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Budget 2x10 cab comparison.

#21
Availability seems to be as much of an issue as anything for you given your local.

In your shoes I would do a pair of the Ampeg.
I have one, and have been keeping my eyes open for a second to do exactly what you describe with my Elf.
Really dig the tone of one, it's just a little shy of what I want with a loud drummer.
 
#24
newfuture said:
Availability seems to be as much of an issue as anything for you given your local.

In your shoes I would do a pair of the Ampeg.
I have one, and have been keeping my eyes open for a second to do exactly what you describe with my Elf.
Really dig the tone of one, it's just a little shy of what I want with a loud drummer.
Click to expand...
Precisely, I've heard good things about carvin and avatar, have never seen either locally.

Have you tried any besides the Ampeg? I'll have to see if I can find anywhere that actually sell more than one of them to get an a/b comparison. I love the look of the ampeg - and I know a bunch of musicians hear with their eyes (my marshall cab always got complements until the day the logo came off).
 
#27
OP,

Of the three you have available to you my preference would be, #1 the Fender, #2 the Ampeg, #3 the Peavey.

Peavey Headliner, sealed cabinet, no horn/tweeter, HEAVY, decent old school sound, low power handling, low output/efficiency, you'll need two to play with a moderately loud drummer.

Ampeg 210AV, sealed cabinet, no horn/tweeter, one of the lightest, easy to transport 210 cabs available, great sounding old school tone, low power handling, low output/efficiency, you'll need two to play with a moderately loud drummer.

Fender Rumble 210, ported cabinet, short throw/near field tweeter, light weight, good sounding modern (tweeter on) or old school (tweeter off) tone, good power handling, decent efficiency output, one cabinet "may-be" enough to play with a moderately loud drummer.

I agree with mrjim123, Avatar's 210 cabinets are excellent, inexpensive bass cabinets, (I gigged with two of their 210 Neo cabinets stacked as a vertical 410 for 14-1/2 years, still using one of them occasionally as a stand alone with FOH support), to bad their not available in Australia.
 
#32
I like to normally run a 210/115 pairing. I have two set ups with this combination of cabs, Fender Rumble and Ashdown Root Master (RM) EVO II. I like this pairing as the 10s give a bit of natural brightness and punchy lows, while the 15 gives a full deep sound. I also stay with the same brand and series cabs, as they most often are voice to compliment each other. The Ashdowns are in approximately the same price range as the Rumble, or even slightly more, but shouldn't be prohibitively more.

Ruble 200 head (Class D) with Rumble 115 & 210 cabs:

Stack with R210 & R115.JPG

Ashdown CTM-30 (Class A/B all tube/valve head) and MAG300 head (Class A/B Solid State) with Root Master RM-115T & RM-210T EVO II cabs.
P1030832.JPG

Both are in their respective budget series in their brands. Both sound great in their own way and are light weight. Both series have switchable tweeters. I find they each sound best with their own line of amps, Fender head with Fender cabs, Ashdown heads with Ashdown cabs. The pairings of amp and heads sound descriptions will also be along the lines of the tones of the brands.

To me, the Rumbles are more vintage sounding and are a little bit mid scooped as common to Fender amps (guitar or bass). They are ported cabs and give a looser, deeper low end. The tweeter does give a more modern sound, but they still sound more vintage than the RM cabs. This can give you a pleasant sounding cab solo, but can at times, struggle in the mix, unless you push the mids. They are a little bigger than the RM cabs and have side mounted recessed handles, if that makes a difference. The 115 is actually the same size as the 210, but it's turn 90° on it's side dimensionally. I have seen one cab or the other turned on their side or turned upright to have a matching dimensionally stack. Some have even changed the grill cloth to match the direction of the weave. I have the stock casters on the 115 for easier moving.

The RMs are sealed cabs and are tighter, more articulate sounding. Their voicing is a little more mid to low-mid forward sounding. They are a more modern sounding line than the Rumble cabs. They can sound a little off solo, but stand out nice in a mix without being too "in you face" forward sounding. These cabs are smaller than the Rumbles and the have top, center mounted recessed handles. They stack evenly and have a smaller footprint. Not seen in the picture, I have a small furniture dolly that sits perfectly underneath the cabs to help move them around. I used a pair of 10 foot/3 meter cinch straps to make the stack a little more secure when pushing the stack around.

I like the Rumbles for older styles of music, country, blue or rock/rock and roll. I prefer and use the Ashdowns more often, with more modern sounding blues, rock, country and worship. Both have their own character/sounds. The Ashdowns have a more mid crunch style of sound that I like.

If I need a more modern, neutral/balance to brighter sounding amp, I have a Warwick Gnome I with two of the Duke LeJeune designed 110s.

These are my experiences and tastes. Your mileage will vary. ;)
 
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#33
Several years back I played through the Ampeg 210AV powered by a V4b reissue and I thought it sounded great. As the others said, it’s the signature, old-school Ampeg sound. I wouldn’t hesitate to use a pair of those as my rig.

That said, I suspect the Rumble cabs would end up being more versatile for you in terms of tone.
 
#35
moody said:
Having the cab being easily heard at lower volume is important to me. A 2x10 sitting on the ground won't do that. Even if that just means putting it on a stand.or angling it as other options.
Click to expand...
Actually a 210 on the ground or floor of a stage works perfectly fine. You just can't hear it because it's playing to your ankles. I have a DNS-210 by DNA (handles 700-watts rms) that is ungodly loud, but I don't like playing it aimed at my ankles or knees. The first night that I played through it I wasn't sure it would fill the large club, so I stacked it on top of my DNS-410 which I use for outdoor music festivals. The 210 worked just fine filling that room but the stage was a corner stage and my side was so shallow I ended up only a few feet in front of my stack with my 210's speakers just slightly below ear level. It was killing my ears - actually painful. But I had walked the perimeter, middle of room, and dance floor using my wireless and the level and balance of sound was where it needed to be. I had to stand back by the drummer for two songs before I was finally able to position it so I was behind the 60° dispersion cone of that cab. Was still fairly loud, but no longer painful.

I found a simple solution though and use my DNS-210 for all my indoor venues using this:

AmpStand.JPG


I spent $40 and bought a stand. It's not too low; not too tall; Just right!
 
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#36
Rip Van Dan said:
Actually a 210 on the ground or floor of a stage works perfectly fine. You just can't hear it because it's playing to your ankles. I have a DNS-210 by DNA (handles 700-watts rms) that is ungodly loud, but I don't like playing it aimed at my ankles or knees. The first night that I played through it I wasn't sure it would fill the large club, so I stacked it on top of my DNS-410 which I use for outdoor music festivals. The 210 worked just fine filling that room but the stage was a corner stage and my side was so shallow I ended up only a few feet in front of my stack with my 210's speakers just slightly below ear level. It was killing my ears - actually painful. But I had walked the perimeter, middle of room, and dance floor using my wireless and the level and balance of sound was where it needed to be. I had to stand back by the drummer for two songs before I was finally able to position it so I was behind the 60° dispersion cone of that cab. Was still fairly loud, but no longer painful.

I found a simple solution though and use my DNS-210 for all my indoor venues using this:

View attachment 6979246

I spent $40 and bought a stand. It's not too low; not too tall; Just right!
Click to expand...

DNA Equipment is in your DNA :) Good and relatable Story on challenges of playing Live in Clubs
 
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#38
MadJack said:
I like to normally run a 210/115 pairing. I have two set ups with this combination of cabs, Fender Rumble and Ashdown Root Master (RM) EVO II. I like this pairing as the 10s give a bit of natural brightness and punchy lows, while the 15 gives a full deep sound. I also stay with the same brand and series cabs, as they most often are voice to compliment each other. The Ashdowns are in approximately the same price range as the Rumble, or even slightly more, but shouldn't be prohibitively more.

Ruble 200 head (Class D) with Rumble 115 & 210 cabs:

View attachment 6978933

Ashdown CTM-30 (Class A/B all tube/valve head) and MAG300 head (Class A/B Solid State) with Root Master RM-115T & RM-210T EVO II cabs.
View attachment 6978938

Both are in their respective budget series in their brands. Both sound great in their own way and are light weight. Both series have switchable tweeters. I find they each sound best with their own line of amps, Fender head with Fender cabs, Ashdown heads with Ashdown cabs. The pairings of amp and heads sound descriptions will also be along the lines of the tones of the brands.

To me, the Rumbles are more vintage sounding and are a little bit mid scooped as common to Fender amps (guitar or bass). They are ported cabs and give a looser, deeper low end. The tweeter does give a more modern sound, but they still sound more vintage than the RM cabs. This can give you a pleasant sounding cab solo, but can at times, struggle in the mix, unless you push the mids. They are a little bigger than the RM cabs and have side mounted recessed handles, if that makes a difference. The 115 is actually the same size as the 210, but it's turn 90° on it's side dimensionally. I have seen one cab or the other turned on their side or turned upright to have a matching dimensionally stack. Some have even changed the grill cloth to match the direction of the weave. I have the stock casters on the 115 for easier moving.

The RMs are sealed cabs and are tighter, more articulate sounding. Their voicing is a little more mid to low-mid forward sounding. They are a more modern sounding line than the Rumble cabs. They can sound a little off solo, but stand out nice in a mix without being too "in you face" forward sounding. These cabs are smaller than the Rumbles and the have top, center mounted recessed handles. They stack evenly and have a smaller footprint. Not seen in the picture, I have a small furniture dolly that sits perfectly underneath the cabs to help move them around. I used a pair of 10 foot/3 meter cinch straps to make the stack a little more secure when pushing the stack around.

I like the Rumbles for older styles of music, country, blue or rock/rock and roll. I prefer and use the Ashdowns more often, with more modern sounding blues, rock, country and worship. Both have their own character/sounds. The Ashdowns have a more mid crunch style of sound that I like.

If I need a more modern, neutral/balance to brighter sounding amp, I have a Warwick Gnome I with two of the Duke LeJeune designed 110s.

These are my experiences and tastes. Your mileage will vary. ;)
Click to expand...
Looked them up and they are in the same general price range. So will add the ashdown cabs to my list of options. The 2x12 also looks like a good option (not doubled). The shop store shows a 4ohm 2x12 but that is not on ashdowns site - is that a mistake?
 
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#39
I also like the layout of a pair of 2x10 cabs in a vertical stack. It's routinely recommended that we use two of the same cab for this setup, but mine are different boxes. I found terrific deals on an SWR Goliath Jr. and an Acme Low B2 from two different local sellers at the same time when I went shopping for decent cabs. Fortunately these run fine together - they're both rated for 350 watts RMS and 8 ohms, but I'm sure that their input sensitivity ratings are a little different. No phasing issues when I use them together and I can use either cab by itself in a smaller setting.

The Acme cabs aren't all too common, but I agree with our pals above that the SWR Goliath Jr cabs - there are different generations of it - are very good and can often be found for nice prices. I don't know whether any are available near our OP, but they'd be worth a look if so.
 
#40
moody said:
Looked them up and they are in the same general price range. So will add the ashdown cabs to my list of options. The 2x12 also looks like a good option (not doubled). The shop store shows a 4ohm 2x12 but that is not on ashdowns site - is that a mistake?
Click to expand...
Ashdown is a smaller company (last I heard, only like eight employees) and they do put out items that aren't always listed. They do have two versions of the Root Master 212s in their Legacy listings, the RM-MAG-212T and the RM-212T-EVO II Super Lightweight Bass Cabinet. I haven't seen if they produced the 212 in the EVO III line or not. These models are listed as 8Ω cabinets, but I wouldn't be surprised if they made a 4Ω model.
 
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