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Double Bass Power requirements for EA CXL-112?

Jeremy Allen

Jeremy Allen

Supporting Member
Mar 18, 2002
2,345
555
Bloomington, IN
#1
Hello Euphonic Audio users, a quick question:
Is 100watts sufficient to drive a CXL-112 cabinet? I'm looking into getting a new cabinet, and I most often play through a Walter Woods lo-power (red light). I used to use a VL108 with the Woods, and the response really suffered from lack of wattage (but an Eden WT400 worked beautifully with that cab). Is the CXL-112 more efficient?
Thanks for any tips. And before anyone says "get a 4ohm Wizzy instead," well...I guess you all can feel free to say that, actually. That might be the better solution.
-Jeremy
 
#2
The CXL 112 is WAAAAAY more efficient than a VL108 or 208. It's not even close. I used to power mine with a Clarus (120w, I think), and it had plenty of juice. I'd definitely recommend playing one before you buy, though...some people love the clarity of the mids, and others not so much. I dug it, I just dig the VL208 with lots of juice to drive it more. Sid King here in town has a Wizzy, and I bet he could be talked into letting you test drive it with enough warning.
 
#3
I used to power my cxl112 with a 100w ampeg head, and it there was plenty of volume, keeping in mind that there is only one 12" speaker.
Also, I was able to a/b my cxl112 with a wizzy on a gig once. Volume-wise, there wasn't much difference between the two.
The cxl has strong upper-mids, which is just about where "piezo honk" is on some pickups, unfortunately. If you can dial that out, it's a very good-sounding cabinet.
To my ears, wizzy was a darker, more mellow sound. I don't believe it's due soley to the lack of tweeter - it's the way the cabinet is voiced. Transmission line design makes for a great, even low end response in both cabs.
Sorry, this may be more than you wanted to know - I've just had some coffee!
Maybe you'll be able to listen to them before you buy.
 
#5
Thanks, gang. Very helpful.
I keep hearing about the bump in the mids on the CXL112 (it's even mentioned in the product description on Bob G's site). I'll have to try the cabinet to know for sure, but that sounds to me like the kind of characteristic that may be a bit off-putting in the showroom (or living room) but which comes in very handy on stage, in a busy mix. It just happens that I'm using a Revolution SOLO right now, and the mids are not the problem with this pickup as they are with piezos. (The highs, on the other hand, are best avoided or it gets really "clacky" really quickly...)
 
#6
Johono5 said:
It just happens that I'm using a Revolution SOLO right now, and the mids are not the problem with this pickup as they are with piezos.
Click to expand...
Ya know I could be wrong, but I think the SOLO actually is a piezo. Stuck inside a wood casing that is. I dunno.

I agree w/ Johono5 that the mids on the SOLO sound nice and they don't go honk or thonk.
 
#7
bolo said:
Ya know I could be wrong, but I think the SOLO actually is a piezo. Stuck inside a wood casing that is. I dunno.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine how else they'd do it. The only other ways to build a tranducer are electrostatic, which requires an external power supply, and eletrodynamic- and it's not big enough for that.

In my experiments with piezos I've discovered they don't have to quack. Using larger PZT crystal elements I get a very smooth sound.
 
#9
bolo said:
Ya know I could be wrong, but I think the SOLO actually is a piezo. Stuck inside a wood casing that is. I dunno.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess it must be. They don't say it is, but that's probably because "piezo" has come to have negative connotations.

Thanks for the invite, JonB; I'll give you a holler if I'm up in Indy sometime with Steve Allee or the BWJO.
 

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