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Preference For Sealed Cabs? Why?

#21
There is always the question of "does it really matter?" Or "Does anyone besides me care at the gig." Perfectly valid. Here's a sort of working example;

At my shop I have, what by some would be considered a state of the art ported cab. Right next to it, I have what some might consider a state of the art sealed cab. They are very close to the same physical size and weight. I'm talking very close. They also both have about the same power handling capability. I spent some time with different amps, two different electric basses and one upright. Going back and forth between cabs, they are quite different from one another. I'm not saying one is 'better' than the other, but they are very different and no amount of eq'ing can make one sound like the other. I have lots of eq and arguably above average eq'ing chops. They're two different animals. Would anyone care on the gig? Not sure :) I did have one of my bands indulge me and let me switch between sets. They are not gear nerds in the slightest, but they both preferred one cab over the other.
 
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#24
Question for guru's re: transient response and "overhang", meaning the speaker still wiggling a bit after the electrical signal telling it to move has stopped.

Upon first glance, it seems a sealed cabs air pressure/vacuum properties would aid in returning the cone to still, thus contributing to a more "controlled/responsive" feel.

This happening in milliseconds of course we can't hear anything as being early or late, but could contribute to a tight or loose feel.

Of course with the usual caveats...electro and mechanical damping, varying individual designs, etc.
 
#25
Ive used fearful type cabs at several gigs and each time the guys either wondered why our sound changed. When i brought the nv610 back they noticed that our sound was back. I prefer a voiced cab and a flat amp rather than the other way around. That said, they actually like my barefaced supertwin alot.THAT said, i have a retro six10 on order because i still love a voiced cab and thats what the retro is. Still keeping the twin. I think that the more these smart builders continue imoroving drivers, the less sealed or ported is going to make. But, if i show up to a regular gig and have to choose between guitar center level sealed or ported cabs, i would go sealed everytime.
 
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#26
All I know is I have yet to play through a cab that gives me good even response throughout the fretboard. A small portion of this is the bass, but massive differences occur with different amps and different cabs. Most of the time its the cab to blame. So until I get that perfect cab (which is likely a cab which doesn't have its own voice) I'm gonna keep on bitching! Thats my irrelevant .02 damnit!
 
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#30
CL400Peavey said:
Oh please. If we can tolerate 50 threads a week about, "OMFG how do i make ohms work? and what is the sound of 3" speakers versus 21" speakers? and how do I pentuple-amp these different rigs for the best wet/dry/wet/spacial delay rig?" then I think we can handle a little actual constructive discussion about sealed/versus ported cabs. ;)
Click to expand...

More stickies we can ignore! More stickies NOW!
 
#31
SanDiegoHarry said:
More stickies we can ignore! More stickies NOW!
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I wouldn't put this in any best cab for metal category! You never know what sorts of ideas people are coming up with and how tastes change, etc. Seems like an interesting enough topic to me
 
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#32
I still don't get the big deal about rehashing subjects. The search engine is only so effective, no thread is all encompassing and not everyone has shared their input in every thread. How about if you want to find a new subject, go through the pages in the forum...

That being said I have no idea of the acoustic differences between baffled and sealed cabs. In addition to my previous post, I've found both types disappointing. Some help I am.
 
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#33
I can't say I have a preference, but the cabs I currently own are all ported. I do love an Ampeg 810 which I believe is sealed. So construction doesn't matter as long as the individual cab sounds good.
 
#35
Guess I'm in the ported cabs side. And I sure can't speak to the very technical aspects of this thread on it.
But I may be the only person that bought a new NV610, took it back after one gig and grabbed a new NV215. I sold that cab at a loss a few weeks later to a very happy TX-TBer. I went past the store return time or I would've returned it too.

At the time, I was in a very loud, 9pc, disco/funk band that wouldn't run bass thru the PA. :banghead: I was looking for a sorta large, single cab to work in that band. I just couldn't feel/hear the bass tone I was chasing then. Should've done more research here to learn the bit more that I've now learned reading all these many informative threads. Was using a 500 or 1900 watt solid state head at that time. Went back to my two, GB NeoX 212T cabs; then later a couple Epi UL410's.

Now, I've just bought a new Ampeg V-4B RI and would now like to try one of those NV cabs to see if I can hear now what I didn't hear then. But while I was now wanting a all Ampeg, sort of classic toned rig...I went with two, SVT212AV' (ported) cabs. But this time it's working. :bassist: For me.
 
#36
wisconsindead said:
I still don't get the big deal about rehashing subjects. The search engine is only so effective, no thread is all encompassing and not everyone has shared their input in every thread. How about if you want to find a new subject, go through the pages in the forum...

That being said I have no idea of the acoustic differences between baffled and sealed cabs. In addition to my previous post, I've found both types disappointing. Some help I am.
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Sealed vs. Ported is a *fairly* obscure thing - so I get why it gets rehashed. Ohms/Watts & all - THAT should be a big-fat MUST READ sticky. Frankly I'm stunned anyone can get out of middle school without knowing Ohm's law & whatnot... but what do you do?
 
#37
Juststanley said:
I have absolutey no idea as to why...but I prefer sealed cabs with tube amps and ported with my class D solid state amps...
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SS output sections with no transformer don't care much about the impedance. Valve amps are more affected by impedance. Ported cabs have a couple of impedance peaks, sealed generally have a smoother impedance curve, subject to a load of variables. Stuff with crossovers can wind up with weird impedance across the frequency band, but the main source of stuff getting that complicated sounding kinda bad with valve amps is the reproduce high stuff that you don't want to hear from your valve amp like distortion products and high frequency oscillation that never showed as a problem before.
 
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#40
What would happen if i used a ported 15 and sealed 15 in my rig ?? Would i get the best of both worlds or a phasing issue ?? And, this forum is to learn and if you see a new "old" thread and you dont want to read it ..dont..who is the stupid one then,,the guy wasting his time to post that its been done before...who cares..to each their own..i say we all play bass more and stop the childish crap !!! smiley face !!!!
 
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