Cab with lots of different-sized speakers

[jthisdell]

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I like those poets, very scientifically engineered

 

[jthisdell]

The 18" driver used wasn't optimized for low frequency extension at the time. No matter how well tuned the box was.

That changed as the BW driver family evolved, but not that driver.

Me, too. Never had the bottom end that I had hoped for…my guess was that the 18 didn't have enough room in the box. Well, they looked cool, but I cussed every one of those 122 pounds each time I carried them up or down 13 steps by myself…

Kim

I had a Peavy 215 circa 1981 without BW's, had solid bottom end and tone

 

[agedhorse]

I had a Peavy 215 circa 1981 without BW's, had solid bottom end and tone

None of the drivers of that era had much low frequency extension, that's where the evolution improved their bass (and PA) cabinet line.

Because the amps were low powered by today's standards, the tradeoff of LF extension for efficiency made all the sense in the world.

 

[spankdaplank]

Comes with a rupture truss, back brace and three months of chiropractor treatments I bought one on a whim years ago and I can testify it sounded like dog crap

. What were they thinking?

 

[DJ Bebop]

Wasn't that John Entwistle's practice room bass amp rig?

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Close:

 

[DJ Bebop]

In the late 80's, my compact rig was a single JBL Cabaret series 4628B enclosure(15" D140, plus an 8" and HF horn)…

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…powered by a Yamama PB-1 preamp with a crossover, and QSC power amp. The input was either full range, employing an internal passive X-over, or individual ins with the 15 separate then the 8 and horn, which is what I did. Of course. It was the 80's. Nice and clean.

I was doing something similar with Peavey International III's.

Not my photo or cabs but these are the ones:

 

[DJ Bebop]

For many years back in the 1980's I used 2 of those Peavey 1810 enclosures powered by 2 Peavey CS400 power amps.
It was scary and they knew I was there!
My parents were pissed...

Found my pic of the Peavey Internationals…

Me too, I had a couple in aftermarket cabs that were lighter than the originals. They were copies of the 1820 cabinets, a little bigger,
with the Peavey Internationals. What it lacked in low bass projection it made up in presence

 

[shoot-r]

Happy Saturday! Im looking for a 500w 4ohm cabinet with an array of different-sized speakers. Does such a thing exist? Thanks in advance!

Many manufacturers have now available a series of different sized driver loaded cabinets that are specifically designed to be mixed and matched.

Stay with-in that manufacturers series and you'll have available to you different size driver loaded cabs that "will" compliment each other and not fight each other.

Three manufacturers that comes to mind that has a series of cabs that are designed, built and tuned to work together:

Mesa's "Subway series" of cabinets.

Gallien-Krueger's "IV series" of cabinets.

Ampeg's "Venture series" of cabinets.

 

[crazycloud]

I'd like to do a crazy large cab / system again, but I have no use for it right now. If the regular outdoor job comes off, I will as the bass may not be in the PA.

With modern drivers, DSP and CNC to make the cabs stiffer and lighter, I think a whole lot better performance could be had. But musos are so traditional, it'd never sell more than a few units.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Close:

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I knew you'd come through!

 

[Short4since64]

Close:

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Love those old pics! Question is: how much was real? Like the typical 80s metal stages with the stacks of Marshalls, heads powered on with nothing in the input (or mockup front panels with only a pilot light on an empty shell) standing on speakerless imitation double stacks. Easy to tell which cabinet actually worked - the one with the mic in front.

 

[TallaDawg]

Genz Benz GB1288T-UberQuad --- 1 12", 2-8" and a tweeter. Two of them make a wonderful stack!

 

[gtirard]

Many manufacturers have now available a series of different sized driver loaded cabinets that are specifically designed to be mixed and matched.

Stay with-in that manufacturers series and you'll have available to you different size driver loaded cabs that "will" compliment each other and not fight each other.

Three manufacturers that comes to mind that has a series of cabs that are designed, built and tuned to work together:

Mesa's "Subway series" of cabinets.

Gallien-Krueger's "IV series" of cabinets.

Ampeg's "Venture series" of cabinets.

+ GR Bass (all of them can be mixed, and that's a lot: 12 models of all sizes and shapes). From my little study about cab modularity.

With Barefaced, you can mix and match any of the 10inch cabs, or any of the 12inch cabs (but it's not recommanded to mix a 10inch cab with a 12 inch because each family has a different tone)

 

[jthisdell]

Comes with a rupture truss, back brace and three months of chiropractor treatments I bought one on a whim years ago and I can testify it sounded like dog crap. What were they thinking?

I hear the Isovent cabs were the best.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Love those old pics! Question is: how much was real? Like the typical 80s metal stages with the stacks of Marshalls, heads powered on with nothing in the input (or mockup front panels with only a pilot light on an empty shell) standing on speakerless imitation double stacks. Easy to tell which cabinet actually worked - the one with the mic in front.

I believe all of John's gear was working and on all the time
I don't believe he ever faked the funk

 

[Deloofs]

The obvious answer for you is the Ampeg PR-1832HE. It sounds bad, can't push rated low end at rated power, weighs 167lbs, and has the footprint of a washing machine but it's four-way full range and is rated at 600w at 4ohm.

https://ampeg.com/pdf/PR-1832.PDF

If you're near Detroit you can have mine for free if you help me get it out of the basement

 

[gtirard]

The obvious answer for you is the Ampeg PR-1832HE. It sounds bad, can't push rated low end at rated power, weighs 167lbs, and has the footprint of a washing machine but it's four-way full range and is rated at 600w at 4ohm.

https://ampeg.com/pdf/PR-1832.PDF

View attachment 7353735

If you're near Detroit you can have mine for free if you help me get it out of the basement

YEah, but it looks super cool, that's all what matters. Who said we buy amps and cabs to make sound?

 

[Deloofs]

YEah, but it looks super cool, that's all what matters. Who said we buy amps and cabs to make sound?

It does look pretty cool but wow what a goofy design. When I bough it off a friend for $50 I was sure I was bringing home a face melter and was very disappointed when even my Ampeg SVT3 Pro made it fart. The 18" chamber appears to be sealed and the downard angle appears to eat up quite a bit of space that could be used for box volume. I think if they had thrown out the 10" drivers, pointed the 18" straight forward, and ported the 18" chamber it would have been better and lighter and cheaper.

 

[DJ Bebop]

None of the drivers of that era had much low frequency extension, that's where the evolution improved their bass (and PA) cabinet line.

Because the amps were low powered by today's standards, the tradeoff of LF extension for efficiency made all the sense in the world.

Yep I realized this after being around old school PA gear, like A7s and later BW 15 and 18s. There was a bass presence just nowhere as deep or powerful as today's subs and modern drivers. Once I realized this by using powered subs with my bass rig to achieve what I was looking for, everything had caught up to what I needed so I stopped that stuff

As an example, of the Sunn 200S cabinet, one of my favorites from back in the day, if it sounded like the Mesa SW 215 I would have never left it

 

[Short4since64]

Yep I realized this after being around old school PA gear, like A7s and later BW 15 and 18s. There was a bass presence just nowhere as deep or powerful as today's subs and modern drivers. Once I realized this by using powered subs with my bass rig to achieve what I was looking for, everything had caught up to what I needed so I stopped that stuff

As an example, of the Sunn 200S cabinet, one of my favorites from back in the day sounded like the Mesa SW 215 I would have never left it

I was co-owner of a moderately large PA in that era. All JBL, multiple double scoops for the low end. Used a 40Hz high-pass on the low output of the crossover to keep the cones in the baskets as the horn-loaded design unloaded below that frequency. (the more-transportable single scoops didn't go below 50). But the system sounded Double Damn Good! Very "organic" and "musical". Plus the guys we had at the end of the snake knew how to mix.
2 personal opinions: 1) At the hands of most of today's inept mix operators, there's nothing below 40 one would want to hear. Only exception is the EDM guys, and 2) the Altec stuff was JUNK for PA. It was designed for pumping optical movie sound tracks thru screens on very little power, and did very well in it's intended function.