Favourite speaker size 10, 12 or 15 or something else?

[Gray C]

Happy New Year! Sure this has been done to death before I joined, but what’s your latest opinion on good old speaker sizes in your cab? Do you like a punchy 10 or even 8? Maybe a nice 12 as an all rounder or an old school 15 for trouser flapping inducing bottom end? Maybe a blend? Are tweeters the work of the Devil? Who knows? Maybe some sizes out of the ordinary that you’re keeping a secret 🤫 that you swear by for subsonic perfection. Gear is constantly evolving so what’s your top tip for 2022?

[warwickhunt]

Use the search function on Basschat as to 10 / 12 / 15 and 'sound/tone' because this thread is going to feel distinctly confusing very soon! 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

So 2022 starts off with deja vu, and not in a good way. Getting sucked in this time I am not. 🙄

[Newfoundfreedom]

Custard creams are definitely my favourite with a nice cup of tea.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I like anything that isn't a tweeter.

[Lozz196]

I’ve invariably found that the rigs I like listening to and playing through are made up of a lot of 10s, mainly either an 810, 610, two 410s or a 410 & a 210 together.

[fretmeister]

Oh god.

it’s the covid of bass topics.

[paul_5]

Ok, who pulled the scab off this?

[Woodwind]

This subject has been done to death over and over, but I'll answer with no tongue in cheek.

 

I need as small a cabinet(s) as possible for my live shows, both for transport and aesthetic reasons.

 

I became a convert to using 8" speakers after making a DIY cab when I played double bass.

 

I've since gone smaller and use phil Jones equipment with 5" and 4" speakers and can't really imagine using anything else now.

 

If I had the guarantee of enough of the right shows this year my top tip (for myself) would be to augment my Phil Jones Double4's with a Cub Pro BG120 combo and C4 extension cabinet.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Woodwind

[Phil Starr]

Welcome to Basschat

 

You'll have gathered that this has been discussed a lot in these pages so it might be worth using the search facility to find some of the older threads. Equally we forget sometimes that we were all new here once so I'll attempt a quick answer.

 

The gist of this is that size is only one of the things that contributes to the 'sound' of a speaker. It's important, but only a small part of what makes the overall sound. Not all 15's sound the same by a very long way and neither do all 10's. It's not even true that bigger speakers have more bass than small ones; my 5" hi-fi cabs go lower than my 12" bass speakers. So, it's not a very informative debate, most of your answers will be of the 'I've got an xxxxx speaker and I love it it's a 10/12/15 so that's the size I like. 

 

The best advice is to approach speaker buying with an open mind and listen to as many speakers as you can, then choose the one you like irrespective of the size of the driver/s. 

[Gray C]

37 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Welcome to Basschat

 

You'll have gathered that this has been discussed a lot in these pages so it might be worth using the search facility to find some of the older threads. Equally we forget sometimes that we were all new here once so I'll attempt a quick answer.

 

The gist of this is that size is only one of the things that contributes to the 'sound' of a speaker. It's important, but only a small part of what makes the overall sound. Not all 15's sound the same by a very long way and neither do all 10's. It's not even true that bigger speakers have more bass than small ones; my 5" hi-fi cabs go lower than my 12" bass speakers. So, it's not a very informative debate, most of your answers will be of the 'I've got an xxxxx speaker and I love it it's a 10/12/15 so that's the size I like. 

 

The best advice is to approach speaker buying with an open mind and listen to as many speakers as you can, then choose the one you like irrespective of the size of the driver/s. 

Hi Phil,

 

Thanks for letting me know how it goes here and your thoughts on speakers. I’ll search here and dig some stuff up instead. Just seems hard to find info as there are millions of threads and results when searching, most of them irrelevant, but I’ve only just arrived 😬

[chris_b]

At various time I've used all of those, and for awhile, 18's.

 

The nearest I got to having a favourite was the Electro-Voice 15's, which I used in several cabs over a 20 year period.

 

I started with 12's, went through 15's and 10's, now back to 12's, but the size of the driver is the least relevant part of the tone equation.

 

Trouser flapping doesn't necessarily make a good sound. The definition and clarity of my current 12's will clearly reach every part of the room, and that's the definition of a good speaker cab.

[Newfoundfreedom]

I'm fine with anything without a tweeter or with a tweeter can be switched off. Anything with a permanently on tweeter is a definite no from me. 

[Dan Dare]

22 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

So 2022 starts off with deja vu, and not in a good way. Getting sucked in this time I am not. 🙄

 

Aw, go on Bill. It will be entertaining.

 

I've heard and used cabs using drivers of all sizes that I've liked. I do seem to have had a preference for those that used 12s, but that's probably because they were of better quality or better designed. Currently, I use and like 5s. 

 

 

[Chienmortbb]

There are people on here that really know what they are talking about and some that know a lot less than they think they do (like me). However the best advice I can give you is to use your ears rather than your eyes when selecting a cab. The second bit of advice is that you cannot "remember" how a cabinet sounds, unless you can do a side by side A/B audition (preferebly a blind audition), comparing two cabs would be unhelpful.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

First time round in eth late 80s/early 90s I did one gig with a 12" combo, then got an 18" cab, then switched to a stack of two 2x12 cabs.

 

Could never understand why 15s and 4x10s were de riguer for bass and 12s were ignored. Very different now, so I was way ahead of the curve 🙂

 

Now my favourite setup is a 2x12 (vertical Bill, don't panic!)

[Lfalex v1.1]

If it sounds good and can withstand the rigours of amplifying the appropriate frequencies cleanly without melting, driver size matters not.

The physical placement of the drivers (if more than one besides horn/tweeter) in the cabinet and its orientation is arguably more important ,  as is where it's pointing and how high it is relative to your ears. 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Lfalex v1.1
Needless to say I've assumed that the enclosure has been correctly designed/built/braced using the (hopefully complete) driver specifications provided by the manufacturer.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

Aw, go on Bill. It will be entertaining.

Discussing driver size is like hitting yourself upside the head with a hammer. It feels really good when you stop. 😉

 

[The fasting showman]

Until building Phil Starr's (brilliant) design for a 1x12 with tweeter recently I owned 2 cabs, a GK 2x12 neo with tweeter and a DIY 1x10. The 1x10 is an Eminence 2010 Basslite neo and the cab is on the small side. It's often been said to me by other band members ' you won't need your big cab for this gig, just bring your little tweeter box (meaning the 1x10)'.

The little 1x10, whilst sounding perfectly good, is the darkest sounding cab I have compared to the GK or the Faital driver equipped 1x12 with horn I made from Phil's plans. I have tried to convey this to other people but absolutely to no avail, it's lodged in their mind that a cab with 10s is plonked on the top of a 1x15.

[stewblack]

I saw the thread title and immediately thought, easy, 2 fifteens.

Then I thought how much I love my old 8 ten cab. And I have an Ashdown set up with 2 twelves which is righteous.

My regular gigging rig features a twelve and a fifteen.

So I guess I just don't have a favourite

[Phil Starr]

12 hours ago, The fasting showman said:

Until building Phil Starr's (brilliant) design for a 1x12 with tweeter recently I owned 2 cabs, a GK 2x12 neo with tweeter and a DIY 1x10. The 1x10 is an Eminence 2010 Basslite neo and the cab is on the small side. It's often been said to me by other band members ' you won't need your big cab for this gig, just bring your little tweeter box (meaning the 1x10)'.

The little 1x10, whilst sounding perfectly good, is the darkest sounding cab I have compared to the GK or the Faital driver equipped 1x12 with horn I made from Phil's plans. I have tried to convey this to other people but absolutely to no avail, it's lodged in their mind that a cab with 10s is plonked on the top of a 1x15.

@stevie deserves all the credit for that design, I designed the tweeterless version. Stevie's cabinet is fantastic though

[The fasting showman]

6 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

@stevie deserves all the credit for that design, I designed the tweeterless version. Stevie's cabinet is fantastic though

Hi Phil, I think I unceremoniously shoved a tweeter in your basic 1x12 design, credit to both of you for the inspiration though and demystifying the whole subject.

[BigRedX]

Over the past 40 years I have used cabs with every standard size of speaker from 8" to 18". These days I I have given up using a conventional bass rig completely because on the whole  IT DOES NOT MATTER to me.

 

If I was in the market for a traditional bass cab again, my criteria for choosing a cab would be as follows:

 

1. Do I like the sound? (can only really be considered when playing with the rest of my band)

2. Does it go loud enough without distorting/dying? (see above)

3. Do I like how it looks (and more importantly how it looks with the rest of my rig)?

4. If I'm not playing in a band with a van and/or roadies, can I lift it (easily) on my own, and does it fit in my car/on the bus/down the escalators on the tube?

 

AFAIAC none of the other facts, figurers and fictions that speaker cab manufacturers would like to bamboozle us with are important.

[Stub Mandrel]

4x4 anyone?

[WinterMute]

Used to use as many 10" as I could lay hands on, 16 of the b*ggers at one point, silly really. Last serious gigging rig was 2x12, 1x6 and tweeter in the Phase 1 Barefaced Big Twin, that cab really changed my view on 12" speakers. Now using a single 12 and horn in the QSC K12.2 wedge.

 

Even with 5 string basses there is nothing a good 12" can't do as backline I think, provided you've a clean DI feed from your rig to the PA.