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Bass Cab Question: Lazy n00b edition!

gonzorob

gonzorob

Jun 10, 2008
442
6
Springfield, Illinois
#1
Here's the scoop. I have been playing for just over a year and currently use a Crate BT220 combo amp. I have been looking around for a 2 10" cab for awhile, but would like some input on which cabs are the best bang for the buck. My budget is about $300 and I have been looking at the GK Backline and Goldline Cabs but wanted to get some input from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Thanks in advance.
 
#2
I don't know what im talking about, but its best to look used.

In fact, just the other day i was cruising craigslist and i saw an ad. The guy was leaving the country and had an Eden 210 going for 275.

You could get new but you'd get a lot more if you bought used. chec kthe TB classifieds. People unload fairly new gear all the time.
Also look out for some Avatar Bass cabs. Haven't played one myself, but from what i've heard, they're are solid, and cheap.
 
#6
I owned a goldline 410 for a while. Decent bang for the buck and sounds ok, but heavy.

I have also owned an Avatar cab (210). Lighter and sounded better.

Your best bet on a budget cab is to go used or buy an Avatar. Or better yet, buy a used Avatar cab.
 
#7
I had never heard of Avatar before coming here. I will check them out.


One last question.

The minimum impedence on my Crates internal speaker is 4 ohms, does this mean that the cab I buy needs to have a minimum impedence of 4 ohms also?

thanks again for massaging my newbieness
 
#10
Well slap me and call me susan.

Good thing I came here before I plugged anything into the "external speaker" jack on my combo.


This is good in a way, as I can spend my budget on something else now. But bad in the way that I will be upgrading my rig much sooner that expected.

Thanks again. You guys are a lot of help.
 
#11
I just looked at the owner's manual for that combo, and you can safely run an external speaker cabinet from it. The thing is that the external speaker jack is wired in series with the internal speaker (which remains on when the jack is used). So, if you hook up a 4 ohm cabinet your total imepance on the amp will be 8 ohms, which is fine, but it will reduce the maximum output of the head by about 40-50%. This will be counteracted by having the additional surface area (more speakers) of the external cab, but the net result would be that there was no significant change in total volume.

Save your money for something else -- like maybe a nice head & cab.
 
#12
PSPookie said:
I just looked at the owner's manual for that combo, and you can safely run an external speaker cabinet from it. The thing is that the external speaker jack is wired in series with the internal speaker (which remains on when the jack is used). So, if you hook up a 4 ohm cabinet your total imepance on the amp will be 8 ohms, which is fine, but it will reduce the maximum output of the head by about 40-50%. This will be counteracted by having the additional surface area (more speakers) of the external cab, but the net result would be that there was no significant change in total volume.

Save your money for something else -- like maybe a nice head & cab.
Click to expand...



Yeah, it doesn't sound very productive to add anything to it. The "band" I am in only gigs small bars at this point anyway and the crate does just fine in those settings so far. I was just looking at adding a bit of high end. Back to the drawing board as they say.
 
#13
PSPookie said:
I just looked at the owner's manual for that combo, and you can safely run an external speaker cabinet from it. The thing is that the external speaker jack is wired in series with the internal speaker (which remains on when the jack is used). So, if you hook up a 4 ohm cabinet your total imepance on the amp will be 8 ohms, which is fine, but it will reduce the maximum output of the head by about 40-50%. This will be counteracted by having the additional surface area (more speakers) of the external cab, but the net result would be that there was no significant change in total volume.

Save your money for something else -- like maybe a nice head & cab.
Click to expand...

I think your math is flawed... I'm no expert but I see no way how plugging in a 4 ohm extension could leave you with an 8 ohm load.
 
#14
According to the user manual on the Crate BT220 a 4-ohm external speaker cabinet can be connected to the External Speaker connection on the rear panel. The connection is in series and the 15" speaker in the combo will remain active. Since the connection is series, the resulting load will be 8-ohms on the amplifier.

+1 on the Avatar 2x10 Neo. I love mine!

Although, if you're going to be getting a 4-ohm cabinet, I'd recommend a 2x12 or 4x10 so that when you do getting around to upgrading to a new head you will already have a cabinet that will be nice stand alone. A lot of heads cannot handle two 4-ohm cabinets. Checking the website, the avatar 2x12 is only $50 more than the 2x10.
 
#15
My advice to you would be to start putting a rig together piece by piece. You could either get a head and bypass the head on your amp, and use the new one through the speaker in your combo. Or you could get a cabinet (i would highly recommend 8 ohms, that way you can add another later), and see if there's a way you could power it off your combo, bypassing the cheap crate speaker in there. Later on, you can add more pieces to your rig until it's complete.
 
#17
ErebusBass said:
My advice to you would be to start putting a rig together piece by piece. You could either get a head and bypass the head on your amp, and use the new one through the speaker in your combo. Or you could get a cabinet (i would highly recommend 8 ohms, that way you can add another later), and see if there's a way you could power it off your combo, bypassing the cheap crate speaker in there. Later on, you can add more pieces to your rig until it's complete.
Click to expand...



I will probably start building it from scratch. Although I don't know much about all of this, I cannot see myself ever needing more that 4 10s and 1 15. Will most stand alone heads handle that?
This "ohms" gibberish is way out of my league. My brain just doesn't understand what it all means.
 
#18
Just did some more digging and it sounds like Crijan and PSPookie are 100% correct. Crate recommends a 4 ohm cab to go with my combo. I just started looking at my funds and weighing the pros and cons of adding to this or starting from scratch and then got a call from my guitar player that we have a decent sized gig coming up in July.

So it looks like I will be buying a 4 ohm 2 10 setup for now and then saving my behind off to start building another rig.

Thanks again to everyone.
 

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