i was wondering if i got a boss bass eq and hooked it into my 10" portabass cab would i get sufficient bass? of course i would already have the bass eq maxed on the amp head (swr st-220). i know that 10s are known to not have enough bass so i thought that maybe an eq would a little extra. Jive1 made a comment earlier that the tone on a single 10 would not be great. Perhaps the extra eq bands could shape the tone some. The question is... will it be enough. the gear is being shipped as we speak so i have no idea what it will sound like as of yet. Note: i am trying to put together an ultra light rig that fits my modest budget. So thats why i am exploring ideas such as these.
Probally not. I have no idea what the frequency response on the Portabasses are, but trying to get lows out of a 1x10" cabinet doesn't sound relaistic. The EQ will shape your tone, but if you keep trying to push lows in your cab it's going to start to sound like a fart, with no definition or clarity. Personally, if I was on a budget I would have gone with Avatar, but I can't say much because I use Ampeg.
You're not going to get a ton of low end out of one 10" speaker, and if you max the bass on the amp and a separate EQ pedal, you run a severe risk of blowing the speaker - it just isn't designed to pump those kinds of lows.
Well... i am not really trying to get tons of low-end, but i would like to add a little. I won't be playing any reggae but mostly cover songs. I just don't know if a 10" is going to provide enough low-end without a little help.
If you add a modest 6dB of bass boost that will require four times the power from the amp and that much more excursion from the driver as well, which probably neither your amp nor speaker will tolerate. Bottom line is that if you don't get enough bass from the amp's EQ you need a better speaker.