What am I doing wrong?

[HugeInJapan]

My setup is a carvin B1500 hooked to a an avatar 2x12 (not neo) and an avatar 1 x15 (also not neo). Both cabs are putting out noise and neither sounds blown. The problem I'm having is that I can't seem to keep up with my guitar player's marshall half stack.

Is there something wrong with the amp? I have one cab connected with a 1/4" speaker cable and the other with a speakon type, could that be part of the problem? When I bought this set up I thought I would be blowing him away... but clearly I am not. Were my expectations too high? Do I have an equipment problem (all pieces were purchased used)? Am I doing something wrong?

[JimmyM]

You are making the mistake of thinking wattage = loudness. You are using relatively small cabs, and it doesn't matter how much wattage you have available...you're not going to be able to get much volume out of that rig because your cabs are too small. If you want big volume, you need big cabs.

[DeathFromBelow]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

You are making the mistake of thinking wattage = loudness. You are using relatively small cabs, and it doesn't matter how much wattage you have available...you're not going to be able to get much volume out of that rig because your cabs are too small. If you want big volume, you need big cabs.

Yep.
SVT 810...

[jtc_hunter]

Your Guitar player is probably running his EQ on the bassy side. Have him turn down his lows and turn up his treble and mids (which will allow him to turn down his volume ). That way you each have your own "space" in the EQ world. Your rig is plenty for playing with one guitar player. I played for years with 2 guitar players and used only 2 -112's. I now play with 3 guitar players and just use a D.I and a 12" wedge floor monitor. Its all about the EQ. If you and him can work together, you could just use one of your cabs, not both.

[HugeInJapan]

So no problem with the way I connected the cabs to the amp? What about having them too close to a wall. Will that effect anything. Looks like they are rear ported cabs.

[dmusic148]

Be sure the cabs aren't out of phase with each other.

[Downunderwonder]

As you have odd cables theres a chance the cabs are completely out of phase due to polarity.

There's also the possibility that the cabs themselves are miss phasing at critical frequencies.

Try to borrow another of one of the cabs with the same cable and see if it corrects.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by HugeInJapan

So no problem with the way I connected the cabs to the amp? What about having them too close to a wall. Will that effect anything. Looks like they are rear ported cabs.

Look, nobody likes to spend money

Your connection is fine. A rear port only needs a couple inches of clearance to not get stuffed up, and other than that, port location is immaterial. There's a possibility of phasing problems, though...but probably not because of the way the speakers are wired...it's more because non-identical cabs can cause phasing problems.

But really, the only solutions I can see are either your guitarist needs to turn down or you need to beef up your cab rig.

[john m]

Perform the battery test to check phase of each cab (with the cables you are using).


+1 to using the same size drivers -- all 10's or all 12's.

Add as many as it takes to get volume and/or work with your eq and guit eq as needed. However, guitarists that like heavy bottom can be difficult to convince to give you space at the bottom.

[HugeInJapan]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Look, nobody likes to spend money

It's not spending money I don't like... it's working for it

I think my expecations were a little high for this rig based on some math I just did. From what I've read volume is pretty much dependent on speaker area. So 2 12's and a 15 would be roughly equal to 1 4x10. If you account for some phase problems, it's probably putting out less volume than the 410. So what I really need is to get rid of the 15 and replace it with 12's. Am I thinking along the right lines here?

[BassmanPaul]

I'm betting the 15 just can't keep up with the 2x12. I would try a second identical 2x12 to the one you have.

You don't mention the impedances of your cabinets What are they?? All the little details count.

I would expect that the polarity would be correct as the cabinets are both from the same manufacturer. that said, it IS easy to make a mistake.

For an amp of the power of the B1500 you should only be using speakon cables as a matter of safety both for you and the amp.

Make sure that the speakon cables are wired +1 >> +1 and -1 >> -1. Obviously the phone cables should be wired tip >> tip and sleeve >> sleeve.

[HugeInJapan]

Both cabs are 8 ohm. I need to bring them both home and give them a good cleaning. How to I check to make sure the speakers are wired properly?

[klocwerk]

Originally Posted by HugeInJapan

Both cabs are 8 ohm. I need to bring them both home and give them a good cleaning. How to I check to make sure the speakers are wired properly?

Take a 9v battery.
Touch the battery terminals to the input terminals on your cabinet, make sure that all the drivers move in the same direction (in or out).
If they don't reverse the wires on the odd driver(s), then repeat the test.

[6jase5]

If it's a 100w tube marshall half stack running in full glory, "keeping up" is not really in anyone's best interest. If you were keeping up with that, your drummer might as well use noodles as nobody would hear him/her anyway. As stated, eq and volume are kings - each of you find your space. Your gear is fine. If you get the "I need to be on eleven" argument, tell the guitarist to get an attenuator. Everyone's ears will thank that decision.

To make a point, I once brought my svt with berg 2x15 along with a crest ca9/demeter rig running two vintage ampeg 15 x 10 cabs. I still couldn't "drown out" the guitar players 50W tube head and (2) 1x12 cabs with all of that, but did manage to knock a shelf over.

The marshall should have no problem filling in the mids and high end at a decent volume leaving you the dub dub.