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why 10s for bass?

#21
I prefer 12's, but it wasn't until recently that you could find them for bass. Back in the day I used 2X15's, but I had a Vox cab with 4X12's and that was a great tone.

I think the 4X10 thing is a direct throwback to the Bassman, which is more popular with guitarists, and the SVT. In both cases they wanted to get a less muddy tone that from a 15" speaker. And having more speakers means it could handle more power.

But amps, speakers, and basses have changed. I find 12's give a great growl, and sound bigger than 10's while still being punchy. I prefer full range PA speakers over ones made for bass.

I had a GK-800RB years ago with 2X12" and 1X18 cabs. That was just perfect.

I'm going to sell my Mesa 4X10 cab and get a 2X12.
 
#25
SGD Lutherie said:
I prefer 12's, but it wasn't until recently that you could find them for bass.
Click to expand...

Well, there was the Fender Bassman 2x12 until the late '60s. Then the Music Man 212RH from around 1974 until they finally went belly-up around 1984 or so. And there was the Marshall Major and Jack Bruce's (et. al.) 4x12 cabinets. But, yeah, between the mid 80's and the late '90s there wasn't much. But SWR and Eden have both had 2x12 cabinets for a long time.

jte
 
#26
When I used to play bigger venues I used to use an 800RB with 2 2x15 cabs biamped. Sounded awesome and was exactly the tone I was looking for. I stopped playing for a while and I noticed that it seems that everyone is using tens now.

I have recently been in several rehearsal studios where they had 4x10 cabs, some had 2 some just had one.

I don't like the sound of the tens at all.

I now just play through a 2x15 when I gig out. For me the 15s are my sound, the 10s don't cut it for me.
 
#28
behemecoytl said:
it seems like 10inch speakers are the most popular size for bass speakers right now, while it 12inch speakers are among the most popular for guitar... this seems counterintuitive to me, although I know that bigger is not necessarily better for bass.

what is it about 10inch speakers that makes them good for the low end?
Click to expand...

Believe it or not a 4X10 or 8X10 cab will "usually" have a lower (closer to 20Hz) freq response than a cab with 12" or 15" inch speakers. Also, 4X10 will usually have higher power handling than say a 2X12 or 2X15. Another thing, and this is just my opinion, 10s seem (to me) to have more punch or faster response if you will.
 
#29
JTE said:
Well, there was the Fender Bassman 2x12 until the late '60s. Then the Music Man 212RH from around 1974 until they finally went belly-up around 1984 or so. And there was the Marshall Major and Jack Bruce's (et. al.) 4x12 cabinets. But, yeah, between the mid 80's and the late '90s there wasn't much. But SWR and Eden have both had 2x12 cabinets for a long time.
Click to expand...

Yeah my Vox was from the late 60's. It was a great cab. My GK had vintage voiced Celestions in it, which weren't the best for bass, but it worked well in a bi-amp setup.

mpm32 said:
When I used to play bigger venues I used to use an 800RB with 2 2x15 cabs biamped. Sounded awesome and was exactly the tone I was looking for. I stopped playing for a while and I noticed that it seems that everyone is using tens now.
Click to expand...

Why would you bi-amp and run the high end though 15's? I'd rather do 2X15 for the low amp and 2X12 or 4X12 for the high amp. You are wasting all that big cone sending just the high end though it.

I like 15's as well. I've had two old EV 15's sitting around since the 80's. I've been meaning to do something with them.
 
#33
That has more to do with the cabinet size than the driver. Or else you would see big PA cabs loaded with 10's. But you don't, do you? Woofers have always been larger, and there's a reason for that.

My 15" and 18" cabs went down much lower than my 4X10 cab. The 12's have a deeper tone as well. A 2X12 cab will have more low end than a 2X10 cab since it's larger.

10's might go down low, but not at the same SPL as larger drivers.

Also, you can't hear 20Hz anyway.
 
#34
For many years I have been using 2x10 but am now considering 1x12".
I haven't found the right drive unit yet tho ( one that's real quick and has a wide enough frequency response...).So it looks that for the time being I'll stick with my 2x2x10 set up...
 
#35
Let's take a look at some specs of speakers. Just for the heck of it I decided to go to Carvin's website. That way there would be a smaller number of speaker choices.

For the 10", Freq. Response: 60-5k (200W)

For the 12" we have: Frequency Response 50 - 4.5k (300W)

For the 15" we have 38 - 3.5k (400W)

For the neo 15" 35 - 3K (600W)

For the neo 18" we have: 30-2kHz (800W)

So which one gets closer to 20Hz? The 18. But between the 10 and 12 the 12 wins.

Also look at the power handing on each speaker.

I don't know where this myth got started, but it's just a myth.

You can and do get good low end response with 10's in the right cab, but 12's will go lower.

So a 4X12 will handle more power and go lower than a 4x10.
 
#38
I have a feeling 10's are popular because a lot of players don't like a lot of the lower octave 30-60hz. Now this is TOTALLY cool, because that can swamp a lot of mixes - but what people call 'mud' or 'throw' or 'hitting people in the back of the room' --- , thats bass! It collects in the corners, creates standing waves and does all sorts of weird things. You may or may not want much of that in the mix.

If you want high efficiency reproduction of those freqs decent 15's or 18's are the way to go in standard director cabs imo. I'm not even sure if there is a single 10 driver than is 99-100db sensitivity in the midbass area.

What PA systems use 10's for low end, other than a coffee shop one?

My 3015LF _ mid cab is fast and punchy. Maybe not quite as much as the 210 I have. But not slow at all.

mutliple 10's generally good for high efficiency midbass, bad for low bass.

my2 cents.
 
#39
You think this has something to do with the way the bass player/bass' role has evolved within the whole band concept? Me thinks that traditionally, the bass player (and the drummer) was there to lay the grove and let this musical rhythm flow down that groove. The rest of the musicians would now and then dip their toes in this flowing rhythm as they wish. Regardless, the constant thing was the groove. Somewhere down the road the bass solo evolved, and like any of the other instruments that took center stage, it had to cut through the mix to be heard. That still doesn't explain why guitarists look for 12-inchers, which are normally associated with the lower end of the spectrum (Maybe they've always wanted to be bass players and this was the closest they could get to being one?). :smug:

Okay, back to work. :crying:
 

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