18 inch cab

[D.A.R.K.]

i'm trying to say that all tunings and quality being equal, 18's don't sound like 10's or 12's, even in cabs that are tuned to the same freq response.
not better or worse, that's individual taste....
quality of build being another matter all together. there are crappy cabs for every driver available.
for me, there is no replacing an 18 with a smaller driver regardless of cab design, because it doesn't sound the same.
at least not yet, anyway.
and boy, i've wasted lots of money in my life, trying (for both pa systems and for my bass rigs).

 

[masonsjax]

Two different brands of 18" will sound different given those same constraints. Voicing differences are not stereotypical of the speaker diameter.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

but they are still both 18's. i disagree, i believe speaker diameter does effect the voicing.
why not use the same small drivers for everything with different cab designs then?
cab design is not 100% of the equation,
although it is the majority.

 

[Mike Shevlin]

Bass Central has a new Schroeder cab that has an 18" and a tweeter~ Here's the link, it's about halfway down the page~
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[masonsjax]

At the same volume, I guarantee you would not be able to correctly ID two similarly voiced cabs of different woofer sizes while blindfolded, like a 3015lf based cab and a 3012lf cab both tuned to the same frequency.

 

[squarepeg]

I had a Traynor Mark II head with a 1x18" Goodman speaker. It was muddy and indistinct sounding, perhaps because I was playing an EB3 through it. Years later I had a Fender solid state bass amp, I think a BXR something, with a cabinet that had a single 18" and 2 10" speakers. It also sounded indistinct and muddy. The best deal I ever made was when I traded that in on a 2 GK MB150s and 2 15" EVs in Thiele cabinets. Those little cabs sound great and are way easier to lug around than a big cab with an 18 in it. I had heard guys sounding very good at concerts playing through Acoustic 360s with the 18" folded horn, although I never got to try one of those.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

At the same volume, I guarantee you would not be able to correctly ID two similarly voiced cabs of different woofer sizes while blindfolded, like a 3015lf based cab and a 3012lf cab both tuned to the same frequency.

but would you hear a difference between the two?
that's the question. i think yes.
and try something more extreme perhaps, like a 10 and an 18
tuned to the same frequency...

 

[Crazyeelboy]

A long time ago, I used a Cerwin Vega cabinet with an 18 and a 12. It was great, but that was back before we played much through the PAs. Nowadays, almost all of my gigs involve playing through the PA, so I wouldn't want to cart around such big box.

 

[masonsjax]

but would you hear a difference between the two?
that's the question. i think yes.
and try something more extreme perhaps, like a 10 and an 18
tuned to the same frequency...

That's what I'm saying. There's no way you could distinguish between the two. If eminence made a 3010lf, you would not be able to hear a difference between it and a 3015lf if both were in optimal enclosures, tuned to the same frequency, and played at the same volume. Speaker size alone has no bearing on tone.

There are a LOT of reasons why people still believe size matters, and there are good reasons to choose a certain size over another for a given application, but to make blanket statements such as "10s sound punchy" or "you need 15s or bigger to get very low" is just incorrect. Size is not the reason behind anyone's anecdotal evidence supporting those claims.

 

[babebambi]

but would you hear a difference between the two?
that's the question. i think yes.
and try something more extreme perhaps, like a 10 and an 18
tuned to the same frequency...

ok how about this ...

two cabs sound different
you know one is an 18
can you be sure the other is NOT an 18?

 

[KratosNL]

With all that being said, i still want a 4x18.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

That's what I'm saying. There's no way you could distinguish between the two. If eminence made a 3010lf, you would not be able to hear a difference between it and a 3015lf if both were in optimal enclosures, tuned to the same frequency, and played at the same volume. Speaker size alone has no bearing on tone.

There are a LOT of reasons why people still believe size matters, and there are good reasons to choose a certain size over another for a given application, but to make blanket statements such as "10s sound punchy" or "you need 15s or bigger to get very low" is just incorrect. Size is not the reason behind anyone's anecdotal evidence supporting those claims.

no, i'm saying you do hear a difference.
at least i do...
and size does come into consideration when considering
voicing for a cabinet.
for me, anyway... ymmv.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

ok how about this ...

two cabs sound different
you know one is an 18
can you be sure the other is NOT an 18?

but that's the point....
regardless of which you might think it is behind the blindfold,
you HEAR a difference. and you choose whichever you prefer.
but there is a difference.

 

[Popps]

Back in the old days of the 90's I used a Bag End single 18, S18 B-B I believe with a 3 way EAW with a 15", 8" and a horn sitting on top. I drove those cabs with a Crown D-150. It was a bit like having 2 showman amps, just 75 watts to each cab. The band loved how "wooden" my sound was, very organic sounding. The key was it was not a loud band. My fantasy has been to have 2 Bag End S18-D cabs, granted a bit heavy at 61 lbs. but air movers. I'd say try it, you might like it.

 

[Crockettnj]

18's. Slower, darker. Maybe a little wooly and in many cases old school. Since they are 8" bigger than 10's, they will get deeper for more gutteral lows. Especially if they arent neo. Neo magnets make them have harsher mids.

There.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

why not use the same small drivers for everything with different cab designs then?.

Larger drivers are more cost effective, giving a lower price to displacement ratio.
You can believe anything you wish, but it helps when beliefs are backed up by facts. The fact with respect to driver size is that it affects dispersion only. Every other aspect of driver performance is affected by factors totally independent of cone size.

 

[jondog]

I've been using an EV 18" in a smallish ported cab for bar gigs for about 4 years now. My amp is the Carvin micro run flat. We're a loud rock band so I get PA support too, lately it's a Yamaha 1x18 sub and EAW 12" mains. The EV 18 is excellent for my purposes, I tilt it back against the wall to point it at my ears and I get a nice full range sound.

I also own the Carvin 1x18 I think you're asking about, IME it is better to use as a sub rather than a stand-alone bass cab, it has a low rolloff point and is all about lows.

 

[Crockettnj]

... Every other aspect of driver performance is affected by factors totally independent of cone size.

Except that 18's are slower.

 

[hrgiger]

personally I firmly believe that a lot of the disagreements here on TB would completely disappear with a blind listening test and peoples wallets laid wide open...

also, one man's mud is another man's chocolate. the OP has fervently proclaimed his love for deep, boomy, muddy, old-time meat-and-potatoes bass (and he's probably been playing for longer than a lot of us have been alive) so why can't we just let him have it?

I must admit I was shocked to read that 18"s have fallen out of favor... when did that happen? with whom? (I love reading the posts where people show pics of their rig in the garage and admit their wife won't allow it into the house, but instead you usually get all kinds of reasons why tiny speakers are so much better...)

And I see a strange dichotomy in discussions like this. on one hand people say "speaker size has no bearing on low frequencies" and then other times I see them say things like "we always have PA support so I don't need a lot of watts." of all the different types of PA cabs I have used or have seen over the years I have never seen any with only 10" low frequency drivers (and yes I know I haven't been to the wine-tasting shows at the art museum lately where they have pa cabs like that.)

am I missing something? I hope not. also where can I buy some 3 inch subs I really want to shake the clubs...

 

[skruch]

I used to use a single 18 Bullfrog cab with an EV 18 and a Sunn Concert Bass head. Really BIG sound.