What cabs do you play for what style of music?

[Bassy]

Hi, I'm always reading everyone's point of view regarding bass cabs, make and speaker configuration. But very rarely does anyone state what style of music they are playing, what bass, and finger or plectrum? This makes all the difference to how you hear your bass sound. I feel some cabs are better suited to certain music styles.

I play a P bass with a pick into Gk legacy 800 with 2 Eden D210XLT. Mainly rock, noisy indie, punk. The sound when I play clean is great, warm and thick, but with clarity. But the cabs do not like any drive/fuzz pedals, as the tweeters become very harsh with distortion. This makes me think that the Eden cabs were designed for soul, funk, motown, country, jazz but not distorted rock.

I used to use a Mesa Boogie 4x10 and this cab loved distorted bass sounds. Tweeter switched on was no problem. But it weighed a ton...45kgs?

So what cabs are out there that can deal with a grindy bass sound. Is it still only Boogie and Ampeg?

Edited 8 hours ago by Bassy

[spyder]

It's a good question.

Personally I like a very clean amp / cab that lets the bass sound shine through.

I use GRbass amp and cabs for their relatively uncoloured sound.

 

It would be interesting to hear what cabs create that heavy rock sound, possibly the more old school cabs from 30 years ago that don't have tweeters.

Edited 3 hours ago by spyder

[MichaelDean]

My Zilla 212 is a lovely "traditional" style cab, but it does a lot of things well. 25ish kg, neo speakers, no tweeter. I've had mine made as purely vertical, so it has two heavy duty handles either side. I'm not a slap bassist, but I've used it in a function band and my current doom band. It handles everything with ease. Sounds great with loads of drive. Sounds great without. Really nice balanced bass sound. My current head is a Laney DB-500H, but I've also had an ABM-600 and a PF-500. It worked well with all of them.

[chris_b]

3 hours ago, Bassy said:

. . . . I feel some cabs are better suited to certain music styles.

 

 

I think you are talking about cabs that have a more limited and coloured sound. There's a new generation of cabs which don't colour your sound.

 

IMO cabs are there to distribute the sound that has been generated by your bass, pedals and amp around the room in the most efficient way. If the cabs were genre specific, Jah Wobble and Tim Commerford wouldn't be using the same cabs.

 

With the right amp, you can play any style of music, any style of bass through Barefaced cabs and you'll get a fantastic tone.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I don't think cabs are any more genre specific than basses.

Quote

But the cabs do not like any drive/fuzz pedals, as the tweeters become very harsh with distortion.

That's why guitar cabs don't have tweeters, and why most bass cabs with tweeters have the ability to turn them off.

[stevie]

If you have to turn your tweeter off, there's something wrong. A decent tweeter won't add distortion; it will just reproduce the signal you send it. Cheap tweeters, on the other hand, are best turned off anyway.

[cetera]

I find a good 2x12 reproduces everything I need, whether in a rock show or a disco/pop function band. My cab of choice is the now discontinued GenzBenx Neox 2x12. Full range, bass ports, tweeter, 600W at 4ohms and a relatively lightweight. 

[itu]

alusonic alu212 Top Performance

It weighs only 19 kg (42 lbs). With Glockenklang Soul amp the system is reasonably lightweight and suits many styles.

 

http://www.alusonic.com/aluminium-cabinetsxl.php

Edited 25 minutes ago by itu