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Looking for a modest priced 15" bass cabinet

Glenn Taylor

Glenn Taylor

Jul 31, 2009
91
6
Raleigh North Carolina
#1
Hi guys, I am getting my old self out in my studio most nights recently and I want to
put together an amp with 1-15" and 2-10"s bi amped. It would be to record with and play medium size gigs with. There is a GK 1x15 cabinet for sale here in florida I was thinking about. Is there much of an advantage having a port in a well tuned cabinet?
Years ago in my rock days I used a acoustic 370 with a 18" 301 cabinet and a 8x10
svt. Don,t need that much power. Let me know? Glenn.:)
 
#4
Not that I'm against bi-amping, but what has brought you to the conclusion you should be doing it? Because if you've been away from playing or just not really keeping up on gear, the capabilities of a lot of stuff today dont really require it, because people are doing more 2 and 3 way cabs with good or at least decent passive crossovers. So biamping makes the most sense if you're looking to do parallel signal processing on highs and lows separately (for instance, dry lows and chorus, etc... on the highs), or if you have very specific tonal goals.

The reality is that most bass cabs these days are already "full range", meaning they cover pretty much anywhere from about 50hz to about 15khz, give or take a few. So you end up with 2 cabs that rather than covering "bass" and "treble" respectively, are just slight variations in response over the same general range.

Which is to say long story short, if you just want a hellacious sounding inexpensive cab, just go find a single SWR Goliath III or IV for about $350 and be done with it. If you need something lighter/smaller, you may have to get more creative, and just try as many different amps and cabs as you can get your hands on.

For instance, I have 2 out of production Genz Benz "Uber Quads" which is a 60 lb cab with a 12, 2 8s, and a tweeter, and a passive crossover between all 3 sizes. it handles 600w and has a range of about 45hz to 18khz. So there's not much need for biamping unless I wanted some ridiculous lows and added an 18 for stuff below about 100hz. Now, I DO like that really deep sort of impact, BUT it's way more practical to just double up on the uber quads and have 1200w of power handling to play with. It's not quite the same, but I can have my rig up and running on a gig in about 2 minutes. 2 cabs, 7 pound amp, power cable, and 2 speaker cables.

Anyway, instead of skipping straight to "I need to biamp", you should figure out what your actual volume, tone, size, weight, and cost criteria are, and then go try as many things as you can within an hour or so of where you live to see what might work best. If you're in Gainesville, I have to imagine there are a number of music stores to go check out.
 
#6
Omega Monkey said:
Not that I'm against bi-amping, but what has brought you to the conclusion you should be doing it? Because if you've been away from playing or just not really keeping up on gear, the capabilities of a lot of stuff today dont really require it, because people are doing more 2 and 3 way cabs with good or at least decent passive crossovers. So biamping makes the most sense if you're looking to do parallel signal processing on highs and lows separately (for instance, dry lows and chorus, etc... on the highs), or if you have very specific tonal goals.

The reality is that most bass cabs these days are already "full range", meaning they cover pretty much anywhere from about 50hz to about 15khz, give or take a few. So you end up with 2 cabs that rather than covering "bass" and "treble" respectively, are just slight variations in response over the same general range.

Which is to say long story short, if you just want a hellacious sounding inexpensive cab, just go find a single SWR Goliath III or IV for about $350 and be done with it. If you need something lighter/smaller, you may have to get more creative, and just try as many different amps and cabs as you can get your hands on.

For instance, I have 2 out of production Genz Benz "Uber Quads" which is a 60 lb cab with a 12, 2 8s, and a tweeter, and a passive crossover between all 3 sizes. it handles 600w and has a range of about 45hz to 18khz. So there's not much need for biamping unless I wanted some ridiculous lows and added an 18 for stuff below about 100hz. Now, I DO like that really deep sort of impact, BUT it's way more practical to just double up on the uber quads and have 1200w of power handling to play with. It's not quite the same, but I can have my rig up and running on a gig in about 2 minutes. 2 cabs, 7 pound amp, power cable, and 2 speaker cables.

Anyway, instead of skipping straight to "I need to biamp", you should figure out what your actual volume, tone, size, weight, and cost criteria are, and then go try as many things as you can within an hour or so of where you live to see what might work best. If you're in Gainesville, I have to imagine there are a number of music stores to go check out.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the indepth repsonse. The last band I was with was a blues band and I had an Ampeg solid state head and a 4x10 ampeg cabinet. It worked fine in smaller and larger clubs and concerts. Any big concert or clubs I always when thru the pa.
I hear what you are saying about the full range cabinet rather than bi amp. I am happy with a punchy tone on the thin side using 10" speakers. I thought about just getting a 15" or an 18" cabinet to just add a touch of low end. After engineering producing other people for years I thought I would try doing some writing and recording my own album. What I like is a pretty fat natural sound. At any rate I am going to look at the genz gear.thanks again.
 
#7
Glenn Taylor said:
I have a Behringer Ultrabass BVT4500H 450W Bass Amp Head and 2 Harke 2500. One is just a head the other is a combo amp using the 2500 head with a cabinet with 2x 10" and a tweeter. Are these ok?
Click to expand...
All good advice so far imo.
If I were you I’d find a VX 210 to add to the Hartke, or sell it all and go try a bunch of amps and find something you like. You don’t have to spend much, both Fender and GK make some nice quality amps for not much money, and there are others I haven’t tried.
Also, adding an extra cab to the the hartke that isn’t matched will be a gamble imo.
Leave bi-amping to the PA/FOH imo.
 
#8
Chickenwheels said:
All good advice so far imo.
If I were you I’d find a VX 210 to add to the Hartke, or sell it all and go try a bunch of amps and find something you like. You don’t have to spend much, both Fender and GK make some nice quality amps for not much money, and there are others I haven’t tried.
Also, adding an extra cab to the the hartke that isn’t matched will be a gamble imo.
Leave bi-amping to the PA/FOH imo.
Click to expand...
I will take your advice. Hell thats all I have been doing in semi retirement . I just buy them off craigslist and roll them into my studio in the backyard. My wife has not looked inside for 3 years. someday there will be hell to pay hopefully after I am gone. Some guy in Tampa had a SWR. 2x10" and a 15" cabinets for $200. I have never tried SWR out.
 

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