Good, but cheaper 2x10 cab

[Killing Floor]

You could also look at 12". You can get really powerful 12s.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Just landed my hands on a Darkglass Microtubes 500 and now looking for a good cab to pair up with it. I don't know too much about pairing amp heads to speaker cabs, all I know is that I'm looking for at least a 2x10 for a punchier tone. It's rated at 4ohms with 500watts. What would be the best cab to get that is good but won't break the bank too much?

You work along those lines and you'll end up overlooking any number of different configurations that may better suit your needs. That being said, a couple of 2x10's, 1x12's, or 1x15's stacked vertically would be a good choice

Riis

 

[Heavy Blue]

How about Revsound? Nice stuff!

I'd suggest Avatar's 210 offerings.

Recently I went to a Mesa Subway 800+ head that has the high pass filter and have went down to gigging with one 210, (I always have FOH support), the single Avatar 210/Mesa 800+ sounds "huge".

www.avatarspeakers.com

Would you consider the HPF to be essential for this setup as you specifically mentioned this feature or would simply not being silly with the low end suffice?

Also. Does anyone have an opinion regarding the optional 6” compression tweeter?

 

[DJ Bebop]

There's this, with a free 18 included

 

[SJan3]

Just landed my hands on a Darkglass Microtubes 500 and now looking for a good cab to pair up with it. I don't know too much about pairing amp heads to speaker cabs, all I know is that I'm looking for at least a 2x10 for a punchier tone. It's rated at 4ohms with 500watts. What would be the best cab to get that is good but won't break the bank too much?

Check out Markbass 2x10" cabs.
Lightweight, 400 watt handling and not ridiculously expensive. Watch for MF sales where you'll likely save 15%.

 

[bgavin]

OP, if you can... take your time with used cabs.
Understand the pricing.
My personal rule is pay no more than 66% of new, discount pricing.

Used cabs are up for sale for two reasons:
They are blown up.
The owner has outgrown them.

A pair of 2x10 is easier to load out at 2am.
And easier to play Tetris in your vehicle.
More than likely, the 2x10 internal volume is more correctly sized for the installed drivers.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

4x10s are not nearly so car friendly as one or two 2x10s. Or 2 of the lighter end of 1x15s or a 2x12. I wouldn't go with a 4x10 as a first option. Two 2x10s allows a choice of 1x4 or 2x2 arrangements, single cable for smaller gigs, one as a monitor, one to augment FOH, etc.

Actually I've used relatively flat-response bass speakers as a PA before with a 300W bass amp (smaller or quieter venues). Two 2x10s would work reasonably well for that for a smaller gig if you have a combo to otherwise run bass through, bypassing the preamp on the amp. The other time I did something similar was through PA speakers through my spare 300W bass amp when the PA amp died.

 

[Michael Milner]

These are hard to beat for the price. I've used mine for a couple of years in a classic rock band. A bit heavy, but built like a tank with quality components.

 

[mark roberts]

Acme Low B2 4-ohm version (if it is the only cab and your amp power is rated best at 4 ohms...have two and a bunch of B1’s and B1W’s for my current modular stereo system)
Euphonic Audio VL210 (8 ohm version currently in TB classifieds...not me, no connection...killer once-in-a-lifetime cab...decent price...used to have two of them for a stereo system)

I have experience with the above and some of the previously mentioned 2x10+ versions. With band and solo. Standard and extended-range bass. The reference two work great for both.

 

[Funk With Me]

Look at some 2x12’s before you do anything.

 

[Benjamin Earl]

+1 Avatar 2x10 4ohm

 

[Thegrandwazoo]

GK cx210 is a great sounding light cab

^That. I have one for an extension cabinet (very rarely used) for my MB210-II combo. It weighs nothing, sounds great and should handle your amp. It’ll handle 400W at 8 ohms, if your Darkglass makes 500 at 4, it’s probably in the neighborhood of 350 at 8. I’d personally recommend a Neo 2x12” for your purposes, though. 2x10”s sound great, but as your only cabinet they can leave a little to be desired in the big booty low end department.

 

[TNCreature]

I have 2 GK Neo 2x12 cabinets.
It's really all I need. Light, powerful, easy to move. I love them.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Just landed my hands on a Darkglass Microtubes 500 and now looking for a good cab to pair up with it. I don't know too much about pairing amp heads to speaker cabs, all I know is that I'm looking for at least a 2x10 for a punchier tone. It's rated at 4ohms with 500watts. What would be the best cab to get that is good but won't break the bank too much?

Harley benton 210

 

[bordinco90]

Avatar 2x10 cabs are nice, but on the heavy side.

 

[obieito]

I have recently gotten an Eden TN 210 for 211€ here in Europe, it has apparently been discontinued afterwards but it was about the best offer available I've ever found.
Maybe there are still some available somewhere?

 

[Funk With Me]

A 700 watt 4 ohm 2x12 like this one (without wheels) from 440 Live will cost $559. Check his eBay store. He has several available in black carpet covering. If you contact him he will make you one in just about any covering you want. It’s a well built great sounding cab.

 

[57pbass]

Check out Revsound cabs..excellent quality and they’re nice and lightweight..usually around 30lbs. I have a 210 without tweeter and it sounds great.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

How do pair up the cab to the head tho? My amp head is 4ohms with 500 watts, so what should I be looking for in a cab as far as ohms and watts go?

you have a couple of choices. You can get an 8 ohm cab and your amp will put out about half it's maximum power. or you can get a 4 ohm cab and that will get all 500-watts out of it. If you get an 8 ohm cab, you can add a second cab later if you need it and then the amp will deliver all 500-watts to be split by the two 8 ohm cabs. If you get the one cab in 4 ohms, it will get all 500-watts itself, but you can't add any more cabs to it because the amp will already be putting out everything it can. If you add another cab and the amps protection circuits don't kick in immediately, things inside your amp will melt and/or smoke leaving you with an expensive paper weight. So don't do that.

If you decide to get a 4 ohm cab, make sure it is all you need all by itself. That's honestly why so many 410 cabs are/were sold. If you can get by with a 210 cab for most of your gigs and then can buy a second 210 cab down the road if you need it for large venues, that works out pretty well. Just take one cab for most of your gigs and bring a second one when you need it. Run one or both with the same amp.

So looking at single 8 ohm cabs, you can expect to get about 250-watts or a bit more from your amp. There are a lot of decent 210 cabs that will handle 250 to 300 watts. Getting two 8 ohm cabs makes a lot of sense with the amp you have. There are not nearly so many 210 cabs that will handle 500-watts if you want to just get one 210. They are out there and they pretty much all sound good and they are also virtually all "spendy" cabs.

If you decide to look at the "spendy cabs" look at the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Street price seems to run from $849 to $969. Used prices are usually around $600 though I saw one on Reverb selling for $449. I have both a DNS-210 and its an amazing cab. I also have the DNS-410 and after buying the 210, I use the 210 for everything indoors and just use the 410 for outdoors and outdoor festivals.

The DNS-210 will handle 700-watts rms (both mechanically and thermally) has a frequency response from 34Hz to 14KHz and weighs 52-lbs. It is a very sensitive cab so it doesn't take much to make it loud and 700-watts will drive it to its maximum SPL of 134db - you don't want to be anywhere near it at these levels. So 500 watts isn't going to hurt it. I run my 800-watt amp with the master between 9 o'clock (small venues) and 10:30 (large venues) depending upon the size of the room when using my DNS-210. So I'm leaving a lot of unused power in the amp even when playing large indoor venues.

 

[groove pump]

Just landed my hands on a Darkglass Microtubes 500 and now looking for a good cab to pair up with it. I don't know too much about pairing amp heads to speaker cabs, all I know is that I'm looking for at least a 2x10 for a punchier tone. It's rated at 4ohms with 500watts. What would be the best cab to get that is good but won't break the bank too much?

I was using a pair of SWR Workingman's 2x10's a few years ago, but decided that I could do better. When I started looking around, I quickly found terrific deals on two different cabs, but both were 8 ohm 2x10's rated at 350 watts RMS. I took a chance and grabbed both, hoping that they'd play well together in the same sandbox and so far through a half-dozen gigs they've been giving me lots of perma-grin.

One is an 8 ohm Acme Low B2. There's just a whole lotta right going on with this box. I actually ran it solo when the band played outside by the pool this summer at the house of one of the girlfriends - sort of a practice gig. It had to work to keep up with a drummer and two guitars, but I was impressed. And I was pushing it with a GK MB 500.

Our pals already recommended this Acme cab, but they seem to be rare in the used market, at least when I've occasionally looked around for them. If you find one for a nice deal, it probably won't disappoint.

My other cab is an SWR Goliath Jr. You might have better luck spotting one (or two) of these for yourself. MUCH better than the Workingman's line. Very eager to throw sound. I like to stack these two cabs vertically and when I do, they sound rich and enormous together using that MB 500 for an amp.

And if I had to go out tomorrow and get a matching pair of cabs, the first option I'd go look at down at my favorite semi-local shop is the GK CX 2x10's. They seem to be pretty decent (and portable), but I only noodled around with one briefly last winter/spring.