Help me choose a good cab to go with my new GK head.

Well, I'd go for a 15", but that's my opinion. If you're going to go for a single cab, you'll need to be thinking in terms of what you want tone-wise. For example: a 4x10" cabinent will be very punchy and move plenty of air compared to the rounder sounding 15". Since I play mostly jazz and ska, I really like the depth and smoothness that a 15" gives you. Then again, if you play lots of slap or need the extra air that those 10"s are moving, a 2x10" or a 4x10" may be what you want. I'd try out every cab that I can. If you're thinking in terms of stack, then there's always the time-tested setups of a 1x15" and a 2x10" stack or the larger 1x18" and 4x10" stack. These will give you a great full range sound with planty of power. I don't know off-hand what the amp in that GK can handle, but make sure that you're cab (or cabs) will work fine impedance-wise for that amp.

As far as brand goes, I've always really liked Eden and SWR. Other good, reputable brands include Ampeg and Hartke.

http://www.swrsound.com
http://www.eden-electronics.com
http://www.ampeg.com
http://www.gallien.com

I can't remember the URL for Hartke, but you can find it in the bass links section of Harmony Central.

http://www.harmony-central.com

 

White Knight,

Excellent, another rude bass player. Who do you play with?

Regards,
Davo

 

The other bass player in my band uses that head through an EV 15 cab and gets amazing tones. http://www.zzounds.com has those cabs, they sound incredible BUT they are a wee bit expensive.

 

Davo737, obviously I'm missing something here:

"Excellent, another rude bass player. Who do you play with?"

What do you mean by that? I can't think of anything that I've done or said that's rude. Am I just not down with the lingo here?

At any rate, one thing that I forgot to mention (though you probably already know this):

The speakers that you select impedance-wise will not only determine your overall sound, but how much wattage you get as well.

If your amp is a 4 ohm amp, for example, then it means that it will either deliever it's full wattage into a single 4 ohm cabinent or two 8 ohm cabinents linked together in parallel. While you could use a single 8 ohm (or higher) cabinent, you wouldn't be getting your full 240 watts (I think that's how many watts your amp has) of power. Just something to think about. So If you plan on going stack later and buying a single cab now, you'll probably want to get an 8 ohm cabinent. If you're just going to go for a single cabinent, then you'll probably want to go 4 ohm to get the most power of your amp as possible.

[Edited by White_Knight on 10-10-2000 at 02:51 PM]

 

Ummm,

You guys, he means rude, as in rudey, a reggae/ska term of respect/acknowledgement.

As in "Rudey can't fail......"

 

White Knight and Big Wheel,

I apologize for the confusion. "Rude" was a term applied to those involved in the ska scene at its beginnings in Jamaica, and has carried through to today referring to men and women in the scene as Rude Boys and Rude Girls. In no way was it meant to imply that you were rude, in the English sense of the word. Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding. As far as cabinet selection, I currently play ampeg cabs, and although quite reliable, they don't quite produce the sound clarity that I would like, or have heard in other cabs, such as edens. From what I've heard and read, Bag End makes excellent cabs for a very reasonable price, particularly if you play a five string. Hope this post helps.

Regards,
Davo

 

BW, 200 watts is not really enough for 2 cabs, so I would say either an Eden D410XLT(that would be my choice) or an SWR Goliath III(my second choice).

Either of these would sound great with your head, the Edens are a little more, but IMHO they reproduce the low fundamental better than the SWR.

 

Davo737, I was hoping that it was indeed some sort of slang term or whatnot 'cause for the life of me I couldn't see what I'd said that could be considered rude. At any rate, I don't really play in a band right now - I'm sorta out for "hire" if you will to my friends whenever they need me. I get to play a good ammount of variety this way and I like it.

No need to apologize, just a misunderstanding. This is exactly what I was hoping that you were going to say.

Embellisher has a good point: 200 watts into two cabs isn't a whole lot. You may want to go with a single cab. Some cabs require lots of power to sound good, so if you're splitting the power up you may not be getting enough to each cab (underpowering the cabinent, if you will). However, not all speakers are like this. If you do plan on going to stack route, definitely test the cabs out with your amp to see if it can effectively power them.

[Edited by White_Knight on 10-11-2000 at 12:01 PM]

 

I have a 400RB runing to a SWR Big Ben 18" and a EV 410, to be honest I need a new head ASAP! I can barely hear the bass above the guitar player and the two drummers in my band. Of course this head is only 275 watts or so. I think I will go with a Mesa 400+ . The GK has a nice enough tone but it just isn't powerfull enough for my application. 200 bucks for one is pretty damn cheap though, you got a nice deal on that.

 

Single cab? Great! Get a four ohm cab with the speakers of your choice so that you can take the full 200 watts over to it.

My personal choice would be the Eden 15XLT or the Eden 2x12". Coming up in second would be the Son of Bertha from SWR or for third a tie between the Hartke 215XL and the Sunn 2x15". (I didn't check to see if there are 4 ohm versions of all of those, however). As for the speaker size, as I said above, these are my opinions, get what sounds best to you!

 

Just so you know, Eden now makes a 2x15+tweeter cabinet. I'm drooling...

 

$200 bucks for a 400RB. Good deal.
I run my 400RB (200 watts @4ohms) through an SWR Triad I (450 watts program). I run it FLAT with the Treble Boost on.

I haven't looked for another rig since.

Later.

 

Big Wheel,

Program - what the cab can handle over the long haul, as opposed to peak, which it can handle for VERY short duration.

In this context,the information is probably superflous, but I strive for completeness.

Whatever. Just plug into the GK and rock man !!! Just thinking about the sound of it makes me wanna play.

Later,

-markt

 

Big Wheel,

Oh, and the Triad I, man when that deep thunder comes pounding out of that thing, women start yelling. I LOVE the Triad I. I can play it soft, and it envelopes the room with deep bass. If I play it loud, it regulates heartbeats.

Where's my 5-string ... I've just GOTTA PLAY now !!!

Later.