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1 cab or 2?

F

FiveHorses

Jun 21, 2013
6
0
#1
Hi guys & gals of the bass world.
I currently play markbass little mark 2, through a GK neo 1x12.
The tone is great and just right but last week at band rehearsal i had the little mark2 at full volume and my bass volume at full level. The bass sat nicely in the mix, but i had nowhere else to go volume wise?
Ive read and heard some things that people have said that having another 1x12 really opens up the sound more?
Has anyone gone from a 1x12 to using 2 1x12's?
I know that adding an extra cab wont do anything to the volume...but will it open up the sound enough so that it will give me a percieved increase, or mean that i can back off the volume a bit so i have options if i need them?
Any pointers you guys can throw in the mix would be really appreciated

Cheers
 
#2
Get another identical cab to what you own. Since its a 112 I assume its 8 ohms and that will work well with your LMII. Two 112s will significantly increase your volume potential as well as fullness.

I ran a LMII with two epifani UL112s for quite a while and it was plenty loud and sounded great.


Sounds like you are on the right track.

Best of luck.
 
#3
To get close to twice as loud there are two ways to go. Increase power by a factor of ten or add a second identical cabinet. As you can see adding a second cabinet is the easiest solution.

Truthfully I'd not even try to play a gig with a single twelve. That said I've not used any of the new "super" twelves. That's a pleasure I must allow myself one day. :)
 
#4
I haven't run two 112 cabs together but I have run a 212 cab by itself. It was a little lacking for me when playing with my band. I ended up with a single 410. Honestly id just get a 410 with casters unless you live in like a third floor apartment. Yeah it's tougher to get in and out of the car but the trade off is with 4 wheels its really easy to roll around. My rack is probably heavier than my cab. But I can just stack the rack on top of my 410 and just roll it. I use gigbags for my basses so I can even move everything all in one trip.

I know some people say they like the sound of 10s or 12s or 15s. But Ive tried a lot of cabs and found that even within one speaker size there is an extremely big difference tonally between some cabs. My main cab is a ampeg 410he and I don't like the 410 hlf because the cabinet tuning is completely different. I like my tone to sound thick and tight not boomy and scooped. That's comparing two cabs in the same series from the same company. Other companies cabs are completely different.
 
#5
As Bassist and BassmanPaul said, get another identical cab.

You are going to be surprised! I can use a 1x12 at practice, since I play with a smart group of musicians and we are past the volume wars. But for gigs, I use 2x112, even though I have FOH support. Why? Tons of headroom, great tone, I want all of my cabs to get some love, plus I like to have two of everything at a gig just in case. :D

Adding another identical cab will make a big difference.
 
#6
It absolutely WILL do something to the volume. You will not only get a fuller sound, but you'll get a 3db boost with the extra matching cab, and an extra 200w out of the LMII, and between the two, it's a pretty significant boost.
 
#7
I agree with Jimmy on the volume. I have two 1x12 Bergantino cabs and I use the LMII with a 1x12 Bergie for practice and it's plenty loud for what I'm doing(power pop). When I pair the 1x12 bergie with its brother, whoa nelly! For the gigs I play, I usually get DI'd so, one for the smaller venues; and two for the larger gigs. Never had a problem with volume. If you really want the bigness, try the LMII with 2 1x12s(8ohms each) or a nice 4 ohm single and grab a Tech 21 Sansamp bass driver.. Guaranteed destruction. :bassist:
 
#9
Nephilymbass said:
I haven't run two 112 cabs together but I have run a 212 cab by itself. It was a little lacking for me when playing with my band. I ended up with a single 410. Honestly id just get a 410 with casters unless you live in like a third floor apartment. Yeah it's tougher to get in and out of the car but the trade off is with 4 wheels its really easy to roll around. My rack is probably heavier than my cab. But I can just stack the rack on top of my 410 and just roll it. I use gigbags for my basses so I can even move everything all in one trip.

I know some people say they like the sound of 10s or 12s or 15s. But Ive tried a lot of cabs and found that even within one speaker size there is an extremely big difference tonally between some cabs. My main cab is a ampeg 410he and I don't like the 410 hlf because the cabinet tuning is completely different. I like my tone to sound thick and tight not boomy and scooped. That's comparing two cabs in the same series from the same company. Other companies cabs are completely different.
Click to expand...
On the other hand putting two 112s into a car is easy and wheeling them around on a handcart is easy too.
 
#18
Hey guys thanks a bunch for responding to me - i guess its pretty clear that i need a 2nd identical cab.
On the stacking question - does that have any percieved effect tonally or or volume wise? What do people think? Stack them flat on top of eachother, or stack the vertical on eachother, or vertical side by side?
Any thoughts or preferences out there?

Cheers
 
#19
Vert on top of each other is best. The reasons are several...

---Gets a top cab closer to your ears so you can hear what's really going on better.

---Eliminates any potential comb filtering issues onstage (ever hear a bass signal pound you when you stand in one spot, then you move a couple feet and the bass disappears? That's comb filtering).

---A single column of identical speakers all lined up has better dispersion of highs and upper mids than two speakers placed side by side.

---The coupling effect of using two cabs is much stronger when they're in a vert stack than not.

That said, try all the combinations and see which you like best.
 

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