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Bag End Cabs - good, bad, opinions?
- Thread starter papa laz
- Start date
I just bought a pair of S15-Ds a couple of weeks ago. These are the best cabs I have ever used. They replaced an NV610. I liked the 610, but it just didn't sound good at low volume IMO. The 15s sound good a any volume level. They are very loud, punchy, and yet have a beautiful smooth, round mids. If there is any mid-emphasis it is in the low-mids range where I like it. No woofy low-end, no shrieking tweeters. (Although you can get it with tweaters if you want.) Just a great live sound that cuts through the mix yet sounds like a bass.
BTW, I compared these with a pair of Bergantino 1x12s at the store where I purchased them.
Another bonus: both Bag Ends cost me $742.00. I bargain for such high quality cabs.
Finally, the high-sensitiviy means you get a great loud sound even from low-powered amps.
Some people say the S15-Ds are missing some lows. I never felt like there was not enough lows. It could be because I am powering it with a Crest CA-9 and a Kern IP-777 which both have a ton of lows. I also only play 4-stringers, so maybe you 5 & 6 stringers find it lacking, but I cannot see how.
BTW, I will be putting the NV610 up for sale soon.
BTW, I compared these with a pair of Bergantino 1x12s at the store where I purchased them.
Another bonus: both Bag Ends cost me $742.00. I bargain for such high quality cabs.
Finally, the high-sensitiviy means you get a great loud sound even from low-powered amps.
Some people say the S15-Ds are missing some lows. I never felt like there was not enough lows. It could be because I am powering it with a Crest CA-9 and a Kern IP-777 which both have a ton of lows. I also only play 4-stringers, so maybe you 5 & 6 stringers find it lacking, but I cannot see how.
BTW, I will be putting the NV610 up for sale soon.
- Apr 29, 2003
- 9,074
- 9,790
- Disclosures
- Contributor- Bass Musician Magazine | Marketing Manager- Trickfish Amplification
I had a bagend 210 with a coaxial tweeter, and a S15D that I used together for a few years. great cabinets, awesome sound and good value. The 410 + 18 stack would be killer I think, especially with a good deal of power. One reccomendation for ya: I thought the non-cube 18 had better lows and overall tone than the cube 18 cab. Not sure what the model is, but the one that had a bigger box had way fatter tone to my ears. Also, there is quite a difference between the shallow 410 and the deep 410. If you have the 18, you may not need the extra lows from the deep 410.
And I preferred the bag end tone to eden or SWR when I AB'd them way back.
good luck
And I preferred the bag end tone to eden or SWR when I AB'd them way back.
good luck
A
appler
Guest
I recommend the Bag End S15-D. I picked one up from the 'For Sale' forum for three hundred US dollars. It's a loud and punchy forty-five pound cabinet with no tweeter and it takes care of most of my electric gigs without breaking a sweat. That said, I like fifteens and I do not like tweeters; I use flatwound strings and I don't need the high end. There's also an S15-XD which has a tweeter but I have no experience with it.
I currently use both Bag end, and Eden cabinets.
I love my bag end gear. I is quite a bit more compact than the eden equipment, and it still has a huge sound.
I use it on my medium (300to500 people) gigs, and also my smaller ones. I play a lot of funk and jazz, and to me, the bag end is the way to go.
You get thunderous lows, they do color with a bit of percieved compression in the low mids, which I prefer, and they really cut through a mix of guitars, trumpets, drums, keyboards, etc.
I would highly reccommend them. The Eden does have the horn, which I also like, and use mainly for my gigs that will require more of a modern,brighter sound for crowds over 600 to 1000 people.
Hope this helps, good luck. By the way, I have never had any trouble with bag end stuff, and I have used it for ten years.
I love my bag end gear. I is quite a bit more compact than the eden equipment, and it still has a huge sound.
I use it on my medium (300to500 people) gigs, and also my smaller ones. I play a lot of funk and jazz, and to me, the bag end is the way to go.
You get thunderous lows, they do color with a bit of percieved compression in the low mids, which I prefer, and they really cut through a mix of guitars, trumpets, drums, keyboards, etc.
I would highly reccommend them. The Eden does have the horn, which I also like, and use mainly for my gigs that will require more of a modern,brighter sound for crowds over 600 to 1000 people.
Hope this helps, good luck. By the way, I have never had any trouble with bag end stuff, and I have used it for ten years.
I use a Bag End S-15D with two Berg HT-112 cabs. I love the Bag End. Very portable and loud. Not the deepest 15", but much deeper than the Bergs 12s. I have an even larger S-15BD cab at a friends house. It's awesome! It's great but unwieldy and a bit heavy.
old posts of mine
these days i have two S15 cabs and two S12 cabs. Generally i use one of each, a single 15 at a small gig, a 12 at a coffeehouse, three cabs when i want to be obnoxious, and all four when i need to or just plain old want to.
IvanMike said:some searches would pick up some good descriptions, but here goes.
FWIW, I'm not affiliated with bag end of any of its dealers. I also don't think that bag end is "the best" meaning that i think there are probably 10-20 other brands of cabs out there that are just as good, but just sound different. I would use any number of them w/o hesitation.
anyhow, I've been lucky enough to do extensive comparison of BE cabs with several other cabs, both on gigs and in stores.
The S15 is "the" bag end cab. (note: in this post i'll refrain from using the last letter designation of the cabs which is found after the "-". all that refers to is if the cab is in black carpet "C", birch "B", or deep red carpet "D"). The S15 isn't as deep sounding as a lot of other 15" cabs, but it does a great job with upper partials and sounds tighter as a result. The S15 has a very punchy midrange and more of an "old school" vibe. It's probably one of the most articulate 15" cabs around, and is my choice for a standalone. The S15X has the coaxial tweeter and the coax sounds very nice in all the cabs it comes with. Not too harsh, but very "airy". The 15" speaker is also available in a huge cab called the S15B, which has insane bass response and is a direct descendant of the 15" cabs used by phil lesh in the 1974 "wall of sound". There is also another cab called the S15L (used to be the S15cus) that is exactly the same exterior dimensions of the D10B 210 cab. It seems to have more lows than the S15, but not quite the midrange clarity.
The S12 is my second favorite cab. I don't like it as a standalone as it is a bit thin on bass response, but it has an amazing and aggressive mid to high mid presence that i've never heard from any other box by BE or any other manufacturer. On top of an S15 (or almost any other cab) it adds an unreal presence to your sound. The 12 is also available in a 212 (D12) and used to be available in a monster 412 cab (Q12)
The 10" BE speakers are all very different. the original D10 and Q10 were in a very shallow box. most of them were made with a coaxial speaker. They are very punchy and articulate, but i still like the midrange on the 15 and 12 better. Today they just make the deeper version of the boxes (D10B and Q10B). These cabs probably have the most bass response of the BE line barring "elf/infra" systems, and the S15B and S18B cabs) the D10X is a great cab, but the mids are more subdued than the 15 and 12. The secret weapon in the 10" cabs is the recently reintroduced S10. A very tiny box. Two of them don't have quite the bass response of my D10B, but they have a sweetness of tone and presence the bigger box can't dupe.
The 18" cabs are very surprising. Both the compact S18 and the huge S18B get deep sounding (the S18B is scary), but both have the most articulate sound i've heard out of an 18". I kid you not when i say you could use the S18B as a standalone cab. The time i heard one i was looking for the 210 bescause it sounded that clear.
man, long post, sorry.
anyhow, i generally use an S15 and S12 stack as that's what i've found works best for me.
FWIW, sometimes i use two S15 cabs. The upside is that it's a bit louder than the 15/12 stack, and has more bass (almost no need to ever boost bass on the eq). The downside is i lose some of the razor sharp mids of the 12, and eq doesn't quite bring that back. However, it may be that the 15/12 tone is just me, i get no complaints no matter what i use.
these days i have two S15 cabs and two S12 cabs. Generally i use one of each, a single 15 at a small gig, a 12 at a coffeehouse, three cabs when i want to be obnoxious, and all four when i need to or just plain old want to.
ahh, forgot to mention.
don't get hung up on wanting a particular cabinet configuration (e.g., a 4x10 and a 1x18). Instead, ignore what the cabinets contain and just listen to how they sound. If a cabinet of set of cabs gives you a tone you like and can do so at the volume you need, it really doesn't matter what size the drivers are. I've heard cabs with 10" drivers from company A that had better low end response than the 18" cab from company B, and 15" cabs from company X that had better mids and clarity than cabs with tens from company Y.
don't get hung up on wanting a particular cabinet configuration (e.g., a 4x10 and a 1x18). Instead, ignore what the cabinets contain and just listen to how they sound. If a cabinet of set of cabs gives you a tone you like and can do so at the volume you need, it really doesn't matter what size the drivers are. I've heard cabs with 10" drivers from company A that had better low end response than the 18" cab from company B, and 15" cabs from company X that had better mids and clarity than cabs with tens from company Y.
They are very good cabinets, particularly the ones with the coaxial 10's. I don't own any, but I have tried them at NAMM, and one of my prof.s had one, and John Patitucci used to use them live until the early 2000's, and they were a large factor in his sweet live sound/tone.
I have two of the S15BD's and have had them for over five years now. The sound is huge! Plenty of lows, plenty of mids, plenty of highs (especially with an active bass). The sound projects very well. I use one cabinet with a good head once a month playing for 250 people, and I am not running through the p.a. system on this particular job. A single 1x15 is all I need for this job.
When we play some outdoor festivals, I bring both cabinets, and you cannot believe the tone and the overall volume! Amazing!
If I had discovered BagEnd twenty years ago, I could have saved myself a lot of time, effort, and money in comparing and swapping amps and cabinets over the years.
When we play some outdoor festivals, I bring both cabinets, and you cannot believe the tone and the overall volume! Amazing!
If I had discovered BagEnd twenty years ago, I could have saved myself a lot of time, effort, and money in comparing and swapping amps and cabinets over the years.
Another vote for the S15X-D cabs. I have one, and it sounds great.
I'd love to have an S15D to go with it. I've looked in the used market for a while, will probably get a new one.
I'd love to have an S15D to go with it. I've looked in the used market for a while, will probably get a new one.
I've been using the S15-D/S15X-D pair for almost a year now, and I really like 'em. Great sound, easy to move, and great build quality.
MichaelVee, there's a guy who's been advertising on bassgear.com for quite awhile, with a remaining S15-D for sale, and I think he's still got it. Freddie Smith is his name, and <[email protected]> is his handle. I've written him. Nice guy.
MichaelVee, there's a guy who's been advertising on bassgear.com for quite awhile, with a remaining S15-D for sale, and I think he's still got it. Freddie Smith is his name, and <[email protected]> is his handle. I've written him. Nice guy.
The smaller BagEnds are very nice, although they are voiced for a more mid punch tone than full sounding bass IME. The small 15's (SD15 and SD15X) are particularly nice sounding if you are looking for mid punch and definition. The tweeters sound good, but there is no attenuator. While you can control the treble from your amp, this is a strange thing to leave out of a design.
The BagEnd 410 is very unimpressive to me.... one of the heaviest 410's out there. Nice tone, but very little bottom from a cab that size and that weighs that much.
The BagEnd 410 is very unimpressive to me.... one of the heaviest 410's out there. Nice tone, but very little bottom from a cab that size and that weighs that much.
- Jul 30, 2006
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- 453
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist:Regenerate Guitar Works Carvin, Micheal Kelly Guitars
I have a small Bag End 1X15 cab that I bought used. Sounds real nice at lower volumes. I sometimes couple it with a Hartke 2X10 cab & biamp it for larger venues.
I love my BagEnd cabs. I have one 15" with the tweeter and one without and both of them are the exstended versions. I also have an 18" that I run with them just for kicks. Inside these things are great. I haven't tried them outside yet. They are insaine. Not great in the low end department but these cabs sit so well in the mix that you wouldn't even notice because you sound so good. Ya, I love my cabs. The only thing that I might want to change in to trade in my 15" or 18" for a bagend 210. You know... just for more veriety. I would deffinantly say go with Bagend but not nesissarily with that combo. I would know though since I have never played through the 410. Good luck though on your hunt.
Seth
Seth
