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What Cab would you buy?
- Thread starter James Ippoliti
- Start date
i'd go for a used 2x12 but a cheap 4x10 might be the ticket depending on your needs and preferences. type of musid, how loud you need to go, whether you have weight or space restrictions, even appearance.
here are all the new cabs under $500 at sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/c577--Ba...W5nZSI6eyJsb3dlciI6IiIsInVwcGVyIjoiNTAwIn19fQ
for me, i'd focus on the fender 2x10 and 4x10 and the GK CX 210. if you love the ampeg voice, there are some nice PF series options.
if you want to spend little, i'd focus on the peaveys - heavy as boat anchors, they deliver and are a tremendous value.
i'm not partial to the hartke aluminum cones
the OP's budget is up to $500.
here are all the new cabs under $500 at sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/c577--Ba...W5nZSI6eyJsb3dlciI6IiIsInVwcGVyIjoiNTAwIn19fQ
for me, i'd focus on the fender 2x10 and 4x10 and the GK CX 210. if you love the ampeg voice, there are some nice PF series options.
if you want to spend little, i'd focus on the peaveys - heavy as boat anchors, they deliver and are a tremendous value.
i'm not partial to the hartke aluminum cones
the OP's budget is up to $500.
I second the idea of a 2x12 if you can find one used and cheap. Love my Mesa PH 2x12, I lucked out finding it for $300 though.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
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I have heard horror stories on these too pcake, but I have to say the 4.5XL and 2.5XL cabs I had back in the late 80's early 90's were rock solid and sounded great. I did hundreds of gigs with them and really liked the tone. Less than top tier build quality, questionable QA, and weight were the only drawbacks for me. I have no idea how the current models sound or hold up though.
GK had some type of gold colored aluminum speaker cabs (Goldline??) that seemed to be very prone to damage/failure.
I've had a gk neo 210 with a 15 extension for when I needed it. Unfortunately sold those cabs and ended up with a rumble 4x10 but I just missed that 15.. so I traded for an ampeg 2x12. Still missed the 15. I now have a traynor 2x10 with a 15 all in one cab. I know people say dont mix speaker sizes but it sounds good, really good. Narrow for tight stages too. I think its rated 600 at 4ohm
If you gig with reliable PA support that handles bass, I'd get a good 212 like GK or similar.
If not, Ampeg 810.
no horror stories - i don't like the way they sound. also a friend loaned me his and one cone literally tore like tissue paper during a jam. it was a 4x10, not gold colored, either.
I have a DNS-410 by DNA that was my one-cab answer to playing anywhere and it will easily do that. I've played small clubs, medium clubs, outdoor venues, and outdoor festivals with it and it handles it all with ease. Never have to bring an 810 with me because my DNS-410 is a crazy loud cab. It handles 1400-watts rms both mechanically and thermally, yet takes very little power to play at gig levels.
I power it with my Eden WT500/800. I run it bridged so it can put out up to 800-watts but I can never run anywhere close to that much power. Indoors and outdoor patio venues I can't run my master above 9:30 without being told to turn down. At outdoor festivals I can run it at 10 o'clock, but at 10:30 on my master I get told to turn down. Max SPL=137db and you don't want to be anywhere near it at those levels. My 800-watt amp could take it to about 134db under ideal conditions.
I had my 800-watt amp in the shop a couple of years back and had to use my 400 watt backup amp. Unfortunately my 400-watt amp only puts out ~275 watts at 8 ohms and my DNS-410 is an 8 ohm cab. Turned out not to be a problem at all even with only a maximum of 275-watts available. 10:30 to 11 o'clock was the range I could use. Besides it being a LOUD and sensitive cabinet though, it also has the best sound of any cab I've ever heard. The sound is clear, clean, articulate, and full with a very tight low-end.
Frequency response is very flat across the spectrum, so I typically dial in a little boost (2 to 3 clicks) at ~250Hz. That adds great definition to my sound without drowning everyone else out. I'm primarily using my passive Jazz bass with it although I do use my active 5-string from time to time and everything on the B string sounds tight and clear. If you play bass chords, you will distinctly hear all three notes of the chord with this cab.
Street price is $1,049. The only problem with it is that owners of small clubs may be scared of it. It actually sounds great at low levels, but I had to actually buy a smaller cab to use at a brew pub where we played all the time (3 to 5 times a month). The first time I rolled my DNS-410 into his club, his eyes looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He had me use a little Peavey 112 combo he had there instead. I have since bought a DNS-210 to use at small and medium venues. It has the same sound characteristics as my DNS-410 but in a smaller form factor.
Here's my "one cab does it all" rig:
And here's the set-up I use at small and medium venues. The DNS-210 handles 700-watts and has a max SPL of 134db:
Attachments
It should sound good together because the designer of the cab designed it that way. I'm pretty sure he knew what the challenges were and designed around them to work together correctly. Peavey used to (maybe still do) make an 1810 that had a singe 18 and two 10's. Eden put out a special edition P1510X that also combined two 10's and a 15. Problems can arise when they are separate cabs, especially if they are from different manufacturers, but your Traynor TC-1510 cab should sound good.
agreed...but they should also schlep one!
Sorry James, I missed the $500 limit on this and recommended what I finally found to be my "one cab does everything" that currently sells for $1049 street price.
Within your $500 budget though, I would be looking for a used Eden D410XLT or D410XST. The XLT version was more numerous because Eden made it for so long and it's a great sounding cabinet. The D410XLT has a low-mid hump that gives you great definition and chest thump and handles 700-watts. Older ones have banana plug connectors and newer ones have Speakon connectors. Original price on them was right at $900-$1000 and you can usually find them for $500 or less used.
The other Eden cab is the D410XST. The XST cabs have a very flat frequency response and you'll need to dial in some low-mids with your amp if you want them (I always do). They handle 1000-watts rms and are not quite as sensitive as the XLT but still very sensitive cabs. They do have a lower and tighter bottom-end than the XLT's. You don't find the XST's as often as the XLT's because the XLT's were so popular for so long. Both of them will be plenty loud with your amp. They are very clear and full sounding cabs.
