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Worst Bass Cab You Have Played Through?
- Thread starter PolkaHero
- Start date
Have you ever tried the tc RS112? That's the best sounding single 12 cab I've used. Co-axial eminence driver with a 40 watt eminence horn screwed to the back of the speaker magnet. Nice lows and zingy highs with a somewhat low power rating of 200 watts. Which if you think about it is actually decent for a single non neo 12.
My first, which was a very used Kasino 2x15 large enough to have been the shipping box for the UN building. Maybe because I powered it with a Bassman 50 head? Once almost killed me on stairs.
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
That's it. That's the worst one. I had to play through one of those that was provided as backline at the Hot Tin Roof in Martha's Vineyard every Sunday and Monday over a whole summer. Sundays were supposed to be a reggae gig, which was an utter joke with that cabinet.
The Fender 412 Pyramid cabinet; I've never heard or played through one. Everyone seems to hate them. But why, specifically?
What was the design goal? A quasi-horn? Efficiency? Focusing?
I hear people saying they are terrible, but how?
Too middy? Not enough mids? Beamy? No bottom? What is it?
I'd just like to understand just what makes them so bad rather than just "It sucks" or whatever.
What was the design goal? A quasi-horn? Efficiency? Focusing?
I hear people saying they are terrible, but how?
Too middy? Not enough mids? Beamy? No bottom? What is it?
I'd just like to understand just what makes them so bad rather than just "It sucks" or whatever.
I have it on authoritative background that these are the original design calculations that Fender CBS did as the modeling foundation for that cabinet.
It's the Trapezoid Scheme.
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
I have it on authoritative background that these are the original design calculations that Fender CBS did as the modeling foundation for that cabinet.
View attachment 5426681
It's the Trapezoid Scheme.
Well, that didn't really work out as planned!
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
Really weak sound with no presence or low end. Doesn't cut through a mix, doesn't support the sound, it's just yecch.
It's the Trapezoid Scheme.
great band name
So no one has chimed in about the isovent? Or will that get us all kicked off?
This has been discussed here on TB a few times. Here's a summary as I recall it: It was a Marketing Department design that claimed the speakers firing inward toward each other somehow "concentrates" the bass frequencies and thereby makes "more" bass by virtue of "squishing" all those sound-waves together. ...And as a side benefit you get better dispersion of all frequencies by firing them in different directions. It not only didn't work (one of the main reasons was likely the lack of any appreciable internal cabinet volume BEHIND the speakers and baffleboard)... The "pyramid" baffle ALSO tended to separate/come loose at the seams and start buzzing, which IIRC was very difficult to remedy or patch because the back of the box was integral to the sides and nothing was removable to access anything (very well) to try to glue it back together. That's about the sum of it. ...I think.
Oh the Isovent! Tee hee hee!
Remember these ridiculously silly Ampeg cabinets that weighed about 700 pounds?
They had painted enclosures that scratched and flaked if you scraped it with your fingernails, had NO mids at all, and were unbelievably inefficient. Like 95-96db.
Not to mention how laughably ridiculous the 8" thick painted mdf looks (I know its actually plywood, but does it really matter?) combined with those giant plastic kids-toy edges and corners that make it look like it was designed by the Pontiac Aztec team. And that giant chrome zombie eye logo! Get outta here!
I'd take a Fender pyramid ANY DAY over this:
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There is a following for the 60’s gray guitar amps, including the models where you could tuck the head into the speaker cab for transport. I think it had something to do with the transformers used.
All these years I thought it was just my novice ears perplexed by that TNT.
More recently I played a gig using some Roland Cube. It was crisp, hard, HiFi when the music called for warm thump.
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
I had an orange Roland Cube bass amp back in the 80s. I loved it. I had to glue the speaker magnet back onto the frame once, but it really sounded OK and was portable. I made the mistake of leaving it in my car overnight. It was gone the next morning, despite the fact that it was well covered.
Ugh agreed on the Carvin R heads and red eye cabs. Sounded ok on their own, completely disappeared in a band / club setting.
And the dreaded Fender BXR 100 or whatever. Prohibitively heavy absolutely the worst tone I’ve ever had.
And the dreaded Fender BXR 100 or whatever. Prohibitively heavy absolutely the worst tone I’ve ever had.
