mids, but that's why amps have EQ. Insufficient/lack of cab lining can also result in a loss of mids.

[madmatt]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Here also sealed or ported makes little to no difference. Ported will have more bass, which can subjectively seem like less mids, but that's why amps have EQ. Insufficient/lack of cab lining can also result in a loss of mids.

Yeah. I hooked that cab back up and eq'd the heck out of it.
Sounds better now.

[banikek]

I have played around with plugging the ports on my Trace Elliot 1153t cabs, but they were designed for it. I have to admit that to my untrained ear I really did not find that much of a differance when I messed around with blocking one or both of the ports. But I suppose it would depend on the room conditions and where I was standing.

[Sartori]

I do this with my 1x15 cab when I'm playing guitar through it at home, but not for bass.

[Downunderwonder]

According to Trace Elliot, blocking one or both ports increases the depth of response at the expense of low end sensitivity.

They sent out made to measure port plugs with their cabs, that may be the first pic I've ever seen of one up above. They seem to wind up in landfill.

[electracoyote]

been there done that bad idea