+/- on 1)15 & 4x10 stack

[nojj]

Not planning trying this for the upcoming tour,
just asking for curiosity's sake.

Used to use an old folded Music Man w 15" 8Ω Gauss
and an old Ampeg 4x10 wired to 8Ω

Ampeg pre and Ampeg 1500 pwr.
Had pretty good luck/sound with that at the time.

Any opinions?

 

[CL400Peavey]

lots of reading to do here.

Consensus is that mixed cabs is not the way to go for a number of reasons.

My advice, find one cab you like the sound of, then get two of them if you need more volume.

 

[Joe Louvar]

Well, Frankenstein rigs (mismatched) aren’t my thing - but if you like it, do it, and have fun. PS: have a great weekend.

Not planning trying this for the upcoming tour,
just asking for curiosity's sake.

Used to use an old folded Music Man w 15" 8Ω Gauss
and an old Ampeg 4x10 wired to 8Ω

Ampeg pre and Ampeg 1500 pwr.
Had pretty good luck/sound with that at the time.

Any opinions?

 

[nojj]

Just needed a reason for telling the fellas why I retired the MM
They've been asking.

Sounded pretty good w/ serious wattage, not so good at around 300w or so.

 

[iualum]

Not planning trying this for the upcoming tour,
just asking for curiosity's sake.

Used to use an old folded Music Man w 15" 8Ω Gauss
and an old Ampeg 4x10 wired to 8Ω

Ampeg pre and Ampeg 1500 pwr.
Had pretty good luck/sound with that at the time.

Any opinions?

If you want to do it, do it.

But is it optimum? That'd be a negatory, good buddy.

A 115 & 115 or a 410 & 410 are better choices. Even better 115s or 410s from the same manufacturer. Very best is identical 115s or 410s.

As mentioned, lots of threads on the topic. Have at them .

 

[nojj]

Yup
Currently I'm using 2 Genz 4x10 cabs.
Looks and sounds impressive.

For gits and shiggles I might try a couple 15's.
But haven't anything here in the shop for bass cabs that match.

Anybody ever try using 15" PA cabinets (no horns) w/ bass speakers?

 

[5StringThunder]

I hate these threads. Not the people asking for opinions part, the people giving objective responses to a subjective topic. I use a 4x10 and 1x15. Just use what sounds good. There is no right or wrong answer: if it sounds good, it's right, if it doesn't, it's wrong.

 

[iualum]

Yup
Currently I'm using 2 Genz 4x10 cabs.
Looks and sounds impressive.

For gits and shiggles I might try a couple 15's.
But haven't anything here in the shop for bass cabs that match.

Anybody ever try using 15" PA cabinets (no horns) w/ bass speakers?

There you go .

 

[nojj]

LOVE my Genz, even if I did fry the XO in one of 'em.

Had no idea this would be a ........contentious subject.
Good thing that all bassists have opinions, and are unafraid to share 'em.

 

[xk49w]

Anybody ever try using 15" PA cabinets (no horns) w/ bass speakers?

Yes.

There's a huge thread around here about the Carvin LS1503 used as a bass cab. I still use one myself for beach gigs (its a salt/corrosion thing).

IIRC that cab is what started Greenboy developing the whole fEARful line.

 

[Bass_Pounder]

Had no idea this would be a ........contentious subject.

Not contentious...........

There is basically two schools of thought.

Those that understand science and how it applies to excursion, displacement, phasing, comb filtering, power distribution, etc.

And those that don't care.

 

[MikeyThrottler]

A 4x10 on top of a 1x15 sounds exactly like a 4x10 on top of a milk crate. IMO, of course.

 

[BassmanPaul]

I hate these threads. Not the people asking for opinions part, the people giving objective responses to a subjective topic. I use a 4x10 and 1x15. Just use what sounds good. There is no right or wrong answer: if it sounds good, it's right, if it doesn't, it's wrong.

And here we go again!

I disagree with responses like yours. As you use the mismatched combination, good luck to you. i WOULD advise that you stack the 1x15 on the top so you can hear it when it starts to suffer. On the bottom it will be so drowned out by the much superior 4x10 you'll not even realize it's blown. A 1x15 can do nothing that a second identical 4x10 can't do way better.

 

[nojj]

Used to play at an open stage, where the house guy (actually the club owner)
had a Behringer head, and Carvin PA bin for bass.
Some frenzied bass wacker (errr not me) finally blew the cab.

 

[Joedog]

GK 410 and 15 didn't work well for me. It's kind of "the luck of the draw". Might work, might not. If I had a buck for every time the same or similar question has been asked, I could buy a new cab! And It would match what I have now.

 

[iualum]

Not contentious...........

There is basically two schools of thought.

Those that understand science and how it applies to excursion, displacement, phasing, comb filtering, power distribution, etc.

And those that don't care.

Never heard it put better .

 

[agedhorse]

Wow, what a bunch of off the cuff responses without understanding some of what's involved.

First of all, with regard to the power handling, the Gauss driver that's being discussed is a double-spider, 4" voice coil driver which has at LEAST as much real world power handling as the 410 cabinet. This is a pretty significant driver of the time, not unlike the step up to differential drive for example.

Second of all, the real world sensitivity in that specific cabinet (I'm assuming thatthis is one of the special MM cabinets that was designed for the Gauss driver) is very efficient, probably real world 102 or 103dB/1W/1M down to around the cutoff. That's easily as good as the 410 being discussed.

Both of the above are what make up some of the most common arguments against mixing a 15" with a 410, but in this example it's a very, very good match of power handling and sensitivity.

Where it may or may not be, is in the phase response, BUT if the ampeg is a sealed box, the frequency and phase response might be ok with the MM, which is (if I am remembering the cabinet correctly) a short front firing woofer with a tapered port (they called a horn loaded port or something). This is something that should be listened to, and if it sounds good to the user then neither sensitivity or power handling issues will get in the way of this combination working just fine.

 

[nojj]

a short front firing woofer with a tapered port (they called a horn loaded port or something).

That's the old boy!
(Amazed ya remember that one, bought it when I was a youngster)

Worked OK w/ the non-ported Ampeg 4x10,
not so well with my other 4x10s that are ported,
and played nicely with the single 2x10 non-ported I have.

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

Not contentious...........

There is basically two schools of thought.

Those that understand science and how it applies to excursion, displacement, phasing, comb filtering, power distribution, etc.

And those that don't care.

Yup.

 

[1n3]

First of all, with regard to the power handling, the Gauss driver that's being discussed is a double-spider, 4" voice coil driver which has at LEAST as much real world power handling as the 410 cabinet. This is a pretty significant driver of the time, not unlike the step up to differential drive for example.

Second of all, the real world sensitivity in that specific cabinet (I'm assuming thatthis is one of the special MM cabinets that was designed for the Gauss driver) is very efficient, probably real world 102 or 103dB/1W/1M down to around the cutoff. That's easily as good as the 410 being discussed.

Both of the above are what make up some of the most common arguments against mixing a 15" with a 410, but in this example it's a very, very good match of power handling and sensitivity.

I used to have a couple of short folded horns with Gauss 15" drivers. Didn't go low, but they were loud and nearly bullet-proof for their day.

This topic (115+410 rigs) must come up several times a week, if not daily. IME, this case is a rare exception. Usually, there is both a power and sensitivity mismatch. Would you agree?

There is basically two schools of thought.

Those that understand science and how it applies to excursion, displacement, phasing, comb filtering, power distribution, etc.

And those that don't care.

Now there is a comment with broad application.