speakers for a 4x12 bass cab

[jacojbass]

I am looking to replace some/all of my speakers in my cab. I say some because the celestion orange seem to mid and upper range, no low end really, so could I just replace two with say a kappalite 3012lf and have a balance of both. does this sound dumb,they are basically the same wattage so why not?. btw I really don't know anything about speakers/cabs/ frequency so take it easy on me if anything sounds stupid. :0 what do you recommend, and why?

[Nev375]

It's really not that simple with bass cabs. Not good ones at least.

Bass cabinets rely on a lot of factors such as internal volume, port size and configuration and it all has to be matched up with your speakers specifications perfectly if you want a good sounding cab.

You would be better off selling your cab and buying one that sounds good to you.

[skyboltone]

Nev375 makes a good point of course. If your cab is NOT ported and is instead a simple cloesed box with no particular engineered design goals, (the vast majority of cabs out there) then subbing in different speakers is plausible. Make sure they are matched output SPL or the louder ones will mask any tonal variations of the less efficient ones. If you watch Red Green, then we know you're handy eh? Try picking up some cabinet design software and building your own.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by skyboltone

If your cab is NOT ported and is instead a simple cloesed box with no particular engineered design goals, (the vast majority of cabs out there) then subbing in different speakers is plausible. .

With a sealed cab driver swapping is even less plausible than a vented cab. Vented cabs gravitate towards similar sizes and tuning, so when transducer engineers design new drivers they tend to try to make them compatible with existing cabs. Drivers for sealed cabs have much more specific spec requirements, and very few of them exist.

You would be better off selling your cab and buying one that sounds good to you.

+1. Successfully doing what you want to is not something that someone who "really don't know anything about speakers/cabs/ frequency" can achieve.

[skyboltone]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

With a sealed cab driver swapping is even less plausible than a vented cab. Vented cabs gravitate towards similar sizes and tuning, so when transducer engineers design new drivers they tend to try to make them compatible with existing cabs. Drivers for sealed cabs have much more specific spec requirements, and very few of them exist.
+1. Successfully doing what you want to is not something that someone who "really don't know anything about speakers/cabs/ frequency" can achieve.

Hey Bill. Holy cow. You find the dangdest people where ever you least expect.

So, to the original poster, Ignore what I said, pay attention to this guy. He KNOWS!!! what he's talking about.

Dan

[lunarpollen]

I wonder, how does the Schroeder BFM 412 compare with the Gallien-Krueger Neo 412? I've been thinking of getting one of the 4-ohm GK's for use as a single cab with my Markbass LMII, but I definitely need really deep, full low-end...

[BassmanPaul]

Just dropping drivers into any old box is a crap shoot at best. It might work well but more likely won't.

[jacojbass]

Ok thanks guys I appreciate the help......

[lunarpollen]

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

Just dropping drivers into any old box is a crap shoot at best. It might work well but more likely won't.

Yeah, I would never mess around with a bass cab like that. But a small guitar combo, totally different story... Hell even a complete poo 5-watt solid state shoebox, like one that comes with a $120 beginner's package deal from Walmart or whatever, can be improved immensely by replacing the crappy speaker with a nice Jensen.

[skyboltone]

Originally Posted by jacojbass

So if i am understanding you, my cab is ported, so it stands a chance of working with replacments, but not a good one?

As Bill mentioned, the information needed simply doesn't exist for many speakers. Particularly Celestions. You need to know about something called Theile/Small parameters and how to measure them or where to find them. Really study up on cabinet design. Then you need a shop full of wood working equipment and a bench full of things like audio generators, a spectrum analyzer, really good microphones and quite a few other things. There are specific directions out there. I don't know, can I say this? Bill has a website. There is an old fashioned way to work out port size empirically, but you need a tone generator, a good multimeter, and some graph paper and lots of patience.
So short answer. The lack of deeps that you get out of your current setup is more than likely a combination of the drivers and the cabinet they are in. My guess would be that whoever designed the cab used NO science at all. That was part of my original reply. To gain what you need, there is a process. Figure out how much mass you can carry, find a suitable cabinet/driver design to get what you want, build it. Or take your rig down to GC and plug it into a variety of cabinets.

Dan

[rpsands]

Most of the old guitar-bass cabs are good candidates for drop-in replacement with Basslite s2012s.