Fender Weird Inward-Firing 412 Cab- Any Love?

[Stevieb]

Got a chance to score two of them. You know the one- the 12's all are angled inward, to focus on a point about 2 feet in front of the cab. I've only seen one post about them, and that poster was NOT impressed! I can replace baffle board, of course- is that the best thing, or is there more love for these oddities than I have found?

[StyleOverShow]

The old Acoustic 18" speakers were reverse mounted and were 'interesting' cabs in that they were much louder 20 feet away than they were standing 3 feet in front of them.

I used them for a short time and always felt underpowered on stage, however the mix was reported by the band management in the audience area.

I left the band and the sponsoring equipment behind and went back to standard forward mounted speakers.

[Calaverasgrande]

from what I gather the baffel board on those things is kind of badly implemented. But then that is half the charm of oddball designs like that right? Probably better suited to guitar or keys though.

[groovaholic]

When I briefly worked at Guitar Center, we had one of those cabs come through.

It was NOT a good bass cab, but was snapped up QUICKLY once we plugged a guitar head into it; it sounded amazing for blues guitar.

Check out Bill Fitzmaurice's guitar cabs; they use a similar (though likely FAR better implemented) cross-firing arrangement to reduce beaming and increase the "sweet spot".

[billfitzmaurice]

One of the worst bass cabs ever conceived or constructed. OK for guitar, but twice the size necessary for that job.

[guitarhuckster1]

I had one in the 80's. The original speakers were crap. I put EV's in mine. Sounded OK, but way too big and heavy. Modern cabs sound better at half the weight/size/price.

[skidrawk]

I had one and it rattled alot.

[Bill Whitehurst]

Of all the issues they have, the problem with the baffle wanting to come apart is the biggest.

[rodl2005]

Ours used to sound ok for the drum machine, an early 80's Roland Dr Rhythm iirc :-)

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Bill Whitehurst

Of all the issues they have, the problem with the baffle wanting to come apart is the biggest.

I'd say sounding like crap would be a larger issue.

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

I'd say sounding like crap would be a larger issue.

Makes you wonder why they came up with that design in the first place. Were they copying some other design, or did some engineer at Fender actually think this was a good thing ?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

Makes you wonder why they came up with that design in the first place. Were they copying some other design, or did some engineer at Fender actually think this was a good thing ?

The cross-firing of the drivers was a valid concept;
Art of Assembly Language Programming and HLA by Randall Hyde

The insufficient cabinet volume, lack of porting, use of guitar drivers and shoddy construction, not so much.

[JTE]

Having had been a Fender dealer and trying to sell those things (or worse, explain why they weren't covered under warranty when they broke), I hate 'em. Sound is pretty subjective, but to me they're way too big and bulky for the sound they make. The real hatred is the horribly flimsy construction. The baffles were caulked at the seams, but there were slots in the seams that were part of the "tuning" too. The particle board baffles had a nasty tendency to come apart at the seams. That of course changed the tuning of the cabinet and caused all sorts of problems- whistling, blown speakers, physical destruction, etc.

Some people loved the sound, some people hated 'em, and a surprising number didn't really like or dislike it, they bought it because it was the big Fender bass amp... But we sold more Acoustics, Kustom (and Kasino), Peavey, and Yamaha cabinets to bass players than Fender cabinets ever.

John

[R Baer]

I remember buying a new Bassman 135 and 4 12 cab as my first "real" amp. At the time, I was in love with the sound. Of course, I was 16 or so, and knew nothing about gear. Really loved that amp, but I doubt I would feel the same if i heard one these days. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss!

[pgk]

absolutely the worst sounding cab i have ever heard. had a mint one in a rehearsal space a million years ago, paired with a really great sounding bassman100. it stayed there because it was so huge and impractical to move around. shudder...