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Who owns a 15" and why do you use em?

#41
I use a 15 to feel the bass. I have a 12 with a tweeter to add brightness and midrange texture, and bi-amped I have a total grip over the warmth/brightness of my sound.

I have one ultra light Ashdown Mini 15 and one ultra heavy Peavey 115BLX Black Widow. The widow is super bright and crunchy! My tone kills with two 15's and distortion.
 
#44
All I prefer are 15's. To me, I just love the way the 15 hits and carries through a club, the sound carries excellent outdoors too.

There's nothing "old skool" sounding about EV15L's in the older Mesa cabs...they hit you very hard, and extremely crisp, and dare I say-can be very crunchy.

big rig
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little rig
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#46
I also grew up on 15's and just really dig the deep low/low-mid push that is mostly associated with 15s IME.

I used JBL d140s and K140s in reference design type folded horn cabs for many years in the 70's. Also used Kustom 2x15's and the occasional sweet sweet B15n portaflex rig.

When 10's became more popular in the mid-80's I tried a number of 4x10 cabs .. GK, SWR, Peavey, and eventually Eden/Nemesis. They all worked ok, but I never really got a sound that really made me smile all the time. I would say that for a certain kind of crunchy rock tone an SVT 810 rig is a classic, but not very versatile IMO.

Lately (for the past 2 years) I've been playing Mesa 12's and 15's combined (Walkabout 12 on top of a Scout 15). With the tweets rolled off (don't like the tweets much at all) and the adjustable EQ on the Powerhouse cabs set for 5k on the 15 and 3k on the 12, I get a tone that I have really come to really love. Combine that with the wonderful hybrid Walkabout and it gets me there every time. :cool:
 
#48
I see it echoed over and over in these posts, and have to say I'm in the club as well: "I grew up on 15s!"

Those of us who are beyond 35 years old remember a time when the bass speaker cab standard was 2x15, and a small bass cab was a 1x15; those days, high-end was an SVT or maybe a 2x4x12 full stack (that was pro rock band stuff).

So, we came up in a time when the 2x15" was just common as the 4x10 of today; as I remember it, Hartke or SWR as really the cab designs to push the change. This being the case, we've learned to get the sound we liked out of 15s, and many of us still seem to consider the 15 as the correct speaker for bass.
 
#52
shoot-r said:
My down side of a 15" is the transit speed. I've now went to a 2-12" cab. Lows near a 15"....speed near 10's.
A question for everyone, does any manufacturer make a 15" cab that has fast transits near what 10's have?
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Transit speed. If one speaker has a faster "transit speed" than another then that speaker has a higher frequency response than the other. That is all it is -the frequency response. 10s go higher, 15s lower (gross generalization).

Years ago I mixed sound. One bass player in particular had a very nice sound. His entire rig consisted of a generic power amp, a Furman PL3 parametric and a single 15 cab with no mid or tweet. That single 15 however was a JBL E130, which I think goes to 6kHz. I guess you would say it had a fast transit time. The E130 does not have the extended bottom end of other 15s but it sounded fine to me.

An alternate approach to the 15 with extended frequency response is a 15 with a deep low end in a properly sized and ported cabinet, in combination with a high-power direct radiating midrange driver, 6", 8", something like that. That will have the frequency response to provide the fast transit time. Unfortunately, I don't know of a traditional bass cabinet that uses that arrangement. Usually it is a 15 and some horn tweeter.
 
#53
JimmyM said:
I use one since I discovered that there are 15" cabs I actually like. But I also use a 12" and 10"s occasionally as well, so I guess I like all speakers.
Click to expand...

I agree, I like 10's, 12's, and 15's too. Depending on the size of the stage I either use my two Aguilar GS112 cabs, or my Bergantino HT210 and HT115 cabs. I've used my HT115 on quite a few small stage/low volume gigs. IMO the HT115 has nice midrange bark, a solid low end, and smooth sounding highs. When I use the HT210/HT115 together IMO they sound fantastic.
 
#54
I'm a user of 15's by choice. I've tried everything and went back to 15's and tubes. I've come to realize I lack the ability to describe what the heck I'm hearing, but I like the combination. Full, not too edgy, enough whomp to feel the bass yet cuts nicely live. I wonder; it is just the simplicity that makes it work?

I am apt to build a 3015 based cab one of these days, they sure look to be winners!
 
#55
I like my tens better than my 15 cab but I've gigged my 15"cab some and used it at lots of jams and it is a very good sounding cab on it's own.Mine's a Dr Bass RX115 with a Kappalite 3015 and an upgraded Selenium tweeter.It has decent mids and a very good low end,a very tight sounding cab.I've played it pretty loud and have never had it sound like it was close to breaking up or farting out.That's true of most of Marc Serios cabs.When put under my 310 cab the rig just sounds huge and doesn't get boomy at all.I think a pair of the 15 cabs like mine would make a great rock rig.
 
#57
C'thulhu said:
I always like 4x10" cabs for in metal music.
Punchy, articulated attack, interesting low-end, can handle overdrive/distortion very well.

But now I'm starting a jazz band, and learning how to play jazz.
Now I'm gonna need a proper amp for that in the near future, and someone adviced that a something with a single 15" is the perfect thing.

I always want the ideal gear for the job.

So, does anyone have suggestions?
Is a single 15" ideal for jazz.

Also: what band?

I already favor Ashdown, and most say they give the warmest sound.
Click to expand...

A single 15 is perfect for anything it sounds good in.

Ambiguous but true.

:D

Joe.
 
#59
15's have always been my favorite speaker size. I just love the deep warm lows from two 15's. Long ago I played an SVT through 2 Ampeg 215 W boxes and to me it was sonic bliss but now I just couldn't handle hauling all that weight around. Of course I also like smaller boxes with 12's for light carry and practice and I know that 10's have their place as well but.... 15's will always occupy a special place in my heart and my next stack will probably have 2 lightweight single 15 cabs.

George
 
#60
JimmyM said:
I use one since I discovered that there are 15" cabs I actually like. But I also use a 12" and 10"s occasionally as well, so I guess I like all speakers.
Click to expand...

Bass_Pounder said:
I like all speaker sizes too.

My arsenal includes 18's, 15's, 12's, and 10's
Click to expand...

Might be just mythology, but I thought that 10's and 15's were acoustically best for bass and that even number speakers, like 12's were...not? Had an Acoustic 18' reverse mounted cab decades ago that was louder in the parking lot than on stage.

Anyone else think multiples of 5's are better for bass?
 

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