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 September 27 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 September 27 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 GenzBenz Neox 2x12. Full range, bass ports, tweeter, 600W at 4ohms and a relatively lightweight. 

Edited September 28 by cetera

[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 September 27 by itu

[Bassy]

Just need to point out that Eden recommend that you do not turn off the tweeter as it will blow the fuse in the crossover.

I have always found Ampeg's 8x10 is a great amp for distorted rock bass, also most Boogie cabs. Zilla sound interesting, Barefaced seem to be the popular brand at the moment. Orange 1x15s are a classic design from the 70's, not sure if they match the early Boogie 15 sound?

I played live recently through a Phil Jones C8, which sounded amazing for it's size. It liked the overdrive pedal...5 inch speakers anyone?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

1 minute ago, Bassy said:

Just need to point out that Eden recommend that you do not turn off the tweeter as it will blow the fuse in the crossover.

 

That indicates it's a defective design. A properly configured LPad will maintain a constant impedance load on the crossover, which is a necessity not only to protect the crossover components but also to maintain the crossover transfer function.

[Lozz196]

I’ve found that my preferred sound is a bunch of 10s all going at the same time. This over the course of owning many variations, and playing through many many variations. The two cabs that weren’t 10s that I really liked were a Marshall VBC412 and an Ashdown ABM215, both sealed cabs I believe. 

[Chienmortbb]

On 27/09/2024 at 08:51, Bassy said:

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

Many bass cabs do not have a proper crossover with the tweeter being a token offering. I have seen this on GK, Markbass and I know that many others are the same. I suspects @stevie's cabs from the Basschat 112 to  his commercial offerings, the LFSys Monza, Monaco and Silverstone.

 

I would expect the same from other high end cabs like the Kinetic Audio cabs from the USA would also be good but..... as usual you will get a list of people's favourite cab so feel free to ignore me (and them) as you please.

Edited September 28 by Chienmortbb

[Marc S]

I play in several bands, each being a quite different genre to the other - which I like, because each challenges me in a different way, and I really do like different genres of music. 

 

For my 5 piece rock, Reggae & pop covers band, I use a Markbass 2 x 10, along with an Epifani UL 1 x 10 (with tweeter). The amp head I used was a Markbass EVO1, because it is dual channel, and I sometimes need that.

 

For a folk / Americana trio with fiddle & guitar, I mostly play upright (EUB) with some songs on bass guitar. For smaller venues, the Epifani 1x10 was my usual cab of choice....

 

However, Since getting my Acoustic Image, Double-shot cab, that has taken over. It's a 4 ohm cab, and using it with my Peavey Minimax head, I get the full output from the amp, using just that cab. 

 

The Doubleshot really works well with acoustic, folky and Americana style music. It also works really well with my African / folk crossover band, where I play either acoustic upright or EUB.

 

I'm not using the EVO1 head so much these days, as I'm preferring the Peavey. I can get the sound I want from the EQ on the head, and get the 2nd channel, and even more EQ control from my Stanley Clarke acoustic preamp pedal.

 

Re swapping between pick playing and finger style, I like the different sounds I get from each, and choose the style for each song. I sometimes need to adjust the volume just a little, when swapping between the 2.

 

The AI cab really does suit most styles of music though - not just acoustic, folky stuff. I sometimes use it when the 5 piece band has to squeeze into a small venue.

[BassAdder60]

I use a Vanderkley 212 cab and Mesa Subway WD800 amp

 

Mostly for rock but I prefer a clean bass tone or a warm clean tone 

 

Not keen on drive as I just feel even clean bass sounds good for rock 

[Bassy]

Anyone using Bergantino, Vanderkley,  Aguilar cabs with some drive/fuzz bass?

[fretmeister]

BF X10 series are pretty much Ampeg inspired and will handle anything an Ampeg can.

 

I've used a One10 for everything. An SVT sound has been used by everyone from Duck Dunn to Jason Newsted, with and without other fx.

 

I find those cabs work really well with Darkglass and EBS drive pedals and with fuzz, although I'm not much of a fuzz user for bass, at least not without a blend.

[SimonK]

At risk of cross-posting from here, I've been picking up second hand trace elliot cabs and trying them out against each other to see what my preference actually is. My latest discovery is I prefer a 4x10 without tweeter to one with tweeter, and previously I have decided that the 4x10 configuration is my favourite compared to 2x10, 1x15, and 4x10 + 1x15 combination (actually 8x10 is awesome but rather impractical!). But I wouldn't say for me it is genre specific, it's more about what makes me feel comfortable with my own sound whatever the genre. I have a big muff, chorus and a bunch of EQ shaping pedals that get me different sounds, and at the moment would prefer a 4x10, no tweeter, regardless of the genre (although I also only play stingrays so maybe with another bass I might feel differently).

[BigRedX]

My preferred bass sound is to do all the tone shaping I want in my Line6 Helix and then dispense with back-line entirely and go straight into the PA.

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

My preferred bass sound is to do all the tone shaping I want in my Line6 Helix and then dispense with back-line entirely and go straight into the PA.

Did you post on the wrong thread?

[neepheid]

I've honestly never thought about it, and I'm not going to start - bass GAS is bad enough without throwing amp GAS and cab GAS onto the bonfire!

[uk_lefty]

I play pop and indie covers from the 2000's in my band, which I guess is what counts. I've tried 15s and 2x10s but for me it's two 15s. I play fingers or pick, often it will depend on what mood I'm in or what bass I'm playing rather than anything else. I will use overdrive, distortion, fuzz, clean... Two 15s is just my preference. If I could try anything I'd like to have a go with a 4x10, if weight were no issue then a couple of Trace Elliott 18s could be fun... But for me there's a more rounded and deeper sound from a 15, the focus of a 10 is just something I don't like. I used to have the Ashdown RM 2x10 and 1x15 at the same time and I didn't like them together, it did give me the opportunity to compare them. The 15 was always my preference. So I now run an ABM600 through two ABM NEO 15s.

 

I've got a Fender Bassman TV 12 which has a 12" speaker and that sounds special, bit that's probably more down to the valve preamp. 

 

Perhaps the most sensible cab combo for me would be a couple of 12s if I could run a 600w head through them. 

[BigRedX]

On 28/09/2024 at 15:52, Chienmortbb said:

Did you post on the wrong thread?

 

What I was trying to imply was that, for me, the only reason the chose a specific type of cab(s) for a particular genre of music is for the image.

 

For the sorts of gigs I play my choice of both amps and cabs make no contribution to what the audience hear FoH.

 

Since for one of my bands our image is for an empty stage I don't use any cabs and go straight into the PA.

[Chienmortbb]

54 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

What I was trying to imply was that, for me, the only reason the chose a specific type of cab(s) for a particular genre of music is for the image.

 

For the sorts of gigs I play my choice of both amps and cabs make no contribution to what the audience hear FoH.

 

Since for one of my bands our image is for an empty stage I don't use any cabs and go straight into the PA.

I was not criticising you use of a cab-less solution. In fact I find it quite appealing, but the OP asked about cabs. A good cab can do every style of music but to go silent stage needs real commitment and a good sound tech and as with all thing digital, the wetware is usually the problem.

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

What I was trying to imply was that, for me, the only reason the chose a specific type of cab(s) for a particular genre of music is for the image.

 

 

For me the decision goes - 1) what would I like to bring, 2) what are the practicalities of transport/venue, 3) what I realise is sensible to bring. To stay on topic the style of music may feature in 1, but more relating to fretted/fretless bass and pedal choice than amp/cab per se.

 

Thus said even when the plan is IEM I always bring an amp and cab (even if they stay in the car) just in case.

[stevie]

6 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

A good cab can do every style of music

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

the only reason to choose a specific type of cab(s) for a particular genre of music is for the image.

 

That sums it up very nicely.