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So how come you do that...?

Bard2dbone

Bard2dbone

Aug 4, 2002
6,760
846
62
Arlington TX
#1
Hey guys.

I'm feeling a little bored. So I decided to stir the pot a little bit. So I'm starting a thread with questions about stuff that people on here will say " It's bad to do _____________." or "It's pretty much necessary to _________________." and asking them "Why do those things?

For example: The one I'll put in is that nowadays it seems that the accepted wisdom is that if using a multiple cab rig, you should use all the same type of speakers or it is somehow bad.

But forever, back in the day, a REAL bass big show rig would generally be a high powered amp into a 4x10 and a 1x15. And my longest term rig was a 360W head, into a 400W powered 2x10 cab and an un-powered 2x15 cab.

Even now. The rig I'm contemplating moving on from is 2x10 + tweeter over 1x15,1x10, + tweeter.

So how come when I mentioned that the combination I was considering recreating was a 1x15 cab and a 1x12 cab, several people chimed in with "That's a bad idea. You should use two 1x12 cabs, or two 1x15 cabs. But not mix them. That's awful."

Why is it awful. I've done it for thirty three years and never thought it was awful back then.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand GO!



edit: Also, add your own things you may have wondered about.
 
#3
But now you've got to throw in some vague question too, to keep the thread going.

I actually still prefer the mixed tone/frequency spread that I always got with multiple driver sizes. But then again, it's what I've been used to for about forever.

So I'll give you a throwaway question to keep it going: "Why don't people use stereo rigs with widely separated cabs any more?" This one should be easy. That fad died FAST back in the '80's.
 
#4
Bard: rock whatever you wanna rock!

Somewhere around my early 40's, I completely stopped worrying about what others think. I finally realized that other humans just aren't important enough to me to concern myself with what they think. I now (at age 57) do what I want, when I want, and I don't bother seeking the approval of others. It is incredibly liberating!

Of course, it is completely true that mixing a 410 and 115 is a no-no for a plethora of reasons that have been explained googolplex times here on TB so I won't regurgitate those reasons.

Just do whatever you want!
 
#6
The mixing speakers thing isn't really that it's always bad, it's that it has a very high potential for being less than the sum of its parts due to differences in power handling, phase shift, dispersion, etc.

Certainly there are many excellent speaker systems that have mixed drivers, but those systems were usually carefully designed and matched by a single design team.

Taking one speaker cab from company A and pairing it up with a very different cab from company B has very high odds for poor results. Doesn't mean it will always be bad, but it is very much a crap shoot.
 
#7
BruceWane said:
The mixing speakers thing isn't really that it's always bad, it's that it has a very high potential for being less than the sum of its parts due to differences in power handling, phase shift, dispersion, etc.

Certainly there are many excellent speaker systems that have mixed drivers, but those systems were usually carefully designed and matched by a single design team.

Taking one speaker cab from company A and pairing it up with a very different cab from company B has very high odds for poor results. Doesn't mean it will always be bad, but it is very much a crap shoot.
Click to expand...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/mixing-cabinets-phase-response-607556/

I think this explains most of that you said. But as always, do what works for you
 
#8
Here's the thing...is it better to know what can or will happen if you do certain things or is it better just to forget all about it and live in blissful ignorance? Personally, I'd rather know.
 
#11
"Everything was awful sounding back then.

Why do you think otherwise? "

Because SUNN was alive and killing the scene, the drugs were better and the speeds at that time helped us function incase one was to consume to much alcohol or a lewd....updownupdownuppassout.
Seriously , i think most of us mixed and matched back then because of financial problems, and it always seemed to workout. Its not like we played arenas, but we did play nice sized clubs..
 
#13
spz8 said:
Did we really need another mixed driver/mixed cab thread? :confused: There's a ton on here already, and they rehash the same opposing opinions every time!
Click to expand...

We do if I'm using it to fight boredom.

But I was actually hoping to get a bunch of different stuff along those same lines. In stead of one long endless rehashing of an old argument, I wanted a series of short summaries of many old arguments.

But what can you do?

And I'm actually going to end up with the 1x12 + 1x15 because I like that.
 
#15
Bard2dbone said:
We do if I'm using it to fight boredom.

But I was actually hoping to get a bunch of different stuff along those same lines. In stead of one long endless rehashing of an old argument, I wanted a series of short summaries of many old arguments.

But what can you do?

And I'm actually going to end up with the 1x12 + 1x15 because I like that.
Click to expand...

You are being serious, i' love to see a pic with the head and speaker covers removed!
 
#16
Here's the question you should answer: how do you know it really sounds good? Have you compared, on the gig, what a matched driver rig sounds like? Maybe you really are missing he party? Sometimes something sounds fine until you hear something else that shows you how much better it could have been all along.

But in reality mixing driver sizes doesn't always sound bad. I am not sure it sounds bad even most of the time. But it can sound really bad (which you'd know) or it can just be a little flat and less punchy, which you might not realize without comparing.
 
#17
HolmeBass said:
Here's the question you should answer: how do you know it really sounds good? Have you compared, on the gig, what a matched driver rig sounds like? Maybe you really are missing he party? Sometimes something sounds fine until you hear something else that shows you how much better it could have been all along.

But in reality mixing driver sizes doesn't always sound bad. I am not sure it sounds bad even most of the time. But it can sound really bad (which you'd know) or it can just be a little flat and less punchy, which you might not realize without comparing.
Click to expand...

This is actually fairly valid. I could just be used to it. But I guess it's because I really am used to it.

I had had bad pairs back in the day. But sometimes two from the same company would suck and two others of identical models would be awesome. And some of the bad ones were two of the exact same model cab. For examples, see the Hartke thread. I always assumed the problem was variability between individual cabs, not that the types of cabs/drivers were the problems.
 
#18
Bard2dbone said:
So I'll give you a throwaway question to keep it going: "Why don't people use stereo rigs with widely separated cabs any more?" This one should be easy.
Click to expand...

Yep: because back then no one had figured out that you need a high pass filter on the secondary cab if you're using the rig for bass.

Why do people play fretted basses?
 
#20
I've read numerous posts about how P&J pickups should have never been combined & especially with a volume, volume, tone layout. Passive pickups apparently are the worst possible combination with unpredictable results. Yet I've been happily playing & seem to prefer basses setup like this since my 1st bass an Ibanez Roadstar 2 & many others like it since then. I don't get it, there doesn't to be any more trouble balancing the pickups to get a desirable tone than a typical jazz bass. If I'm wrong I don't want to be right.
 

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