hz/khz, help!

Beware of judging soley by the numbers - they fail to quantify everything about the 'sound' of a given cabinet, especially how it will work in relation to your gear and playing style.

Also, remember that the bass gives out relatively low frequencies. Eg. take the A string... that produces a fundamental of 55Hz. Therefore the octave (eg. 7th fret on the D string) will be 110Hz and the octave above that (14 fret, G string - a reasonably high note for a bassline) will have a fundamental of 220Hz.

The sound you hear is a mix of the fundamental and a number of harmonic overtones (this ties into how harmonics work). The balance of these is what gives the note it's distinctive timbre and, on a bass, they're starting to drop off in volume by about the fourth or fifth overtone. So, when you play that high A, you hear a mix of:

220Hz
440Hz
660Hz
880Hz
1100Hz
1320Hz (and so on - x1, x2, x3, etc)

In other words, well below 4000Hz (4kHz), let alone 18kHz). Therefore, the extra headroom might give you a little more 'presence' on the notes but the effect is likely to pretty negligible (although a tweeter, as a second sound source in the cabinet, will have a more audible effect).

Get the stats for some cabinets that are available locally and then try them to hear what the numbers mean in practise...

Wulf

 

ps. FWIW, I've got an Ashdown ABM Mini 1x15 cab that I'm very happy with. I couldn't quote you the specs but I like the sound

Wulf

 

Just to make it more interesting, I would have to say you don't have enough information to make a determination.

The SWR info tells you that at 40hz, the volume will be 6db lower than it will be at some higher frequency; this is a pretty normal shorthand.

The Ashdown specs don't say anything concrete at all. Is it 10db down at 41hz? 6db down? Does it make their coffee table shake at 41hz? You really don't know.

 

If it doesn't do the job, you're probably well on your way to premature deafness so you won't have to worry about it much longer anyway

Since this is a 'new 15' I presume you had one before. What was that, and what was the problem with it?

Wulf

 

That was my initial reaction too. Frequency "range" tells you nothing about the frequency "response".

 

I've used it in a pretty big hall (normally used as a church and arranged with the stage on the one of the long sides of the rectangle) for a classic rock band, competing against drums and two guitarists each with 100 Fender Twin Reverb amps, with an audience of 100+. It certainly sounded loud enough to me and I didn't get any complaints about being too quiet ...

It also had no problems when used in a club environment with my current band, and probably 150+ people in there. When I was in the audience earlier on in the evening, the sound was painfully loud without ear plugs. It did get a DI into the PA that night but I still think it was up to the job.

Actually, I think both of the cabs you're suggesting would do the job - the main question is which one gives you the kind of sound you're after, which can't easily be answered by looking at numbers on paper. If you haven't got suitable places to preview them in Swindon, then a day trip to London might be worthwhile.

I know that I'm not alone in being very happy with the Ashdown mini 1x15. What's the SWR cab you're looking at - do any owners have comments on that?

Wulf

 

My Acme cabs weigh under 50lbs each and move a serious amount of low end and I've never had problems with them jumping about - irregardless of this you're probably best off stacking the cabs which will mean there's plenty of weight holding the 15" down.

Alex

 

You could stand the 2x10 upright on the mini 1x15. That should put the top speaker at a good height for you to hear it and, in theory, might give a clearer sound in the room (due to disperson patterns in the horizontal plane).

Experiment a bit and see how it goes.

Wulf

 

I imported them back in 1999. Even with all the shipping costs etc they still worked out cheaper than Eden or SWR. They were the only Acme cabs in the UK for quite a while but I think a few others may have arrived since then.

Alex