THE Boutique Bass Cab Shootout

[12bass]

A T3W fEARful is pretty close to flat response, if that's what you're seeking, even flatter than the F112/115. Not sure what might be closer....

That said, many people do not actually want a flat response bass enclosure, preferring some added coloration. I greatly prefer the T3W to the CBG crossover. It even sounds decent with distortion, IMO.

 

[Lammchop93]

"Loud" usually is to describe the decibel sound pressure and rumble, not how well your rig cuts in the mix or fits in a frequency swim lane. For example, I owned 4x10 SWR, was hard to hear the mix because the cab is below my waist, my ears where always ringing because of the sound pressure when indoors. I went with the Bergs because I want mix cut @ low db pressure volume. A lot has to do with the bass, I owned a Lakland USA Jazz Joe Osborn, no amp or cab really changed that tone.

The genzlers will cut through the mix. They have a beautiful mid-range and have a very full well-rounded tone

 

[singlemalt]

If you are into DIY, the fEarfuls are the ticket. You can build in more or less range with the various driver, horn, crossover and switch options. And they are fun projects.

All the various fEarfuls play well together, so you can cover small, medium and overkill with, say, a 12/6 and a 15/6.

The 12/6 cubes are in the one hand carry range.

If I wasn’t a dedicated DIY guy, I’d go with Audio Kinesis. Duke’s cabs are super nice.

 

[bebass]

I've played through those before and was really impressed, but it was with @maurilio's gear not my own.

Curious if two of them would fit the bill for when LOUD is required.

I played a very large room at a brewpub with mine (pair). Heavy hitting drummer, loud Guitar. Keyboard, Vocals, guitar, and kick in the FOH; but bass carried room very well under 1/2 volume on amp with no need for FOH support. VERY loud. Of course a person could always use 3 but I just don't see the need. With FOH support often one does the trick for me for loud rock and electric blues.

 

[XrisThaBassman]

I don't have a wide-experience that some have, but I've been really happy with Jeff Genzler's stuff. The bass array cabinets should handle anything you throw at them, and reproduce faithfully the tone you already have. I'm shuffling some of my gear around right now, and when I'm done I'll be running a GB NEOX 212 and a Genzler BA12-3 off a GB Shuttlemax 12.0. I currently have the NEOX212 which is a bitchen cab, but I want more flexibility (meaning I don't want to always have to bring the 212 to practice or a gig).

 

[MDBass]

I posted this in the Acme Users Unite thread. Let's see what turns up. May not be the aforementioned B212 but whatever crops up will certainly be representative. If all else fails, Acme offers a no-risk 2 week trial.

Acme Sound LLC. - Home of the Low B Series

Riis

Thanks brother, very kind of you.

 

[MDBass]

The F115 is tonally similar to the F112, but with a greater sensitivity rating and potential for higher SPLs.

If you are at least 6-foot in height and in good physical shape, at the lower end of 50-pounds, an F115 could be considered by you as one hand carry, one cabinet solution for your needs. For me, not so much!

Either cabinet is highly recommended as per your sonic criteria.

Cheers!

I definitely fit that description, looks like I'll be borrowing Jay Terrien's F115 for next week to shoot it out with all of the kind offers in this thread.

Should make for some great hangs and a lot of fun, a big thank you to everyone who offered up gear and/or suggestions on this thread

 

[singlemalt]

Almost ten years back, 4Mal hosted a gtg, cabinet shoot out in his garage. Passinwind brought his formula one rig, I brought TL606’s, and there were many other varieties of cabs.

We had one victim play the same bass, through the same amp, and just moved the speaker cable around. Charlie’s stuff, of course, ruled. But one little fEarful 12/6, hidden back behind all the big stuff, caused me to sell the 606’s and start building fEarfuls.

It was like getting a whole new amp, my GK 1001 had a whole new bag of tricks, plus the horn which I controlled with the high frequency side.

We’ve had a number of gtg’s over the years, and the fEarfuls still shine. Duke’s Thunderchild further refines the concept of a full range based on the Eminence 3012LF or 3015LF, extended range low frequency driver paired with a crossover and a mid and high frequency driver or horn.

I took my fEarful to a local jam at a club with a full FOH. On stage, the sound was everything I expected, but out in the house, it was mud. The guys were less than impressed. As each of the other bassists got a turn on stage they came back with the same story....wow! The sound on stage was great. We got the sound guy to take the bass feed out of the FOH, and the 15/6 easily carried the room with a much improved clarity.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Almost ten years back, 4Mal hosted a gtg, cabinet shoot out in his garage. Passinwind brought his formula one rig, I brought TL606’s, and there were many other varieties of cabs.

We had one victim play the same bass, through the same amp, and just moved the speaker cable around. Charlie’s stuff, of course, ruled. But one little fEarful 12/6, hidden back behind all the big stuff, caused me to sell the 606’s and start building fEarfuls.

It was like getting a whole new amp, my GK 1001 had a whole new bag of tricks, plus the horn which I controlled with the high frequency side.

We’ve had a number of gtg’s over the years, and the fEarfuls still shine. Duke’s Thunderchild further refines the concept of a full range based on the Eminence 3012LF or 3015LF, extended range low frequency driver paired with a crossover and a mid and high frequency driver or horn.

I took my fEarful to a local jam at a club with a full FOH. On stage, the sound was everything I expected, but out in the house, it was mud. The guys were less than impressed. As each of the other bassists got a turn on stage they came back with the same story....wow! The sound on stage was great. We got the sound guy to take the bass feed out of the FOH, and the 15/6 easily carried the room with a much improved clarity.

It takes a hell quiet stage in a club to allow FOH bass to be anything but mudpie on top of creamcake.

 

[Djadja]

I played an Acme B2 for a while (not the 12 inch cab) and I don't think it would work, given your description. I found the low end to be too pillowy for me... and it overwhelmed the mids and trebles in spite of the talk of the cab being flat response. When I replaced it, I considered the AK Hathor, Greenboy, Barefaced, and the Genzler BA. At the time I was using a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 head, since replaced with a Genzler Magellan 800.

I didn't have the opportunity to try them all so made the best choice I could and ended up with the Genzler BA12-3 largely because of what I expected the array would do for the mids on my fretless. It tightened up the bass and gave me a very vocal midrange and smooth highs. All in all, I'm thrilled with the cab. One has been enough for me but I expect you'd have situations where you'd need two. I can't imagine many situations where that would not be adequately loud. And you could just bring one when needed. They do also build a 210 bass array with a little less lower end but punchier mids and higher power handling that might be another consideration.

The 4 midrange/tweeter cones really work well at keeping everything smooth and even and the horizontal dispersion is wonderful. They also free the woofer to do what it is meant to do. Stacking two of them together evidently does magic when the synergy of the two cabs begins to play.

 

[DirtyDuke]

Barefaced 810 and or Big Twin II would be the my recommendation.

 

[grimjim]

If you can find them.....
DNA Amps - David Nordschow Amplification - Bass Amps

 

[Djadja]

I played an Acme B2 for a while (not the 12 inch cab) and I don't think it would work, given your description. I found the low end to be too pillowy for me... and it overwhelmed the mids and trebles in spite of the talk of the cab being flat response. When I replaced it, I considered the AK Hathor, Greenboy, Barefaced, and the Genzler BA. At the time I was using a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 head, since replaced with a Genzler Magellan 800.

I didn't have the opportunity to try them all so made the best choice I could and ended up with the Genzler BA12-3 largely because of what I expected the array would do for the mids on my fretless. It tightened up the bass and gave me a very vocal midrange and smooth highs. All in all, I'm thrilled with the cab. One has been enough for me but I expect you'd have situations where you'd need two. I can't imagine many situations where that would not be adequately loud. And you could just bring one when needed. They do also build a 210 bass array with a little less lower end but punchier mids and higher power handling that might be another consideration.

The 4 midrange/tweeter cones really work well at keeping everything smooth and even and the horizontal dispersion is wonderful. They also free the woofer to do what it is meant to do. Stacking two of them together evidently does magic when the synergy of the two cabs begins to play.

I forgot to mention that I also play acoustic guitar - primarily finger style, singer songwriter - and use my Genzler bass array cab with my Lowden. It is exceptional in that use as well.

 

[bertthebassist]

After experimenting with many cabinets over the last several years, the one that worked for me is a Revsound bottom ported 210 with tweeter. It is only 33#, handles a low b with ease, and is consistent across the entire fretboard. It is surprisingly loud for a 210.

 

[radbass]

MAS Bodai 38. Very flat response, sounds wonderful playing music through it. Loud and very deep. Dispersion is unparalleled. Relatively small and light.

 

[rwkeating]

What are people basing their recommendations on? I've only seen one post in this thread that presented hard data by showing a frequency response curve.

This could be so easy to resolve if manufacturers published valid frequency response curves. We could take those results, use them to select a couple of cabinets and then do a subjective listening test to decide on a cabinet that meets our needs.

I know most of us don't have anechoic chambers available, but has anyone ever actually measured their cabinets frequency response even if that was just done in a room in ones house? This can be done with a flat frequency response microphone and a free program like Room EQ Wizard. Doing so can reveal a lot about a cabinet. It can even be done in line (no mic needed) with amps, but I'll try to stay on the topic of cabinets here

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Barefaced, Greenboy, Baer, et al are all great cabs.

But given the OP's combination of concerns about distortion tones, weight, and also the 410 volume requirement, I think one of Duke's larger Hathors would be worth serious consideration.

The cone mid/treble drivers and crossover were specifically chosen to give dirt fans what the Thunderchild couldn't offer. There's a bite switch to moderate the upper mids on a per-gig basis, depending on whether you want a true FRFR response or something a bit more "bass cabby".

Plus, the slot porting for the mid/treble drivers on top and sides does away with the problem I always find with 410's on cramped stages: You can stand almost on top of a Hathor, and still get a good sense of what the audience is hearing.

SPL-wise, his 1533 is roughly equivalent to an EA VL-310, and he has a larger one that uses a Faital 18. I know this sounds bizarre, but it apparently has a nice, tight low end, no scoopage, and has received favourable reviews as a full-range cab for solo violin (!!!!).

As others have mentioned, even the Greenboy F112 isn't going to give you the SPL's you can get when pushing a high end 410 to its limits.

The best part about the larger single-woofer Hathors, is that both cabs are an easy one-hand carry. As in 40lb-ish range, comfortable proportions and nicely placed handles.

 

[smeet]

The BF Super Twin II gets LOUD, I think louder than most 410s. With the cloth grill, it weighs only 49 pounds.

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

I completely retooled my rig when i started doing all IEM church gigs and sessions.
My amp of choice is the fEarful 12/6 w/CBG crossover. It’s not ruler flat, but it’s not far off. With my Quilter BassBlock 800 amp that IS ruler flat in its responce, i get almost the exact same sound through my rig as I do using the Rupert Neve DI. Brilliant!
I swung for no tweeter because the mid driver goes up to 5kHz, and i’ve never needed to go higher.
Dunno how the LDS compares to the fEarful, but it’s worth a looksee.
The F115 or F112 should be in the same ballpark.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

One thing though - I have found that "hi fi" and "lots of dirt" really don't go together well in a bass cab. This is totally MMMY, but I find the things that make dirt sound good are usually characteristics that are not hi f.

I think that generally comes from "hi fi" usually inferring full range response, which means representation from about 35hz to at least 5k. Once you get to those upper frequencies, one-way cabs just aren't realistic, and we know that distortion and high frequency drivers often = angry bees' nest. Essentially, to get the benefit of an accurate reference cabinet while still finding dirtied bass pleasurable, you almost need a solution such as GK's bi-amp system. I suppose it could be done with two-full range cabinets and an external cross-over, treating the second cabinet as a makeshift "bright box", but that would probably be over-complicated for the end result. I'm actually surprised that there aren't dirt pedal manufacturers installing sweep-able cross-overs in their pedals that would allow players to pick a cut off frequency where the effect has no influence. Perhaps that would be something more difficult to design than what I'm envisioning.