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I need a cabinet!
- Thread starter Beardsley
- Start date
The thought crossed my mind, but I would rather have 2 cabinets since not all gigs would need a fridge
I would imagine that you could get a couple ampeg 4x10 cabs with that budget. Might have to look for a bit.
I also like the recommendation of the bassman cabs. They sound much better to my ears than the rumble line.
I also like the recommendation of the bassman cabs. They sound much better to my ears than the rumble line.
I went with GK. I am now using a 400rbii with a GK neo 212, or Avatar sb126. I also have a couple of different amps and cabinets for backups, or just when I feel like something different.
I realize everyone has different tonal goals, but for myself, I couldn't find them in the Fender 500. However, I did like the vintage sound it could get, I just didn't have enough use for that sound.
Very diplomatic response regarding the Rumble. My thoughts, exactly. I have a Rumble 500 head and Rumble 410 and 115 cabs. Great vintage tone, which I like. However, I like a bit more tonal versatility. GK makes great stuff and is a popular choice among bass players. I am in the process of selling off my Rumble rig and transitioning to a Mesa Subway Series. Pricey, so it may be a while before I end up with the full rig. Getting close to affording the 115 cab.
I picked up an Aguilar GS410 from GC a few years ago for under $500. I ended up returning it a few days later because it was simply too heavy but it was the best sounding cab I've every played through. Deep, warm, loud and with enough snap to still sound modern. If weight isn't a factor and you can find one in your price range, I wholeheartedly recommend. Get the 4 ohm version and you'll be blowing the windows out of every venue you play with a gigantic smile on your face.
I have a Rumble 500 and although I like it, "heft" is not what I would call the sound from that amp. I run it through all sorts of cabs, and never got much deep bass from it. Mine is very punchy, in an old school way.
Despite the simplicity of it, you may want to at least consider a different amp.
Check into www.avatarspeakers.com they may have just what your looking for.
Great sounding cabinets, construction just as good as commerical made cabinets, plus they use the same as, and in alot of cases, better, drivers than you'll find being used in other commerical manufacturers cabinets.
They are mail order only, so no middleman mark-ups.
Great sounding cabinets, construction just as good as commerical made cabinets, plus they use the same as, and in alot of cases, better, drivers than you'll find being used in other commerical manufacturers cabinets.
They are mail order only, so no middleman mark-ups.
Any recommendations for an amp that could give me that heft, that's in a similar price range and still has a bit of the old school vibe?
An absolutely great cab but not inexpensive is the DNS-210. I have both a DNS-410 and a DNS-210 (DNA Endorsing Artist). The DNS-210 covers all my indoor gigs from small to large clubs and I use the DNS-410 for outdoors and outdoor festivals. I drive either one of them with an 800-watt Eden amp bridged at 800-watts. The DNS-210 will handle 700-watts rms (yes, both mechanically and thermally) and has a maximum SPL of 134db. I've never needed to turn it about 10 o'clock on any indoor venue.
I run my EQ flat (presuming the room doesn't have some weird sonic anomalies) and just boost my low-mids @~250Hz slightly (to about 1 o'clock or 1:30). This DNS-210 cab has all the sonic qualities of my DNS-410 but in a smaller package. Bottom end is tight and LOW. It is super clear, articulate, and LOUD. Just absolutely love the sound of this cab.
Street price is as low as $799 or as high as $899 new, but seems to be most commonly at $849. I just saw a used one on Reverb for only $424 which is a crazy low price. Usually if you can find a used one they are $599 to $699. The one on Reverb has the silver logo on the badge like my 2015 DNS-410 has, instead of the silver with gold lettering which my 2019 DNS-210 has, but there's no difference in the cabs beyond the cosmetics of the logo. Here's a link to it:
DNA DNS-210 2x10 Bass Cabinet USED | Chicago Music Exchange | Reverb
Evidently it's in Chicago.
I can vouch for this. I drooled over a Genz Benz Streamliner for years. Finally said "screw it" and threw my wallet at one. After maybe a month playing through an Avatar SB126, I was sadly ready to sell the Streamliner. I just couldn't get a good tone from it -- certainly not the tone everyone on TalkBass raved about or that I heard in review videos. Several TB'ers chimed in, gave me tips and shared their own EQ settings, and now I'm like "wow, this is a totally different amp than the one I played in the beginning."
Maybe it's the head that you don't like, and not necessarily in need of a new cab...
I had an GK MB800... absolutely loved the power... read all reviews and comments constantly about how folks loved the sound they achieved... I wasn't hearing it...
Was tired of twisting knobs... took a leap of faith, dropped dime on a Mesa d800 and within about 20 seconds had an amazing sound that agreed with what I heard in my head...
Just a thought...
As for cabs, I'll always say Either offering of Greenboy Audio fearless or cabs... buy once cry once, but you'll never need a different cab..
I don't understand your attachment to the Rumble 800 when you said yourself your current cabs sounded better with your previous amp. Again, that amp is "fine" but it's hardly inspiring, and there are any number of other choices you might find more to your liking. I would even say something like a Hartke HA3500 might be more what you're looking for with the tube preamp and onboard compression (although the compression is pretty intense even at low levels, but then a lot of older recordings have a lot of compression on the bass, because they were trying to fit everything into the grooves of the vinyl).
The SWR cab is basically as modern or traditional as you make it. The tweeter has an L-pad which can be turned completely off, but the 10s still have a nice upper midrange without it. So you can kind of blend the tweeter back in a bit for some more clarity. As a sound guy, I will say you almost CERTAINLY want less low mids and more highs than you think you need from your onstage perspective, because the highs are what provide definition to your notes, and they pretty much disappear by the time they get to the audience if you don't have much there to begin with. Meanwhile, low mids build up in the room and kind of smear all over everything. So if you try to EQ in a bunch of low mids and take out the upper mids and highs, what you end up with is a big muddy mess that sounds awful.
Live bass is kind of a delicate ecosystem, so you generally want to tweak less than you might be inclined to in any given direction. You probably don't have as much freedom as you think to go rogue and still have something that is going to work in the context of the band.
But the GIII is a cab that is designed as an exceptional "all around" cab that has literally been an industry standard for decades. And there are probably any number of great heads that will get you a more "old school" vibe through a GIII (or another similar quality cabinet). I find the older Genz cabinets are expecially great for a tweeterless sound (with the tweeters turned down), like my GB 410T that I had (which was beat to hell and I paid almost nothing for but sounded awesome), or my current 410T XB. The older 410T from the 90s the tweeter was definitely not working and it sounded fantastic, because the cones on those 10s just sound really good up into the highe range of the bass. The XB I suspect the tweeter is also out, but it's still one of the best sounding cabs I've ever used (although for my ideal sound, I could use a bit of highs mixed back in so I need to take it apart soon and deal with that).
The newer GB cabs seem to be a little more low mid oriented, so you may try 1 or 2 of those, like a Uber 2x12 or something like that. You may also look at 10 and 12 based tweeterless cabs, but just beware that that locks you in a certain range of sounds, and could limit the basses and effects and heads you can use with them, because anything that's already a bit dark you won't be able to get that definition back into it.
For heads, I think you might find some of the older traditional Mesa heads to be what you're looking for (ie the M series). If I could justify it, I kind of want something like the M-Pulse 600, just for variety. But I already have my Trace hybrid head and the ShuttleMax as my main heads, and the Genz GBE-750 that I don't get around to using much these days, that kind of fills some of that same M-Pulse vibe. I don't know what that Rumble 800 might be worth used, but if you had $1000 to work with, you could get a SCREAMING rig for that much and probably have money left over. But I wouldn't bother with the "Oh, I need a 4x10 and 1x15" idea unless you are going to go full biamp, properly crossed over, and everything (and then I would do an 18 with a 4x10). If anything, you should get 2 different personality cabs to use separately for different types of gigs, ie a GIII and then maybe a tweeterless 4x10 or 15, etc...
The SWR cab is basically as modern or traditional as you make it. The tweeter has an L-pad which can be turned completely off, but the 10s still have a nice upper midrange without it. So you can kind of blend the tweeter back in a bit for some more clarity. As a sound guy, I will say you almost CERTAINLY want less low mids and more highs than you think you need from your onstage perspective, because the highs are what provide definition to your notes, and they pretty much disappear by the time they get to the audience if you don't have much there to begin with. Meanwhile, low mids build up in the room and kind of smear all over everything. So if you try to EQ in a bunch of low mids and take out the upper mids and highs, what you end up with is a big muddy mess that sounds awful.
Live bass is kind of a delicate ecosystem, so you generally want to tweak less than you might be inclined to in any given direction. You probably don't have as much freedom as you think to go rogue and still have something that is going to work in the context of the band.
But the GIII is a cab that is designed as an exceptional "all around" cab that has literally been an industry standard for decades. And there are probably any number of great heads that will get you a more "old school" vibe through a GIII (or another similar quality cabinet). I find the older Genz cabinets are expecially great for a tweeterless sound (with the tweeters turned down), like my GB 410T that I had (which was beat to hell and I paid almost nothing for but sounded awesome), or my current 410T XB. The older 410T from the 90s the tweeter was definitely not working and it sounded fantastic, because the cones on those 10s just sound really good up into the highe range of the bass. The XB I suspect the tweeter is also out, but it's still one of the best sounding cabs I've ever used (although for my ideal sound, I could use a bit of highs mixed back in so I need to take it apart soon and deal with that).
The newer GB cabs seem to be a little more low mid oriented, so you may try 1 or 2 of those, like a Uber 2x12 or something like that. You may also look at 10 and 12 based tweeterless cabs, but just beware that that locks you in a certain range of sounds, and could limit the basses and effects and heads you can use with them, because anything that's already a bit dark you won't be able to get that definition back into it.
For heads, I think you might find some of the older traditional Mesa heads to be what you're looking for (ie the M series). If I could justify it, I kind of want something like the M-Pulse 600, just for variety. But I already have my Trace hybrid head and the ShuttleMax as my main heads, and the Genz GBE-750 that I don't get around to using much these days, that kind of fills some of that same M-Pulse vibe. I don't know what that Rumble 800 might be worth used, but if you had $1000 to work with, you could get a SCREAMING rig for that much and probably have money left over. But I wouldn't bother with the "Oh, I need a 4x10 and 1x15" idea unless you are going to go full biamp, properly crossed over, and everything (and then I would do an 18 with a 4x10). If anything, you should get 2 different personality cabs to use separately for different types of gigs, ie a GIII and then maybe a tweeterless 4x10 or 15, etc...
Sell the head and pick up a used Genz Benz streamliner. I've seen a couple for under 400. Plenty of thump and it goes deep without being boomy. I have two. Really great tone and power.
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They are good for their price. I own a few decent cabs but my Avatar Neo 212 gets most gigs, light, loud and good sound.
Best bang for the buck ever here. I picked up one for $400 here in the classifieds a few months ago.
Quilter bb800. The tone controls are really different, but super effective once you learn how to use them. Check out the quilter group on TB for more info. I love mine.
My main amp is a Mesa D800+, which is out of your range even used. But it can sound massive through two subway 115 cabs like I use.
If you can find a used GK MB 800, those are nice too, and should be well inside your budget.
GK neo 410 cabs have a ton of beef. Mine was kinda boomy, but that can be a risk with cabs that have a lot of low end.
I hated my streamliner 900. It was so bassy, very little articulation and no top end. I found it to be super cab-dependant to sound decent.
