Rig question

[86general]

I have a Carvin BX500, with a Carvin BRX210 cab. I am thinking of changing my rig to get a more powerful, clean sound.

What will happen to the overall sound of my rig if I.....

a) just add a second 210?

b) buy a new amp - Carvin BX1500, and get a second 210, and either bi-amp or bridge and run into the two 210.

c) buy the BX1500, and get the Carvin 115 cab, and bi-amp with the 210 I already have.

I am a middle aged guy and a relatively seasoned musician but am fairly new to electric bass.

I play a bass with humbuckers, and with the existing rig I have, it seems difficult to get the kind of volume I want with a pristine clean tone.

The overall tone of my rig is ok; the Carvin amp is very adjustable and my bass has a pretty versatile pallette of tones I can get.

But I would like to be louder while maintaining pristine clean sound. When I get really loud with the existing rig, it's almost as if the sound is distorting a little. This is fine for some songs, but overall my ear wants gobs of clean clean volume.

Go easy on me fellas....

 

[Cirk]

Just get another BRX210 cab and run your amp at 4 ohms. Try standing the speakers upright in a column.

 

[Emprov]

If you're after a single cab solution, you could upgrade to a 212 but, if you don't mind hauling a few 210's around, simply buying another one would probably be the easiest route to go.

 

[Kevin aka Kebo]

For rehearsals I use a MB210 from Carvin. I hated it. THEN I added a MB115 cab.. HOLY SMOKE its like the amp woke up. The ext cab made a 500% improvement in tone and volume

 

[CL400Peavey]

a) just add a second 210? You gain about 6 db of volume. 3 from the additional sensitivity of your cabs, and 3 from doubling your power handling.

b) buy a new amp - Carvin BX1500, and get a second 210, and either bi-amp or bridge and run into the two 210.

Not going to have a huge volume gain over your current amp. Two 210's are pretty much going to be mechanically limited to around 500 watts. So you would gain some head room, and eq. There is no reason to bi amp full range speakers.

c) buy the BX1500, and get the Carvin 115 cab, and bi-amp with the 210 I already have.

wouldnt be as loud as two 210's. There is no good reason to mix full range speakers.


What I would do is start out with adding a second 210. Then if that isnt enough I would look at the BX1500, and start adding more of those 210's. You can run 8 of those 8 ohm 210's with that amp, and have enough power to drive them to their limits. If you are looking for a tonal change as well, then you are looking at other options. Either switch out the cab(s) you use with your carvin amp, or get a different amp.

 

[johnpbass]

Another vote for adding a second 210.

 

[KodyAudette]

Yup, just add another 210. That's probably the easiest/cheapest way to get some extra oomph, plus if you do upgrade your amp later, you still keep the advantage and it's great to be modular.

 

[B-string]

Any speaker cab has limitations as to how much input power it can handle "cleanly". Adding additional power to a single cab may just result in power compression (a distortion of the signal by driver exceeding its mechanical limits and using the additional power to produce waste heat).

First thing to increase sound level is more speakers (radiating area). Speakers are not efficient at converting amp output power to audible sound (by mechanical movement of the cone) so doubling the number speakers increases that efficiency by a factor of almost 2.

Long way to agree with adding the second 210 before you try anything else. Amp output power alone won't get you there.

A fire hose will put out a lot of water, but hook up your garden hose to a fire hydrant and the output will not come even close in comparison. Even though the massive amount of available water is the same.

+1 to stacking the speakers in vertical alignment.

 

[musicman666]

Whoa!!!...You can run 8 of those 8 ohm 2x10's with the Carvin BX1500...that's freakin insane!

 

[CL400Peavey]

Whoa!!!...You can run 8 of those 8 ohm 2x10's with the Carvin BX1500...that's freakin insane!

Well, you could also run four 810s, which is even better yet.

 

[lustersilk]

Just get another BRX210 cab and run your amp at 4 ohms. Try standing the speakers upright in a column.

I second this suggestion. Adding a second BRX210 is going to blow your mind. It sounds great.

 

[searchfunction]

Do you have the BRX10.2 or the BR210?

 

[Cirk]

Theoretically, you could run 4 2x10's from that amp. For full effect, stack them. I bet that would kick, but you'd need a a ladder to adjust your amp if you put it on top.

 

[86general]

Do you have the BRX10.2 or the BR210?

BRX10.2.

 

[Masher88]

Add another Carvin 2x10. Don't mix brands, it will be unpredictable whether it will sound good or not. Definitely, another 2x10 first...then a larger amp with more wattage if need be.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

Just get another BRX210 cab and run your amp at 4 ohms. Try standing the speakers upright in a column.

I think this is the way to go also , the BX500 is a pretty powerful amp . Also stacked vertically it will get the cab closer to your ears and that makes a big difference when playing with a band .

 

[86general]

Thanks guys. Actually, the 210 is 4 ohm, but the amp can go down to 2, so I can still get another 210 with this amp. At a gig last night I used my carvin head with the club's Hartke 410 (8 ohm, 400w I think) and I loved the tone.