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Please suggest me 12" boxes for bass AND guitar ?

Lorenzop

Lorenzop

Oct 23, 2012
258
5
Berlin
#1
Hi
I need a speaker for a vintage Echolette m40 tube amp/power mixer.
It's a beautifully warm clean linear amp but it can give amazing British crunch too.
It's got 40w -likely 25w output.

I'm really hoping to find a speaker solution that will fit both guitar AND bass well. I don't need it for live playing. Only home and recording.

So I figured I like 12" with tweeter usually for my bass and maybe 2x12 or even just a single is good on guitar too.

So what might be an option?

Any boxes for less than 500 $ (used also !) that might be suitable for both bass and guitar?
Ideally it should have a tweeter also ...

Hope I'm making sense. ! ????
Thanks
 
#5
bassgod0dmw said:
Bag End cabs are marketed for both bass and guitar.

I would not want a tweeter in a cab for guitar. It's not needed at all and would sound terrible with OD/distortion tones.
Click to expand...

+1

My Bag End S15 cab w/o tweeter sounds great with a guitar, and I would imagine the S12 does too. The S15 can get really really loud.

Used here in the Classifieds, about $300.
 
#7
Bag End is the way to go. My S15s sound great pulling double duty (I think there is a video on my YouTube page) and I bet the S12s would be even better. The Berg NV412 is great if you can find one. My own 15/8s are also killer if I do say so. ;)
 
#10
Are you up to DIY?

The Ansie-212 was designed for guitar and bass, and would be more of a lifetime investment:
Invalid Link Removed

Has fEarful-like features, and can be built for less than $500.

Site is in German, but I assume this is no problem for you.
 
#13
I once spent some time trying to develop a cab that would work well for both guitar and bass, by combining a 15" woofer with a guitar speaker, along with some switches that allowed you to change up the voicing a bit. The project was a learning experience. I came away with the conclusion that if a bass cab sounds like a guitar cab, it really doesn't sit in the mix very well. That being said, the best single-speaker compromise would probably be the Eminence Delta Pro 12A that Tuned recommended. Eminence has enclosure suggestions on their website.
 
#14
DukeLeJeune said:
I once spent some time trying to develop a cab that would work well for both guitar and bass, by combining a 15" woofer with a guitar speaker, along with some switches that allowed you to change up the voicing a bit. The project was a learning experience. I came away with the conclusion that if a bass cab sounds like a guitar cab, it really doesn't sit in the mix very well. That being said, the best single-speaker compromise would probably be the Eminence Delta Pro 12A that Tuned recommended. Eminence has enclosure suggestions on their website.
Click to expand...

I'm with you, Duke. Although there is certainly taste involved in choice of bass cab, issues of accurate reproduction, low distortion, and low-end extension are much more prominent than in the world of guitar speakers.

With electric guitarists, it's all about whether you prefer the EV, the JBL, the Eminence, or the Celestion. The enclosure you put it in doesn't even have that much to do with it. Open back? Fine! Distortion? Dig it!

A hi-fi loudspeaker will be perceived as "too clean" by most electric guitarists.

Reproducing an acoustic guitar is quite a different matter, however. There is a "reference," involved, in the form of the sound of the instrument in the room, and accurate reproduction is the only way to go, just as with an acoustic piano.

Thanks,
Andy
 
#15
acmebass said:
I'm with you, Duke. Although there is certainly taste involved in choice of bass cab, issues of accurate reproduction, low distortion, and low-end extension are much more prominent than in the world of guitar speakers.

With electric guitarists, it's all about whether you prefer the EV, the JBL, the Eminence, or the Celestion. The enclosure you put it in doesn't even have that much to do with it. Open back? Fine! Distortion? Dig it!

A hi-fi loudspeaker will be perceived as "too clean" by most electric guitarists.

Reproducing an acoustic guitar is quite a different matter, however. There is a "reference," involved, in the form of the sound of the instrument in the room, and accurate reproduction is the only way to go, just as with an acoustic piano.

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...
I would imagine just about any acoustic guitar player looking for a cab that sounds just like his instrument, only louder, would live happily ever after with an Acme cab. Unfortunately, it seems to me that few acoustic guitar players understand the role the cab plays in getting his artistry across to his audience.
 
#16
DukeLeJeune said:
I would imagine just about any acoustic guitar player looking for a cab that sounds just like his instrument, only louder, would live happily ever after with an Acme cab. Unfortunately, it seems to me that few acoustic guitar players understand the role the cab plays in getting his artistry across to his audience.
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the nice comment.

A
 
#18
Having played guitar (not well) for 25 years in addition to bass (last 15 or so) has some advantages as far as knowing the dirty side of things - selecting the right guitar speaker is as important as the the crossover and the rest of the box. Using a guitar driver for the top end doesn't necessarily make the bass sound like a guitar, it just adds some nice richness in the mids and top end - a bit of warmth and edge if you will. Bass cab design is pretty much the polar opposite of guitar cabs - kind of fun to mash them together! It certainly can be done with great results.

Here's my 15/8 pulling double duty (high gain tones are more difficult to capture with the camera, but it sounds great in the room):

 
#19
Lorenzop said:
Any boxes for less than 500 $ (used also !) that might be suitable for both bass and guitar?
Ideally it should have a tweeter also ...
Click to expand...

This topic comes up as regularly as clockwork. And IMO, it deserves to get shot down just as regularly. :eyebrow:

Are there solutions out there that can work? Sure. A few have just been suggested to the OP.

But more fundamentally, guitar cabs & bass cabs are so different from one another - and so inconsistent with one another - for a very good reason: Because the musical demands, and therefore the applications of the guitar vs. the bass guitar are so mutually exclusive of one another so as to make any attempt to produce a cab that simultaneously does justice to both of them into a mediocre compromise that ultimately falls far short of either one's requirements. :eyebrow:

MM
 

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