I don't get it

[Alex1984]

Why is it that guitar players can swap speakers so freely on almost any cab without regards to cabinet size etc? Is it because of the frequency of guitars/basses? Do these things only become apparent for bass frequencies? Or is it a sealed/ported design thing?

[Murphys Law]

No, but guitarists just dont give a cr...

[Hopkins]

I guessing its because most guitar cabs are open backed, and all that really matters is the ohm rating. Where Bass cabs are enclosed and the cab has to be tuned to the drivers.

[AwkwardLoudness]

Originally Posted by Alex1984

Why is it that guitar players can swap speakers so freely on almost any cab without regards to cabinet size etc?

Guitarists cannot swap speakers with success as much your question assumes. There are individual cases where it may seem that way. For example, Most 12" Celestions will work fine in a Marshall 1960A/B 4x12 cab.

[KramerBassFan]

Because they are doing totally different things than bass speakers.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Alex1984

Is it because of the frequency of guitars/basses?

It is.

[AwkwardLoudness]

There are many guitar speaker than fart out too early on open back cabs and others that don't reach near their optimum tone in cabs with only a single small port. Overall though, guitar speakers are certainly more 'swappable' than bass speakers. The higher frequencies of guitars don't push speakers magnets nearly as much as low/bass frequencies do...all else being equal.

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by Hopkins

I guessing its because most guitar cabs are open backed, and all that really matters is the ohm rating. Where Bass cabs are enclosed and the cab has to be tuned to the drivers.

I've seen very few open backed guitar cabs. Combos, yeah, but cabs? Almost all the ones I've seen are sealed.

However, that said, lots of guitar 4x12"s have very similar dimensions, and tons of guitar 12" speakers are designed for 4x12"s.

[will33]

Most of the tone differnces in guitar speakers come from the speaker design itself because they don't have a lot of power in the lower frequencies so the cabinet doesn't play nearly as large a factor as it does with a bass. Let's face it, an openback guitar cab is mostly a structure to hold the speaker and keep it from rolling around on the floor. Yes, there is more to it than that but for practical purposes, it doesn't matter much, at least not to the general listenter, it can matter a great deal to the person who has to play it. Sealed guitar cabs aren't much more science either. There is about X amount of cab space that's seems to work with about any guitar driver. Reverse engineer any old marshall, fender, ampeg or whatever and you'll see what I mean.

[Sartori]

Indeed. The Ampeg guitar cab my band has is practically identical in dimensions to my friend's Marshall.

There are some unusual ones, though, like my friend's ported Peavey 4x12.