I own one of the original Mini12+ cabinets that is ported and has the angled speaker and one of the new Mini12+L cabinets that is sealed with a front firing 12. The two sound very different to my ears. I love the sound of the angled Mini for bass guitar, and it is light (weight in the mid-30's) and small enough to be a very viable single cab solution for smaller rooms. I wasn't crazy about the sound for upright however, as it has that slight edge that Schroeders have that allows them to cut through a mix so effectively but sound slightly unnatural with upright. With the sealed Mini12+L, Jorg has developed the perfect speaker for upright players. Mine weighs 30 pounds and it is incredibly smooth and natural sounding.
Both cabinets are incredibly efficient and capable getting very loud if you need it, but the sealed cab sounds wonderful for the kind of straight ahead jazz that I'm playing with it. Putting these two 4-ohm cabinets together, and driving them with a new Acoustic Image Series III Focus, I get 1000 watts of output and more volume than I will ever need and tons of head room. It is a wonderful combination for doubling gigs.
One other comment about the Schroeders. The tweeter on these is very effective and can produce all the high end you would need. Since I don't do any slapping/tapping/popping, I find myself setting the tweeters at about 9:00 and I like that level.
The only other cabinet combination that I have also been using is for loud upright gigs, e.g., an 18-piece big band in a large room. For these jobs, I've also used the sealed Mini12+L with a ContraEX cabinet, both being driven by the AI Focus. This combination produces an incredibly natural sound that is loud. I had this rig at a rehearsal the other night, and the pianist made a point of telling me it was the best string bass amplification setup he had ever heard.
Although it is not the topic of this thread, I also want to sing the praises again of the AI Series III Focus. For less than 5 pounds, this amp is incredible--so much so that I've sold my Walter Woods Ultra and put a bunch of money in the bank to boot. My workhorse bass--an Eastman hybrid with Fishman Full Circle--is very much on the boomy side, and the Hi Pass Filter allows me to completely dial out the low end mud. I find myself setting the bass and mid controls at about 9:00, the treble at 2:00 and the Hi Pass Filter between Noon and 1:00. As I've told others, I strive for notes that sound like cubes with eased edges and not spheres or blobs--i.e., punchy. For really low volume upright gigs, then I turn the HiPass filter way down and add more bass eq. This gives me the "my bass only louder" sound that is cool for what are almost acoustic gigs.
Erik Hansen
Los Angeles
So I'm in the same boat as far as demo-ing the cab. Pete's Bass in Portland has an AI head and the matching cab to demo but not another cab. I tried the set with my UB and it would be stunning for that. Just looking for something with more throw for the rock band.
