anybody using four 1x15" cabinets stacked vertically as their main rig?

[Laklandfan]

I'd use 4x15 if I had the money, means to transport

 

[MDBass]

Not to sound negative, but that would be impossible.

EDIT: Unless you are using 16 ohms speakers. Not even sure if they exist.

Or using four 8ohm cabs with a 2ohm capable head

 

[Stewy Lj]

I thought about this as well. 2x2 format though. I use 2 heads, slaving the one, so I think ohms wouldn't be a problem, but polarity (B string here has already gave me a solution for that). I wouldn't necessarily be wanting to blow the doors off of everything, but a nice smooth big sound. Please let us know if you move forward and share your results.

 

[higain617]

Yes, someone is using a 4x15 rig; a very, very bad man.

 

[Fat Steve]

The word excess just doesn't convey how over the top this thread is.
Unless you're a mega band doing stadium gigs and want to look cool there is just no need.

Stadium gigs would have a line array PA system. All you'd need is a DI. However, for an outdoor hard rock or metal show with a vocals only PA, the air one would move with that much surface area would be nice. Also, almost all amps have that glorious knob that controls volume.

 

[Wasnex]

For a variety of reasons -- needing more output & wanting to get speakers up closer to my ear, but still desiring a modular rig & recognizing the value of a stacked columnar array -- I've been entertaining the idea of getting four 1x15" cabinets and stacking them vertically.

But I haven't quite wrapped my head around the scale/proportions of such a towering inferno. Anyone use this configuration regularly? Got any pics of your rig?

Thanks.

I would like to to try a pair of Dually's vertically stacked.

 

[Wasnex]

Unless you're 8 feet tall "closer to your ear" is going to end up over your head.

IMHO. If the area midway between the top two 15s is at ear level it would be ideal.

 

[Wasnex]

Not to sound negative, but that would be impossible.

EDIT: Unless you are using 16 ohms speakers. Not even sure if they exist.

Plenty of tube amps will push a 2 ohm loud. SVT anyone?

 

[wmhill]

this is as close as I get.....and close to 6'

 

[Wasnex]

Stacking two Dually's vertically would put the top at 6 feet with the highest 15 centered just below my ear level. The cabs weighs about 65 pounds so I could probably stack them myself. Dually's are not very deep, so I wouldn't want to stack two on a wobbly stage.

 

[RyanKW]

I was thinking fairly compact cabinets, like the Bag End S15D or Flite Sound 115B. Four of those stacked would be 6' tall, putting the top driver exactly at (my) ear level.

And I'd be driving them with a two-channel power amp that's stable into 4 ohm loads, so 8Ω speakers works perfectly for my needs.

I just c*me.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Four of those Bag End cabs will be 7 feet tall.

But where does that put the center of the top speaker?

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

 

[Turkeypills]

After getting one LOOK at that rig, do you think the club owners will ask the band to turn down?

No. We are friends with the club owners and have a respected reputation for volume along with several other local bands. I'd be cool with a smaller backline, but a huge backline and unrestricted volume is fun as well.

I would like to to try a pair of Dually's vertically stacked.

I'll be doing this for shows with smaller stages. For larger stages it will be a 3x215 stack or two duallies side by side atop a horizontal 810.

 

[Mr. Foxen]

I stacked my two Barefaced 2x15s vertically at a gig mostly for footprint reasons, no photos were taken disappointingly.

 

[bushbass]

A 15 moves about the same air as 2 10s so I'd imagine that 4X15 would be similar to an 8X10 for air movement. But I'm no acoustics expert so take my opinions with a sizeable grain of salt.
And, you can always turn a big rig down but you can only turn a small rig up so far.

 

[Ric5]

Not to sound negative, but that would be impossible.

EDIT: Unless you are using 16 ohms speakers. Not even sure if they exist.

They make 16 and 32 ohm speakers

 

[honeyiscool]

Man this might be just me but I hate having drivers actually at ear level. An Ampeg fridge cabinet is only about 4 foot ball. A full Marshall 4x12" stack, the top cabinet would sit about 5'4" from the floor, and the cone of the top driver would probably be at about chest level for an adult male. What I'm getting at is that it's really unusual to have a speaker stack get all the way above your head. I've sat my combo amps on shelves that were chest level, bringing the drivers to about ear level and I hated the experience. It was sort of painful, honestly. I felt like I was afraid to dig in because the treble would make my ears explode. But I couldn't EQ the treble away either, because people do need to be able to hear what I'm doing.

To me, the ideal height for a speaker is such that the sound is hitting my instrument head on. That way, my instrument is achieving resonance with the drivers, and I get all that sustained goodness, but my ears don't have to get the full force of the speakers, but it's close enough to my ears that I hear myself very well. But when it's at my ear level, I feel like I start to play timid because the sound is hitting my ears as hard as it's hitting my strings, and I'm not taking full advantage. If you like 15s, and I do, I think 2x15" vertically is ideal. If you're gonna go 4x15", then go 2x2.

 

[Wasnex]

I stacked my two Barefaced 2x15s vertically at a gig mostly for footprint reasons, no photos were taken disappointingly.

But how did it sound?

 

[Wasnex]

Man this might be just me but I hate having drivers actually at ear level.

It's not just you, but each person has their own idea of how a bass rig should sound. The first serious rig I assembled in the early 80s included a JBL E120 loaded Fender Twin stacked on top of an MTI era SVT and 810. The whole rig was crossed at 200 hz and equalized with an 8 band parametric EQ. I could barely reach the EQ.

Since then I have preferred rigs that direct the mids and highs to my ears because the sound feels very immediate and present. When playing through just the SVT and 810 it felt like the sound was way behind my playing. On several occasions I have noticed that where the drummer places the beat in relation to my notes is dependent upon how well he or she can hear the attack of my bass. If all they hear is the bloom they tend to play way behind the beat.

In order for me to hear the natural tonality of a ground stacked 215 cabinet I need to be at least 10 feet in front of it. Otherwise the mids and highs sound rolled off and uneven.