Lightish cabs with good top end

[Vin Venal]

Howdy

I don't know much about cabs.

I currently have a Fender Rumble 210. I feel like it's a bit muddy and boomy. Could be because it's on the floor in an upstairs room. Could be because im nowhere near pushing it, playing at sensible indoor volumes.

But I'm wondering if replacing it would help me get a sound closer to the sound I get when I listen through cans?

The rest of my rig - various passive basses into an Ampeg SCR-DI pedal, into an Ampeg PF500 head.

My tone when I play through cans, and the tone I'm going for has good low end, but also has plenty of "clank", usually with some degree of distortion. Think 90s alt-rock/post-hardcore bands like Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Fugazi etc.

What kind of cabs should I be looking for? Any recommendations?

Needs to be able to handle 500w at 4 ohms or 350w at 8ohms. Ideally not much heavier than 20k. Ideally under 500 quid.

Cheers!

Edited April 28, 2021 by Vin Venal

[bigthumb]

First cab that always come to mind is the Genz-Benz Neo-X. 2x12 600w @ 4Ohms and lightweight. Probably one of the finest of the many cabs I've owned. You'd get one of these secondhand for well under £500. 

But theres probably many modern lightweight cabs that do an excellent job for that kind of money. Buy second hand though as £500 will get you a great cab. 

[Lozz196]

The cab will in most cases have its own voicing, so the same eq via cans or to FOH will generally be brighter and not so low-endy. A clear response cab such as Barefaced (their regular range, not Retro series) will allow you to obtain similar to the cans. 

[jrixn1]

1 hour ago, Vin Venal said:

I currently have a Fender Rumble 210. I feel like it's a bit muddy and boomy.

An adjustable high-pass filter set somewhere between 40Hz to 80Hz might help remove mud and boom, without sacrificing good low end.  Worth a try, as it's easier and cheaper than swapping cabs.

[Downunderwonder]

Yeah, the boom is in the room. The HPF will help. The other thing to do is tilt the cab back so you get a face full of tone.

[Phil Starr]

If you like what you hear through 'phones then you probably ought to be looking at something with a flat response, FRFR. That would mean looking at using a PA speaker in all probability. Something like an RCF maybe. 

You may get more clarity by angling your existing speaker. You've said it's on the floor, so it is probably pointing at your legs rather than your ears. The mids and top frequencies are quite directional so the speaker need s to be pointing at your head for you to hear clearly what is going on, especially if you are close to the speaker when you are playing.

[Trueno]

15 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Yeah, the boom is in the room. The HPF will help. The other thing to do is tilt the cab back so you get a face full of tone.

This. You can experiment with angling the cab at zero cost... just jam a few books in. Then you can either buy a fold up wedge (markbass and aer make them) or cobble up something yourself

[Chienmortbb]

17 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

If you like what you hear through 'phones then you probably ought to be looking at something with a flat response, FRFR. That would mean looking at using a PA speaker in all probability. Something like an RCF maybe. 

You may get more clarity by angling your existing speaker. You've said it's on the floor, so it is probably pointing at your legs rather than your ears. The mids and top frequencies are quite directional so the speaker need s to be pointing at your head for you to hear clearly what is going on, especially if you are close to the speaker when you are playing.

@stevie designed the BC112 MK3 with the horn rotated 90 degrees sothat the mids and highs could reach your ears while standing in front of the cab.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Chienmortbb

[stevie]

Angling and raising a cab does work if you want to hear yourself better, but it doesn't actually do what's needed, which is improving your cab's dispersion at mid and high frequencies so that you - and your audience - can hear those vital midrange frequencies clearly. When you point your cab at your ears, you only hear those midrange frequencies when you're standing right in front of the cab, because the cab's still beaming above 1kHz or so. As soon as you step to the side, you go back the muffled sound that everyone else - the rest of your band and your audience - is hearing.

The only solution is to have a cab with a decent power response. The only cabs I know of that deal with this issue properly are the Fearless 3-way designs - apart from the BCMkIII DIY design that @Chienmortbb referred to. Good quality PA cabs usually have a decent power response because their main job is reproducing midrange frequencies, although they have their own issues for bass guitar reproduction. 

[Dan Dare]

BF Big Baby? Light and clean sounding.

[Jazzjames]

Are you gigging (corona aside) or is it just for playing at home? If the latter, I’d be looking to get a decent small combo (1x10”) or so like a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 10T. I used one for many years (live and for practicing) and with the tilt back feature you can get a really full, lively and bright sound. I loved that little thing. Loud, too!

If you’re only buying a cab for use at home, a lot of the suggestions above are too big and will just dominate small rooms.

[Vin Venal]

Thanks for the input all.

I'm now getting the sound I want due to a fantastic combination of a GK MB800 and a Darkglass 112 cab. 

I'm getting all the clank and crunch anyone could ever wish for out of that. 😁