Which cabs sound better for a Fender Precision?

[Hounddog409]

Hi all,
I must to buy a cab (or cabs) for my new amp.
In your humble opinion, a Fender Precision sounds better with a cab 10" (2x10 or 2 2x10) or with a cab 12" (1x12 or 2 1x12)?
Thanks in advance to all.

What amp?

 

[Hounddog409]

As a rule of thumb, 15" provide bottom, 10" give definition to your tone. I'm only familiar with 12" speakers for practice combos. They work well there for overall tone.

That is about as far from reality as you can get

 

[fretter]

That is about as far from reality as you can get

why?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

8s are the new 10s
I'm quite perplexed by how most guitar cabs are 12s, since I find more highs from 10s.

 

[NOVAX]

ISP Vector bass (1x15"+ 2x8")
Add a preamp to taste. It's like aliens from the planet Epic, far and away
in the galaxy of Awesome designed and built this sonic super box. Not light. Not neo. The line array is hear to stay.

 

[FunkHead]

It's not the size of the speaker in the fight.....It's the size of the fight in the speaker

 

[Jeff K]

If you have the right P-Bass, it'll sound good through anything! I have 3 different rigs:
4-ohm 410 Genz-Benz Uber I usually power with a Genz-Benz Shuttle 9.0.
Two 8-ohm Aguilar DB 112 NT's formerly powered by an Aggie TH500, but just recently I've been using a Gallien Krueger MB500.
Two 115's. The top one is actually a Genz-Benz Contour combo amp, with a Contour 115 extension cab.

IMO, a P-Bass sounds good through ALL of them!

 

[Jack]

As a rule of thumb, 15" provide bottom, 10" give definition to your tone. I'm only familiar with 12" speakers for practice combos. They work well there for overall tone.

Which is of course why headphones have no bass at all. :/

 

[chris_b]

In your humble opinion, a Fender Precision sounds better with a cab 10" (2x10 or 2 2x10) or with a cab 12" (1x12 or 2 1x12)?

All depends on what cab you're talking about. There are 10's that sound great and some that don't. Same for 12's.

I always look for clean sounding amps and cabs. IMO combined with enough headroom they make all basses sound better.

 

[chris_b]

As a rule of thumb, 15" provide bottom, 10" give definition to your tone. I'm only familiar with 12" speakers for practice combos. They work well there for overall tone.

That was the wisdom when I started in the 60's, but this hasn't been the situation for 30 or more years.

Today you can buy good 10's and you'll get more bass frequencies out of them than many 15's from back in the day.

 

[chadds]

As someone who has played this very cab in one form or another since 1992, I have yet to have a problem with low end. Sub lows? No, but it's got enough low end to have held it down for a large portion of professional touring bass players since I have been alive.

See this opinion is music style/genre based. There is great music where the P sits above the low end. The bass drum or B3 can be lower. That slot is where punch can steer the band. It’s a great thing. In other forms of music the P can sound anemic because the bass is needed to provide not only lower frequencies but lower notes.

 

[bassboysam]

As a rule of thumb, 15" provide bottom, 10" give definition to your tone. I'm only familiar with 12" speakers for practice combos. They work well there for overall tone.

please stop

 

[Hounddog409]

why?

Because speaker size has nothing to do with tone/sound.

It's all about design and quality of the cabinets and speakers.

There is no generality or rule of thumb when it comes to speaker size. 10's can sound like mud just as easily as 15's.

 

[Omega Monkey]

This question keeps coming up because the people who are sort of right that driver size isn't the main factor think it means that there is no difference between driver sizes which is not true. Go to any site that sells MI drivers and look at the specs on a bunch of 5s, 8s, 10s, 12s, 15s, and 18s. Pay close attention to things like xmax, f3, frequency response, etc... You're going to notice that bigger speakers are going to go lower (ON AVERAGE and in terms of absolutes) and smaller speakers will go higher. This is just physics, people. Now, you can engineer around the physics to a degree, but you can't circumvent it completely and to the extent that you do costs a lot of money. Otherwise, a 400w phil jones cab wouldn't cost $1500 or whatever obscene price they are, and still roll off around 70Hz. Meanwhile, for a third the price, I could build a 15 based cab that would just pummel any phil jones cab you could ever buy.

So stop saying speaker size "makes no difference" and add back in that nuance that is clearly there. Because the people that are stuck in the "driver sizes having obvious roles" mind set are going to reject you otherwise. And then we just go around and around because only a very few people like me are actually seeing the whole picture accurately. If driver size was completely irrelevant, someone would have designed laptop speakers that aren't total tinny bs. But have you ever heard any such speakers? I haven't. Because they are usually little 1" drivers that can only do so much. There are various trade offs in using different sizes. Let's start acknowledging that so we can move the discussion past the "yes it is"/"no it isnt" Monty Python type "arguments".

 

[Gearhead17]

Omega - You are definitely correct, however, the real heart of the issue is "tone" and the standard thoughts of 15's for lows and 10's for highs. There are many differences between speakers, but it really comes down how the speaker was designed to work with the cabinet. The real question is what cab configuration sounds better and that answer is purely subjective. Plus it looks like the OP went on vacation and has not said anything.....unless I missed it.

 

[Omega Monkey]

Well, tone is derived from frequency response, but yes, "best" is definitely subjective, although if you narrow the parameters enough you can get reasonably factual.

These threads always strike me as "what's my favorite color" type questions. You really just have to experience a bunch of cabs for yourself and decide what you like and what you don't.

 

[Hounddog409]

This question keeps coming up because the people who are sort of right that driver size isn't the main factor think it means that there is no difference between driver sizes which is not true. Go to any site that sells MI drivers and look at the specs on a bunch of 5s, 8s, 10s, 12s, 15s, and 18s. Pay close attention to things like xmax, f3, frequency response, etc... You're going to notice that bigger speakers are going to go lower (ON AVERAGE and in terms of absolutes) and smaller speakers will go higher. This is just physics, people. Now, you can engineer around the physics to a degree, but you can't circumvent it completely and to the extent that you do costs a lot of money. Otherwise, a 400w phil jones cab wouldn't cost $1500 or whatever obscene price they are, and still roll off around 70Hz. Meanwhile, for a third the price, I could build a 15 based cab that would just pummel any phil jones cab you could ever buy.

So stop saying speaker size "makes no difference" and add back in that nuance that is clearly there. Because the people that are stuck in the "driver sizes having obvious roles" mind set are going to reject you otherwise. And then we just go around and around because only a very few people like me are actually seeing the whole picture accurately. If driver size was completely irrelevant, someone would have designed laptop speakers that aren't total tinny bs. But have you ever heard any such speakers? I haven't. Because they are usually little 1" drivers that can only do so much. There are various trade offs in using different sizes. Let's start acknowledging that so we can move the discussion past the "yes it is"/"no it isnt" Monty Python type "arguments".

Speaker size makes no dofferm

This question keeps coming up because the people who are sort of right that driver size isn't the main factor think it means that there is no difference between driver sizes which is not true. Go to any site that sells MI drivers and look at the specs on a bunch of 5s, 8s, 10s, 12s, 15s, and 18s. Pay close attention to things like xmax, f3, frequency response, etc... You're going to notice that bigger speakers are going to go lower (ON AVERAGE and in terms of absolutes) and smaller speakers will go higher. This is just physics, people. Now, you can engineer around the physics to a degree, but you can't circumvent it completely and to the extent that you do costs a lot of money. Otherwise, a 400w phil jones cab wouldn't cost $1500 or whatever obscene price they are, and still roll off around 70Hz. Meanwhile, for a third the price, I could build a 15 based cab that would just pummel any phil jones cab you could ever buy.

So stop saying speaker size "makes no difference" and add back in that nuance that is clearly there. Because the people that are stuck in the "driver sizes having obvious roles" mind set are going to reject you otherwise. And then we just go around and around because only a very few people like me are actually seeing the whole picture accurately. If driver size was completely irrelevant, someone would have designed laptop speakers that aren't total tinny bs. But have you ever heard any such speakers? I haven't. Because they are usually little 1" drivers that can only do so much. There are various trade offs in using different sizes. Let's start acknowledging that so we can move the discussion past the "yes it is"/"no it isnt" Monty Python type "arguments".

Speaker size makes no difference. Go play a Phil Jones 8x5 then explain how there is no way you can get those lows with a 5 inch speaker.

There are good speakers and not so good speakers. It's all about quality not size. I can get stupid highs and clarity out of my 1x15's if I wish.

And you can put the best,top of the line speaker in a cabinet not designed for it and it will sound like crap.

This is just fact.

 

[fretter]

Which is of course why headphones have no bass at all. :/

Presumably the OP was asking about stage sound.

 

[leavetheconnoli]

I go by my ears. I have played countless 10’s always meh. You can feel the bottom w larger speakers.

 

[Jack]

This question keeps coming up because the people who are sort of right that driver size isn't the main factor think it means that there is no difference between driver sizes which is not true. Go to any site that sells MI drivers and look at the specs on a bunch of 5s, 8s, 10s, 12s, 15s, and 18s. Pay close attention to things like xmax, f3, frequency response, etc... You're going to notice that bigger speakers are going to go lower (ON AVERAGE and in terms of absolutes) and smaller speakers will go higher. This is just physics, people. Now, you can engineer around the physics to a degree, but you can't circumvent it completely and to the extent that you do costs a lot of money. Otherwise, a 400w phil jones cab wouldn't cost $1500 or whatever obscene price they are, and still roll off around 70Hz. Meanwhile, for a third the price, I could build a 15 based cab that would just pummel any phil jones cab you could ever buy.

So stop saying speaker size "makes no difference" and add back in that nuance that is clearly there. Because the people that are stuck in the "driver sizes having obvious roles" mind set are going to reject you otherwise. And then we just go around and around because only a very few people like me are actually seeing the whole picture accurately. If driver size was completely irrelevant, someone would have designed laptop speakers that aren't total tinny bs. But have you ever heard any such speakers? I haven't. Because they are usually little 1" drivers that can only do so much. There are various trade offs in using different sizes. Let's start acknowledging that so we can move the discussion past the "yes it is"/"no it isnt" Monty Python type "arguments".

Smaller speakers beam less and larger speakers can handle more power. That still doesn't mean that cone size is related to frequency range, not really.

Presumably the OP was asking about stage sound.

I'm not sure a speaker knows whether it's on stage or not.