Powered Cabinets?

[sonic 7]

Just wondering, why aren’t powered cabs more popular? With the trend of design being lighter and smaller I would think a lot of players would like something like that. With almost every major amp manufacturer making pre amp pedals all you need is your bass, pedal board and speaker. I know it’s only one less thing than a head and cabinet but for the price of one high quality amp head you could have 3 or 4 different preamps. It would be really easy to change things up without buying all new gear. ( I think I just answered my own question)

 

[chadds]

It’s worked for me for a decade!
In many cases the amp is modeled to mate perfectly with the cab through DSP. That can make perform better than a random head on random cab. Swapping preamps really can change sound character if your cab and integral amp aren’t designed for extreme color. I choose preamps sometimes like I’d choose which bass for a gig. Swapping pres is another way to sustain GAS!

In my experience the cab and DI can sound really close. This doesn’t mean sterile. It can be driven and edgy.

Like all things TB, YMMV & IMHO.