Don't understand this 'suggestion' from the Ampeg website:

[aaronious]

Yes it's stupid marketing speak.

HOWEVER. Arguably, two of the busiest and best bass players on the planet are never seen without their mixed sized cabs.

I'm talking about Victor Wooten and Flea.
You'd think that would be enough to put the don't mix cabs Nazis to rest.

BUT NOT ON TB, where everyone's a pro!!!

 

[The Regulator]

What I would be concerned about is the unbalanced power handling of the 410HE (500W RMS) and the 15E (200W RMS). While I am not a fan of mixing cabs, if you do, a 210 usually pairs better with a 115 in both speaker surface and power.

 

[Bass_Pounder]

Yes it's stupid marketing speak.

HOWEVER. Arguably, two of the busiest and best bass players on the planet are never seen without their mixed sized cabs.

I'm talking about Victor Wooten and Flea.
You'd think that would be enough to put the don't mix cabs Nazis to rest.

BUT NOT ON TB, where everyone's a pro!!!

Just the fact that you use that as an argument shows you do not understand the issue.

 

[JimmyM]

I myself sometimes find the ooey gooey sales and marketing speak a bit much in many magazine and web based lingo. I see it all the time, and have become accustomed to it.

My issue here, is this BS came from the page that publishes the spec sheet for that specific gear. We know that within spec sheets a little wiggle room can be expected, and that is fairly common across the industry. But that is just a matter of learning how to interpret specifications. We've become familiar with this from very early publications and most companies are on the same level playing field.

Even quotes like "this is the finest guitar, hands down, that you will ever own", is somehow playfully expected in a lot of marketing.

The absolute 'bull' quoted by Ampeg in the original post, to me (and apparently others by reading this thread), is just egregious lies.
I can expect certain market speak, but flat out lying is a step that's really getting my goat.

What's next?... "all our amps safety plug into every known electrical outlet in the world without any adaptors or adjustments by the owner".

Oh please! Why are you singling out only Ampeg? I've seen this kind of marketing speak from every single MI company out there, but you don't mention them because Ampeg are the only bad ones? Yeah, sure. What's your real agenda?

 

[InhumanResource]

Yes it's stupid marketing speak.

HOWEVER. Arguably, two of the busiest and best bass players on the planet are never seen without their mixed sized cabs.

I'm talking about Victor Wooten and Flea.
You'd think that would be enough to put the don't mix cabs Nazis to rest.

BUT NOT ON TB, where everyone's a pro!!!

I mean, as far as I'm concerned none of us have any idea if Ampeg designed these two cabinets to function together. They may well have. Why is that so difficult to conceive of?

I'm not saying I know they work well together and in fact opt for the "more of the same" identical cab approach, but which one of us here knows the answer regarding these two pieces?

 

[Crusher47]

Yeah but which cab is best for Metal??

 

[I am Soma]

Yeah but which cab is best for Metal??

a precision with tort guard of course!

 

[Rick James]

HOWEVER. Arguably, two of the busiest and best bass players on the planet are never seen without their mixed sized cabs.
I'm talking about Victor Wooten and Flea.
You'd think that would be enough to put the don't mix cabs Nazis to rest.

They're paid to play through mixed cabs. Wooten is a whore of the first degree, he even endorses a stupid high priced power cord that does nothing to improve his sound. It does improve his bank account. Besides, even being the best player in the world doesn't mean you know anything about how gear works. If I wanted advise on what's the best car I wouldn't ask Dale Jr. I'd ask his crew chief.

I mean, as far as I'm concerned none of us have any idea if Ampeg designed these two cabinets to function together. They may well have. Why is that so difficult to conceive of?

If you don't know how speakers work it's perfectly plausible. If you do you know that it's not.

 

[InhumanResource]

They're paid to play through mixed cabs. Wooten is a whore of the first degree, he even endorses a stupid high priced power cord that does nothing to improve his sound. It does improve his bank account. Besides, even being the best player in the world doesn't mean you know anything about how gear works. If I wanted advise on what's the best car I wouldn't ask Dale Jr. I'd ask his crew chief.
If you don't know how speakers work it's perfectly plausible. If you do you know that it's not.

BS. There are mixed driver systems that are designed to go together. The risk is mixing them when you don't know if they are designed to go together.

 

[JimmyM]

If you don't know how speakers work it's perfectly plausible. If you do you know that it's not.

You're just plain wrong about that. Andy (agedhorse) from Mesa and formerly Genz Benz is on record saying that cabs he had a hand in designing for Genz Benz were designed so that the cabs in any given line sounded good and alleviated phasing issues when mixed. And Greenboy is on record saying that his original fEarful 15/6/1 and 12/6/1 used similar speakers and building techniques that also alleviated phasing issues and he would recommend stacking them. He would recommend reversing the baffle on one so the mid cones were vertically stacked to prevent dispersion issues, but as far as the woofers were concerned, there were no problems either way.

As I said before, knowledge is power, but incomplete knowledge is incomplete.

 

[I am Soma]

You're just plain wrong about that. Andy (agedhorse) from Mesa and formerly Genz Benz is on record saying that cabs he had a hand in designing for Genz Benz were designed so that the cabs in any given line sounded good and alleviated phasing issues when mixed. And Greenboy is on record saying that his original fEarful 15/6/1 and 12/6/1 used similar speakers and building techniques that also alleviated phasing issues and he would recommend stacking them. He would recommend reversing the baffle on one so the mid cones were vertically stacked to prevent dispersion issues, but as far as the woofers were concerned, there were no problems either way.

As I said before, knowledge is power, but incomplete knowledge is incomplete.

your knowledge and logic has no place in this thread. be gone sir!

 

[morgan138]

Yeah this is silly but it's also an idea that you see all sorts of builders/people repeat all the time. Hell, someone is probably posting "15 for lows, 4x10 for highs" on the amps sub-forum right now!

This isn't some new dastardly invention by Ampeg's marketing department.

 

[big_fundamental]

Yeah but which cab is best for Metal??

Apparently Hartke Hydrive 410 + 115 mixed cabs. The speakers themselves are even part metal:

What's next?... "all our amps safety plug into every known electrical outlet in the world without any adaptors or adjustments by the owner".

This comment reminds me of this I saw recently looking at the Quilter Bass Block:
The universal-voltage power supply delivers smooth and powerful response regardless of “club voltage” surges. The amp works on any voltage, anywhere. Plug it in, turn it up, enjoy the effortless beauty of the tone!

 

[Rick James]

There are mixed driver systems that are designed to go together.

There are. They use crossovers so that there's no destructive interference between the different wave fronts.
I've seen the claims that this company and that company have designed their cabs to work together. Not one provides measured response charts to prove it. Just like none of them show measured charts to prove if their 15s really do go lower than their twelves or tens, let alone displacement numbers that prove that their 1x15 won't fart out long before their 4x10 will. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. The more you know the more you realize how little they're really telling you.

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

As pointed out in another post, the 15" cab in question has a roll off frequency 10hz lower than the 4-10" in question. So yes, the 15" cab in question will go lower, louder.

The copy only says lower, not louder.
A speaker can be made to be frequency flat from 20Hz to 20kHz, but the power and precision needed to achieve that would likely make the speaker inefficient (see Acme).
Or look at Bag End, who make a 15" that's super-efficient (104dB @1w/1m) but it puts out almost nothing below 80Hz.
Also, speaker cone surface is more closely related to volume that frequency responce. 4x10 has roughly the same cone surface as 2 15"s, so it's already intrinsically louder than the 1x15".
Also, this is why a great many mismatched cab sets blow the 15", and never any of the 10"s.
You're asking a single speaker to keep up with the equivalent of two of the same kind of speaker.
Like racing a single horse cart against a 2 horse cart. Simple math.

 

[JimmyM]

There are. They use crossovers so that there's no destructive interference between the different wave fronts.
I've seen the claims that this company and that company have designed their cabs to work together. Not one provides measured response charts to prove it. Just like none of them show measured charts to prove if their 15s really do go lower than their twelves or tens, let alone displacement numbers that prove that their 1x15 won't fart out long before their 4x10 will. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. The more you know the more you realize how little they're really telling you.

Your ears can tell you how low and high a cab goes. Any bonehead can plug into a 410he and 15e and tell one goes lower than the other. And while you're right that they don't provide charts and graphs to prove it, I cannot argue with the amount of many satisfied customers who mix cabs. I used to try at one time, but if they're happy, who am I to argue?

Anyway, since charts and graphs mean so much, where are your charts and graphs disproving them?

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

And while you're right that they don't provide charts and graphs to prove it, I cannot argue with the amount of many satisfied customers who mix cabs. I used to try at one time, but if they're happy, who am I to argue?

And there it is.
I have often been a member of the mixed cab police. Because I believe if you have the option of using science to your advantage or fighting/denying science... well, science always wins.
But not everyone feels that way. We all are entitled to opinions (but facts are facts).
In my current gig I'm playing a nice Aguilar 4x10 & 1x15. Because they were provided for me.
I'll happily play whatever the artist wants me to play as long as he provides it.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

I view with suspicion the marketing blurbs on any product I'm interested in. That nonsense is often insulting misinformation.

@aproud1

Thought that you would relate to Elvis and his Ampeg bass.

View attachment 1070844 View attachment 1070845

HOLY SCMOLY! Is that a 5-string?

BS. There are mixed driver systems that are designed to go together. The risk is mixing them when you don't know if they are designed to go together.

They can be "designed to go together" all they want; the core problem is the disparity in cone area and power handling between the 410 and 115.

 

[aaronious]

I never should have commented. How do I get outta here!!!

 

[InhumanResource]

There are. They use crossovers so that there's no destructive interference between the different wave fronts.
I've seen the claims that this company and that company have designed their cabs to work together. Not one provides measured response charts to prove it. Just like none of them show measured charts to prove if their 15s really do go lower than their twelves or tens, let alone displacement numbers that prove that their 1x15 won't fart out long before their 4x10 will. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. The more you know the more you realize how little they're really telling you.

I feel like I do know how little they're telling me, which is why I said "I have no earthly idea" regarding the question of whether or not these were made to run together.