Cabs can totally change the sound of your amp

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Shiny_Surface

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Yes I realize I'm stating the obvious. :lol: :LOL:

You owe it to yourself to have differently constructed cabs when you first get an amp and are trying it out to see if it's a keeper or not. If you only have one cab and get a new amp and don't like it, it could just be that the cab you have didn't match up well with it. :)

This was reinforced over the weekend last Sunday when I had the house to myself and was able to turn my amps up loud and plug them into different cabs that were the polar opposite of each other. A Mesa Roadking 4x12 and a Splawn 4x12 which is a Marshall copy basically.

An overbuilt, oversized cab like the Roadking is pretty dark and throws out a real strong bass repsonse. If you hook up a dark amp with a strong bass to that cab, the cab will act like a bass multiplier and make the amp sound really bassy.

But, the Roadking cab seems to compliment more trebly amps perfectly and add some beef to the tone! When I hooked up my JVM410 to it, it beefed it up big time. :thumbsup:

The Peavey 6505+ also sounds great through the Roadking cab, helping to counter the Peavey's strong treble and add thickness to the tone.

The Splawn 4x12 "breathes" more, I can hear the knock and woodiness from the cab. It sounds more balanced and I tend to prefer Marshall style cabs these days. No more buying overbuilt, oversized cabs for me. The Roadking is a unique design though and different sounding so it's nice to have around as an alternative.

Also I think 2x12 cabs (at least the ones I have) do a great job of taming a bass heavy amp and making it sound more balanced.

On the other hand I try to avoid amps these days that only sound good through a specific cab design/speakers (front loaded for instance). It basically locks you in to having to purchase a cab along with the amp to hear the amp sound it's best. Not a big deal if the amp is a keeper, but if you sell it you still have the cab which might sound like poo with your other amps. :lol: :LOL:

I like amps that are more "forgiving" and can sound good through a variety of common and easy to acquire cabinet designs for maximum flexibility.

EDIT: Just wanted to clarify that the Roadking 4x12 sounds different than the standard Mesa oversized! Oversized cabs don't all sound the same even from the same manufacturer. :lol: :LOL:
 
obvious? yes. obviously overlooked? to a point. players seem to spend a lot of time comparing heads and even speakers.. but don't seem to spend time researching cab construction and design imho.
i scrounged enough 13 ply birch from a prop box i helped re-build to build several 2x12 open back cabs. i just need to spend some time looking at box design along with speaker selection before i decide the best design for the speakers i have. even though design for an open back cab is less critical than a closed back.. there are still enough variables to make choosing the right design a challenge.
i have three cabs i'd like to build this winter to make use of some raw speakers i have sitting around.. so i've been giving the topic some thought prior to drawing up anything on paper.
 
i personally hate oversized cabinets all-together - they give a woofyness i dislike that sounds very displeasing. standard 29x29 or 30x31 cabinets are my favorite as far as best all round.

as far as cabinet construction goes i'd be here all day writing a thread that no-one would probably care about reading in the mechanics involved and why i choose what i choose - because it all comes down to personal taste.

as for the speakers - i believe more and more people are realizing they are a big variable in the tone you can get out of an amplifier. you cant play one without the other, and it makes sense to match up each one as good as possible to your own ears. only makes playing through both of them more enjoyable :)
 
I agree 100% percent, never understood dismissing an amp while only having one cab to demo it with.
 
Does anyone find matching makers helps ie. Marshall head and cab, Mesa head and cab, I'm sort of looking for a 4x12 for my Carvin and was wondering about the Carvin cabs. I run an Avatar 2x12 right now and I get a ton of different tones depending on where I stand, all within about 20', so when I compare heads I try to stand in the same spot. I'm sort of hoping a 4x12 has better overlap of the sound waves.
 
glpg80":2badnwhr said:
i personally hate oversized cabinets all-together - they give a woofyness i dislike that sounds very displeasing. standard 29x29 or 30x31 cabinets are my favorite as far as best all round.

as far as cabinet construction goes i'd be here all day writing a thread that no-one would probably care about reading in the mechanics involved and why i choose what i choose - because it all comes down to personal taste.
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I felt the same way, until I tried the Mills afterburner. No woof, just bark :lol: :LOL:

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on cab construction. Go ahead or PM me :thumbsup:
 
I have been preaching this point for over a year now.....

I like dark amps with Front loaded cabs(adds more presence to it)....and rear loaded darker cabs with Bright amps....It seems to balance out the frequency spectrum.
 
i am pulling the fkn hair out of my head trying to figure out,which cab? exactly what you guys are talking about, but you said dark head dark cab, not so good, I have had basson cabs for 8 yrs some amps sounds stellar thru em, not my diezels they are being choked! do you consider them bass heavy amps? herbert and vh4? also a splawn nitro.... I just borrowed a splawn cab bb/sb pattern and yes YES! you can hear the wood it was like the dam diezel was free to breath, it was warmer, tighter, and the guy next to me said it made my playing cleaner sounding. But then there are the MARSHALL CAB haters, that are fkn confusing me, go w/ mills, go with madison, go with stoneage, I cant even hear them in person,Ive been digging on Almighty cabs since we are playin out heavy, they sound appealing, and look to be built like tanks, again who has played thru it, and do you have to spend 1200 bucks to get a nice cab? $593 for an almighty, splawn is 750.00.... here is link, take a look at cabs n give me your honest opinion, tnx in advanced cj

http://best-tronics.com/guitar-cable/amc.aspx
 
Yep, cabs and speakers can be HUGE in the grand scheme of things.

This is one reason I'm looking forward to setting up the woodshop. I'd like to try out some non-standard cab designs as well as slight variations on traditional cabs.
 
Most people sadly do not give cabinets the attention they deserve. I am glad you found what you are looking for. Most people who play through a top rate cab (And there are several great cab makers out there.) never go back. It is like going from black and white TV to a high def 42 in. plasma screen. No comparison. Rock on.

Daniel
Port City Amps
 
thegame":3id3l6ib said:
glpg80":3id3l6ib said:
i personally hate oversized cabinets all-together - they give a woofyness i dislike that sounds very displeasing. standard 29x29 or 30x31 cabinets are my favorite as far as best all round.

as far as cabinet construction goes i'd be here all day writing a thread that no-one would probably care about reading in the mechanics involved and why i choose what i choose - because it all comes down to personal taste.
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I felt the same way, until I tried the Mills afterburner. No woof, just bark :lol: :LOL:

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on cab construction. Go ahead or PM me :thumbsup:
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makes me want to give a mills cabinet a try then. :thumbsup: the internal mix of both channel and ported baffle design seems like it could help with phasing, but i wasnt sure it was all hype. i tried to ask the owner, but he just pointed me to the Q&A section of his site which i checked before hand.

seems alot of companies are doing that now. how hard is it to answer a few questions? :confused:

you have four 12" diameter speakers in a closed box - cube's need to be well matched. too large and the speakers cant move the air efficiently. too little and they cant breathe enough. there are resonate frequencies involved with the cabinet itself as well and it involves a matched volume/seaker/design all at the same time. as soon as you start throwing variables like speaker distortion, it throws all of this out the window. it really comes down to what people prefer tone-wise. for me, theres a magic spot for each cabinet and and amplifier. the speakers have no problem moving the cu inches of air internally at that volume and thats where it gets really easy to play AND sounds amazing as well.

alot of the methods put into subwoofer boxes apply here as well, only there is a wider frequency spectrum that rolls off around 6kHz with guitar cabinets.

people who love ported cabinets need to realize that the cabinets need to be tuned to the cubic inches of the cabinet minus the speakers and also the frequency you want to maximize. i have not seen a single cabinet company that makes ported cabinets that has done this other than genz-benz and i believe the randall lynch ported cabinet. theres a right way and a wrong way, thats why i just prefer a solid sealed speaker cabinet over a ported cabinet. it just gets to a point where simplicity works well enough for me because of that volume level description i mentioned earlier.

as far as the mechanical engineering aspect goes - there is a ton of math here. its a whole different ballgame than designing amplifiers. mills cabinets understands this but i dislike their cabinet design practices and their prices involved. splawn cabinets, to me for the price, just seem the best all round bang for the buck for quality. im not going to dis a cabinet company that i have not played on a forum, but from the pictures there are a few designs i could do better on my own. just saying there is alot to be learned from subwoofer enclosures and porting practices. porting is more efficient, however its a science no-one in guitar cabinets use because of the many speakers available. you would have to retune for each speaker type change.

i will PM you if you want more info. like i said i dont take pleasure in marking the negatives of a companies in a public forum. just the facts that i have learned from doing car audio for many years and also training/selling it for 4 years as well. hope this info has been somewhat informational - if not im sorry :dunno: :thumbsup:
 
The VHT Fatbottom totally changed my opinion of my 5152. I liked it fine before but when I hooked that cab up.... Holy fuck! I can't get enough of it. Hugh difference!
 
dont want to hyjack the thread, but im sick of seeing that photo and hearning about A roid and the new york steroids!

this cabinet info, is like long overlooked.... where the price actually should be? splawn 750.00 fair.... 1200-1700 bucks a cabinet????
I was looking at the new marshall mustaine cabs, they look amazing, again 1200$. and then 4-500 for a road case for each, I dont just sit in my bedroom, and my two cabs now look like an angry pitbull got at them.... should have had roadcases for them.

so, if you build a baffle like mills n stick it in a marshall,or whatever cabinet... how does that change everything?
 
Gainfreak":etgkor40 said:
danyeo":etgkor40 said:
BIGTIME
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:yes:


I kind of figured that Id find Scott,Danny and Dave in this thread!!! :rock:
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Dave better have a massive chain securing that grail Marshall cab of his is all I am going to say..................BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D

It was very eye opening listening to the Fortin Cali through that basic Marshall cab and then plugging into Dave's vintage cab, that amp went from sounding great to incredible :yes:

I am hoping for good results with the CAE with v30s I have coming today, that cab is very well built and John even recesses the handles flush with the cab wood.
 
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