4x10 and 4x12

[micguy]

For a definitive answer, I asked the algorithm:

4x12 Speaker Cabinet for Guitar:

1. Dispersion and Projection: A 4x12 cabinet typically features four 12-inch speakers, which can provide a wider dispersion and projection of sound.
   
   
2. Full Range: While guitar doesn't require as much low-end response as bass, a 4x12 cabinet still offers a full range of frequencies.

Whatever algorithm you asked clearly doesn't understand the Physics involved - both of these statements are inconsistent with the science involved here.

 

[Saetia]

Dude, seriously, get both. Build yourself a 16x10 stage sweeper.

That'd be epic. I'd only be using these for guitar lol.

 

[Matt O]

Original era Sunn tube heads were the 60 watt 200s with 2 JBL D-140’s, the 120 watt 2000s with the same JBL’s, but a larger cab, then eventually the Model T with 150 watts and a cab that had the the smaller 200s dimensions but with a redesigned port, and proprietary(i.e. not JBL)drivers that were in the CTS quality range. The solid state Coliseum and Concert heads that came along later were purported to be 300 and 150 watts repectively, but I think those numbers were derived by speaker ohm manipulation.

Thanks for the clarification. It goes further to support speaker sizes were chosen for power handling : enclosure size ratio.

I’ll bet Ampeg experimented with every conceivable configuration that could handle 300w before landing on 8x10. With the speakers available at the time, they probably prototyped a 4x15”, a 6x12”, and an 8x10”.

 

[Wasnex]

Ampeg went with 8 10” speakers with the fridge to handle the 300 watts of the SVT in the smallest possible enclosure

The original fridge was only rated for 240W. You needed a pair of them if you planned to push the amp.

 

[Matt O]

The original fridge was only rated for 240W. You needed a pair of them if you planned to push the amp.

Didn’t the original ad have 2 fridges side/side?

 

[ardgedee]

Thanks for the clarification. It goes further to support speaker sizes were chosen for power handling : enclosure size ratio.

I’ll bet Ampeg experimented with every conceivable configuration that could handle 300w before landing on 8x10. With the speakers available at the time, they probably prototyped a 4x15”, a 6x12”, and an 8x10”.

Ampeg's been making 2x15 cabinets for about as long as they've been making 8x10 cabs.

 

[Matt O]

Ampeg's been making 2x15 cabinets for about as long as they've been making 8x10 cabs.

The B25? I wasn’t even considering that. It handled, what, 100w? Wasn’t it paired with a 50w head?

 

[Mik Walker]

I used a Hi-Watt 4x12 guitar cab for bass back in the 70s and early 80s. Sounded phenomenal....

 

[Michedelic]

The B25? I wasn’t even considering that. It handled, what, 100w? Wasn’t it paired with a 50w head?

The B25 rig(55 watts)was roughly the equivalent/rival to the Fender Bassman with the larger upright 2x12, then 2x15, cab. It too was fairly shallow.

 

[Wasnex]

Didn’t the original ad have 2 fridges side/side?

Can't say if it was the original ad:

 

[Grinderman]

The original fridge was only rated for 240W. You needed a pair of them if you planned to push the amp.

I saw an example of one--another one--somewhere online today with both 240 W cabs for sale but now I can't remember where.

 

[Michedelic]

Ampeg's been making 2x15 cabinets for about as long as they've been making 8x10 cabs.

Even longer…

(Even though he’s in the back and obscured, that’s Billy Joel on keyboards)

 

[Matt O]

Can't say if it was the original ad:

View attachment 5286889

Yep! Love it. So, this is what was required to handle 300w back then. Imagine if they had gone with a similar power handling using 12s or 15s… “fridge” would be an inadequate description.

 

[Matt O]

Even longer…
View attachment 5286903 View attachment 5286904
(Even though he’s in the back and obscured, that’s Billy Joel on keyboards)

There is so much that is great about that album cover. Starting with the bass player pressing his booty against the bass amp so he can feel what he probably can’t hear. And the 2 on the right being all ‘64 and the two on the left being all ‘66. I’m going to go find this and give it a listen…

 

[Freight Train]

I’ve wondered the same seeing late 50’s to mid 60’s bands with Fender backlines where the guitarists have 2x15 cabs and the bassist a 2x12.

 

[HP Hovercraft]

one of the First bass amps was a 410 the fender bassman..

IIRC the first version was a 1x15 then the revised version was a 4x10

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Whatever algorithm you asked clearly doesn't understand the Physics involved - both of these statements are inconsistent with the science involved here.

You, sir, may take your complaint and file it with OpenAI.com! I feel confident no one will be able to explain how the machine devised that answer.

 

[mrjim123]

Thank you, but I was hoping to hear from someone that knew what they were talking about. Maybe you haven't seen some bass players with Marshall 4x12s and getting good lows nor Lemmy's two 4x15s.

Red knows what he's talking about. Read again.

 

[micguy]

You, sir, may take your complaint and file it with OpenAI.com! I feel confident no one will be able to explain how the machine devised that answer.

That’s a problem with AI, If it’s fed data that isn’t valid, what you get out is no better. Garbage in, garbage out. We ought not quote it as factual.

 

[brianrost]

Why is the 4x10 made more for bass than for guitar, but the 4x12 is more for guitar?

4-10 came first…late 1950s Fender Bassman combo. 2-10 combos for bass were around in the 1960s.

4-12 arrived in the USA with Marshalls, US guitar stacks of the 60s were 2-12, 2-15, 3-15 (Kustom), 3-12 (Sunn).

Fender made a monster 4-12 front loaded horn cabinet for the Bassman 100 amp. I owned one of these, driving it with a 50 watt Bassman. I wondered why I got such a good deal on it ($180 used), well after moving that sucker around enough I figured it out

The SVT of course was 8-10 and the 4-10 cabs (Hartke was the first as I recall, followed soon after by SWR) of the 1980s descended from that.

In a lot of ways guitar amp evolution stopped in the early 1970s, so the 4-12 still remains popular. Here’s a Fender 4-12 guitar combo…the Quad Reverb. And you thought a Twin Reverb was the heaviest combo ever