Will a scoop bin work?

[Joe P]

...they are "long throw" cabinets...

That's the first thing that I thought about! I used those with several bands in the seventies and early eighties (I was an audio tech); no thump on the dance floor, but back 30-feet-or-so and beyond they did the job pretty well!

For gigging, IMHO, I'd avoid using P.A. cabinets for your stage sound and/or ambient sound for the same reasons...

Wha..? I use a JBL JRX125 cab for my bass rig, and it sounds great all over the stage!

The '125 has two fifteens, and a 1"-throat horn. It sounds super! ..No earth-shaking sub-lows, but you don't necesarily want those up on stage anyway - it sure barks-out everything else though, I'll tell ya! If I put'er in the back corner of the stage, elevate it a little, and angle-in to about 45°, every musician gets great, clear, authorative bass everywhere on the stage. Of course the GK700RB II has something to do with all that too.

Joe

 

[AGCurry]

Back in '73 I had a pair of JBL scoops. I think the horn length was 11 feet. They worked pretty good for bass, but another bassist in town (Lawrence KS) had the 15-foot model with TWO drivers, and that one was GREAT. I wouldn't want to have to shlep it around, though. You're talking quite a bit bigger than an SVT!

 

[billfitzmaurice]

no thump on the dance floor, but back 30-feet-or-so and beyond they did the job pretty well!

True, but that was caused by the rooms, not the cabs. Sound cannot magically erupt 30 feet from the source, but room acoustics can make it seem that way.

 

[maskman1980]

I'll bet you'll find that your band mates on stage wonder what happened to your sound if you do...they are "long throw" cabinets, sound better the farther away you get from them, and are definately not close to near field fidelity in the "got to be heard onstage" context.

For gigging, IMHO, I'd avoid using P.A. cabinets for your stage sound and/or ambient sound for the same reasons. Yes, the audience will hear it fine, but you and your bandmates on stage won't...I tried this many years ago in two different band contexts on the theory that all that was right with my sound would be better if my stage sound, using the same P.A cabinet(s) was the "same" as the P.A. mix sound, since "that's what the audience is hearing, anyway..."---very bad call on my part, and almost caused me to be aced out of a band about 12 years ago.

RC a/k/a "notrt"

Bass scoop bins are not long throw. Though In groups of four and up will achieve longer throw.

 

[maskman1980]

Tonight there will be a jamsession at the place where i do the sound. I promised the organiser i would bring my bass amp. Problem is i did not build the speaker yet. They have some scoop bins for bass speakers in their PA-system. Would it sound OK if i used one of them as speaker for my amp? i know this is technically possible but i wonder if it sounds any good. Is this an emergency solution only or will it be a different but equally good solution compared to a normall bass cab?

I now this is old but... bass scoops can and are used for bass cabs. depending on the design of scoop and what one wants to achieve. J bin styles are common for bass instrument use.

 

[agedhorse]

Bass scoop bins are not long throw. Though In groups of four and up will achieve longer throw.

No, in groups of 4 the sensitivity increases and the low frequency cutoff slides down a little.

The tradeoff when trying to use full range is that the already wonky midrange response will get even more wonky.

Bill Fitzmaurice is 100% correct
In his description.

 

[agedhorse]

I now this is old but... bass scoops can and are used for bass cabs. depending on the design of scoop and what one wants to achieve. J bin styles are common for bass instrument use.

They are extremely uncommon for bass instrument amplification, and have been for at least 3 decades. Not sure where you are getting your info but it’s horribly out of date.

 

[walterw]

They are extremely uncommon for bass instrument amplification, and have been for at least 3 decades.

bass scoops made sense back when speakers were fragile and amps were weak, right? you had to squeeze as much SPL as you could out of limited power so they made the box super-big and efficient

 

[Geri O]

Woooo, blast from the past…..

Somewhere in the 80s, our band hired a sound guy who wanted to bring his rig out with us. Had his own truck and everything….

Even back then, my jaw dropped the first time I saw his “rig”. An 18” Scoop and an 18 “W” bin on each side. Each speaker with its own DC300 driving it bridged. And some funny 2-way full-range cabs for tops. “Crossed over” with a TDM something, later with a newer Ashly something. Mixed with a Soundcraft 800B. I can’t believe I remember all of this….

It was loud, but we were very seldom ever told to “turn down”. Seems like all the club owners liked our sound and him. He stayed with us for 3-4 years.

Unfortunately for us, he eventually wised up and found a much better paying, much easier unrelated job…. Long sigh, back to my pair of Peavey SP1s and pair of split-version SP1s. Powered by 4 Peavey silver-handled CS800s….