Reccomend me a cab!

J.Wolf · #1 02-27-2011, 11:06 AM

Hey all, I am trying to find a new cab that suits some specific needs for me, I would love to get some advice from any and all with personal experience. Basically, right now I use 1 or 2 AG tri112's for most everything I do, from pop gigs, to singer songwriter stuff, jazz, blues, R&B, rock, world music etc...

They are pretty great at covering most everything I need, and I'm very happy with em, but I would really like to find a 1 cab solution voiced well for pop/rock/r&b type gigs. I'd be matching it up with a F bass BN5, or a metro RV4, and a LMII, or a Demeter HBP1>QSC 1.4 poweramp.

It can't be too heavy, about 70lbs is my max. I'm not into the cloth grill thing, (sorry Uber lovers), I just don't feel comfortable without a metal grille.. I have been using an AG El whappo for most of this larger format stuff, but the weight and form factor was too much for my schlep, and tonally, it was a monster, but not tight/forward voiced enough for some of the gigs I do. Just for reference, here is some of the cabs I've owned or played, and why they didn't work out:

Epifani UL410 S2: great form factor and build quality, but voiced really strangely i thought.. Big low end, lots of sparkle and twink up top, but not enough meat and potatos in the midrange. It just sounded kinda hollow to me (granted I'm used to 12's and 15's). I also thought the quality of the treble register wasn't very appealing, too sparkly and hyped (again, given my reference point) I guess. I would bet this would be the bees knees for a modern R&B cat or a straight up slap dude.

Bergantino HT310: better voicing for my tastes, just too heavy. I liked the upper treble response alot though, great sounding box overall.

El Whappo: One of my favorite cabs ever, loved the meaty texture and seemingly bottomless low end, but almost too wide and neutral sounding for some situations. I love the lack of coloration, but in the end, the form factor on the one I had was too bulky. Also, I would like something with a little more forwardness, since the tri112's cover the neutral thing quite well.

NL210: Another great sounding box, one of my favorite 210's. I had some reliability issues with it, and in the end there was something happening in the upper mids that eventually became fatiguing to my ears and got old. Overall though, one of my favorites.

So i dunno, granted that I am not living close to a high end shop right now, and am sick of buying and selling, I thought I would solicit the advice of some of you guys.. Since I seem to like 12's alot, I'm wondering if there are some out there that would be more forward voiced and less barky in the midrange than how alot of the 212's are voiced. Otherwise a multi 10" loaded cab that sounded nice and full in the mids, (compared the relatively scooped thing I hear in many 10" cabs) would be cool..

Thanks for reading all this, if you have any suggestions or thoughts for me, let em rip. (or if you want to flame me for disagreeing with your personal experience with any of this gear, please keep in mind the subjectivity of both personal experience, and semantics)

mattyiop · #2 02-27-2011, 12:24 PM

Since you like the Gooves why not try a Jr. It's right around your weight limit (the newer neo version is even lighter) and an oh so sweet sounding cab.

Erik the Red · #3 02-27-2011, 12:50 PM

sounds to me like you might be interested in the avatar 15/6/1.... or a real fEARfull depending on where your budget lies...
From what I hear about it, it has lovely gobs of mids from the 6" driver, and the 15's in them are supposedly ridiculously low and tight...

J.Wolf · #4 02-27-2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattyiop

Since you like the Gooves why not try a Jr. It's right around your weight limit (the newer neo version is even lighter) and an oh so sweet sounding cab.

Hey Matty, thats a reasonable suggestion given the criteria, and the jr is one of my favorite cabs ever.. If I didnt have a pair of tri112's already it would probably be a no brainer, and even though they're different from one another, they're similar enough for me to crave a bit more variety/versatility.

J.Wolf · #5 02-27-2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik the Red

sounds to me like you might be interested in the avatar 15/6/1.... or a real fEARfull depending on where your budget lies...
From what I hear about it, it has lovely gobs of mids from the 6" driver, and the 15's in them are supposedly ridiculously low and tight...

Interesting, a local buddy has one of those avatars, I need to go over and play through it...

emjazz · #6 02-27-2011, 01:57 PM

Jake, sounds like you should check out the new Berg AE212. I haven't played one myself, but from what others are describing it seems like it would really fit your needs. Good luck man.

J.Wolf · #7 02-27-2011, 02:06 PM

I am afraid you might be right, only because I don't have alot of bread to throw at a cab right not. Also, I'm a little wary of rear porting, from years of owning bag end cabs. They sounded great, but the rear porting made stage volume and projection a whole different ball game.

emjazz · #8 02-27-2011, 02:10 PM

I hear you on that. Maybe someone in town has one you could try eventually. It might even turn out that it's something you could use for every type of gig.

dmot002 · #9 02-27-2011, 02:18 PM

Mesa's Powerhouse 2 x 12 is a awesome sounding cabinet . So much so that I bought two and stacked them !!!!!

Mesa Powerhouse 2 x 12

J.Wolf · #10 02-27-2011, 02:28 PM

I guess that would be ideal to have one cab that was preferable for every type of gig... Right now, I'm really happy with the AG's run in stereo for a couple of the projects I'm doing, it's perfect for that.. But for mainly for top 40, blues and R&B gigs, I just want to be able to get it done with a different flavor.

emjazz · #11 02-27-2011, 02:29 PM

You know what cab I always liked? I always thought the old SWR 410 cabs were great...the original ones. You can usually find them used and cheap, and with castors you can roll one anywhere.

emjazz · #12 02-27-2011, 02:31 PM

Ooh...stereo...I've been thinking about that...sorry for the aside, but what do you use to make your signal stereo?

J.Wolf · #13 02-27-2011, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmot002

Mesa's Powerhouse 2 x 12 is a awesome sounding cabinet . So much so that I bought two and stacked them !!!!!

Those are cool cabs, I reviewed one for BMM a couple of years ago. The tone wasn't exactly for me, but I could see how it would be perfect for certain players..

J.Wolf · #14 02-27-2011, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjazz

Ooh...stereo...I've been thinking about that...sorry for the aside, but what do you use to make your signal stereo?

I picked up an MPX-1 a few months ago with an MPX R1 foot controller,to run in a stereo rig with or without my looper. It sounds great, the verbs and delays are really nice. The footcontroller is pretty sweet too. It works well with the looper, but I can't figure out how to run the lexicon pre-looper, and still maintain stereo effects without getting a 2nd echoplex.

MysticMichael · #15 02-27-2011, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.Wolf

Since I seem to like 12's alot, I'm wondering if there are some out there that would be more forward voiced and less barky in the midrange than how alot of the 212's are voiced.

As I was reading your OP, I was thinking: "A vertical 2x12 might be perfect for this guy." Though I'm a little unclear on what you mean by "more forward-voiced" but "less barky in the midrange", it occurs to me that something in the sonic territory of the AE212 is what you want.

Have you considered ordering a custom vertical, front-ported 2x12 from Don @ LDS? Having him install a pair of Eminence Kappalite 3012HO woofers, along with either an upper-midrange driver and/or a tweeter - depending on how you prefer the voicing of the upper frequencies?

Could be just what the doctor ordered...

MM

dmot002 · #16 02-27-2011, 03:16 PM

Lots of choices here as well !!

http://www.lowdownsound.com/customcabinets.php

MysticMichael · #17 02-27-2011, 03:27 PM

Alternatively, perhaps a Genz Benz NEOX-212T?

MM

J.Wolf · #18 02-27-2011, 03:44 PM

hmm, interesting idea.. For some reason I keep telling myself I need to find a 410 that I like... I guess Its something about the quickness and immediacy of 10" drivers, coupled with the depth and booty of a bigger enclosure. I'm really used to 12's though, and sometimes 410's just don't sound right for the way I play.

dmot002 · #19 02-27-2011, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.Wolf

hmm, interesting idea.. For some reason I keep telling myself I need to find a 410 that I like... I guess Its something about the quickness and immediacy of 10" drivers, coupled with the depth and booty of a bigger enclosure. I'm really used to 12's though, and sometimes 410's just don't sound right for the way I play.

I feel the same way . I had many different stacks and cabinets through the years from 2 x15's, to a 15 and 4 x 10's on top, 8 x 10's . Nothing is really comparing to the response and tone I get out of my 4 12's though .

This cab seems interesting. Would love to hear 2 of these together.
http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&m...id=611&cid=96#

manutabora · #20 02-28-2011, 08:35 AM

JWolf, I'll be subscribing to this thread. I was about to post a thread with a very similar issue as yours. Right now I'm playing through a GB Shuttle 6.0 and two Bag End S15 D's, and I'm also looking for a one cab solution, pretty much the same things that you want, except I might look for a different head as well.
My gut instinct is that a 212 would be great for what I need, but I want to see which 212 is most efficient. Sometimes I need a lot of volume.