Why aren't there more 2x10 + 18 cabinets?

[Al Kraft]

All is lost.

Precisely what I used to yell after typing for 3 hours and then dropping the box full of cards on my way over to the computer center.

 

[agedhorse]

Precisely what I used to yell after typing for 3 hours and then dropping the box full of cards on my way over to the computer center.

Didn't you draw a diagonal line across the top of the deck, and include a sequence number incremented by 10's so you could add cards as needed between the 10's?

 

[Al Kraft]

Didn't you draw a diagonal line across the top of the deck, and include a sequence number incremented by 10's so you could add cards as needed between the 10's?

I did the second thing, but regrettably not the first...and some of my programs were so bad on the first run that I should have incremented the card count by 100's and not 10's...of course the "go to" command always worked in those extreme cases where 9 more lines weren't enough. I liked to tell myself that I was a pioneer in modular programming, having a core program and using sub-routines long before they were actually in vogue!

 

[agedhorse]

I did the second thing, but regrettably not the first...and some of my programs were so bad on the first run that I should have incremented the card count by 100's and not 10's...of course the "go to" command always worked in those extreme cases where 9 more lines weren't enough. I liked to tell myself that I was a pioneer in modular programming, having a core program and using sub-routines long before they were actually in vogue!

It's been so long since I've even thought about Fortran, or Basic, or the language I used most (early HPL and HPGL). I stopped dealing with code about 30, maybe 35 years ago I recon. Can't say that I miss those days, they pretty much sucked for a guy rooted in hardware

 

[JW56789]

These biamp cabinets in their day were the end result of a trend in the 70's where IF you wanted more horsepower than the SVT, the big Sunns, or the Acoustics, there were no amps. These were also the days when folded horn 18's roamed the Earth, most bass cabs had 15's, and 2 or 4-10's hadn't been thought of.

So guys began to run bi-amp: Get a preamp (back then, IVP's and the like), set it atop a commercial power amp (DC300's LOTS of CS800's, and others) and some pair of cabinets (sometimes PA bins, assorted bass guitar bins) and have at it. Some of these big rigs sounded great, and a lot of them were fairly iffy, and ALL of them were heavy and hard to move. Remember, built-in passive crossovers were only good for home hi-fi back then, bass cabinet design was not taken very seriously for players, and only a few companies like JBL built serious high power speakers.

Peavey had the idea to build these 1820's and 3620's and sell them with an amp (somebody help me remember this amp) that was essentially one of their bass preamps united with a CS800 in one chassis. This was a bitch to move, but it really moved some air, was smaller than separate components, and in the right hands sounded just fine.

Fast forward to today, with lightweight, stressed construction cabinets, neo speakers, and 1000 watt amps that fit in a cigar box, and how styles and preferences change over time as well as the technology, the market has just moved away from this being a choice for most guys. The choices for bass amps now vs. when I started in the 70's is as big a jump as a DC3 to a Boeing Dreamliner. If you'd have told me then that a Genzler rig with 2 of those 12" Bass Arrays would eat my old Acoustic for lunch, I'd have never believed it.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Yet, there is this limited edition from Eden at 110 pounds

That's a 15" and two 10" speakers, not an 18" speaker. It's 50 kg. and has tilt-back casters. They also brought back out a limited edition 215 cabinet weighing in at 47.45 kg.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Fashion and technology. Everything is getting smaller and lighter these days. And in most cases, better, too.

 

[chris_b]

I used 18's, 115's, 215's and multiple 412's back in the day. In my experience the only value in a cab is what it sounds like. My sound is far better these days with my 2 "super" 112's than it ever was with my Peavey BW 215, Fender Dual Showman 215 or Ampeg 215.

When small becomes good to the point it overtakes big in sound quality, that's when I stop thinking about how we did it in the "old days".

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

When small becomes good to the point it overtakes big in sound quality, that's when I stop thinking about how we did it in the "old days".

Amen.

 

[Mike Marshall]

I use a single 18 you can see by the picture the size of the cabinet. I use this for large stages outside because it maintains tone and volume and doesn't sag at all and it throws sound like nothing else. For clubs it's too overpowering I normally use a Small Bag End 15 and that's all that is needed.

 

[brianrost]

Back in the day, Peavey made a single cabinet that featured two 10" Scorpion speakers and an 18" Black Widow woofer. Wonder why this didn't take off.

93 pounds is the reason

 

[SteveCS]

I had the smaller Peavey 1516 many years ago. Now I have a single Genz-Benz 12, which is better balanced, detailed, louder, significantly lighter and never farts. IMHO the requirement for monstrous cabs no longer exists, and good riddance...
YMMV

 

[johnpbass]

I still have a couple of these gems that I keep in my desk drawer as a reminder of how far we've come!
I also included a couple of other items of historical significance.
EDIT: The "onward and Upward" pen also made it into the shot! LOL!

 

[redneck2wild]

this was my main cab back in the day. beast to move to and fro gigs, i'll tell ya

I had a 3620 in the 80s along with a Peavey Max 800 Amp.

...

Peavey had the idea to build these 1820's and 3620's and sell them with an amp (somebody help me remember this amp) that was essentially one of their bass preamps united with a CS800 in one chassis. This was a bitch to move, but it really moved some air, was smaller than separate components, and in the right hands sounded just fine.
...

There is a manual and images of that massively heavy Max amp on this page:
Invalid Link Removed
The power section was basically a CS800.

I needed it to match the volume of 2 guitarists that each had full Marshall stacks.

 

[csc2048b]

Peavey also made a Bass cabinet with 2 18's and 2 10's (the 3620).

i bet that would sound great even without the 10s

 

[redneck2wild]

i bet that would sound great even without the 10s

The 3620 cab sounded good when Bi-amped with a Max 800.
Bi-amping allowed you to blend the 10s with 18s and change the crossover point.
It was lacking if you used the built-in crossover with a single power amp though.
The built-in passive crossover was 500 Hz (and seemed to eat power).
I believe the Bi-amp jacks on the back bypassed the crossover.

 

[morgan138]

I've owned or been in long-running bands with both the Peavey 1820 and 3620 cabs, and I'll take an educated guess and say they didn't take off because:

1. They were really heavy and bulky. The small one was harder to move than a normal 4x10 or 2x15, the big one was worse than an 8x10 and literally the most massive cab I've ever had to schlep around.
   
2. They didn't actually sound very good, especially considering #1. The 18s had nicer treble than the 10s, which were a clangy mess. Both cabs sounded best just running the 18(s) full range and ignoring the 10s, because when you used the crossover it would muffle the high frequencies and replace them with a gross boxy midrange.
3. They didn't have much low end either. The 1820 would fart out pretty easily at loud rock band levels, and the 3620 didn't go particularly deep considering how huge it was.

I love all sorts of Peavey instruments and gear, but these cabs were a garbage design.

 

[ahc]

Cobol, Fortran, and ALC (Assembler) on Hollerith cards. When I moved to VM/CMS I thought I died and went to heaven.

To be slightly on topic, AudioKinesis (Duke LeJeune) makes a couple different 18" neo cabs. One with two 5" mids, one with a horn/compression driver and another configuration in the works. They're relatively small and light. And reportedly low and loud.

 

[morgan138]

i bet that would sound great even without the 10s

DING. This was the only way I ever got a decent sound out of either cab. Kind of round tone but not in a bad way, clear treble + upper midrange scoop + some low midrange girth + not much deep bass. The kind of tone you'd get out of an old 2x15 at 50% the weight!

Bi-amping allowed you to blend the 10s with 18s and change the crossover point.
It was lacking if you used the built-in crossover with a single power amp though.
The built-in passive crossover was 500 Hz (and seemed to eat power).
I believe the Bi-amp jacks on the back bypassed the crossover.

You're right about the jacks, and I admit I didn't really play around biamping it much because I didn't come across many biamp-capable heads.

That said, I vividly remember the 10s having noticeably less treble than the 18s when I tested them both separately, which seems like a bad sign in a bi-amp rig...

 

[redneck2wild]

...

You're right about the jacks, and I admit I didn't really play around biamping it much because I didn't come across many biamp-capable heads.

That said, I vividly remember the 10s having noticeably less treble than the 18s when I tested them both separately, which seems like a bad sign in a bi-amp rig
...

Using only the 18s (with the Bi-amp low jack) did sound better than using the passive crossover.
I sometimes used a tube screamer pedal in the Hi Send/Return Loop on the Peavey Max head to produce distortion in the 10s. When I did this, I also patched the Full Range Out to the Low Return for the clean signal to the 18s.