i have a crate 215 cab. i need something smaller (five-piece band in a minivan). i've got a carvin 160 watt head. i'm not sure if i should go 2x10 or 1x15, but i basically want whatever is very affordable and not a space hog, without making me sound bad. any help/ advice would be greatly appreciated!
Id go with an Avatar 1x12 Neo Cab. Its rated for 250 watts. Its only $250.00 + $29.00 for shipping, and its a killer cab for its wee size, weighing only 39lbs. http://www.avatarspeakers.com/
A typical neo 210 is going to provide more SPL than a neo 112. When watts are short, go for a cab that does more with them.
In any event, an Avatar cab is a great bargain. I have an SB 112 and it's served me faithfully for over three years.
Another vote for Avatar. Every now and then you can score some pretty good Avatar deals on Ebay too so you may want to check out that avenue.
I have a carvin 160 watt head (probably the same one....) and I use Carvins' extension cabinet...a 1 x 12 with the 1 x 10 that the amp is sitting in......sometimes I will just use only the 1x12 and it really does a fine job in small clubs.....25 to 50 people size club. Carvins' 2x10 cab goes for $249.00, I think. That would be a great deal.....John
Avatar would work really well or pick something off the used market. Though I think unless you got a guitarist using a stack, or a drummer who likes to use a 6-7 piece setup you should be able to fit everything in a mini van, unless the crate 2x15's bigger than I remember it being or it's just a smaller minivan.
My answer to this was building an 8ohm 1x10 (35 lbs) cab, and powering it with a QSC RMX1450 (40 lbs) with a PreSonus TubePre (< 5 lbs) on the front end. For outdoor gigs I add a 1x15 to it. I forgot about the broke part. Woops. The cab was fairly cheap. $80 in it. The power amp is a different story, but it gave me a very versatile setup. The TubePre is about $100...less if you don't have to pay retail.
I wouldn't try to use just a 112 cabinet unless I was playing coffeehouse gigs with a drummer that could play soft.I've had a pair of Avatars,an Aguilar and a LDS 112 cabs and used them at practice but the smallest I'd go for a gigging band would be a 210 or a 115.An Avatar 212 is more like what you need but a 210 from Avatar or Dr Bass would work or a 115,212 or 310 from Dr Bass would work too.The Dr bass cabinets are much smaller than the Avatars but you would have to wait a few weeks to get your cabinet.All my 112s got pretty loud but I sure wouldn't trust them to gig with by themselves.A used Bag End 115 cabinet would be a good bet too.
i suppose i will shop around for an avatar. thanks, guys! btw, the band is a drummer, me, two guitarists, and a keyboardist, so space really is tight.
There's an Avatar 212 Delta in the classifieds for $200 but the seller doesn't want to ship. I believe he's in Alabama. Maybe you could work out something halfway. Might be worth the trip.
There's an ebay company Mosh Audio that is selling new 210's, 410's and 115's dirt cheap. Does anyone know anything about the quality of these cabs?
+1, not exactly flat, has a signifigant mid bump, but it would be fairly light for a non-neo fifteen and a smallish box.