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flite sound cabs
- Thread starter notforrobots
- Start date
I dont know if they are or not, but if you want some great lightweight cabs check out Redstar
http://www.redstaraudio.com/
http://www.redstaraudio.com/
http://www.flitecabs.com/
A new website for them, still under construction. Gerry, the main guy/owner is a great guy, I received a cab from him last month.
A new website for them, still under construction. Gerry, the main guy/owner is a great guy, I received a cab from him last month.
What is lightweight to one person may not be lightweight to another person, and that is clearly the thing here. The lightest smallest bass cab on Redstar's site is 50lbs for a cab with a 15" speaker. 50lbs is the LIGHTEST cab, with most being around 70lbs (give or take a few lbs), and I don't consider 70lbs lightweight either.
When I think lightweight, and maybe it's just me, but I don't think of 50lbs as lightweight. I think the Flite 3 way cab I bought that has a 15" woofer, a 5" midrange and a horn tweeter that weighs 27lbs is lightweight, and that's one of their biggest, heaviest cabs.
I don't know how the Redstar cabs sound, and maybe they're great, but I can't agree with you on the lightweight. Someone asking about Flite Sound cabs is not looking for something 50lbs.
Well I do consider 50 pounds "light" for a 15" cab...and I also consider 70 pounds "light" for a 4x12 cab....as I have a Peavey 412 TVX that weighs well over 100 pounds. Whats the average weight for a Neo 212, bout 60 lbs? Yes, Flite cabs are obviously lighter than the Redstars...but compared to many other cabs, they are light...and I have heard lots of good things bout them. Yeah I think we have differing opinions on "lightweight". Just tryin to help out.
I know you were trying to help out, and I wasn't trying to be offensive or anything, so I hope you didn't take it like that. You are obviously used to a heavier cab. I personally couldn't put a 4x12 into a lightweight category, even compared to another 4x12. It's like me asking which lightweight car to buy to get good mileage, and the response is to get a lightweight tank because it gets better mileage than a heavy tank. It was my assumption (correctly or not) that someone asking about Flite Cabs is probably not interested in cabs over 35lbs. Maybe I'm wrong.
I wrote in my previous post here, that it was a 3 way cab, with a 15" woofer, a 5" midrange and a horn tweeter. Gerry quoted me a lower weight when we first talked about it, but even I knew that until it was totally built, the weight could vary, and it eventually was 27lbs on my home scale. It has a 4 ohm Neo Eminence Basslite woofer, which might give you an idea of the cab's capabilities. Anything from a different handle, different grill, or different speakers could change the weight by a few pounds.
The size is 22.5" x 18" x 14".
You could expect to pay between $500 and $600 depending on various factors. Gerry did tell me that he is coming out with new models, and I expect that they will be even better. I'm hoping to eventually get a newer one.
You could get a cab with a single 12" woofer like a friend of mine did, and it probably would be 16lbs with a neo speaker,
Here's a photo of the 3 way 15" cab. Notice the controls for the midrange and tweeter are on the front.
Attachments
Glad to hear Flite is still making cabs! I have to agree with Maestrosteve, a 50lb 15" is not what I would consider light. Flight does a great job with their cabs at ~27lbs, the Epifani UL2-115 is about 43lbs, TBer Alexclaber builds a 32lb 15", I just built a composite 210 that weighs in at 23lbs. That's my idea of light.
- Aug 3, 2007
- 1,678
- 2,146
- Disclosures
- Current: Blackstar, DR strings, Nady. Previous endorsements with: GK, Rotosound, Ernie Ball, Cleartone, EMG, Dean, Dava Picks, Rebel Straps, Dickies
Are Flite cabs really researched, or just lightweight components put together for easy lifting? We all know that a cab has to be tuned in conjunction with the speaker to achieve the best possible sound, I was just curious if that was the case with Flite cabs. I'm not trying to bash the company or anything, just interested! 
Are Flight cabs really researched, or just lightweight components put together for easy lifting? We all know that a cab has to be tuned in conjunction with the speaker to achieve the best possible sound, I was just curious if that was the case with Flight cabs. I'm not trying to bash the company or anything, just interested!
I would guess that the builder/designer does his research, but like most I'm sure they don't publish much data. How "researched" do you think most other cab builders are? My guess is not much.
I've never hacked into a Flite cab, but I believe they are built with a sandwich construction using thin plywood skins separated by a foam core. This is how they achieve such light weight cabs that are still rigid enough and durable enough.
I don't know whether info there has come and gone since that post over a year ago, or whether they never got anything up there, but there's currently no info there on any models. Is there any site anywhere that will give me an idea of what these guys offer (configuration, dimensions, weights of whatever their models are)?
That company was a pioneer in lightweight cabs. The bad news is, they tried to achieve lightweight prior to the wonderful neo drivers that are on the market now. They used full weight drivers, but used very light composite type material for the cabinets to keep the weight down. That was a bad combination IMO (lot's of vibrating, rattling, and IMO thin sound).
Great idea, horrible execution (through no fault of their own... the tools/materials just weren't available back in the day to achieve their weight targets while still maintaining cabinet stiffness and a good, deep, solid tone).
IMO, I wouldn't bother with these, given the amazing lightweight offerings out there now by Bergantino, SWR, Epifani, GK, etc., etc., etc.
- Dec 18, 2000
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- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
Actually they've went through a couple generations of composite techniques. The second gen is better when more powerful drivers are used. If I could be bothered to care I'd build a fEarful using their current foamcore ply techniques, modified by actually using my bracing designs. The improvement in rigidity would be tremendous. It would do better than all other current lightweights in terms of weight and rigidity, with only Barefaced Bass anywhere nearby.
But I really don't care because the fEarfuls are already so light for their SPL potential, and the extra build time and steps don't seem to balance the "have to schlep my cab" equation for me personally. But some people are building around the fEarful in composites, Zac ferinstance went with the fEarful flow.
I have not played a new ones (haven't seen one in a decade or so), so that might be the case. The originals were simply awful.
The industry seems to have passed them by a bit.
- Dec 18, 2000
- 13,201
- 340
- Disclosures
- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
Actually what I'm saying is that they could clean up if they used better bracing and got hep on a higher level of enclosure engineering and PR (their web presence has sucked for ages). The foamcore panels themselves are just fine.
Take a look at Alex's new site by the way. Makes all the so-called heros of the bass cab industry look like a bunch of BSing pikers when it comes to real information and whatnot. Great educative stuff there too. And I think the cabs probably sound pretty great too ; }
Take a look at Alex's new site by the way. Makes all the so-called heros of the bass cab industry look like a bunch of BSing pikers when it comes to real information and whatnot. Great educative stuff there too. And I think the cabs probably sound pretty great too ; }
I've been using their cabs for years. I don't find them to be horrible in any way. I've owned single driver, two way, and three way versions, and have visited the factory when it was under the original owner. My Flite 112 has seen a lot of use in lower volume situations and will be out on a gig with me tonight. My 110 (2-way with 5" high/mid) has been in the employ of a guitar player who always finds a reason to avoid returning it. It sounds great for bass, especially URB and ABG, but I like the 112 more. Is it the only cab I own? No. My Epifani T210 and my Avatar B210 will stay home tonight. "Horses for courses" is the idea. It won't carry a large high-volume stage, and it doesn't have the definition of a 210 with tweeter. It does have a nice full sound and keeps my bass sounding very bass-like. I will be happy as a clam with what KJung calls a horrible piece of equipment that for some reason doesn't rattle, vibrate, or sound bad. Maybe I got lucky but after owning 4 of them I don't think so.
I had 4 of them back around 1999 I would say. I lived in New England and met Kurt the original owner....nice guy. Not bad cabs and certainly at the time the only choice when it came to light weight but not comparable to todays lightweight cabs. I do think there were a few bad ones out there which led to a bad rep. Flites were fragile cabs so that did not help either. I woudl have gigged with them however and sadly never got to.
