Ported vs. Sealed: your thoughts

[Hector_G]

I know, I know... this topic has probably been beaten to death.
I've been trying to find threads to read up about this, but can't seem to find any with bass player's specific opinions and thoughts on their preference. There were posts but few and far between explaining the player's feelings about the issue.

I'd like to know:
What do you play/prefer?

Why do you perfer it/ why did you choose it?
If you can provide examples of the type of music you play.

What were your expectations of your cab?

How do you think it affects your sound?

What do you think of the other form factor and why you didn't choose it?

If you chose a certain one and found it didn't suit your needs, what made you come to that conclusion?

I don't want to come off as sounding completely ignorant about the topic. I know a bit about the endless variables determining the sound of a cab. (Size of cab/speakers, driver types, etc. etc...)
But I just wanted to get an overall view of everyone's opinions.

[rpsands]

Ported.

Louder bass.

Variety pop rock (e.g. chili peppers, smashing pumpkins, jack johnson, tom petty, etc).

I get more bass in a smaller box.

It's got less low end sensitivity and I don't get more bass in a smaller box.

Nope.

[Mr. Foxen]

Sealed is nice to make distortion less muddy but rolling off the lows, but then you need another ported cab to cover the lows, run clean.

[rpsands]

Originally Posted by Mr. Foxen

Sealed is nice to make distortion less muddy but rolling off the lows, but then you need another ported cab to cover the lows, run clean.

This is much much much easier to do at the preamp level, by high passing your distortion. Many good distortion boxes do this and it works very well, far better than using a separate sealed cabinet.

Another option is to sue a separate amplifier for distortion (e.g. a guitar combo) which is far superior to a sealed cab for distortion IMHO.

[dubcut]

I like sealed myself, sounds warmer and fuller to my ears. I have played a variety of ported boxes and find them a tad too transparent. I like a little mud with my B-string.

I do admit the frequency response of ported is superior, But I personally do not find that so desirable.

[spaz21387]

Also depending on where the port is changes the tone slightly. it seems like a back ported cab will only sound good if its close to a wall so the sound can bounce off the wall. front ported cabs dont seem to do this as much. I prefer sealed cabs though the just sound better to me

[RickenBoogie]

Doesn't matter where the port is, all that low end is omni-directional. I have owned both varities, (sealed/ported), and greatly prefer a ported cab like the GB Uber 212. Sounds huge for it's size, and still tight.

[muddycreek]

Sealed cabinets, all else being equal (impossible) both need and often can handle more power.

They go 'boink' more.

Ported cabinets, all else being equal (impossible), can have more low end extension and can be more efficient and smaller.

They go 'thud' more.

Lots of sealed cabinets do 'thud' just fine, though, and lots of ported cabinets do 'boink' just fine.

[Mr. Foxen]

Originally Posted by rpsands

This is much much much easier to do at the preamp level, by high passing your distortion. Many good distortion boxes do this and it works very well, far better than using a separate sealed cabinet.

Another option is to sue a separate amplifier for distortion (e.g. a guitar combo) which is far superior to a sealed cab for distortion IMHO.

Looks a lot like you are taking my suggestion of using separate cabs for clean and distortion, and suggesting I instead use a separate cab for distortion.

Guitar cabs for metally distortion are generally sealed. It keeps things from getting muddy and damps over excursion, by rolling off the lows.

[rpsands]

I'm saying you'll get a better distortion sound using a guitar amp and a high pass filter than you will using a sealed bass cab (or using a pedal that only distorts the higher frequencies and leaves the bottom clean). I've done both and prefer the pedal with high pass for distortion, but the guitar amp works second best.

I don't see where we were talking about metally distortion but I've heard great distorted tones out of huge varieties of guitar amps. The best was the Genz G-Flex 212 cab IMHO. Their guitar cabs are fantastic.

Open backed fenders sound pretty fantastic distorted too. I've run high passed distorted bass in a blues Junior on top of my bass cab and it sounds epic

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by muddycreek

Sealed cabinets, all else being equal (impossible) both need and often can handle more power.

They go 'boink' more.

Ported cabinets, all else being equal (impossible), can have more low end extension and can be more efficient and smaller.

They go 'thud' more.

Lots of sealed cabinets do 'thud' just fine, though, and lots of ported cabinets do 'boink' just fine.

Those conclusions are commonly held, and are not necessarily true. It's possible to make sealed and ported cabs that sound exactly the same. What it really boils down to is the driver used. Some drivers work best in sealed cabs, so that's what you use them in. Most drivers work best in vented cabs, so that's what you use them in. The final result always boils down to the design skills of the person who created the cab. Or the lack of them.

[Mr. Foxen]

I never said sealed bass cab. I prefer sealed guitar cabs for my distortion. Guitar heads tend to have enough low cut to sort things as much as required to not break the cabs, the natural roll off also helps. Most guitar drive pedals also have a built in low cut/hi pass to stop things getting muddy, which is why they suck for bass. Between all those factors rolling off the lows, it sorts it.

[muddycreek]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Those conclusions are commonly held, and are not necessarily true. It's possible to make sealed and ported cabs that sound exactly the same. What it really boils down to is the driver used. Some drivers work best in sealed cabs, so that's what you use them in. Most drivers work best in vented cabs, so that's what you use them in. The final result always boils down to the design skills of the person who created the cab. Or the lack of them.

Perfectly true.

I suppose what I meant was, if you went out and rounded up 10 random sealed mass market bass cabs, and 10 random ported ones, 7 or 8 of the sealed cabs would be in the boink family, and 7 or 8 of the ported would be in the thud family.

and I'll leave the question of how many would be ideally (or well) designed to others...

[coreyfyfe]

Depends on the application. For my big rigs, I've come to prefer sealed and tweeterless cabs. I like a very "vintage" sound. I have an early 70s squareback SVT 8x10 with the original speakers that pumps out the lows unlike any other sealed cab I've ever played, but kick on the overdrive and it growls like no other. I love it.

But, I also like my B15s, which are ported 15" cabs. They can sound just as good, but very different. Takes some adjustment to get my "live" tone for studio purposes.

[countrybass007]

Orange isobaric cabs, one ported one sealed, in one cabinet, and you have the best of both worlds.

[surfingbird1]

so in theory if I had 1x15" bass cab sealed & 1x15 ported using a Eminence Legend CB158 in both (which can work in both)

i would essentially be mimicing an isobaric cab? I was wondering the same as OP but I want two 15" cabs only

Am I achieving a best of both worlds scenario?

I typically only owned ported bass cabs - 4x10s 1x15s and a 2x10,1x15

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by countrybass007

Orange isobaric cabs, one ported one sealed, in one cabinet, and you have the best of both worlds.

Sorry, but not really. In isobaric configs two drivers essentially get used as one driver, and if there is porting it applies to both of them.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by surfingbird1

so in theory if I had 1x15" bass cab sealed & 1x15 ported using a Eminence Legend CB158 in both (which can work in both)

i would essentially be mimicing an isobaric cab? I was wondering the same as OP but I want two 15" cabs only

Am I achieving a best of both worlds scenario?

No, that would be a best of neither world scenario, and it would not be isobaric either.

[will33]

Originally Posted by rpsands

This is much much much easier to do at the preamp level, by high passing your distortion. Many good distortion boxes do this and it works very well, far better than using a separate sealed cabinet.

Another option is to sue a separate amplifier for distortion (e.g. a guitar combo) which is far superior to a sealed cab for distortion IMHO.

My separate amplifier made me mad today...I'm going to sue it.



Sorry man, couldn't resist.

[azzyrazzy]

Signed, sealed and delivered, thank you!
(No really, never tried sealed)