• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Have anyone played on an 18" cab?

#21
Depends on how you design it I guess. I think it'd only really be "good" if you used a crossover.

I'm sure there are some good, powerful 18" speakers suitable out there. If you're absolutely determined to use 12"s, you could even use some guitar drivers for mids and highs. The dispersion wouldn't be too great, of course. But if you're into more vintage-y tone it could possibly work. Maybe align them vertically.

Definitely use a crossover, though.
 
#25
Carvin makes a killer neo 18" speaker. I used it in my sealed 4x10/ported 1x18 LDS cab. granted, I bi-amp, but it has really great clear low end and low mids that fills the room without mudding up. also, I've had the cab up to ridiculous volumes, and it's never farted out or even broken a sweat. and I'm talking for 2/3+ hours at a time. not sure how it'd do without bi-amping, though. I'd say go for a well designed 2x15 cab. those sound pretty good by themselves.
 
#26
Now before people get a reaction - this is based on the fact that the OP does not mind moving weight. So - all those arguments have no traction for him - maybe you - but not him. Hey - I use an F-150 to haul my gear and I am also an old fart. So - I know there are those of us this fits.

OK - now the answer.

I would not build an 18 cab unless you are a master at wood work. The lower frequencies make quite a shake and also some of the mitering will be a total pain. Even the old "W Bins" are a pain to build. By the time you are done the cost will surpass buying vintage. And if it makes rattles - you got nada. Get a quality piece of wood work from a time that craftsmen in USA were paid to build things regardless of cost. That stuff is still solid today. It is a true thing.

If size does not matter, and you are not going through a PA, then biamping with an 18 W bin and a 2x12 is a really amazing experience. I used to do it. Now think a moment - you essentially have a PA stack on stage (minus the hi horn). And yes - use seperate cabs. A 2x12 can be usefull. A 1x18 W bin on its side with an 8x10 laying sidways on top can be an orgasm. So - keep the cabs seperate. Think modular.

I can tell you that my band mates love it when I bring out my Acoustic 371. They encourage it. Part is also how it fills the room so evenly. I lose some granularity in setting tone - but by the time your sound has bounced about the room and gotten all mixed up - that matters less than one would want to believe. I know - I am obsessive on tone and also use a wireless - it is a humbling experience.

I used to use the little 1820 (1810 at first) cabs. They were cute. Good punch stage monitor but lousy at filling a room in a loud band.

In the "Odlen Golden Days" the 18s ruled as they were the low freq beasties. The 15s were only good down to 50HZ. Now some 15s do 38. But only at low power levels. A modern 18 can do 28 at hi power.

It matters if you want punch and definition or a clear shake. Also - if you have a PA let it do the heavy lifting.

MHO

- Ziggy -
 
#28
Another idea is to check out some of greenboy's fEARful cabinet designs. They're well thought out, very buildable, and well thought of by those who have them. Just do a search here on TB on the name fEARful and you'll see what I mean. You can find all the plans and information you need on greenboy's site as well.
 
#29
you guys are all assuming that he is talking about going into his garage and getting out his hacksaw and trying to build some speekers and that he has no idea what he is doing. maybe he means he would like to have a custom 2418 cab, doing what he can to help make it a reality. he definitely has some coin (and taste) with nice amps like that.

heck one of these days, greenboy and I are going to design/build an 18" based cab to see what it do :spit:

what was said about bi-amping is dead-on, as was Bill's assertion to use maybe only add a single 10" guitar driver (maybe a guitar 12" would work also...) don't be fooled by those comparing 18" drivers to 10"s and saying you won't lose high end and don't need to bi-amp. listen to an 1820 or 3620 with the mid-high freq guitar-type speakers biamped, you really do get much clearer highs. Tom Bowlus did some working over of his 1820 and came to that conclusion as well. the biamping is only so you don't send the lows to the guitar speakers and smoke them, and its easier to fiddle with than a crossover.
 
#30
I have a 1x18 cab and two 2x10 cabs. Each of the 2x10 cabs goes deeper and sounds better than the 1x18, and weighs less than half the 1x18. I've had the 1x18 since 1976. It's a dinosaur.

An 18" and two 12"s in one cab? Are you kidding? You'll need a forklift to move it.
 
#31
myself i stumbled upon an 18/cab with casters and a 4x10/horn i can pick up for less than 400,,and since i just acquired a Peavey`Kilobass' head that has me in a dif. timezone timewise(yes,having ALL that headroom and tone is a new/upper dimension/`relearning howto EQ' is what i'm sayingblahblahblah,,it IS all about the ear;)

i'm`playing' with the thing(the Kilohead)and i can clearly see/feel i need more cone area,,a LOT more baby!:bassist:

so`cheap sunglasses and `pearl necklasses come to mind;)

it's all about building`the stack' for me right now(man! i have 27 irons burning that all need cash and my time,i'd like to build a flyweight rig but since i have this huge power head i have to go on:bassist:),i can extrapolate upon that as i go,but jumping up from`combos' to`rack mount heads' is a leap,one that has unvieled some really good stuff=in other words,don;t sweat it,if you can buy it reasonable go for it then you'll have that tone experience behind you

soo add a yaddayadda,or blahblah,but hell boy!,git it and jam it out man!:D:D:D:D,that's what i'd do,ok my cake timer is calling me(i thought 18's kicked a!!!,heck they LOOK cool and make a great bottom cab,that's wortha kiss anyway:eek:
 
#32
Cirk said:
Another idea is to check out some of greenboy's fEARful cabinet designs. They're well thought out, very buildable, and well thought of by those who have them. Just do a search here on TB on the name fEARful and you'll see what I mean. You can find all the plans and information you need on greenboy's site as well.
Click to expand...

I'll bite, the Fearful designs are nice, but they are not a magic bullet that cures all.
Wouldnt a similar approach with a good 18" for lows and 12" (or two) for mids be just as valid? It would simply be a matter of tailoring the design to suit the T/S parameters of the 18". Also of course the crossover point should change as well.

One poster mentioned pa cabs. I used to run a peavey SR 18 cab with a 2x12 mid bass on top. Sounded very good on axis. Almost inaudible off axis, very heavy too!
 
#33
Calaverasgrande said:
I'll bite, the Fearful designs are nice, but they are not a magic bullet that cures all.
Click to expand...

Amazing how you feel compelled to blurt this out everywhere ; } ...cheesy to the max to try countering any fEARful suggestion if it pops up while you don't bother to molest suggestions that are of something else. I think I'll just start popping up in various threads and playing MR OBVIOUS DISCLAIMER too. Maybe accompanied by a fast-talking audio file that sounds like fine print ad copy. I'll start every time someone mentions Ampeg or Mesa or ; } ...no, that would just be to cheesy. I'll try to control myself. Especially since I haven't actually used some of that stuff.

Really, the design concepts themselves SHOULD get brought up in a lot of these threads of this type anyway. Because understanding them a little, one can get a hella lot output with less bulk and weight. I could easily take a single monster 18" driver I have my eye on, and a single 10" driver that's the loudest SOB there ever was above 200 Hz, and build an incredible direct radiator package that would pulverize anything else people have ever done in direct radiator bass rigs of even twice the size, and do it with less weight and more level (SPL). Just bring some wattage.

Like hrgiger says.

So when I mention fEARful it's not always about being a cure-all. It's just another suggestion about design/engineering. In the end I don't care if guys buy this or that, new or used, or make something some way or another way. If it makes them happy then it's a better place to be. But I do like seeing technical topic matter on forums, and I see ways to astound if someone wants to hop on the research train and understand what can be done nowdays. What's so bad about knowing more?

That said, frankly I haven't bothered to do an 18 because the 3015LF routes any 18" that's been in a bass guitar-specific cab design and a lot of club PA 18" subwoofers too. And I haven't cared to haul single enclosures like that in my vehicle or up onto stage lately. But make no mistake, if someone did it right it would be a real stage pulverizer, a real toothpick maker and ear shredder, a REAL GUT RIPPER. It wouldn't be as namby pamby as some of the stuff that's gone before.
 
#34
If you need to go lower, you need more power, low frequencies require a ton of juice. I'd consider getting a 410/115 setup, or even an 810 (10's are smaller, but there's more of them, they'll push more air without losing definition) and upping the power, that should get you where you're going.
 
#35
I have a Peavey 1820 that has an 18 and two 10's on top with a built in crossover. In my opinion it is a peice of crap. The 18 just sounds boomy and muddy. Plus it is as heavy as most 8X10s, and ten times more awkward. I am considering finding some kid that is desperate and poor and giving it to him.
 
#36
greenboy said:
I could easily take a single monster 18" driver I have my eye on, and a single 10" driver that's the loudest SOB there ever was above 200 Hz, and build an incredible direct radiator package that would pulverize anything else people have ever done in direct radiator bass rigs of even twice the size, and do it with less weight and more level (SPL). Just bring some wattage.
Click to expand...

Not to threadjack, but could you seriously do this, please? I think some of the live dubstep guys would be receptive and mighty appreciative of not having to haul a biamp rig.

Admittedly, I don't know how you could get more bonecrushing than a 1515/66, but it might at least turn out a little more portable, though.;)
 
#37
Back in the days of my obnoxious rigs (one rig to rule them all) I had a multiple amp system that also included a sub-harmonic generator with a dedicated 18" JBL in a custom enclosure. Fun but a bit over the top, plus most FOA/PA guy's back then didn't know how to deal with multiple feeds from the bass player (I had a rack full of effects and weird looping set ups).

A couple years ago I played a gig with my Boogie 18 and a couple Boogie 15s... While the sound worked for me, the weight of the cabs starts getting to be a pain (even more son since they were all road ready cabs).

I am a big fan of multiple smaller drivers these days, but I do think I hear and feel a difference in my playing...I gravitate toward different lines and vibes when jamming through an 18 vs a 3 or 4 x10 cab...
 
#38
Back in the day Peavey 1810 and 1820 could be made to sound great with the amount of amp power that was common back then. But Peavey never did care if they weighed a lot more than they could have. Nowdays, a lot of these cabs have abused drivers and semi-blown crossovers in them, and sometimes the wrong drivers. And people are building lighter and smaller, and amps have become more powerful in general and thus compensate.

But one thing remains the same: if you don't get EQing, you'll likely just make a messy sound.
 
#39
I used to use a Peavey 1820 a long time ago and it sounded ok with a Peavey MkIII head, but it was definitely awkward and inconvenient. I customized it with casters and a bar to give it a tilt-n-roll type function, but after one short tour with it I was ready to toss it on a bonfire. Once I switched to tube heads the 18" sounded unbearably muddy and I got rid of it. I'm sure there are plenty of usable tones with an 18", just a matter of if they're to your taste. Though personally I think I'd stick with the 18"+10" configuration over 18"+12".
 
#40
GrapeApe said:
If you need to go lower, you need more power, low frequencies require a ton of juice. I'd consider getting a 410/115 setup, or even an 810 (10's are smaller, but there's more of them, they'll push more air without losing definition) and upping the power, that should get you where you're going.
Click to expand...

Again the myth that a bigger cone will go deeper than a smaller one. The 4x10 + 115 is a poor mating at best with current products. However you see the pairing everywhere. The latest Bass Player magazine shows them from Ampeg, Acoustic, Ashdown, and GK. It's no wonder players think that they are the proper way to go!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back