Guitar or bass 4x10 cabs

llacnayr · #1 12-14-2010, 06:26 PM

Does it really matter if the CAB is designed for guitar or bass? As long as I'm playing through a bass head, will it work?

NKUSigEp · #2 12-14-2010, 06:28 PM

llacnayr · #3 12-14-2010, 06:29 PM

Von Felgenhauer · #4 12-14-2010, 06:34 PM

It will work. If it sounds good or not, that will be a completely different question and thread perhaps

MysticMichael · #5 12-14-2010, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llacnayr

Why?

Lurk for awhile and learn, Grasshopper. Lurk and learn...

MM

Von Felgenhauer · #6 12-14-2010, 06:39 PM

different cabs are tuned and ported to different frequencies. Guitars don't need 30hz so why would their cabs go that low? While a 5 string bass sits at 30hz so it needs to be deeper.

BigOldHarry · #7 12-14-2010, 06:42 PM

It is also likely that a guitar cab will be open back... not so good for bass

THAT SAID - I played a Fender Bassman reissue (normally used by guitarists) that would make a fine small-gig bass amp if you had to double...

walterw · #8 12-14-2010, 07:33 PM

the guitar cab will be full of guitar speakers, which might not stand up to bass for that long before blowing

billfitzmaurice · #9 12-14-2010, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llacnayr

Does it really matter if the CAB is designed for guitar or bass?

If it didn't there would be no such thing as guitar and bass cabs, there would just be cabs.

peterpessoa · #10 05-10-2011, 10:54 AM

I heard that way back in the day, a 10" speaker in a 4x10 bass cab was the same one used in 4x10 guitar cabs. I wonder why would the ones built nowaday "blow up" ;(

As far as closed cabs... one could always open the arse when playing guitar and close it for playing bass

will33 · #11 05-10-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterpessoa

I heard that way back in the day, a 10" speaker in a 4x10 bass cab was the same one used in 4x10 guitar cabs. I wonder why would the ones built nowaday "blow up" ;(

As far as closed cabs... one could always open the arse when playing guitar and close it for playing bass

They did back then cause they didn't have the speaker technology we do now. The original svt's came with 2 810 cabs to spread the power around to enough speakers so they didn't blow. Guitarspeakers are made to distort so it takes lots of them to make a bass loud and clean. They're also missing the bottom octave of the bass sound.

MuzikMan · #12 05-10-2011, 12:02 PM

The cab matters much more than the head. The reason is complex, but the simplest explanation is that speaker drivers can't do it all, they are a compromise. The designer decides what strengths and tradeoffs (weaknesses) the driver will have. The result............some speakers are good for bass, some are good for guitar.

Give this a read. Maybe it will help. Page Title

peterpessoa · #13 05-10-2011, 12:47 PM

That is very cool info... I can definitely see how the cab itself plays a huge part along with the speakers driving the sound.

But say you have an old bassman head (50w) driving a closed guitar cab 4x10 (1965b) I can't see how you could damage or blow up the speakers by playing a bass guitar with it. I guess it wouldn’t sound as good as a cab specifically design for bass (although the first few bassman apparently had open back 4x10s).

My point is that the idea of having one amp/cab and play both guitar and bass in it sounds very convenient if the price you have to pay is sub par bass tone (guitar player here

.

Sundogue · #14 05-10-2011, 01:03 PM

Guitar speakers are designed to distort easy. They have low xmax (the distance where the voice coil is still within the magnet's magnetic field and has control over the speaker). Beyond that, a speaker distorts.

Bass speakers have higher xmax so that they stay clean while those low notes push the speaker out farther.

The further you get out beyond a speaker's xmax the more distorted it becomes until you hit the xlim (the speaker's mechanical limit) and you damage it.

Guitar speakers, while being great for distorting earlier also are prone to being damaged earlier, and FAR earlier with the lowest frequencies of bass.

Guitar speaker/cabs are great if a bass player wants to put mids and higher into it for the effect of distortion, but if you want to produce the lower notes of a bass, you need to use a bass cab capable of handling those lower notes at the volume you want to hear them at. Use a bass cab for that.

Unless you want your guitar speakers to look like this...

oniman7 · #15 05-10-2011, 01:21 PM

This thread opens up a slightly unrelated question for me. There are basses that have stereo outputs, and some of them have the capability to run the trebles through one output and the bass through another, right? Could you run the bass output into a bass cab (with 12's or 15's) and the treble output into a guitar cab with some distortion? Might be a cool metal sound on the higher end while reproducing a clean bass sound. I think. Enlighten me? lol

Sundogue · #16 05-10-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oniman7

This thread opens up a slightly unrelated question for me. There are basses that have stereo outputs, and some of them have the capability to run the trebles through one output and the bass through another, right? Could you run the bass output into a bass cab (with 12's or 15's) and the treble output into a guitar cab with some distortion? Might be a cool metal sound on the higher end while reproducing a clean bass sound. I think. Enlighten me? lol

Yes, it is called bi-amping but in order for it to work properly, in addition to two amps (or one amphead with two internal amps) you need to also utilize a crossover that feeds only the low frequencies into the bass cab and only the high frequencies to the guitar cab.

will33 · #17 05-10-2011, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterpessoa

My point is that the idea of having one amp/cab and play both guitar and bass in it sounds very convenient if the price you have to pay is sub par guitar tone

.

There, fixed it for ya.

oniman7 · #18 05-10-2011, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

There, fixed it for ya.

I thought bass amps had nice tone for guitars? Full sound and bigger frequency range?

Or is that mostly for acoustic? My guitar player said his guitar sounded great through my amp when I was gone one day.

will33 · #19 05-10-2011, 02:01 PM

They work alright for cleans if you roll a little bass out. I have a 210 with 4 piezos in it that doubles as a pretty dang good vocal monitor. Overdrive/distortion does add a lot of upper harmonics that can damage tweeters.

Edit: Actually acoustic sounds pretty nice through it as do keys.

BigOldHarry · #20 05-10-2011, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

Lurk for awhile and learn, Grasshopper. Lurk and learn...

MM

Now, now - be nice.

Simple answer: Guitar cabs have basic differences (driver design, cab porting, etc) that are optimal for coloring the guitar's tone.

Bass cabs are usually designed to be more accurate - to inject less "Color" into the tone and so are more like PA cabs than guitar cabs.

There have been some famous examples of "Bass amps & cabs" that made better guitar gear than bass (Fender Bassman, anyone?).

So you play a guitar through a typical bass rig, it will sound accurate but... bland. Play a bass through a guitar rig and it will sound honky and strange.