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2x18?

M

marshmallow83

Oct 6, 2007
186
1
#1
So I've got the chance to play through a 200 watt Marshall head and a 2x18 cab next week for a gig. What type of tine could I expect from the setup? I know that the lower frequencies would be overpowering, but that can be cured by cutting the lows a little bit.

Thanks in advance, and if this thread is still going by next week, then I'll post about the gig.
 
#2
When I was but a young man, stores were selling 2x18" cabs for bass rigs. These cabs were used in the movie "earthquake" to create all that low-freq jostling for the audience...

So I tried one out. It sounded like a big, really big mud-fart. Lame mids, very lame highs, big floppy lows. It sucked.

Now, it could be that the setup you're going into is much nicer - and I'll bet that's the case. Personally, *I* would like to hear how that turns out. One never knows, right?
 
#3
!8s don't have all that much more bottom than any other size driver. It just seems that way as they have no highs, and a very narrow dispersion angle with what little mids they have. If you run flatwounds with no high end EQ no problem, but you'd never see Larry Graham running through them without some tens on top.
 
#4
Didn't Larry Graham use a backline of Acoustic 360s with the Family Stone?:eyebrow:
18s have a bad rep as muddy, indistinct and generally blah but -- even setting aside personal preferences that might lead some players to love them dearly -- it's not fair to say there's one and only one 18" sound. In the right box, the right speaker is deadly.
Also, for those of us who sometimes play without PA support, a box with 10s that project the fundamental frequency for six whole feet is useless. And for an open-air gig, I dread taking the stage with anything smaller than a 15.
 
#7
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
... it's not fair to say there's one and only one 18" sound. In the right box, the right speaker is deadly. Also, for those of us who sometimes play without PA support, a box with 10s that project the fundamental frequency for six whole feet is useless. And for an open-air gig, I dread taking the stage with anything smaller than a 15.
Click to expand...

+1

jsingles said:
15>18
Click to expand...

As a stand alone cabinet, yes. Any day of the week 15>18. As a support cab (i.e. something to throw under some 10's or 12's) I would go with 18(s). The point of a support cab [to me] is to project those lows, the PA can cover the highs (or 10's in your stack). I've played with both 15's and 18's under my 10's ... 18's hands DOWN.
 
#9
I think some bass players have phobias about 18s being too bassy and 10s being too trebley. My experience has been, given good cabs of each, enough power and good EQ possibilities, they can each be what you want them to be. I used to be one of those that thought that anything less than a 15 would not be stout enough to do the bottom of my bass justice. I have proven myself wrong over the years through hands on usage in gigs, and through side by side comparisons in my band room. Using the above referenced combination of cab, power and EQ, I've been equally impressed with the abilities of big and small speakers to get the lows and/or highs desired. One of my favorite tones is pants shaking bottom, but with almost a being picked mid/treble sound at the same time. I've been equally successful at finding it with 10s, 15s and 18s. There are many TBers that don't agree with my EQing approach. It's been discussed in a recent thread dealing with flat EQing, and I don't want to make this about that. I'm just saying this to give insight to how I do it to make the cab do what I want it to do, no matter what the speaker size. Briefly, I start with EQ cranked and back off from there rather than the opposite. I'm not saying that they all stay cranked, but this way, you know where your max is and shape your sound from there. Not sure of your approach, but if you're not getting the 18 to do what you want, you might try my approach. Also, depending on what cab design, many of the folded horn cabs are way louder out away from them and you may need to compensate for that even though it might not seem loud enough right in front of the cab. In any event, ENJOY. :cool:
 
#10
ashtray said:
I see they are making 21" speakers now... you know, when 18's just don't cut it. I think they are more for the automotive crowd that wants their speakers to be as large as their rims! hahaha :)
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Actually, the trend in general (in terms of timeline) is for smaller speakers. 21s are nothing new, and Electro Voice had a 30" woofer in the 60s IIRC. These days clever speaker design makes these things obsolete IMO.
 

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