And finally, a review from the owner of the cab:-
"I have been meaning to do this review of this cab for a while now. I have had an extremely busy year and today on my day off I find myself with an hour to spare and thought I would write this review. With a few gigs under its belt (roughly 150) and an east coast australian tour I believe the honeymoon period is over and I can give an unbiased review of this cab.
Most of you know this cab as one of Petebass' creations and watched its creation right here on ozbass, however if you have missed the thread then please check out this link here
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6760
First of all I just want to thank Petebass again for taking time out of his busy working and gigging schedule to not just build this cab for me but to take time to brainstorm with me and answer every nagging question I had during the build process. So thanks Pete, I really owe you.
So the aim of the build was to make a standalone speaker cab that could do these things (not in any order)
1. Be lightweight
2. Sound good
3. Replace my existing rig (Epifani UL212/UL210 stack)
4. Fit into my the boot of my car
5. Stand the durability test of a working musician.
So let's start with...
1. Be Lightweight.
This cab build started with a discussion I had with Petebass about turning my UL210 which was 8 ohm into 4 ohm. I was sick of carrying two cabs to gigs and I loved the sound of my 210 but on its own it just didn't have the bottom end I wanted for the band that I was in, I thought maybe if it had more volume it could cut it. Obviously Pete dismissed that idea quite quickly, but also gave me some new options, adding a sub woofer into the cab or a small subwoofer that could be clipped onto the bottom of the cab. We toyed with the idea of LAT devices and all sorts of other crazy things and then Pete suggested he would rather try and build a 2x12 cab that would be the same size as my Epi210. So the goal was to make it around the same weight as the Epi 210 which was around 15-17 kgs and around the same size.
I am pleased to say that Pete managed to create a 2x12 cab that was as light as my Epi UL210, due to porting and volume issues the cab had to be made a fraction bigger however it is still tiny. The cab weighs around 17kgs and can be lifted with one hand. I cart it around on a little foldable trolley I bought from bunnings. It's funny when sound guys/other musicians pick up the cab expecting it to be heavy and then almost fall over because of their overcompensation.
2. Sound good. Sound good can be a fairly subjective phrase, similar to "it sounds woolly" or "it sounds loud". Lucky for me Pete knew what sounds I liked as we have been good friends for around 5 years now. Pete and I work in very similar bands and so if anyone knew what sound would cut it for those situations it would be Pete. In english my preference in sound is a smooth clean sound with thick bottom end and a bit of sparkle on top with out any barking or burping. In tech terms I like a big presence in 50hz and with a mild bump at 150hz and again at 4k. Another must was that the cab needed to be loud, loud enough for a 9 piece band with a drummer who hits with the force of 5 men. With this in mind Pete chose the speakers and worked out the volume of the cab. The cab is rated at 900 watts at 4 ohm which is perfect for my Acoustic Image poweramp. The sound is spot on for what I want, I can't really describe it as it really is one of those things that needs to be heard. But Pete's cab makes all my basses sing with enough bottom end to level a house to its foundations
3. Replace my existing rig. My existing rig was an all Epifani rig (Epi 902c, UL212, UL210). It sounded huge and super clear with a lot of sizzle. So going to a single 212 was a big shock for myself and band. I kept going back and forth between the Epi rig and the Petebass cab and every musician and sound guy noticed how much of a difference my rig sounded with the Petebass cab in a better way. The cabs volume kept up with the band which was fantastic. I decided to sell my entire Epifani rig to fellow ozbass members. I hope the gear is serving them as good as it served me.
4. Fit into the boot of my car. One of the requests I had for Pete was that it needed to fit into the boot of my car which is a Honda Jazz. The Honda Jazz doesn't sport the biggest boot but Pete reckoned it was easy to do and he did it. I can fit in my speaker, amp and pedal board and a trolley in the boot and am still able to close the boot cover. Also wanted to say thanks to Maxgroover who measured the boot of his Honda Jazz and texted them to me whilst I was away on tour so I could send the dimensions to Pete.
5. Stand the durability test of the working musician. After 7 to 8 or so months, one Eastern Australian tour and around 150 gigs the cab is still going strong. As much as the cab is precious to me and Pete I still need it to perform and some gigs it gets worked pretty hard. I am still yet to hear this cab break up.
I did get a custom DSL cover made for it which houses it nicely. Unfortunately some of the black paint on the grill scraped off before the cover was made, but it is now fixed with a sharpie. Pete did kindly offer to repaint it but I don’t feel the need.
I've played a lot of cabs in the past 15 years of playing bass and I am convinced that Pete's cab sounds the best. The only problem with it is now I want more of them, single 12s, single 15s whatever I can get my hands on. So Pete, if you ever get some spare time and get the itch to be creative again please don't hesitate to call me
