Mixing speakers-phasing issues?

[glassjaw7]

Was talking with James L a bit about this earlier but here goes.

I remember a thread where Psychodave said he didn't like to mix speakers because of phasing issues. Is this caused by the wiring method used, or are certain speakers' frequencies not meant to blend with others?

I know Mesa and Bogner among others make cabs with different speakers like the Road King and Uber cabs and I've never heard problems with those.

What's the verdict on mixing? Still looking at a bunch of speaker possibilities for my Carvin 412 and Mesa 212.

 

[orangekick]

I've never had an issue with phasing with my cabs. Up until recently, every one of my cabs has had a mix of speakers.

 

[Darrcooper]

I've never had an issue with phasing with my cabs. Up until recently, every one of my cabs has had a mix of speakers.

+1

i got 2 1970's marshall cabs and i run an X pattern of original greenbacks and G12h30's...no problems here!!..infact it sounds friggin awesome with my elmwood M60 and bogner shiva!!.

 

[troublehead]

I really can't add much to the conversation, but I have always heard that phasing issues occur when wiring different speakers in series. Don't know if that is true or not, but I wire all my 2x12's parallel anyway

 

[Beardyman]

I have heard phase issues with speakers being wired incorrectly. I have also heard frequencies being cancelled by having different speakers in the same cabinet. Not all frequency cancellation is bad. The halfback (and a few other boogie cabs) have a slant to the top portion and bottom cab isolated of the speakers, which help to prevent phase and frequency cancellation. I believe Bruce Egnator and a few others confirm that there is phase and frequency issues with mixing speakers... but like I said, not everything sounds bad.

I did some tests on my own with the frequency cancellation by running 6 marshall cabs at one time all facing each other...with me in the middle. There were weird tones in certain areas and other areas sounded great. It all depends on what YOUR ear tells you.

Hahaha, a bit odd, but makes a lot of sense!
I run a mix of V30's, and G12H30's in my Splawn 4x12, sounds pretty great to me! But, I do find sometimes when mixing speakers, one speaker "overpowers" the other a bit, if that makes any sense

 

[nbarts]

Well, if everything is wired correctly, then you have nothing to worry about. It should be really easy actually.

Now what you DO NEED to worry about are phase cancellations that can occur because of your room. Now this can be a serious problem.

If you have the above 2 taken care of & you're still hearing phase abnormalities, then your problem is your recorded material.

The short answer is if you have a good room it's far better to mix on your monitors than headphones, because some of your phasing mistakes may pass unnoticed on the cans. Not even to mention that mixing on cans is not good for your hearing.

 

[Shark Diver]

What about using two amps at once, each in their own separate cab. Anyone experiencing this? This is how I'm setting up my rig, anything to worry about?

 

[nbarts]

What about using two amps at once, each in their own separate cab. Anyone experiencing this? This is how I'm setting up my rig, anything to worry about?

O, yea, that can be tricky.

 

[dawnofdreamx97]

What about using two amps at once, each in their own separate cab. Anyone experiencing this? This is how I'm setting up my rig, anything to worry about?

sometimes a/b/y box's can flip phase. I've mixed a few bands that came through that had dual amp setups on stage, sounded great! then i'd flip the phase on 1 of the mics and BAM even bigger! if both are being mic'd up any decent engineer will hear phase issues or should at least check for it...

 

[stephen sawall]

Phase cancellation happens any time you have more than one speaker .... wired in phase or not.
If they are the same kind of speaker or not.
A big part of why a 4x12 sounds the way it does is because of the cancellation.
What speakers and what combination's and the styles you are playing all well effect your taste.
Some combination's work better with some amps.

 

[steve_k]

I think the biggest phasing issues come with cabs wired series/parallel for mono/stereo. That is why some don't even offer stereo input on certain cabs (Bogner, CAA), which I like. I rewired my 4x12 Mesa's just for that purpose. True or not, don't know - but it sounded good to me, plus it does away with connections I didn't need.

Steve