Laney 2x12" cab sounds bloated/congested

[Zado]

Hi everyone.
I have an old Laney (I guess an older GS212?) cab; it's an heavy AF, V30 loaded cab I used to use with my bands years ago.
It's a funny cab, very short height wise, like 40-45 cm, and almost as deep (possibly deepest cab I've ever played with). Closed back, 2 V30s, extremely solid. Laser directional, but very cool when mic'ed, especially for metal.
What's not to like? Well, after quite some time, yesterday I've decided to plug it again and jam with my orange TT, and for hell sake it sounded abysmal to say the least: sure, the TT's never been a super tight amp, but it was unusable with the neck pickup of my Schecter (Duncan 59), so congested it sounded basically muted when playing basic powerchords on the low E string in E standard... Sorta like the low end was so aboundant the speakers were overloaded and couldn't spit out the sound. Doomer than the Doomest Doom Metal and then some.

I've been playing with that cab for very long, with many amps, hell I'm attached to it, but I don't remember ever sounding this way. V30s should be anything but oooomphy like that!
An old friend of mine borrowed the cab in the past, might be that he removed the back panel and by doing that compromised something? Or is this a symptom of out of phase speakers or stuff like that? No idea, just asking. In any case, how can this be solved? Stuffing the cab with some foam might help?

Thanks everyone!

Btw looks similar to this one, but it's an older model, the jack plate has a mono/stereo selector.

 

[BeZo]

I Googled it to read some specs, and the Sweetwater page for it did not mention wood anywhere in the listing. It might not be made of solid birch.

Aside from that, you can tap a 9v battery to the speaker cable and make the speakers jump to make sure they are moving in the same direction. Touch the positive to the tip and the negative to the shaft and they should both push out. That will check to make sure they are in phase.

 

[Zado]

I Googled it to read some specs, and the Sweetwater page for it did not mention wood anywhere in the listing. It might not be made of solid birch.

Aside from that, you can tap a 9v battery to the speaker cable and make the speakers jump to make sure they are moving in the same direction. Touch the positive to the tip and the negative to the shaft and they should both push out. That will check to make sure they are in phase.

Thank for your reply, I recall Laney saying it was "marine plywood". Not sure what that means, but gotta give a try with the batteries. By any chance, is that the kind of behavior you should expect from out of phase speakers?

 

[Nigel]

Get a bag of pillow stuffing polyfil or the like and put it in the cab. That'll clean it up for metal tightness.

 

[Laputan Machine]

Pour some Ex-Lax in the jacks.

 

[EyesOfTheSouth!]

I feel that way about every short and deep 2x12 I’ve ever owned…..Mesa, Splawn, Zilla to name a few. I much prefer taller/shallower cabinets like the Bogner OS. Currently the only 2x12 I have is a Guitar Cabs Direct which is essentially the Bogner without the Dacron batting inside. That cab is a million times better than my previous Zilla Fatboy with the same speakers. YMMV

 

[tjnx]

Did you try the cab with other heads and the Orange with other cabs to confirm?

 

[Zado]

Get a bag of pillow stuffing polyfil or the like and put it in the cab. That'll clean it up for metal tightness.

It basically deletes the low end right? Sounds like an easy fix!

Pour some Ex-Lax in the jacks.

But it sounds like shit already :<

I feel that way about every short and deep 2x12 I’ve ever owned…..Mesa, Splawn, Zilla to name a few. I much prefer taller/shallower cabinets like the Bogner OS. Currently the only 2x12 I have is a Guitar Cabs Direct which is essentially the Bogner without the Dacron batting inside. That cab is a million times better than my previous Zilla Fatboy with the same speakers. YMMV

That's what I though was weird, the size is not far from Mesa or EVH cabs, and most are enthusiastic about those. Honestly I've never been been super unhappy about this cab too, at least with other amps (mostly Marshall based).

Did you try the cab with other heads and the Orange with other cabs to confirm?

I've yet to plug another amp with the Laney (I'm moving so I don't have all my stuff around), but I've played the TT with a Blackstar Artisan 2x12 w/ Greenbacks (it's a very tall and very thin cab), and an Orange PPC 212 and worked lika a charm. The Orange isn't far off the Laney size wise too, and sounded similar, just much cleaner, clearer and more articulate

 

[Nigel]

It basically deletes the low end right? Sounds like an easy fix!

Fuck no. It makes the cabinet seem larger than it is, if anything it enhances and perhaps extends the bass, reudces congestion/bloat, tightens, gives less internal reflection so you aren't hearing 6 different echoes of the backwave reflected back through the cone. the tone is "Purer" in the sense that there is more of what's coming foreward to you from the cone and less of what happens inside the cabinet. To me, it's more musical. Reinhold and I agree. Dave Friedman hates it because of what it does to resonance, and he's not wrong.

In your situation, I'd compell the experiment due to disgust with the current form. It's either that, or change speakers, or run it detuned, or take a panel off if it's convertible. I've got a private branded V-Boutique VCube 2x12 that's congested as fuck EVEN WITH batting. I pulled the panel and it's great now. Prolly gonna sell it though, or change it to a GB cab. It's just too fucking small for V30's! Maybe it I was playing 42's in E it would be okay...

 

[Zado]

Fuck no. It makes the cabinet seem larger than it is, if anything it enhances and perhaps extends the bass, reudces congestion/bloat, tightens, gives less internal reflection so you aren't hearing 6 different echoes of the backwave reflected back through the cone. the tone is "Purer" in the sense that there is more of what's coming foreward to you from the cone and less of what happens inside the cabinet. To me, it's more musical. Reinhold and I agree. Dave Friedman hates it because of what it does to resonance, and he's not wrong.

In your situation, I'd compell the experiment due to disgust with the current form. It's either that, or change speakers, or run it detuned, or take a panel off if it's convertible. I've got a private branded V-Boutique VCube 2x12 that's congested as fuck EVEN WITH batting. I pulled the panel and it's great now. Prolly gonna sell it though, or change it to a GB cab. It's just too fucking small for V30's! Maybe it I was playing 42's in E it would be okay...

Sounds amazing! Then it sorta reduces the resonance and puts the bass together! That's even better!
I'm not even sure what was the point of the resonance knob in the amps I had, other than keeping it at zero. I mean, It's cool when playing in your basement for havin some thunderous tones, but in a band you get swallowed in no time ime.
Now I'm going step by step, first trying with another amp thru the same cab and see what happens, then I'll take the back panel off , and in case stuff it with polystyrene if needed, or something like that, not sure what I have at home. I'd love to swap speakers with something funkier but that's gonna be pricey nowadays, so nah.

 

[Nigel]

Sounds amazing! Then it sorta reduces the resonance and puts the bass together! That's even better!
I'm not even sure what was the point of the resonance knob in the amps I had, other than keeping it at zero. I mean, It's cool when playing in your basement for havin some thunderous tones, but in a band you get swallowed in no time ime.
Now I'm going step by step, first trying with another amp thru the same cab and see what happens, then I'll take the back panel off , and in case stuff it with polystyrene if needed, or something like that, not sure what I have at home. I'd love to swap speakers with something funkier but that's gonna be pricey nowadays, so nah.

 

[The~Kid]

Maybe its a speaker/cab dimension thing.


Greenbacks or 70th Annis don't sound bad in 212 small cabs but V30s do

 

[Music&Chaos]

Different speaker types work better with open/closed back cabs. I have found that I almost always prefer a cab with an open back, even if it is just ported.

 

[Rottweiler]

I have an avatar (2007?) large open back 212 with G12H30 70A it sounds awesome. Very full and balanced. Its nearly 3/4 the size of a 1960B. . For S&G I tried the EVH small closed 212 (same speakers) with the same amp settings and it sounded very narrow and congested.

 

[Music&Chaos]

I have an avatar (2007?) large open back 212 with G12H30 70A it sounds awesome. Very full and balanced. Its nearly 3/4 the size of a 1960B. . For S&G I tried the EVH small closed 212 (same speakers) with the same amp settings and it sounded very narrow and congested.

Yep, Gs in an open back sound so much more dimensional and open. I have a convertible cabinet and can do easy A/B testing in seconds. Very fortunate.

 

[Nigel]

Sounds amazing! Then it sorta reduces the resonance and puts the bass together! That's even better!
I'm not even sure what was the point of the resonance knob in the amps I had, other than keeping it at zero. I mean, It's cool when playing in your basement for havin some thunderous tones, but in a band you get swallowed in no time ime.
Now I'm going step by step, first trying with another amp thru the same cab and see what happens, then I'll take the back panel off , and in case stuff it with polystyrene if needed, or something like that, not sure what I have at home. I'd love to swap speakers with something funkier but that's gonna be pricey nowadays, so nah.

So how did it go?

 

[Zado]

So how did it go?

It didn't fix the issue, likely cause the TT is a fairly dark amp and the cab is a fucker itself, but helped tightening the low end more than expected. I'm gonna make some experiments in the future when some spare time occurs.