Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Most tonally neutral cab
- Thread starter Jrussblues
- Start date
D
I'd wager that behind Zooberworx humility is a bassist that we'd all be very impressed with. Musicians who are their own harshest critics are usually doing their best to fix what they don't like about their playing.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
- 7,614
- 76
- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
@Jrussblues — I use a variety of fEARful cabinets with a pre/power amp. I have no gas for other cabinets, though I do like trying out various formats/sizes for varying applications. My verdict is that a 12/12/6/1 can do anything, as can a 15/6/1. A 12/6/1 can almost do anything. A pair of 15/6/1's with mirrored baffles is the definition of "too much is just enough," and a 15/6/1 with a 15 sub is pretty much the same deal. They all sound very much alike—not particularly favoring a given frequency band, and very capable.
I use those cabs for Reggae, Jazz, PsychoBilly, Gospel, Blues, Rock, etc. and play upright, passive and active 4 and 5 string basses, fretted and fretless.
Buy a used fEARful? Yes, IMHO. They come up often on TB classified. Ron Anchak (no longer building cabs) and ScabbeyRoad are the builders whose work I have and they are both great. A pre-cut kit with all the crossovers pre-built, drivers, insulation, wire, etc., can be found here: fEARful DIY Speaker Kits for Bass Guitar
I use those cabs for Reggae, Jazz, PsychoBilly, Gospel, Blues, Rock, etc. and play upright, passive and active 4 and 5 string basses, fretted and fretless.
Buy a used fEARful? Yes, IMHO. They come up often on TB classified. Ron Anchak (no longer building cabs) and ScabbeyRoad are the builders whose work I have and they are both great. A pre-cut kit with all the crossovers pre-built, drivers, insulation, wire, etc., can be found here: fEARful DIY Speaker Kits for Bass Guitar
Last edited:
If you want a flat frequency response and a clear articulate cab, I have a couple of suggestions:
• If you are buying used, look for an Eden D410XST. You can sometimes find them around $450-$550. Power handling is 1000-watts rms/2000-watts peak. Has a very tight bottom end that is particularly good if you use a 5-string.
• If you're buying new, check out DNA's cab DNS410. That, in my opinion, is the best choice. Similar in sound to that D410xst (David Nordschow designed speakers and cabs on both) but slightly clearer and has higher power-handling - 1400-watts rms/2800-watts peak. Also has the nice tight well-defined bottom end that works great with a 5-string. I have this cab myself and it will blow you out of your shoes sounding beautiful while doing so. Got mine two years ago and found it on sale for $999 in Tennessee. Normal street price is $1049. Most dealers will ship free, which saves you a bunch. I actually dial in about 3-clicks of boost at 250Hz on mine to get a little extra "thump in the chest" and to sit in the mix better.
Both of these cabs are very neutral and you can dial in whatever you want to hear.
- Jan 26, 2014
- 1,525
- 1,946
- Disclosures
- I teach lessons and perform live music in and around San Diego CA. Sometimes I even make money doing it!
Well, as you pointed out, the OP didn't mention a budget, so It would make sense that people recommend the cabs they use that perform as the OP asked. Some are quite expensive, for a couple reasons, a big one being, it's a pretty small market segment looking for flat response bass cabs, so they aren't produced in the quantities traditional bass cabs are. That said, you can build a fearful cabinet from a kit with precut wood for about $600, or much cheaper if you have a good enough wood shop and cut it yourself.
Do you know the make and model of the speakers your friends were using? Like with anything else, there are varying degrees of quality of PA cabinets, and things that aren't designed for a bass can have trouble with it. I tried running my electric upright through a low cost PA cab several years back. You would've thought it would be the perfect speaker for that application, since all I wanted was clarity, yet it couldn't handle it. The woofer, and it was a 15, started farting out before I got to a usable volume. They're fine when they're handling a wide bandwidth, not so good when they're only concentrating on bass frequencies. Speaker quality has come up quite a ways, but I recall recently a talk bass discussion about how EV ZLX series (their lowest end) weren't even loud enough for a rehearsal.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
Bergantino Reference Series. Why? Ceramic woofers seem to sounds more balanced with less peaks and valleys compared to Neo drivers. Your mileage may vary.
- Nov 24, 2008
- 4,343
- 7,163
- Disclosures
- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
Most PA speakers are voiced with the expectation that subs will be added if serious low-end extension and power is needed, and this allows them to be optimized more for efficiency so that they deliver high SPLs. If a PA cab were voiced to cover the electric bass's low end well, there would be a significant penalty in size and/or efficiency, and all of its extra low-end capability would be essentially wasted when you do add subs.
That being said, there may be big PA cabs that are designed with sufficient low end capability (excursion as well as extension) to deliver a good low-B, but normally I would not expect that to be the case.
Also, PA cabs usually are designed with a more narrow coverage pattern in mind than bass cabs. So look at the radiation pattern in both the horizontal and vertical planes... the former matters most for the audience, and the latter matters most for a bass player on a tight stage.
In other words, I think Jrussblues would probably be better served by a bass cab that's voiced the way he wants, and I think most of the prime suspects have been mentioned in this thread, but not quite all if them... I would like to add the Bodai 112 by Mike Arnopol. That is a cab I hate competing against.
Last edited:
With this^^^^
Fearless F210 would get you great volume, plus a tiny 48lb (+\-) box...
I run mine with a Mesa D800, or Noble pre and Crest Prolite 2.0
It's stunningly fantastic
I built my fEARful 15/6/1 for about $600.
I can testify that it gives you no where to hide,
if you get sloppy.
It showed me that although I thought I had no string noise
from dragging my fingers on round wounds, I was only close
to that, not quite there.
The greaat thing about an accurate, full range cab is that
you EQ what you want in or out to get the sound you want.
I can testify that it gives you no where to hide,
if you get sloppy.
It showed me that although I thought I had no string noise
from dragging my fingers on round wounds, I was only close
to that, not quite there.
The greaat thing about an accurate, full range cab is that
you EQ what you want in or out to get the sound you want.
Haven't seen mention of the Genzler bass array cabs in this thread. I have not tried them, but they definitely look intriguing and claim response out to 15k iirc. Has anyone here been able to check them out, and would you consider them to have flat / full range response?
