I have my opinion, but I'm sure you have yours.
Do you always use the same brand of cabs with your heads or do you mix 'em up?
Do you always use the same brand of cabs with your heads or do you mix 'em up?
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POLL: Amps & Cabs - Mix brands or use same brand?
- Thread starter SanDiegoHarry
- Start date
I've done both, with good and not-so good results either way. Some products are designed to compliment other products in the same line, some are designed to be stand-alone with (basically) whatever else. I've found that IME Peavey heads can sound better with other brand cabs than with Peavey cabs. On the flip side, I had a Crate amp way back when that didn't sound decent at all with anything BUT equally cheap Crate cabs. I'd bet that the higher in the food chain you go, the more freedom you have to mix-and-match brands, though. Some of it could also come down to how aggressive an amp's baked-in sound gets. A particularly grindy amp might not like to be paired with any cab with a tweeter, and the brand may offer only tweeter-free cabs in the same line.
Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Try for same, but when I picked up a mini tube amp (Ashdown) I paired it with the extension cab from my Markbass 2x12 stack rather than buy another cab.
If you want your amp and cab to visually match, stick with the same company.
FWIW, the last rig I ran where the amp matched the cabs was 1991 (SWR SM900 + Two SWR Triad cabs). Since then it's been a mix of different heads into either Epifani, Aguilar or Bergantino cabs. Currently running tecamp > berg, but was running Ashdown > Epi then Genz > Berg and now Techamp > Berg. Yeah, I am liking those crazy light Bergs!
That brings up another interesting question: Who actually is concerned with how their rig looks like? Is how a rig looks more important than how it sounds? I'm guessing some folks believe that how it looks is VERY important.
I think that professional comportment is important and that extends to the look of the amp. Obviously sound is important as well. Ratty gear that doesn't pull its weight makes it harder for people to take you seriously.
I've mostly mixed/matched. Right now I'm really digging my Ampeg V4B head into Ampeg 212AV cabs. Great sound. Nice they match, but doesn't matter if they don't.
currently running Demeter pre -> Stewart World amp -> Fearless cab
i plan on getting a Boughton P-15 pre in the near future!
i plan on getting a Boughton P-15 pre in the near future!
I mix. My Orange sounds better through, variously, an Eden 410xlt, two Avatar 210s, Aguilar DB 212. These cabs sound better with the Ad200b than the Orange OBC410. My Ampeg V4BH and Thunderfunk sound great with the Orange 410.
One of my favorite tones was my 1001RB into an Ampeg 810. Sometimes mixing brands gives you some best of both worlds tones.
That has been what I have found. Ashdown is a fine example: I have liked their heads but not their cabs; Epifani? I'm not wild about their heads but quite like their cabs.
i maintain that the audience doesn't give a tinker's damn what any of the backline gear looks like, and don't really differentiate between amps and PA and whatever the DJ is using! they sure don't care whether the logo on the head matches the logos on the cabs. it's only other musicians who pay any attention to that stuff.
well you're smushing two different concepts together here, ragged out and bad-sounding gear vs a pro rig that just isn't all visually coordinated.
even then it's only a factor to other musicians, as long as what comes out of the band sounds good the non-muso audience couldn't care less what's up there behind the players.
I get what you are saying. Some people in the audience however do care what the band looks like. More importantly, some promoters take bands more seriously when they look and act like professionals. This translates into better pay. It shouldn't be like that but sometimes it is.
Let's say that your band is performing at a fancy corporate event, a wedding, or a cruse ship. They want you to look the part and conform to their standards. Contracts stipulate that. Cabs that look like they came out of a dumpster are not going to fit in well.
That's what Pino Palladino does right? Ashdown heads into Epifani cabs. I dig Ampeg heads into Mesa cabs.
Ampeg, Aguilar & Fender amps into Bergantino, Ampeg and Fender cabs. Which goes with which depends almost solely on my sonic needs.
Tho I do like the matching Fender rig and Ampeg rig.
The tone is more important to me tho
Tho I do like the matching Fender rig and Ampeg rig.
The tone is more important to me tho
I generally like to match but am currently running an Aguilar DB750 into Fender Rumble Cabs and Bergantino's. Depending on the size of the gig.
I have had some great rigs that didn't match.
Mesa Boogie M6 > Ampeg 410HE
Ashdown Little Bastard > Mesa Boogie 212
I have had some great rigs that didn't match.
Mesa Boogie M6 > Ampeg 410HE
Ashdown Little Bastard > Mesa Boogie 212
I roll my own so to speak. I built both my cabs. Same sonic profile, different size. I use a power amp and over the last 2 to 3 years I have ran through about 10 before deciding on my SVP-Pro & RBI.
Almost always mixed, but now that Jim is coming out with his own amp, maybe not for long.
you're smushing two different concepts together again!
the band may need to look professional and appropriate, that's a no-brainer.
as long as the amps at a wedding or something aren't covered in duct tape, stickers and spray-painted graffiti, nobody cares what they look like (except if they're too big, then they might look "too loud" for a nervous event planner
).
