Buying a bass cabinet. Should I get a 1x15 or a 4x10?

[Coco]

A 2 x 10 would be too small. Although the cab will be mostly for studio purposes, I still like to screw around and play bass with other musicians and jam at a pretty loud volume. I hit the bass and the guitar player plays drums ect.... I can only afford one cab and the 4 x 10 and the 1 x 15 I am looking at are all around $1000 Canadian. keep the comments coming!

Actually, in many rehersal situations, a 2X10 will probably be fine. But if you're spending 1000 CAD, that's about 800 USD right? You can easily get two cabs. 2 aguilar 1 x 12s (GS112) would be less than 800 USD, . I have one and it's the best cab I've ever used. Have you looked at Avatar cabs (www.avatarspeakers.com)? Those are supposedly quite good and they're cheap.

You can also get very easy to follow plans from EV for a Thiele (sp?) box cab for 1 x 15s. I built two once and they were great (heavy as hell--marine plywood). Very easy too if you just let a mill do the cutting too (best $50 I've spent).

Anyways... in my opinion, the technology around bass cabs and amps has really gone up over the last 15 years. Check a lot of stuff out.

I thought about that too. It just got kind of confusing with the Thiele formula ect. I don't have tools or the space to build a cabinet in. Tolexing is another headache I would have to do. I would like to stick with a brand that I can buy locally to avoid shipping from the US, insane shipping rates, duty, import taxes ect. That is why I need to stick with something I can get locally. Maybe the fact of having only two 10" speakers is fooling me into believing it won't be loud or full enough. I will try out a 2 x10 this weekend.

[Catoogie]

Maybe the fact of having only two 10" speakers is fooling me into believing it won't be loud or full enough

Dude, I hear ya!! I felt the same way myself. I was looking for a bass cab and I thought I wanted a 15", until I sat down and tried a 15" alongside a 2x10. Now I like fat, thick, old-school tone. I use flatwounds on a P-Bass with the foam mute etc... But I was missing any semblance of definition with the single 15", I found it to be too wooly. I'm sure this has a lot ot do with my using flatwounds but I really dig the 2x10". First of all it's small and I can move it easily. Plus it hangs in there with the drums and guitars. Ideally I'd like to have a 8x10 SVT for live and a B-15 for the studio but the bass gig I was doing wasn't really paying anything and I couldn't justify spending all that cash. So with the Avatar 2x10 for $229 and a 300watt Behringer Ultra-Bass top for $199 I"ve got a loud, rocking little rig.

The Avatar cabs are killer!! Check 'em out. You could afford one of their 2x10s AND a 1x15. Take a look they have pictures of that rig, it looks awesome. Also, don't totally rule out the idea of a 2x12 Avatar cab. They claim they're their best sounding bass cabs. Again, they're really cheap and well-made. You ever built a speaker cab before? Then don't start now. Not with Avatar's stuff so inexpensive. Good Luck!!

[Coco]

Thanks for the tip. Maybe a 1 x 15" and a 2 x 10" is the answer! I have never heard a bass cabinet with 12" speakers in person, maybe unknowingly on recordings, but not in person. Every bass player I have been in a band with has either had a 2 x 15", a 4 x 10" or an 8 x 10" cabinet. Being a drummer, not a bass player I think I am used to seeing big bass cabinets and am dismissing the smaller enclosures like the 2 x 10" or 2 x 12" cabinets.

[Rick Hunter]

I play on 2 Mesa 10's and one Ampeg 15. Its pretty sweet.

[dwelle]

excellent contribution, MAR.

that really helped things along...

[SKEETER]

If you are playing rock era music or blues, I would go with a 15. If you are doing more modern styles (alternative, metal, country, pop) I would go with the 4x10s.

[stinkpot]

i'm showing my physics lameness here, but isn't there some sort of principal where stacking speakers on top of each other (like the case of a 4X10) causes the waves from each speaker to sort of help each other? the efficiency produced from this effect actually produces more volume and/ or tone?
that's just what i've heard. and from experiance, it seems as if something like that is going on with a bunch of 10" speakers working together.
i've never played through a single fifteen that has a complete frequency spectrum (to my ears). they always seem mushy and lacking in the upper mids.
let me reiterate too, those acme bass cabs are really, really special. and no, i don't have anything to do with the company, i'm just a very satisfied customer. spend some time on the website, it's worth it.

Low B-4W 4x10" $589 + shipping

[sonikbliss]

this guy asking about what cabinet he should get doesn't know his fucking ass from a hat! A "2x10 is gonna be too small" waaaaaa waaaaaaaa. What the fuck do you know? If you knew you wouldn't be asking what you should get. Don't be so quick to discredit the advice people are giving you here.

Everybody's entitled to their own opinion. To some bass players a 2x10 is childs play. How about, Don't be so quick to post asinine remarks without trying to help first.

This is a great thread by the way. I'm not a bass player but I'm in a similar situation as the original poster and I've been looking for an amp for recording and this thread has really helped out alot. Keep the good info coming.

[SKEETER]

I used two cabs I designed and built when I was playing bass live (I am really a lead guitarist), one had a 15 and the other 2 tens. I used a Berhinger head ( I replaced a hartke with it) and my rig CRANKS.
I have also seen guys using 2x10 cabs in medium sized clubs ( I think the bass player in the band I am in uses a 2x10 when we are not doing outdoor or larger places) and I have heard some very impressive 2x10 cabs. I seen one guy that had one of the cleanest tones and some of the deepest bass I have ever heard playing in a club that seated a few hundred.
My 2x10 cab can handle 300 watts. That is more than my 1x15 will handle. Together they THUNDER.
2x10s are the ideal cab for someone doing weekend nightclub work. Not heavy, not bulky you could about gig in one of these little american runabout cars and easily put all the gear in.

[X-ian]

I had an Acoustic 4x15 cab with two of the 15? speakers facing each other through two ports in the center of the cab and two 15?s facing the front. I would trade my Ampeg 8x10 any day to get that cab back. The Acoustic cab was huge and the low end that came out of it would literally shake your bowels. These days everyone likes the tight punchy low end and I understand that, but I still miss the shit your pants low of that cab.

[Coco]

Hope you had a roadie to help you with that thing. I was joking with a bandmate last night about a 4 x 15" cabinet. I never thought such a thing even existed. I do like the old school bass sound. A little tubby is good but so is tight, and am not into the growling very mid-present sounding bass, sort of that Jesus Lizard type of sound (love the band, don't love the bass sound) I am trying to kill a few birds with one stone here and get a cabinet I will like to play for myself, and one that can accomodate varying bass sounds in the studio.

[X-ian]

I admit a 4x15 isn?t for everyone and the 10?s are probably more versatile. I use a DI with my Ampeg cab and blend the two and have been happy with the results.

[stinkpot]

I am trying to kill a few birds with one stone here and get a cabinet I will like to play for myself, and one that can accomodate varying bass sounds in the studio.

see my posts above for maximum flexiblility. the built in attenuators on the rear of the cab are super cool and effective.

[SKEETER]

I like then huge cab sound that was pupular when rock music was happening. I do think that speaker technology has gotten to the point where you can get alot better sound from tens than you could years ago. Huge cabs are just not very practical for most bands anymore, considering large venues are far and few between compared to how it was 20 years ago.

[DryCounty]

I've played my share of cabinets, and don't consider myself an expert by any means, but I totally lucked out when I found an Ampeg SVT 1540 cabinet on ebay and no one bid. Granted, I had to spend an entire day driving down and back from Charlotte to pick the beast up but got it for $375.

For those that don't know, the 1540 is a single 15" below and 4x10's up top. It's as big as an 8x10, weighs maybe 20lbs lighter. You get a lot of the punch from the 10s and a lot of the heavy from the bottom 15.

I spent an entire hour one day at a local Border's perusing "the Ampeg Book" looking for any info on this model (it's production run was only a few years) but DID manage to find out that it was designed with the bass player from Cinderella! Whoa yeah!!