Well a 15 is bigger than a ten and there is the 'saying size matters... '
I don't use my sealed Marshall cab with an ev 15 much these days but I do know that in the right room it can certainly bring out the best in a p bass....
I accept it does come down to cab design and specs , but I just can't get into the 4 x 10 sound ... But that's just me ...
Mind you I have also heard some crappy 15's along the way too. ... Lol
Rossa
I tend to prefer the 2x15" cabs I've heard over the 4x10" cabs I've heard.
However, there is not a single "sound" of either. Ampeg, for example, makes two different 4x10 cabs. One has almost uncontrollable amounts of low end, but is a bit weak in the mids, to my ears. The other 4x10 they make is voiced much more like their traditional 8x10... with a gradual low-end roll-off, and a big bump in the low mids. I vastly prefer this model.
Each speaker design is going to be a bit different, and changing the dimensions of the cabinet will vastly change the sound.
I use a 2x15 cab, mainly, and sometimes, for smaller gigs, a 1x15 cab.
My guitarist, in one of the bands I've been in, was also using a 1x15 cab. His didn't sound anything like mine, because his 15" driver was designed for guitar use, whereas mine was designed for bass use, and additionally, his cab was a shallow, open-back guitar cab, and my cab is a somewhat deep, ported bass cab.
Similarly, my bass cab doesn't sound much like a 1x15" PA main, either (partly because it doesn't have a tweeter, and partly because, unlike a PA main, it's designed to sound good with a signal from a bass amp, not to reproduce whatever is put into it as transparently as possible, which is a design goal in PA cabs).
Sounds like I hit a nerve. I never said people's opinion's aren't valid, I said that maybe they're taking themselves a bit too seriously. And yes, when I listen to a guy consistently post about his superior gear, talk about how it will blow every other manufacturers gear out of the water, all of the technical ins and outs of speaker and box technology, argue back and forth with everyone about how much better his box is, I would expect him to at least be able to play, and not sound horrible when doing so. When I hear/see that said guy plays about as well as my 7 year old I tend to put his future comments in the "uh, sure buddy" box. But then again, my favorite commentators in sports are typically ex pros, like George Foreman, John Elway, etc, not Bob Costas. Sounds like you're after a scientists insights, I'm after a musicians. I like bouncing ideas and concepts with real players in the real world, which there are a ton of here. There are also a few loud guys here who I question whether they've even played a real stage, ever been in a real studio, and who sit and antagonize people behind their keyboards and say the same thing over and over and over and over. Kind of like a little league coach who yells at little kids, knows every stat in baseball, knows every in and out of the game, acts like he played college ball, but in reality never made it to pony league and is trying to live out some childhood fantasy of playing pro ball. Taking himself too seriously, but man does he understand physics. Blah blah blah. Only thing speaker size tells you is the size of the speaker. Where have I heard that 1,000 times? Blah blah blah. funny stuff....
You know that the laws of physics still apply to speaker cabs, right?
Owned it for a couple of months and got rid of it for the same reason. Replaced it with an SWR Goliath Sr. and my problems were solved. Nice punchy low-mids.
Yep. I like Ampeg's SVT-410HE far more than their SVT-410HLF. Those sub lows aren't really useful to me, whereas I need my mids.
The tone is completely different between a 10 and a 15. If anyone tells you that you won't be able to tell the difference, they probably do not have the ability to tell (lack of experience) or are ignorant. What I find is a 15 is much more organic sounding. Very natural, tons of low end support and buttery mid range and highs.
10's are a bit more in your face. Much more clear even with a ton of low end from your head, the notation is very clear, can be described as punchy, but overall the best way to describe it is "clear." Less organic in my humble opinion.
I combine both 4x10 and 1x15 and I was not satisfied with using the same head for both. Instead I got the same head for both and I use the EQ differently. It works wonders.
It really depends on the speaker cab and the specific drivers used.
An Ampeg 810 produces a very "organic" tone, to my ears, with solid upper bass and low mids, which is the kind of low end I need. A different tone to my Sunn 2x15, certainly, but still very natural sounding. An Ampeg 410HLF produces a tone quite different from either, with far more low end than either in the sub-bass region, and not a tone I find pleasing or especially natural sounding, though what sounds pleasing, natural, and organic to someone's ear is very subjective.
My 2000S cab is far more "clear" sounding than the Ashdown 2x10 I used to use in conjunction with my 1x15 (which is why I sold the Ashdown after getting the 2000S cab).
This is off track a little.....but i find the above comment more than a little bit out of line! I'm one of the 40% who believe the earth isn't more than 10,000 years old and my thought processes are fine! And that is based on the Bible and not a bunch of scientific smoke and mirrors.
As this post is semi entertaining with all the math and such. This kind of goes along with the same thinking, even with what all the numbers say I have owned approximately 25 cabs and tried an additional 25 or so with all sorts of drivers and many of the same manufacture and in most case but not all I find 15s sound deeper, feel deeper and rattle the windows more than 10s. Sorry the numbers don't prove it out but that's how my ears hear it.
These two statements are mutually exclusive.
You can believe the world is flat, too, and that the sun orbits the earth, and you'd be just as factually incorrect. The great thing about science is that it works whether or not you believe in it.
Also- big difference between Leo fender and someone like aged horse, and joe blow who thinks he's more educated on the subject because he's read a bunch of topics on a forum. Agreed- you don't have to have been a boxer to commentate on boxing. You don't have to be a race car driver to build an engine. But if I want to know what it feels like to drive a race car in the Indy 500 I'm not going to place a bunch of merit with my neighbor just because he has a Porsche
Aged Horse, IIRC, designs bass gear.
ya, I probably should have said enclosure instead of driver...my bad. ie the 410 enclosures generally can get a bit brighter tone (even if it is due to the horns in them) than the 15's do......wait i though i said that 7 or 8 pages ago....i dont have an axe to grind as to which cab is better suited to anyone. is what it is. you need to get out of the house more, or less or chill out on the coffee in your diet....post some data that supports your thoughts....hell, email some speaker designers. Probably a bunch of gray areas is my hunch...but thats just speculation lol.
Some 15" cabs have tweeters. Notably, ones from Mesa Boogie, which is not exactly an obscure brand. I prefer to turn tweeters off on cabs that have them, because they generally don't sound that great to me with overdrive, which I often use. There is, however, nothing stopping anyone from putting a tweeter in a single 15" or 2x15" cab.
I'm not sure why you felt the need to engage in personal attacks. Also, your assumption that I haven't conversed with speaker designers is... telling.