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Hartke 4.5xl or 810xl?


Guest MoJo
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Transport / weight issues aside, which would be the best cabinet for the job in hand?

Loud rock band, two half stack guitarists (Marshall JTM45 on 11 and Hughes & Kettner Switchblade on 3 but sounds like 11 :lol: ). I currently run a BAM210 combo (500watts into 2 ohms) with a PRO115 extension cabinet (converted to 4 ohms).

My current rig is certainly loud enough but is overly complicated with too many tonal options, I find myself constantly twiddling during gigs. I've managed to get my old LH1000 head back which is more to my liking. It's 1100 watts into 4 ohms would seem more suited to the 810xl (800 watts / 4 ohms) but I'm sure that if I don't go mad on the volume control the 4.5xl (400 watts / 8 ohms) would be able to cope.

If I do go down the 4.5xl route, I won't be looking to add another cab at a later date so I need to be sure it can cope.

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Do you have PA or is your rig covering everything Bass related?

If you have PA get whatever you feel comfortable with & like the sound of.
If you don't have PA, get 2x10s or 2x12s stacked vertically, as they'll cover more of the audience & they rest of the band.

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I can`t see the 4.5 not coping, but of course the 810 would no doubt be the louder. But really I`d be looking at trying to tame some of that volume - does the band have to be that loud to compete with the drummer, or does said drummer get lost behind the guitars. If the latter I`d look at taming the guitars rather than upping to them.

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Lozz, I've tried and tried. The poor old drummer gets lost in the mix but the guitarists give you the "I need to drive the amp to get the tone" spiel to which I suggest they get smaller amps.

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I had a couple of guitarists like that. Should suggest they consider becoming musicians if they are serious about the band.
Another problem is they tend to either stand beside their cabs or over the top of them, either way, they can't hear themselves.
I found that moving them back on the axis of their speakers made them turn down, then turning the bass down on the guitars improved the band's sound tremendously.

They could get their sound by increasing the input gain & keeping the output lower or even by adding a valve or dirt pedal.
The [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"I need to drive the amp to get the tone" spiel is overdone by ego driven shredders. Good guitarists know how to make the band sound good (which in turn makes them sound great), just like a good bassist does.[/font][/color]

The 4x10 or 8x10 will give you plenty of sound, but bare in mind that having 2 10" drivers horizontally doesn't have as wide a spread of sound as a single line of drivers (unless you have 22" drivers).

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[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1412963465' post='2573750']
Lozz, I've tried and tried. The poor old drummer gets lost in the mix but the guitarists give you the "I need to drive the amp to get the tone" spiel to which I suggest they get smaller amps.
[/quote]

Ah that`s a shame, well if it were me I think I`d still only get a set-up that kept up with the drums, rather than one that keeps up with the guitars, and remain the drummers friend.

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Guitarists only need a 1x12 25-30w combo , that's what the guys used that I used to play with , and the guitars had a lovely sound and it was a sensible volume.
I auditioned for a band a few months ago and the guitarists had a 4x12 each , they didn't even need a bass player as there was so much bass comming from the closed back cabinets,
I declined the invitation to join as life's too short for screaming guitars at practice and small pub corners.

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[quote name='funky8884' timestamp='1413011668' post='2574044']
Guitarists only need a 1x12 25-30w combo , that's what the guys used that I used to play with , and the guitars had a lovely sound and it was a sensible volume.
I auditioned for a band a few months ago and the guitarists had a 4x12 each , they didn't even need a bass player as there was so much bass comming from the closed back cabinets,
I declined the invitation to join as life's too short for screaming guitars at practice and small pub corners.
[/quote]

I can only agree. The trouble is, it's a pretty decent band, I've been with them a couple of years now and regard them as mates. I also play in a three piece and the guitarist/vocalist plays through a Blackstar combo at a reasonable level and it's so much easier to find my sound at that level.

PS. Just in case anyone reading this thread has got the impression that we're a bunch of volume crazy young metalheads, we're all in our late 40's / early 50's, all with years of gigging experience behind us which makes it all the more frustrating

Edited by MoJo
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[quote name='funky8884' timestamp='1412964093' post='2573756']
You could buy the guitarist a http://www.thdelectronics.com/product_page_hotplate.html each , xmas is around the corner. :santa:
[/quote]

One of them has one but never uses it :lol:

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This kind of behaviour is playing a large part in the death of live music at a local level. Expecting your audience to be entertained on the pain threshold of hearing and a venue keep it's license when your guitarists ego can be heard miles away does all of us a massive disservice. And no doubt you expect payment for this attitude.

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[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1413107654' post='2574902']
This kind of behaviour is playing a large part in the death of live music at a local level. Expecting your audience to be entertained on the pain threshold of hearing and a venue keep it's license when your guitarists ego can be heard miles away does all of us a massive disservice. And no doubt you expect payment for this attitude.
[/quote]

Completely off topic and a little unfair as you've never been to one of our gigs. If we were playing to an audience at the threshold of pain, our career would be very short lived. As it is, we get nothing but positive feedback wherever we play and repeat bookings. In fact, last night, the audience were calling for one of the guitarists to turn up! As I stated in an earlier post, we're not volume junkies

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