Small 4 ohm cab suggestions

[Osiris]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1506349774' post='3378096']
Not sure i've picked up your reasons for changing but is the weight of the Mesa too heavy.
You mention you are looking for a 1x12 one handed lift at 300W.
I wouldn't have thought a 1x12 that heavy but i'm used to larger cabs.

I've used the Berg AE112 cabs which are NEO speakers. Very lightweight and nice tone.
I've also got the Markbass rig which is lightweight but i only use it on occassions where there are a lot of stairs to climb or long distances from car.

The only thing i would say and its down to personal taste is that the lightweight speakers don't seem to have the same depth of tone for me. Its difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is and i've tried them with various different amps. They just seem to lack something. Maybe its down to them being too clean in comparison to my heavier cabs. Dialling the tweeter or horns down altogether does help tho.
Its never been an issue out front and audience always seem to like the Markbass tone so maybe its just where i stand on stage that i don't hear.
Think you should def try before you buy tho.

Dave
[/quote]

My initial thoughts were that a 4 ohm cab would be louder than my current 8 ohm one as it'd be pulling more power from the amp. But reading through the earlier comments in the thread it seems that's not necessarily a correct assumption.

Having pondered what those people with far more knowledge on the subject than I have are saying, my reasons have shifted slightly in favour of going for something lighter. I don't know the official figure for the weight of the Mesa, but my guess is somewhere in the region of 15 Kg. It's surprisingly heavy for it's size. My big cab that I use on pretty much every gig is a Tecamp M212 and that only weights about 19Kg, but it actually feels lighter than the Mesa. But whether that is because I am underestimating the weight of the Mesa or the 212 only appears to be lighter because it's twice the size (and therefore it's all in my head!) I really don't know

The Tecamp has Neodymium speakers and I'm assuming that the Mesa has a traditional heavy speaker. Tonally, the Tecamp doesn't lack anything when it comes to depth of tone. I much prefer the sound of it to the Mesa which has a strong mid bias that I'm assuming has to do with it being a relatively small cab in comparison to the bigger one? I'm happy to be proved wrong on that assumption though

Yes, I'll definitely try before I buy!

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1506344414' post='3378048']
Keep the Boogie!!!!
[/quote]

What are your reasons for saying that?

[bassjim]

EBS 2x10 is a great 4 ohm cab. Recently I've been taking the single 1 x 12 away that I was taking to most gigs as a second cab because I dont really need it. I had this "gotta have two cabs to get the best out the head" thing going from when I used 2 x 112 cabs.

I think anything louder would be overkill for the majority of pub and function gigs I do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing and then I see a clip from a gig on a smart phone camera and it confirms it. Sometimes I think sh*t I'm way too loud!

[alexclaber]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1506349774' post='3378096']The only thing i would say and its down to personal taste is that the lightweight speakers don't seem to have the same depth of tone for me. Its difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is and i've tried them with various different amps. They just seem to lack something. Maybe its down to them being too clean in comparison to my heavier cabs.[/quote]

There are certainly plenty of lightweight cabs where they've compromised too much on the stiffness of the enclosure ("the first lightweight cabs without compromise" read one hilariously inaccurate advert, IIRC). And often neo speakers sound cleaner than ferrite ones (they have less distortion in the motor). And various other things. It isn't due to the weight though, it's always other factors. I don't know if you've tried any of our 10CR models but they're certainly very atypical for lightweight cabs.

[Al Krow]

Bit of a geeky follow up, but I've can pick the brains of those of you who are more technically expert at sound engineering than me, please:

Just following up on the useful point raised by a number of you guys that going from 8ohm to 4ohm is not going to result in a massive increase in volume. Other things being equal, I've understood from earlier in this thread it's going to be roughly 3db with an amp churning comfortably churning out 300W at 4ohms vs same amp delivering 150W at 8ohms, which is noticeable but not large.

The bigger factor, a number of you have stated, is the amount of air that the speakers move. A 2x10 has approximately 40% surface area than a 1x12. Again other things being equal (e.g. same speaker drivers and lets say we have a 300W amp and both cabs are 4ohms) what difference in volume should we expect to get in terms of db?

[Cuzzie]

It’s not just speaker area, it is also speaker cone movement.

If the 40% increased surface area has less excursion than the 12” conenthen it will not move as much air, won’t be as loud and the dispersion curve/zone may well not be as good.

Also it’s the efficiency of the drivers and how much of the watts they actually burn up before translating it into a sound wave

Just saw you mentioned drivers being the same.

Remember speaker enclosure size as well, it gets too much for my tiny mind

Edited October 8, 2017 by Cuzzie