Front vs rear ported cab for outdoor gigs

[JAC77]

Have a few outdoor gigs up coming and I need to carry it it’s no PA support. I have (2) 115 rear ported cabs, a 212 front ported cab, or two sealed 410s. These are my options, in anyone’s experience, which option will be the easiest to carry the bass with no support without overpowering the stage? Thanks for any input.

*Blues band, 2 guitarists, fender tube combos, drummer, female vocals.

 

[pepj]

I'd take the 2 x 410 on the basis that I could turn down.
Not so fussed about front or rear port if the cab itself sounds good.

I'm assuming no P.A means volume is relatively low.
Next consideration is what area have you realistically got to cover

 

[lug]

The position of the ports is a lot less important than you would think. The frequencies that the port covers is practically omni-directional.

Here is a good read on it from Barefaced...
Barefaced Bass - The mysteries of ports

 

[Marko 1]

Will the listeners be near the stage, or out looking at cars at a distance?

In any case, outdoor gigs I treat myself to a two 410 stack.

 

[Lo-E]

The position of the ports is a lot less important than you would think. The frequencies that the port covers is practically omni-directional.

Agreed. How a cab is ported shouldn’t matter to anyone other than the person who designed it. Bring the cab that sounds good to you for the genre and don’t sweat the fact that it’s an outdoor gig.

 

[JAC77]

I'd take the 2 x 410 on the basis that I could turn down.
Not so fussed about front or rear port if the cab itself sounds good.

I'm assuming no P.A means volume is relatively low.
Next consideration is what area have you realistically got to cover

It really depends on the crowd, it’s a town park on a river, the kinda thing people can roll in with blankets and coolers and sprawl. If there’s not much crowd we won’t need to be very loud, if 250 ppl show up, we will havta turn up lol. I almost discounted the 410 stack because being sealed, they don’t go very low and I was concerned about sounding thin 20 feet out. I Appreciate the response

 

[Gizmot]

For indoor uses, the rear ports could provide just a small bit more oomph. Acoustically, the lower frequencies are what comes out of a port and when you project those towards a wall (especially if you're close to one), you get what's called boundary reinforcement.

 

[five7]

What brand of cabs are they?

 

[Element Zero]

2 410s baby all day

 

[mrjim123]

What are the cabs' ohms? Any idea what the sensitivity ratings are? Can your amp handle less than 4 ohms?

 

[JAC77]

The 410s are GK 410 mbe-II, the 212 is a seismic audio cab loaded with Tecamp ceramic speakers, it’s like a poor man’s Tecamp S212 and very similar to Joe Vegas’ super-cab. The 15s are Markbass combo on top of New York 151 cab.

need a light weight 2x12 cab for peavey mini max 500...any suggestions?

 

[JAC77]

What are the cabs' ohms? Any idea what the sensitivity ratings are? Can your amp handle less than 4 ohms?

The 212 is 4ohm, all the others are 8

 

[HolmeBass]

The main thing about ports is they shouldn’t be blocked. IIRC they need 1.5 times the port diameter of free space in front of the opening; I don’t know what the spacing requirement is for shelf ports.

I’d think outside you should be able to set up without issue while leaving the ports unblocked. The bigger problem for me was always on smaller indoor stages. The sound coming from the port is so low that it is essentially omni-directional.

As for which cabinet you should use, I would look at the sensitivity ratings, calculate the nominal wattage, and figure out which setup would be the loudest. Probably the 2 x 410 but sealed cabinets can be much less efficient than ported ones.

 

[darwin-bass]

Why would you need to turn up if more people show? Are you using SPL do limit crowd size?

 

[SoCal80s]

I would worry more about the total speaker area so you can move more air, assuming they can all handle your amp at full power. Based on that, both 4x10's are the best choice. Next would be to bring both 1x15's.

 

[mikeswals]

I would take both 410's, end of question.

 

[frankie5string]

The 410s are GK 410 mbe-II, the 212 is a seismic audio cab loaded with Tecamp ceramic speakers, it’s like a poor man’s Tecamp S212 and very similar to Joe Vegas’ super-cab. The 15s are Markbass combo on top of New York 151 cab.

need a light weight 2x12 cab for peavey mini max 500...any suggestions?

Take the GK cabs. I would not trust any Seismic Audio cabs for any kind of live, high-powered pro use. They seem to like to mis-engineer their bass guitar cabinets to keep them cheap.
The NY151 might work well for you on stage, but if you intend to carry out front, it may top out a bit too easily.

 

[JuanB]

The position of the ports is a lot less important than you would think. The frequencies that the port covers is practically omni-directional.

Here is a good read on it from Barefaced...
Barefaced Bass - The mysteries of ports

A non-joke post from lug? Amazing.

 

[agedhorse]

The 410s are GK 410 mbe-II, the 212 is a seismic audio cab loaded with Tecamp ceramic speakers, it’s like a poor man’s Tecamp S212 and very similar to Joe Vegas’ super-cab. The 15s are Markbass combo on top of New York 151 cab.

need a light weight 2x12 cab for peavey mini max 500...any suggestions?

The 410's being stock are what I would trust over the 212 which are essentially "speakers stuffed into a random box".

 

[JimmyM]

The 410's being stock are what I would trust over the 212 which are essentially "speakers stuffed into a random box".

Me too, although I could be talked into the Markbass stuff since it’s light.