Have anyone played on an 18" cab?

[nojj]

Used to use a CV cab w/ reflex 18 and a front loaded 12.
Heavy and the throw was too long.
(Inaudible on stage, and moving chairs at the back of the room)

Tried a SA powered 18 live, wasn't impressed.
Does do a great job as a sub in my rehearsal studio, though.

 

[DukeLeJeune]

Despite the mixed results people have had with 18s, I'm encouraged to see this thread come back to life and keep breathing. A year or so ago I designed a 118 cab but chickened out on putting it into production. Well someone wanted one anyway so my friend Mike Arnopol built it for him (he's an excellent woodworker along with his other skills), so now it looks like I'll be getting into the 18" arena after all.

All of these comments are very interesting to me, the criticisms especially, because that's showing where there's theoretically room for improvement (and "room for improvement" = "window of opportunity").

 

[GeorgeBerlin]

18FH500... a good one for sure... I'd guess some people might prefer a bit more breakup/peaking in the 1..3kHz range, that's where the "speed" is...

 

[frankieC]

As I recall, Carvin also makes an 18" cab. never used one, but I remember see it in a recent catalog of theirs.

 

[stonewall]

build 2 single 15 Cabs best of all worlds...I think you asking for alot of trouble with an 18 on stage the other band members wont be impressed with the low droney tones your gonna have you will feel that speker more than your will hear it.Unless your playing big outdoor shows with massive stages i wouldnt recommend it.

 

[christw]

18FH500... a good one for sure... I'd guess some people might prefer a bit more breakup/peaking in the 1..3kHz range, that's where the "speed" is...

That's what EQ and OD is for!

 

[JGR]

I built a cab with an 18 and love it - there are some amazing drivers out there to choose from. Nothing slow about it, you can get some serious whomp from a single driver. I enjoy it with my 4's, but when my friends ran their 5's thru it my jaw dropped. Makes me want to pick one up or at least string one of mine BEAD.

 

[Russell L]

I needed an extension speaker on a gig once to add to my 115. The only thing around was a 118 cab that was almost twice the size of my 115, dimension-wise. I expected the 118 to be much lower and bigger-sounding, but to my surprise it sounded just like my 115 when played by itself. The two together sounded like my 2x115 rig.

My 115 is a Markbass Traveler 151P (2x15 is two of the same). Amp is a Markbass Little Mark III. The 118 was a Yamaha, dunno what model.

 

[GeorgeBerlin]

That's what EQ and OD is for!

Sí, but I feel many people are so accustomed to the rather peaky and "broken" response that most 10/12/15 drivers for MI have, so a flat response could easily (mis-)judged as "dull&boring". Put a Beyma 12MI100 in a guitar cab and you won't get any props apart from jazz players.

 

[CTC564]

In the 80's I played through an SWR SM400 with an SWR Big Bertha (18") and a Goliath

Decent amp/cabs but eventually sol it for another Goliath 410

 

[Tim Marshall]

try a rig that fill's the stage with a nice fat punchy low. 2/ 15 cabs. with good speakers. and a p bass.

 

[crguti]

a 6x18 would be cool

 

[disssa]

My 18er cab:

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[Bill Whitehurst]

I think if Emminence offered a 3018LF there would be a lot
of interest in going bigger.
No idea if that will ever happen.
It took them years to get the 3010LF out.

 

[Lindex]

I'm using a pair of Eminence Sigma Pro 18 A2 in my cab, together with two Alpha 6 CBMRA and an APT-80 in 300L of volume and tuned to 42Hz.
Pretty impressive, has got a nice low mid growl (lower than average 15"s) and goes straight down to 40Hz@-6dB without any kind of boominess.
Of course it does not quite have the quick response and directness of, say, an 810 in the low registers, but it reproduces B-strings and even lower with such an ease...
Sounds great with my all tube 300W head which is tonally a bit on the warmer side anyway, especially after going through a full JJ retubing including preamp and power tubes.

Got a weak B-string on your bass?
You might just have a cab that doesn't make it...

Hearing people say they have a 1 cu.ft. 10" cab that does B-strings greatly always makes me smile a bit...

 

[iualum]

^^^ Nice build. What are the approximate dimensions & weight?

 

[AntiTreble]

I want to build a cab with 18" and two 12" drivers.. Anyone think it's a good idea?

True: Get to the gym, because that's going to be a seriously heavy cabinet. In the early 90's I was running a GK 800RB through a Peavey 1820 bottom (18 + 2 10's). Wow. There was no hill you couldn't conquer...IF you could lug that monstrous thing up it!

 

[Rockin Mike]

I was at a jam the other day and heard someone say the old thing about how you need a big speaker to produce low notes, as if the diameter of the speaker is somehow related to the frequency of the wave.

It ain't. A low frequency note means the speaker is going back and forth slowly. Any speaker can do that.

True, it also matters how far the speaker travels back and forth (xmax). A slow moving speaker that's small and doesn't go back and forth very far (small xmax) won't shake much air so it won't be loud on that low note, so cab makers just use more of them. That's why an 8x10 can be loud and low.

Modern speakers with large xmax are rewriting the rules. There are some small cabs that get surprisingly loud and low.

I imagine it's harder to get a big speaker to do high notes. It takes a lot of energy to overcome the inertia of a bigger cone and the air it has to push every time it reverses direction, compared to a smaller cone.

Again, modern technology to the rescue. Super strong neo magnets can provide the power to reverse a bigger cone's motion rapidly through a larger xmax compared to older tech, but smaller speakers will have a natural advantage in high frequencies, all else being equal.

Cab design also matters a lot but I don't know enough about that to say anything more.

I think I've got that right; I'm not an expert and always glad to be corrected by experts.

 

[Lindex]

^^^ Nice build. What are the approximate dimensions & weight?

127 x 60 x 50 cm at 58kg

 

[iualum]

That's a big boy, indeed .