Bass Cabinets??!!

[Thunderthumbs73]

Im in a 3 piece band that plays music kinda simular to early chili peppers stuff (Mothers milk), but im struggling to compete with my guitarists Marshall mode 4.

At the moment Im running an Ampeg B2-RE Head through an 8 ohm Harkte VX410a cab but im constantly running my amp hot and losing clarity on stage as its on max. (only getting 250w@ 8 ohms i think).

My head can push out 450w @ 4oms so im not sure whether to just buy a new 4 ohm 4x10 or get something totally different to enhance my style/sound. (On stage presence/performance)

I've been looking at : Ampeg 610hlf, Mark Bass CL108

Any recomendations to Cab/ Speaker sizes?

Cheers,
Wayne

I cannot stress this enough- learn to ask your guitar player to just turn down.

What do you think would be the easiest and best option:
a.) Diplomatically ask the person to take their hand and move the knob on their amp.
b.) You to go out and buy $500-$1,000 more worth of gear?

I'd highly suggest trying item "a" first, and "b" as the last resort.

And stage "presence" isn't the size of your gear (unless you happen to feel that "presence" is also the size of the snake in your trousers...) but what you do as a person and a performer to engage your audience. Presence is not "style" it is engagement.

Best to you.

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

first thing is first... tell the damn guitard to turn down! tell him to angle his speaker up so he can hear it better without blasting everyone else out of the room!
second, angle your speaker up at your face so you can hear better.

then... add another 8 ohm cab.

 

[sheepgotoheaven]

if you like your sound, then get another 8-ohm cab to go with it. that will push 450 watts out of your head.

This would bring you to 4ohms and you would be utilizing all 450 watts. The more air you push the more presence you will have. Personally, I think 1000 watts is pushing ridiculous. Maybe add a 2x10 or a 4x10. Good luck on your decision!

 

[Myth_103]

Actually, my first 2 cabs where the hartke 4x10 transporter and the 4x10 XL. I NEVER felt like I was getting enough sound out of those individually. I really think it's the cab to be honest. Either add another 4x10 or just get a harder hitting one. (schroder, ampeg hlf) something... that's my .02.

 

[Sean S]

square waves kill speaks... an underpowered speak blows up or distorts easily. there are different opinions on this but i would say power a 600w speak cab with about 1000w power amp. hopefully you won't be using the 1000w, but when you are cranking 600, it will be clean power, free from amp distortion and square waves (clipping). a little limitting can be used on large power amps as speaker protection, that you won't notice soundwise. this can keep your speaks from jumping out of the cab like when you really whack the strings.
if your amp has limitting built-in or switched on when underpowering the cab, the power robbing (can't keep up) effect becomes evident.

Where'd you read this hooey?

 

[62bass]

Actually, my first 2 cabs where the hartke 4x10 transporter and the 4x10 XL. I NEVER felt like I was getting enough sound out of those individually. I really think it's the cab to be honest. Either add another 4x10 or just get a harder hitting one. (schroder, ampeg hlf) something... that's my .02.

Yeah, that's been my experience with any Transporter cabinets I've had the misfortune of using. You can be using the greatest and most powerful amp around with those things and they still won't cut it.

Some of the XL cabs can be adequate if you like the sound they give.

Myself, I'd forget about Hartke cabinets entirely.

 

[62bass]

Where'd you read this hooey?

Yeah, this hooey keeps popping up. Once an untruth gets repeated enough, people begin to believe it's the truth and it's almost impossible to eradicate.