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Bass cab for DB and electric


yanto
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Hi

I've been using my DB into a Headway and then through the Genz Streamliner return into a Genz Focus 112 cab. The sound was very boomy especially around octave G and I couldn't eq it out.
Although the cab's fine with electric, it's a relatively big box and I think it's the problem.
What would people recommend as a cab that's tighter and more suited to acoustic bass?
It would need to handle gigs at medium volume up to 100 people with acoustic guitar, fiddle, moothie and sometimes an electric six string. A little research has brought me to the EA M Line 12, but I'm very happy to listen to suggestions from bassists with more experience than me.

Cheers
Iain

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Hey Iain, I would recommend the EA 12 Wizzy Mline, it's the best cab for upright I've tried and the electric tone is decent. I think it's a good trade off if the upright tone is important to you...if that's less of an issue I would go for Aguilar, Bergs etc...and get an awesome electric bass cab that would also work well for upright.. I do more upright so went with the Mline, but if it was the other way around I would probably go with Aguilar or Berg.

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Thanks for the reply Geoff. I'm about 50/50 DB and electric, so as long as I got a cab that didn't boom I'd be happy. It doesn't have to be a super-articulate cab. I'll have a look at Aguilar and Berg. Anyone tried the Barefaced Super Midget for upright?

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I'm using a PJB Suitcase with extension cab, so eight 5" drivers.
Keeps up with a loud band, sounds lovely and best of all, I've had no feedback problems since using it which I used to suffer from. Forgot my preamp pedal Friday so didn't have phase reversal or notch filter but no feedback even when the whole band but me were through the PA.

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[quote name='yanto' timestamp='1440625313' post='2852570']
Thanks for the reply Geoff. I'm about 50/50 DB and electric, so as long as I got a cab that didn't boom I'd be happy. It doesn't have to be a super-articulate cab. I'll have a look at Aguilar and Berg. Anyone tried the Barefaced Super Midget for upright?
[/quote]

I use the original midget. Perfect for db and ok for electric too. Loud for a 1X12 and stupidly light.

Tends to the middy, but that's easily EQd out. Doesn't like being raised up more than a couple of feet or the loss of boundary reinforcement kills the volume.

For boomy stages I've got a couple of pieces of acoustic foam that solve the problem.

If i were to add anything, it'd be a barefaced Compact for louder electric gigs, but I've no immediate need for that.

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I also double 50/50.

For a while, I had a Streamliner 600 + Barefaced Compact which was pretty nice, although the treble control didn't seem to make much difference. I felt there was slight room for improvement in terms of the definition of the notes.

Current rig is a Shuttle 9.2 + Big Baby 2 and couldn't be happier with the tone (and volume) capabilities. All the amp controls make a noticeable and pleasant difference although I generally run it flat.

Unfortunately (for the purposes of this thread) I changed head and cab at exactly the same time, so hard to say which component was most reponsible for the improvement.

Also, I always use an Auralex Gramma pad which helps tighten the sound on boomy stages.

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Hi Iain,

Though I mostly play bass guitar, I also play DB in one band, and sometimes Acoustic BG
I've heard several comments (mostly on here) that smaller speakers tend to be better suited to DB
I think it was said to be something to do with string dynamics and recovery time of the smaller speakers being faster....

Anyhow, I've got pretty good DB sound via my Markbass CMD 210 combo
But I also use a Phil Jones 4 x 5 cab - either as extension to the Markbass, or on its' own, with a PJ head.

I know what you mean about the boomy sound - I used to use a Markbass 1 x15
and that sounded great with Bass guitar, but quite boomy with acoustic, and worse with DB
(Edit: so maybe there's something in the above theory?)
The 4 x 5 is definitely more focussed, and the low midrange frequencies are clearer

I recently heard a DB player using a PJ suitcase, and that sounded lovely
He told me it was absolutely fine for most small / medium gigs on its own
and for larger gigs he used the extension cab, which he said was still absolutely fine, even for quite large gigs...

Good luck with your search for the best combination :)

Edited by Marc S
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I previously owned a Puma 900 (Puma's are rated quite highly for DB) and a Barefaced Big Baby 2. This was a great setup for electric but for DB it was just too 'boomy' for want of a better word. It seemed as if the larger speakers just added that character and the PJB's little speakers have a different flavour all together.
My PJB super flightcase is brilliant for both, but the DB really shines through it. Not a common amp to find second hand, but worth the effort IMO.

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Just to go against the grain here, I have owned and played a number of cabs with small speakers and found that although yes, the allow for good articulation on DB, they also just don't move enough air and do not produce a satisfying bass sound. A modern 12inch speaker is much better in my opinion. In a band, I have had great result stacking 2 x 12 inch cabs, no boom with good eq and no feedback with good pickups and preamps. I am currently waiting on a fearless 115, which will be an experiment in upgrading to a 15 inch on double bass. People I trust tell me that it absolutely rocks for DB, so I wait with excitement and will report back after a few gigs.

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[quote name='Rabbie' timestamp='1440840082' post='2854211']
Also of course it depends on what sound you wanna hear. If you don't need to shake bowels with your low notes, then a PJB or AI combo are great, really fantastic hi fi sound.
[/quote]
This is true, with my Puma/Big Baby I could feel the bass. With the PJB I can hear the bass.

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I had the tecamp puma 500 and 900 with barefaced big baby 2 and it was perfect for electric but, as mentioned above, too boomy for DB, now I use Maruszczyk barabass combo and it has a separate channel for acoustic and for electric, it sounds IMO the best for both...

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I'm no expert, but as far as I know neither depth nor boominess has much to do with speaker diameter.

I'm not sure it's even possible to judge a speaker properly anyhow if you don't use use a high pass EQ or acoustic foam like a gramma pad.

I see that Alex is promoting a new 1X10. Interesting to hear anybody's experiences with one or pair. 7Kg - unbelievable. :)

Broke, alas. :D

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Referring to the boominess mentioned above, I was surprised not to get that with this set up but I had turned on the 7" "tweeter" so that may have made a difference.

I tried a pjb once, nice sound but yeah.. Very little in the way of balls!

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[quote name='tanuki' timestamp='1441320047' post='2857996']
On the opposite end of the scale I used a berg nv215 with the acoustic image focus at a festival last weekend, I was pretty scared but it sounded totally incredible!!! Not really in the lightweight arena bit I had to tell someone!!
[/quote]

I used to run AI into an NV610. It was lush.

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