EQ'ing Mixed Cabs..

[ZenG]

Seems like you either go separate cabs..eg:- 1x15 plus 2x12 etc.

Or you go a cab with multi-drivers eg:- cab with 2x10 plus 1x12 in same cab etc.

Or a combo with mixed drivers.

In small venues, clubs, studios and rooms of a certain size (where, say, people are gathered together for a jam), the bass sound may need tweaking or adjusting if you are using mixed drivers or cabs.

Most cabs with mixed drivers you can't EQ the individual speakers ...just the whole cab.

Haven't heard of anybody EQ'ing individual separate cabs either...( such as 1x15 plus 2x12, where you might want to EQ the 2x12 but not the 1x15 while both are on at the same time.

Seems like common practice is to hook them all up and (if doing so) and EQ the whole shooting match based on the input signal to all cabs. (If they need to be EQ'ed).

Have you EQ'd mixed cabs or drivers ever?

Or had individual EQ control over all the drivers you were using at the same time?

 

[JimmyM]

Did mixed cabs only once, and EQ'd them both together. Part of the reason I abandoned them pretty quickly. Worked OK for a while, and then one cab had anomalies I wanted taken out, which messed up the sound of the other cab.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

No expert on the subject, but I'll bet large PA systems do that.
It seems though for bass that the speakers are too close together to not have some kind of unwanted interaction at some frequencies.
What would be cool is some kind of dynamic EQ on cabs to keep everything happy.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

This is why Chris Squire had two completely separate rigs.

 

[Gearhead17]

Honestly, you would need two separate amp heads and two separate speaker cabs to achieve EQ options for both speakers. If you are doing two full range signals EQ'ed differently, you can reduce one frequency band (200-400hz) on one cabinet, boost the same band on the other cabinet. That's just one example. Regardless, it's going to depend on the gear you are using and what you want the resulting tone to be. I don't believe anything other than "Trial & Error" is the answer here. It's usually more trouble than it is worth, but you can stumble across some great tones doing this. The question is, "Can you replicate that tone in a live setting?" "Do you have time to figure out how your bass cabinets work together?"

 

[BassmanPaul]

Mixing cabs brings more problems than it solves. It’s kinda why we “mixed driver police” recommend matching an extension cabinet to the one you have.