Xsonics 212CF and the 210CF – I met up with Nick recently and tried out these two cabs. He let me BLAST BOTH and play whatever the heck I wanted in his basement. Nick was a great host and enjoyed hearing what a 5 string sounded like through them.
Here are my FIRST impressions of both cabs – I have not used them in a gigging situation yet and I tested both cabs with my Carvin BX1200 heads and the same settings on them. Bass was a Spector Euro 5LX. Nothing was boosted; I tried to keep the Carvin heads as neutral as possible so I could hear what the cabs could do. Please keep in mind that what I report here should not constitute as the “gospel” and that my ears hear differently than everyone else’s.
kringle77 had said the 212CF hit like a hammer – it definitely does. The first thing that came to mind was Schroeder cabs. This is very similar to a Schroeder cabinet, HOWEVER, the 212CF and 210CF both were more articulate and minor EQ changes caused an actual tone change. The midrange was not nasally or hollow sounding either. I owned a Schroeder 212R for a few days and it was awful for my uses. Midrange bump on it was nuts, little to no articulation and for some reason, I could cut through in band situation. I could not EQ that cabinet to save my life.
Using distortion (VT Bass/Xotic X-Blender) heavy with overdrive and the character knob nearly all the way right) on the 212CF and 210CF resulted in a VERY wicked distortion tone. The pick attack definitely came through and both cabs were INSANELY loud when I did that. It was like a completely different character came out at that point. I would describe it as if the cabinet had a power tube section and distortion tone I use became edgier and wilder. It was pretty darn cool. I could see either box cutting through Marshall full stacks with ease. Not just one 412, but TWO! I am serious on that one.
Standing the cabs vertical and horizontal – there was a definite tone difference. Coupling with the floor when horizontal resulted in more low end and sounded more articulate when vertical. More low end than most Schroeder cabs ever put out.
Dispersion – these cabs were crazy again! Sound was flying out at least 20 feet with lots of volume. I was amazed. All this talk about beaming with bass rigs on talkbass nowadays…..I barely heard any of that on these cabs. Maybe some of the highs were gone 20 feet out, the growly midrange content was still flying around though….
For a little fun, we ran my DNA 210 against the 210CF. Volume wise (despite the 97db sensitivity), the 210CF can get LOUD and play fine at crazy volumes. My DNA 210 did really well though, but the 210CF won here. The DNA 210 had more low end and was more polite sounding, more articulate. The 210CF is just a mean, growly, punch machine. For stage use, I still want to use my DNA cabs, but if you really want to cut through with ONE cabinet, Xsonic cabs are worth checking out.
Playing a 5 through the cab: I am not sure how much low end was actually coming out of the CF cabs with my B string. I think my DNA 210 had more low end. Currently though, I don’t use a lot low end from my cabs on stage. I typically roll off the lows below 150hz since I am always so close to the subwoofers at shows. I can already hear and feel the subs, so why blast my rig with low end if I can already hear/feel it from the PA? Have I tried the fEarful cabs? Nope. I have no idea what bass cabs can really do in the low end. In the horizontal position though, the cab had some good low end response. Lowest frequency? Don’t know.
Lastly, the 210CF and 212CF sounded pretty much the same. The high end off the 210CF (no tweeter) had a higher crossover point and sounded better to me. The 212CF had a lower crossover point which resulting in less articulation from the speaker. But, when I turned the tweeter up a little more on the 212CF, the high end was better and worked for me. There was definitely an output change between the cabs and I could definitely hear more low end on the 212CF.
That’s all I know for right now. Nick had offered to have me try out his cabs at a show in the future and I WILL take him up on that. That is truly the only way to know for sure what the cabs can do.
I'd guess with the two speakers stuffed in a smaller box (non-iso, maybe iso, too... I dunno) gives it some extra meat down low in addition to the various other things going on to help that out. Very much nails the "do more with less (volume)" thing it seems.
The whole ear level thing is the only drawback to some of these small cab designs. It's a good trade though. If you are playing in a club with a good crowd, you are going to need your sound running through the pa to be heard. Im saying just having alittle bit in pa tops just for some clarity. My guitar player and I use amps live and use the pa just enough to give out sound some air and get it out into the audience. Never use the subs. Thats for the kick drum.
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