Double Bass 8 inch Bass speaker recommendations

[Jay Mendoza]

I have a small Crate Bass amp, 15 watts I use for practice, but the 8 inch speaker can't handle the low end and breaks up badly.
I was looking for a good 8 inch speaker that will handle the low frequencies well, one that is bass specific, or better suited to that application.
I did read a little about the Jensen Falcon but no comments from bass players about it.
TIA
Jay

 

[Don Hergert]

Are you wanting a separate amplifier to drive a separate speaker cab, or do you want a combo amp?

Edit: Or, do you want the speaker component to replace the blown one in your Crate as Don suggests below?

 

[Don Kasper]

Are you intending to replace the current 8in. speaker? If so,
Here is a good starting point (US Speaker...link below.)
There is a section of 6 & 8 in. speakers.
I own and use a Faital (10 in.) they are not cheap.

https://usspeaker.com/

 

[Slevage]

I have a small Crate Bass amp, 15 watts I use for practice, but the 8 inch speaker can't handle the low end and breaks up badly.
I was looking for a good 8 inch speaker that will handle the low frequencies well, one that is bass specific, or better suited to that application.
I did read a little about the Jensen Falcon but no comments from bass players about it.
TIA
Jay

The Elf with 2-8’s is great-same footprint as 1-8.
More on a budget/ Peavey makes a 2-8 combo.

 

[Wasnex]

15W is not a lot of power. The first thing is to make sure the problem is not the amp running out of headroom.

If the speaker is blown, a bit of engineering is required to select a suitable replacement/upgrade. The cab and driver must be designed to work together as a system. So you can't just throw a random driver in the box and get good performance.

To choose a suitable driver you need the internal volume of the cab, number of ports, and port dimensions.

Drivers are described by a range of electro-mechanical properties that are called Thiele-Small (T/S) parameters. T/S Parameters are usually published on a driver's spec sheet.

A computer program or app is used to model how well a given driver will work in the existing cab design. The cab's internal volume, number of ports, and port dimensions are loaded into the modeling program, along with candidate drivers T/S Parameters. The program crunches the numbers for you and then spits out various graphs and data. If the driver is a near match, you may be able to slightly alter the ports to optimize performance. If the driver is not a good match, then you look for a different model


Not sure if Eminence makes a suitable off-the-shelf 8" driver. They do publish cab design docs for most of their pro woofers and some of their bass guitar specific drivers. Consider going to the Eminence website and reviewing some of the cab design docs.

You can download the spec sheet and cab design doc for the Eminence Alpha 8A here: 8 inch Eminence American Standard Series Replacement Speaker
Beta8CX:

8 inch Eminence American Standard Series Replacement Speaker

Recommended for professional audio mid-range reproduction in sealed enclosures. Also suitable for mid-bass or floor monitor applications in vented 2-way cabinets.

eminence.com

To determine if either will work, they should be modeled in your cab!

Faital may make a more suitable 8".

 

[loukash]

Last year I tested multiple 8" battery combos for busking.
The only one that could handle bass was the EV Everse 8.
Meanwhile, I use it as my main amp for almost everything.
So if I wanted just a speaker, I'd be definitely looking at an EV again.

 

[Guitalia]

Per the responses here, you're unlikely to find an affordable fix for the problem.

If I were using that amp strictly for practice, I'd either turn the bass tone control down at the amp or use earphones.

 

[el murdoque]

First question would be: Did you mean to post this in the Double Bass section of TB?
Are you using that amp to amplify your double bass for home practice?

I'm assuming that was a slip and we're talking about either electric bass guitar or electric upright, because home practice with an amp like that would make little sense with an acoustic upright.


If it's one of those generic little practice amps, a replacement speaker will not only cost more than the amp itself, but it will most likely not even solve the issue to your satisfaction. I googled around a bit for Crate 15W 8" combos and those I could find had a second hand value of a two figure number.

Breakup of bass can happen via the speaker, via bad design of the cabinet or through the amp.
The first step would be to determine which kind of breakup we have here - but to be frank, I doubt it's worth the bother.

If you're handy with a soldering iron and a multimeter, you could remove the speaker - which might require de-soldering the connection - and check the impedance of it. With that, you'd know what replacement to look for and you could also fashion yourself an adapter of sorts that allows the connection to a cabinet - if you have a known good cabinet at hand that matches the impedance of the speaker just removed, you could run the amp into that cabinet (at the exact same settings you used it with the built in speaker) and listen for unwanted distortion. If it's clear as a bell, you know it's not the amp.

At this point, however, you've probably invested more quality time than the amp is worth, and all you got is either the knowledge that either the amp is not to blame, or that the amp is to blame or (most likely) that the amp is to blame a bit.

 

[Medicine Man]

Save your money for a better setup. Popping a more expensive speaker in the Crate is throwing away cash that could have gone to a much more effective replacement. Unlike guitar amps, bass cabs are designed as a complete system where the cabinet must be designed to compliment the characteristics of the speaker. Quality bass amplification is expensive, sadly.

 

[Ostie]

Rumble 25 I believe has a 8” driver, but I would recommend the Rumble 40. It’s actually a little lighter than the 25. It’s my practice amp but I’ve used it in a small club venue with an acoustic trio and it had plenty of headroom.

 

[Jazzdogg]

No matter which other gear you use, with double bass, using a variable high-pass filter is advisable.

 

[BassicJazzy]

When I was looking to replace the 8" BGR Celestion speakers in my SWR BB2 I had selected the Eminence 8" as the replacement. Those are capable of handling much, much more power than what your amp can deliver, so I doubt you could drive them properly.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I replaced the driver in my Ampeg BA 108 with an Eminence Alpha 8 and added a port.

Very satisfied of the result, no more farting on low notes and this little combo is like thunder now and very capable of fine details. My open E on my p bass is full and powerful.

Is it worth it ?

Sound wise, oh yes it is.

Money wise, well the price of this driver is twice the price of another combo ! For me though, this is now my best combo for practice and acoustic shows.

 

[smperry]

I have a small Crate Bass amp, 15 watts I use for practice, but the 8 inch speaker can't handle the low end and breaks up badly.
I was looking for a good 8 inch speaker that will handle the low frequencies well, one that is bass specific, or better suited to that application.
I did read a little about the Jensen Falcon but no comments from bass players about it.
TIA
Jay

Are you asking about amplification for Bass Guitar? If so, we can move this to that forum. Thanks.

 

[basss]

I have a Faital 8" for sale in the classifieds. Worked very well in a small Ashdown combo. It's 4 ohms if that's what you need.

 

[Ric Vice]

Seem's like that's what he is asking. As a St. Louis native Crate amplifiers were kind of yesterdays Fender Rumbles and the Rumbles work for EB and DB so it's a win win situation. A decent modern 8 low mid driver will likely cost more than the original Crate 15 did and probably sound terrible with a decent speaker. Not all 8's drivers are created equal and a modern 8" speaker needs more ventilation and heat disipation and mounts differently.

 

[Major Seven]

Rumble 25 I believe has a 8” driver, but I would recommend the Rumble 40. It’s actually a little lighter than the 25. It’s my practice amp but I’ve used it in a small club venue with an acoustic trio and it had plenty of headroom.

I have heard this about the Rumble 40 many times at this point. There are 2 at GC for $119. A speaker itself would cost near that.

 

[jj.833]

Sadly, the bass cab's properties are only partly influenced by speaker. The cab itself is a major factor, just as important as the speaker. Every speaker needs optimal volume of the cab, optimal bass port, etc. If you want to delve into this, you need to study it, or you will just lose money.

I made a few bass cabs, back in the days when the market for leightweight cabs was not as saturated as it is now. It was a very good hobby and I learned a big lot about how the bass sound works, which helps me enormously in setting up my stage till today. But as for cabs, I found that in the end, I can't do better than professional companies, and not even much cheaper.

All my cabs used B&C speakers from Italy, which are very good speakers, and the shop I was buying these provided its own laboratory measurements. Do a search around here, there were many threads about cab making.

Perhaps you can take the amp out of the combo, and buy a separate professional cab?

 

[Jay Mendoza]

Thanks for the replies,
I have a double bass and am using the amplifier to boost the sound level just a little in church, mainly because the guitarist is using an amp and drowning me out.
So far it has worked OK, but the amp has the cheapest 8 inch speaker I have ever seen, and sounds very boxy. An 8 inch woofer for a car stereo makes it sound much better, just sitting by it self, outside the combo amp cabinet, clipped to the speaker leads. So there is obvious room for improvement, without having to go and buy a whole new Boutique $1000+ bass amplifier. BTW, using the Carvin BX1 bass pre-amp really brings out the natural sound of my bass, as it has a blend feature that controls the amount of signal that goes through the pedal EQ and how much is bypassed to the output. The preamp has very high input impedance, over 2meg.

 

[Ric Vice]

Fender Rumble 10 or 12 inexpensive, good tone quality, usefully EQ, lightweight. Often available used.