Gotta be FIFTEEN'S for me, how about U?

[broadcaster]

For bass, 15's give me what I need in a band mix, that is they best occupy the lower frequency's.

I have owned and used them all..that is 10's, 12's, 15's and even an 18 folded horn fridge. The 18 took too much time and space to work, not good. And I concede, I have never tried the exotic cabs out there loaded with a bunch of 5" speakers.

But for me, just one or two fifteens ALWAY'S work well and sound so big and satisfying.

And C'mon, why does most every cabinet maker install high-freq tweeters in the bass cabs they sell? Bass players don't need no stinking tweeters! We play bass for cryin' out loud..... Yep, a marketing gimmic. rant, rant.


Anyone else have the warm and fuzzy's over the mighty 15's, for bass

[Tim Armstrong]

I've used tens, twelves and fifteens, and I currently have a 2x10 cab and a 1x15 cab.

I dig 'em all! I think tens are my favorite, followed by fifteens.

Cheers, Tim

[Scott McCray]

...it was two (or occasionally four) 15's for me...bottom for days, but still had the needed punch. I tried the 4x10's, the 18 and 2x10's - but kept going back to the 15's...

[hockey_head]

I've used fifteens for a long time, fave was electrovoice evm15.
used jnl e140 for quite a while but at smaller gigs they didn't push the bass that well, they need to be cranked.
am now using 2 eminence kappa 10's with 1000 watts behind them, they thump real good but when i installed them, my cab gained 35 pounds.
use the same cab for p.a. for entire band (yes kick drum too) at small shows
and because it has a tweet, i can pull it off. when i just play the bass tho,
the tweet is all but turned off.
i do miss my evm15 in a half size theile box.

[hockey_head]

err uh jbl...

[bobbybigmac]

I suggest it takes years to find your preferred sound.
I played around with 2x15, 2x12, and 1x18 + 2x10 Bi Amp'd.
I got sucked in to the whole bi-amp thing.
Big power, big speaker, splitting feq's with
a cross over, yada yada yada....
Finally found my current fav a GK 4 x 10 Cab after a very
experienced soundman suggested I try a 4x10.
To my ears 4x10 are the warmest and still clear.
I hear 15's as mushy. Although I always thought I could
hear the 18 I realized, after the I replaced it with the 4x10,
that most of my sound was thrown out 12-15 feet.
I also like the fact that a 4x10 is very easy to hump around.

[martini]

I prefer tens for portability and punch but they have to be in the right cab.

[Paul in Colorado]

I still want one of those 2 x 15" SUNN cabs with JBL's that every band in San Francisco used in the '60's. Where'd they all go? You never see 'em.

Most of the time I use a single 15" cab with a 2 x 10" cab, but if I only use one, it's the 2 x 10" just cause it's easier to move, cuts through the mix and the house subs can provide the thump since I'm sending them a line out from the preamp.

I think an ideal rig for me would be a single 15" with a single 12" for the mids. I don't need no stinkin' tweeter either, but having a full range rig makes it good for acoustic guitar and keyboards if the need arises.

[Bluesbob]

Bergantino NV425. Out of production 1X15, 3X10 cab, 4 ohms (and no horn) - best of both worlds or too much of a compromise? I'll decide that for myself when I hit the lottery. My dream rig, if I don't have to move it, is a Bergie NV610 and an NV 2X15 powered by an SVT or two. And really good hearing protection.

[teleclarkster]

When I started playing bass in the early 70's I used 15's. No tweeters back then. Around 1979 I got an early 70's SVT with the 8x10 cab and used it for several years. Great rock n roll amp but I never want to move one around again. Now after 20+ years of not playing bass I'm back at it and use a 15" speaker. I really like it. Not muddy at all and it just has that classic bass sound. My cab has a tweeter but I've never turned it on.

[4mal]

a couple of years ago I would have agreed as I considered 2 D140's to be sort of the gold standard for my tone. Since then I've heard a bunch of stuff that will get the job done for me. My current cab with a side firing 12, two front firing 10's and a tweet - does an amazing impression of a 1x15 & 2x10 stack - all in a 23.5 " square that weighs 55 - 60 lbs. Happily the tweeter has a pad that goes way, way down ... Very round and full, good bottom, good definition. Easily transportable. Produces a whole lotta volume with relatively low power input. (This is relative for me, mind you...) Really a good gigging cab...

I've also been playing my new (to me) P-Bass through a Princeton Reverb but driving a JBL 15 in a small ported box. I really have to get some good mic on that thing as while it isn't very loud - it really sounds cool and old timey.

For the last couple of weeks I've been dialing in a sub that I built for my PA. It's quite a small box using an exotic German made driver from BMSPro. Being small and a sub it'a also a little power humgry. 500 watts get's it going pretty well but 1K watt might get it going better. Anyway for the driver break in period, I played some bass through it. Ideally you don't start tuning until the driver has been exercised a little - or so I'm told by the DIY guru's over at TB.

This is a driver that stops at about 400 hz - you know it doesn't sound all that bad as a bass cab... Big time fundamental, not a lot of anything else - kinda like the bass you hear on records - big, full, round - not seemingly crisp but somehow with great definition. Think Chuck Rainey ... hmmm... Not sure how it would translate live. I might have to open mic with it somewhere to find out ... even though this is a sub, my design goals were hat is was solid down to 40 and then nada... I expect it to sit under my EON Series 1's up to about 125 hz so a very narrow band width. This is one way that I could also do it in a small box. Going to 30hz stroing would have about doubled the size of the box ...

One thing I did discover... spring loaded handles on sub-woofer cab's is a bad idea. I need to find some other handle for it or I'll be living with rags & foam rubber to dampen the thing ... DOH!

[broadcaster]

delicious, simply delicious tone-

http://www.ampeg.com/products/classic/svt15e/index.html

Yum, Yum.

[mudbean]

I use a Son of Bertha (15 with the stupid horn) by SWR - excellent cab, tight & punchy as driven with my G&K 1001RBII. Also - major plus - this is the smallest 15 cab I've ever seen, and like most SWR stuff is built like a tank. This is my main rig. Also recently picked up an Amper BA-112 for small gigs - me likey mucho.

mud

[Dave W]

Two Mesa 1x15s here. But if I started gigging regularly again I'd pair a 2x10 with one 1x15.

[Big Tony]

Whatever gets the job done.

15s are great, but I've also been satisfied with 10s, and 12s.

/ Tony

[Paul in Colorado]

[quote=4mal;1193681]a couple of years ago I would have agreed as I considered 2 D140's to be sort of the gold standard for my tone. Since then I've heard a bunch of stuff that will get the job done for me. My current cab with a side firing 12, two front firing 10's and a tweet - does an amazing impression of a 1x15 & 2x10 stack - all in a 23.5 " square that weighs 55 - 60 lbs. Happily the tweeter has a pad that goes way, way down ... Very round and full, good bottom, good definition. Easily transportable. Produces a whole lotta volume with relatively low power input. (This is relative for me, mind you...) Really a good gigging cab... QUOTE]

Who built your cab? Where can I hear one?

[4mal]

[quote=Paul in Colorado;1196567]

Originally Posted by 4mal

a couple of years ago I would have agreed as I considered 2 D140's to be sort of the gold standard for my tone. Since then I've heard a bunch of stuff that will get the job done for me. My current cab with a side firing 12, two front firing 10's and a tweet - does an amazing impression of a 1x15 & 2x10 stack - all in a 23.5 " square that weighs 55 - 60 lbs. Happily the tweeter has a pad that goes way, way down ... Very round and full, good bottom, good definition. Easily transportable. Produces a whole lotta volume with relatively low power input. (This is relative for me, mind you...) Really a good gigging cab... QUOTE]

Who built your cab? Where can I hear one?

Jorg Schroeder. Mine is the 21012 L. Looks like GuitarX in Denver is a dealer.
Jorg's Site

He makes a few different box styles. Small, medium and large. I've owned both medium styles the 410 and 21012 and they rock. The 410R I had was just the punchiest thing. It was quite like standing in front of my old 8x10 fridge. I like the low end a bit looser, rounder though. The 21012 does that... The smaller box I found to be quite mid - focused. The one I heard a lot was the 1210. I wasn't real impressed there. I would like to hear the 1212 though.

[teleclarkster]

4mal, I've played through a 21012 L recently and I was really impressed. The owner had the box rotated so the port for the 12" was facing the floor. It was hard to believe how solid the low end was from such a small cab. It's now on my wish list. Oh, and it's pretty light too.

[4mal]

Jorg makes an interesting box. He's kinda part science and part 'juju' ... I'm guessing he does a lot with his ears and if the box isn't perfectly flat - so what if it sounds good ? seems to be the approach. I'm guessing there is a landfill full of prototypes somewhere ...

The 21012 is a pretty remarkable box for the size & weight.

My synth sounds awsome through this one too. The low end from the B3 and Rhodes patches are just yummy!

[broadcaster]

Tens and twelves are ok and they work just fine. But there is a commanding, big low end vibe that happens with fifteens.

You are defintely THE bass player going through the big guys.

[GoldieLocks]

I tried a bunch of speaker sizes. I ended up with a 15" speaker. I can definitely feel it. I'm not using a horn either.

[Paul in Colorado]

Thanks for the link 4mal!
Interesting cabs. Something for the wish list.

[JimmyZ]

I'm packing up my Ashdown Mag 300 combo with 15 and going to a couple of tens. I played with my regular band last night and it was way too mushy and I couldn't get a good clear sound from it. At one point I had some kind of wierd odd-order sound coming out where my low E should have been. Too heavy and too mushy for me. Going to the tens.

[broadcaster]

Originally Posted by JimmyZ

I'm packing up my Ashdown Mag 300 combo with 15 and going to a couple of tens. I played with my regular band last night and it was way too mushy and I couldn't get a good clear sound from it. At one point I had some kind of wierd odd-order sound coming out where my low E should have been. Too heavy and too mushy for me. Going to the tens.

In my experience, the tonal quality of fifteens for bass mostly depends on the cabinet. Two cab's in particular I didn't care for at all for stand-alone where the Peavey 115BX-Scorpion and a Avatar B115. Both where mushy alone but great mated with a 2x10. I've played through many 1x15" combo bass amps over the years and managed to get a decent sound out of most of them.

For stand-alone 15" bass cabs I dig Eden and Ampeg SVT cabs. Not mushy but big and articulate.

Chime in with your favorite 15" standalone bass cab's, folks...