Preference For Sealed Cabs? Why?

[FFTT]

I'm talking materials that go into a cab and how using the right material and the right build method you can get a strong light weight enclosure.

Anyone can see it would be nothing to change out that oval back to closed.
The back panel and the baffle are 1/2 ply.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I'm talking materials that go into a cab and how using the right material and the right build method you can get a strong light weight enclosure.

And in no universe is 1" ply, or dove tailing joints accomplishing this goal.

Anyone can see it would be nothing to change out that oval back to closed.
The back panel and the baffle are 1/2 ply.

But that cab is a poor example. I bought a 112 guitar cab that weighed ~16 pounds loaded with the driver. Made out of wood.

Things have changed a lot since the 70's.

 

[agedhorse]

There are some properties inherent in sealed cabinets (provided they are designed around drivers that are designed for sealed cabinet applications) that contribute to the cabinet style's popularity amongst some players.

Under the right conditions, the LF rolloff is smooth and shallow sloped, the extension at the edge is greater, the distortion characteristics are significantly different and the LF impedance interacts differently with some amps that have low damping factor (mostly tube amps)

It's just another flavor, may or may not work for a particular player, music style, etc.

 

[FFTT]

I don't give a rats hiney if you agree with me or not.
I'm telling you what works.

Birch ply is heavier than most 1" (nominal) hardwoods.

Any wood shop worth a damn will have a dovetail jig.
Buy the wood have them make the cuts and put it together.

 

[JGR]

Solid wood is nice for living room type pieces, but it's the last thing I would use for a cab. Birch ply will be stiffer, more damage tolerant, and isotropic due to the various plies and grain orientation = no warping.

 

[Sundogue]

C'mon guys let's not derail this fine thread with a futile argument over wood weight. Start another thread please?

Can anyone answer me as to whether or not compression can help a ported cab sound more like a sealed cab?

 

[FFTT]

Solid wood is nice for living room type pieces, but it's the last thing I would use for a cab. Birch ply will be stiffer, more damage tolerant, and anisotropic due to the various plies and grain orientation = no warping.

I have a Studio Slips cover that has done fine protecting the cab since 2006.
If I were using it touring, road case like anything else.

 

[JGR]

C'mon guys let's not derail this fine thread with a futile argument over wood weight. Start another thread please?

Can anyone answer me as to whether or not compression can help a ported cab sound more like a sealed cab?

Maybe? Since it's helping to control transients, perhaps it keeps some of the potential for boominess in check similar to a sealed cab.

 

[CL400Peavey]

Maybe? Since it's helping to control transients, perhaps it keeps some of the potential for boominess in check similar to a sealed cab.

And maybe it is also helping in ported cabs? Even in some ported cabs, the internal pressure can be huge. Vibration that is coming out of the panels of the cabs, is energy that is not being turned in to sound. So much is already lost as heat, why make things less efficient?

 

[FFTT]

How the cab responds totally depends on the design as it relates to the speaker(s) used.

My bottom ported ReevesPort City OS 2X12 definitely contributes to a fuller low end using the same amp between different cabs.
My SVT cab sounds the most compressed, but that also has to do with the vintage low efficiency CTS AlNiCos.
Testing with several amps, the lower efficiency CTS drivers in the SVT cab produced 30% lower volume than either of my 2X12s.

 

[dukeorock]

C'mon guys let's not derail this fine thread with a futile argument over wood weight. Start another thread please?

Can anyone answer me as to whether or not compression can help a ported cab sound more like a sealed cab?

Agreed that arguments regarding wood types and construction methods are perhaps best for a whole other thread.

Regarding compression, I think JGR gave a more concise answer than I could and I'm not sure if I'd be helping to add what I'm about to add here, BUT...

I've used compression in the past and for all I know may use it again someday. I personally found it too fussy (on upright) going from room to room. I think multi band would work even better, but it's fussier still! If you have the patience and skills, perhaps a decent multi band could get you closer to where you want to be

 

[jjk2007]

Love reading the technical responses! (Even if I don't understand most of them . I've always been a 410 guy and have owned quite a few of them. My most favorite is my sealed Hartke Hydrive. Gets plenty loud enough, cuts through the band mix and just has a tone I like. Getting this cab 3 years ago was my first with a sealed cab and it ain't going anywhere!

 

[Interceptor]

A repost regarding Sundogue's question:

The difference I'm hearing is a combination of better transient response, compression artifacts and band pass. Like dukeorock, I've got plenty of eq and studio gear and an experienced set of ears. No way can I get either cabinet to sound exactly like the other with eq, compression or even band shaping. The closest I could get was a mix of eq, high and low pass and multiband compression using my DAW as a preamp. Way to geeky to gig.

 

[Luke the Fluke]

So we've been talking here about the difference in "feel" of sealed and ported. And we've spoken about how the low end is different, how the ports come out of phase but lower and so on... so that's the bottom end - but a lot of sealed cab fans are talking about how the note sounds across it's whole range....

and I'm thinking how, take a popular design, the Fearful range - seem to have a ported bass and a sealed mid..... what effect does that have having both systems (at different freqs) - or does the difference really only matter in the bottom end?

 

[Interceptor]

By the way, using a DAW as a preamp opens up a range of experimentation that goes far beyond anything resembling a commercial bass product.

To my ears, the feel aspect is dominated by the low end.

 

[Bassmec]

The other reason you may find it advisable to block ports when engaged for instance for a Cajun band or in a church ensemble, is that with certain denominations of worshippers and in certain locations the ingress of serpants may cause a health and safety issue.
In case of the ingress of unwanted livestock into an unguarded port.
It's always advisable to find a local expert to effect removal, this chap has a jolly big gun and a dog called willy, that can sniff out a cotton mouth from over that Hilly.

Please don't tell him his woods no good, shhh!

 

[AstroSonic]

Several technical explanations have been offered for the audible difference in tone between sealed and ported cabs. There are many variables involved, which makes identifying a cause difficult. Very likely players are hearing different things, some related to the cab design (sealed vs ported) and some not (some may be amp related). It would be interesting to list what players think a sealed and a ported cab sounds like. What are the distinguishing qualities? Are they truly unique?

 

[dukeorock]

So we've been talking here about the difference in "feel" of sealed and ported. And we've spoken about how the low end is different, how the ports come out of phase but lower and so on... so that's the bottom end - but a lot of sealed cab fans are talking about how the note sounds across it's whole range....

and I'm thinking how, take a popular design, the Fearful range - seem to have a ported bass and a sealed mid..... what effect does that have having both systems (at different freqs) - or does the difference really only matter in the bottom end?

I think that was greenboy's way of addressing the issue of getting huge lows while retaining clarity, and he did a great job. His cabs typically have really big lows and still have tons of presence. Though I don't think that had anything to do with the sealed cab aesthetic, it's a really cool design in it's own right.

Maybe for some, the tighter lows of a typical sealed design are the main selling point, but I suspect not for most. I took my sealed cab to a 4 hour gig last night where I play upright and electric. I've played at least 100 gigs in that room and am very used to how my greenboy fearless cabs sound there. It's an odd, boomy little stage. I wanted to see if the sealed cab could get me the low end I was after but with more punch and clarity. I was mainly concerned with the upright, since they're trickier to get loud and still sound good. My experiment was handicapped by the fact that my power amp went down recently and I decided to try a Carvin BX1600. A very powerful amp with tons of eq, but the opposite of warm sounding. I find those amps to be a bit stiff and thin on the low end. This was a quick bandaid fix, but I put my Michael Pope MPP2 in front of the amp to have two channels for doubling. I just didn't have time to come up with a better workaround. They don't put bass in the PA at this club either. After a fair amount if tweaking I got a passable upright sound. Got a few compliments in the sound even. The electric actually sounded terrific. Thick, punchy and articulate with almost no effort. I'm going to continue experimenting and playing around, but there's something to the sealed thing, for sure.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Better yet, post bass-only recordings of ported vs. sealed cabs.

 

[nutdog]

My favorite sounding cab is the nv215. Low volume, high volume, indoors or out it sounded smooth without sounding scooped, very tight and focused but the tone was so solid it felt like you could stand on it.

I don't know if it was because it was sealed or the 2 15's and a mid or if it was the thunderfunk amp pushing it but I've never played a cab that sounded better. I also liked the svt210av but it didn't have the clarity or low end of the berg.