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Sealed Cabinets

K

King David

Dec 13, 1999
491
8
Indiana
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#1
Who makes sealed cabinets. I know the Ampeg SVT 8x10 is sealed. What others are?

Are there any 15" sealed cabinets?

FYI - Ported cabinets are not sealed. They have a port that allows air to move in and out of the port. A sealed box has no port. Sealed tends to be a tighter sound. In the home theater world, a sealed box tends to sound more musical vs boomy (like for special effects). There are aguments that one is better than the other. Don't kill me for this, but I think most of the PA equipment is ported. It tends to be less power hungry and louder per watt.
 
#4
Sealed cabinets are better when paired with certain amps- a lot of vintage cabinets were sealed because all-tube amps don't dampen their power output in the same way as solid-state amps, resulting in somewhat boomy lows- when companies started designing solid state amps, I think they designed them to work with the available cabs, many of which were ported. I know that Acoustic and Sunn solid state amps from the 70s sound better to my ears through sealed cabs, whereas most solid state amps these days sound somewhat thin through them.
For currently made sealed cabs, I would check out companies that still make all-tube bass amps. I think that most of Ampeg's "Classic" series cabs are sealed (I could be wrong about this...), as they were designed specifically to go with their all tube SVT Classic- I know they have a 15" cab and a 2x15" cab. It seems like alot of these manufacturers focus on 8x10s for their tube amps (though that may just be what people are buying, so they focus on them)- I'm pretty sure Fender made a sealed 2x15" for their Fender 300 Pro amp (previously Sunn 300). I'm sure that Peavey probably has some cabs for their Classic 400 amp + I know that Eden has a sealed 2x15.....I don't know about single 15s though (apart from the Ampeg), I think that a sealed 15 would lack the low end of the larger sealed 2x15.
The best in my experience are the Bergantino NV (new vintage) series- he made a 6x10, a 2x15 and a 15 +3x10 cab. They are not currently in production, but he plans to start making the 610 again- if enough people bother him about it, he may rerelease the others as well. They were designed to recreate the vintage sealed cab sound, but with an added "modern" hi-end. I have the 6x10 cab for my all-tube amps, and it is without a doubt the best sounding sealed cab I've ever used!
I'm sure you could find some vintage sealed cabs fairly easy on your local Craigslist, if you were interested- I see old 2x15s on a regular basis on the Denver Craigslist.

Karl
 
#5
Ale said:
I think the Markbass 151HR is sealed , as their 104HR .
Very tight and ounchy sounding cabinets , and their 151HR is extremely quik and tight for a 15* IMO
Click to expand...

The "R" in Markbass cabinets denotes rear port reflex
the "F" denotes front port reflex

As far as i know Markbass does not make a sealed cabinet!

Happy holidays
EB/
 
#9
anderbass said:
Here's a list for ya.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=223433&highlight=Sealed+cabs

Its amazing what you can find, when you use the Talk Bass search function.
Click to expand...

If you were to actually read that post, you might notice that there are no 15" sealed cabs listed- so I imagine this thread is still valid!;)
Actually, there are quite a few sealed cabs missing from that list (if we want to get picky about it). I'm not sure why people feel the need to get so picky about repeat threads....especially when they are about something as rare as sealed cabs (as opposed to- "whats the difference between tube and solid state?" for example). If you're tired of reading the same info a whopping 2 or 3 times, simply don't read it!:cool:


Karl
 
#10
I think I want to try out a sealed cab... Only because when switching from a sealed to ported cab in my truck [i know big diffrence] the lows don't hit as hard but the highs hit harder. Seems like sealed was more balanced.
 
#11
Vented boxes are a poor choice inside a vehicle.

The natural cabin gain of the vehicle is 12dB/octave, which exactly matches the natural rolloff of a sealed box at 12dB/octave. In short, you get flat response all the way down from a sealed box in your vehicle.

Add in the tighter bass response of a sealed box, and it does indeed sound better inside the truck. Playing your bass through a sealed box inside your truck will give you a very good idea of what full range bass is all about.

However, once you move outside the truck, things change a whole lot. The bottom falls off, for starters, and so does the loudness level. Sealed boxes don't make as much noise so nobody will hear the somewhat tighter bass.

IMO, leave sealed boxes for audiophiles and car stereos. Use vented or horn loaded boxes for live work.
 
#12
spencer said:
I think I want to try out a sealed cab... Only because when switching from a sealed to ported cab in my truck [i know big diffrence] the lows don't hit as hard but the highs hit harder. Seems like sealed was more balanced.
Click to expand...
As long as you do all your playing inside a truck you'll love the sealed cab. There's a big difference between filling a 150 cubic foot truck and filling a 10,000 cubic foot club.
 
#13
billfitzmaurice said:
As long as you do all your playing inside a truck you'll love the sealed cab. There's a big difference between filling a 150 cubic foot truck and filling a 10,000 cubic foot club.
Click to expand...

I had absolutely no problem filling a 12,000sf club with a sealed NV215 this weekend. And with no PA support. This might not make sense in theory, but it certainly does in practice.
 
#15
DEVILMAN said:
Wow!, and all these years I never knew all these guys with their Ampeg 8x10 Fridges were "audiophiles"...LOL!...

~S~

PS: I love my NV215's too!
Click to expand...

+1....LOL!


Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice
As long as you do all your playing inside a truck you'll love the sealed cab. There's a big difference between filling a 150 cubic foot truck and filling a 10,000 cubic foot club.

Are you saying that a sealed cab won't fill a 10,000 cubic foot club? Or better yet what exactly are you saying? I have played sealed and ported cabs for over 30 years and I have had success with cabs of both types.


Originally posted by bgavin
IMO, leave sealed boxes for audiophiles and car stereos. Use vented or horn loaded boxes for live work.

Is this supposed to be a joke? Where exactly does this piece of wisdom come from?

Peace,

T
 
#17
Big String said:
I usually play small/medium clubs and my NV215 is 'whoopin' with or without PA support and lately we just quit bringin' the subs ... don't need'em. Love the NV's taller thinner profile. My profile is the opposite and it works well. :D
Click to expand...

Whew, some reality to this discussion. Thanks, Biggy. A DB750 or an SVT or even my GBE 600 through an NV 215 or NV610 or 810E is plenty for anyplace you aren't going through the house.

Hey guys, there is a big difference between cubic feet and square feet. Based on 30 years of commercial real estate experience and 50 years of gigging, a 12,500 square foot club would be 100 feet by 125, probably have 12 foot ceilings, a volume of 150,000 cubic feet and would seat about 300 people. Of course, if the audience were full of 20 somethings with a mosh pit instead of the polite 50 to 70 year old crowd I play to you could probably get 1,000 people in there and a fireworks display. But then some people tried that a few years ago in Connecticut and there were problems.:rollno: :rollno:
 
#20
Personally I wouldn' be questioning BFM's credentials on enclosure or speaker technology. He understands it way better than I would... ever. I might disagree on a personal preference basis. but hey that's valid. Probably wrong!, but valid all the same. BFMaurice knows his onions. You would be wise to *****, listen and learn.
 

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