Continuing my quest for a small cab to mate with a 50 W all tube head for small, low volume gigs playing mostly 5 string fretless in duo or trio settings. After a lot of searches, listening to available sound files and email exchanges with the builders I think I have narrowed the search down to these 3 contenders. I live in a very small community so there is no chance to hear these in action, much less try them in a retail store. So, opinions and comments from TB users, positive, negative or thumbs down would be much appreciated.
- Greenboy Audio - fEARful 12/6 or Fearless F112
- AccuGroove - Tri 112L
- Euphonic Audio - NL112
Thank you.
A few suggestions:
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DNS-112 by DNA - If you want a really clear, clean, articulate (no hiding of any mistakes) cab, check out the DNS-112 by DNA. power handling is 450-watts both thermal and mechanical. They make two different ones. They make the "normal" and the micro. The normal one is better sounding. Street price is $749 to $799
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Eden D112XST - This is Eden's latest 112. Used to be there was a D112XLT with the characteristic mid-hump that the XLT cabs had. Not long after Marshall bought Eden, they changed most of the XLT's to XST's using different speakers. Power-handling is 300-watts. Difference is the D112XST has a tighter and lower bottom end than the XLT, but if you want the mid-hump, you'll have to dial it in on your amp. Price on Amazon is $622.28 (weird price!) Good news is you can often find used XLT and XST's around for about half that.
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Eden EX112 - I have to 'fess up, I own two of these. I have a DNS-410 by DNA that is a MONSTER. It can play anywhere without any fear of being covered up. Soft or loud it was my "one cab answer" to everything including outdoor festivals. However we play a small brewpub almost every Friday where we host an open mic. Owner said, "no, don't bring that in, use this Peavey 112 combo" when I first played there. So I did for quite a while and when the Peavey disappeared, I decided to buy an Eden EX112 cab specifically to use at that small club because I didn't like the sound of the Peavey.
This is the 112 with the whizzer cone instead of the horn tweeter, so it has a very small footprin and a small price. The first night I played it there, I was astounded at how good it sounded, and I bought a second one. I now use two of them for medium-sized clubs or clubs where it's hard to bring in my 410 (one club has a 30" tall stage with no steps). I liked the sound of one of them and two of them together even sounds better (common to almost all 112's).
Oh, and did I mention that the price for two of them was less than the price of one of either of the other two? Being the E series instead of the D series, price was only $269.99 each. When I got this, I got it in 4 ohm, because I was only planning on using one. Since the amp I was using on it won't handle a 2 ohm load, I have to use my "big amp", WT500/800 and plug one cab into each power channel to use them both. Power handling is 300-watts and amp puts out 400-watts per channel, but I'm running my amp's Master at ~9:30, so no problems there. If I were to do it again, I would have purchased the 8 ohm versions.
Below is a shot of that 2x112 set-up. And yes, I did stack it up on top of an egg crate to raise it up off the floor. Notice how my amp hangs over the edges? Reminds me of the Fender Bassman amps prior to 1966 - stacking the cab vertically gave it the same T-shape.
I have since purchased an Eden TN226 (225-watt rms Class D amp) to use with just one of those cabs at that brewpub I mentioned. It's much smaller, doesn't hang off the edges and weighs less than 5-lbs, .
Bad news is that These EX-112's with the whizzer cone are no longer being made by Eden. Their E series only offers 110, 115, 210, and 410 now. There are still new ones out there, but once they're gone, that's all there is.
Below is a relatively decent iPhone recording. You can hear what two of them sounds like in this Jefferson Airplane song that our 5-piece band did at a gig in February. Even with just a phone recording, the bass sits nicely in the mix and is easily heard.
