one cab is enough?

[DavidMPires]

Some cabinet manufacturers claim that you dont need two cabs, and have the one-does-it-all approach.

How much of this is true?

 

Do you agree that one cabinet is enough even when playing with a 5 piece band, and Im not talking about using 8x10 or 6x10 or 2x15.

 

[mro]

I use 2 cabs. Both ampeg 4x10 svthe. Our drummer wants one next to him as I stand to the out side of the lead player. I don't like being in the middle because the singer keeps stepping back into me (small stages).I would prefer to have 1 cab to haul around but because of his needs, I have 2. I use an Ampeg svt 3pro as the head.

[Big Daddy from Motown]

A single 410 cab is plenty for a five piece band.

 

I'll be playing tonight with a six piece rock band using 2-112 cabinets.

[Luke73]

I find one enough for almost everything.

 

Unless it's a large venue, and there is little or no PA support.

 

When required, it's nice to have the extra though.

 

...similarly, sometimes I feel it's even nice to have two cabs going (I have 2x 2x10's stacked in a vertical array) with the volume turned down lower.

 

So, for me, one is almost always enough - but I often enjoy two.

 

[...]

It totally depends on the cab. I replaced an Epifani 410UL and 212UL with a Mesa Boogie 2x12 combo amp. The stupid Mesa combo amp is as loud and full as any rig I've ever owned save maybe an Ampeg SVT when it's really absurdly loud - like so loud you'd never be at that volume unless you were outdoors and playing to 5000+ people and had a really really bad PA/monitors supporting you. I can blow everyone off the stage at every gig I play with the Mesa combo amp. It really is one size fits all. I've yet to find another small cab or combo amp that can do everything this one can - oh I might also add that it sounds absolutely incredible. With all its tubey goodness and delight.

[getz out]

I have gigged plenty with a single 2x10" cabinet. 4x10" cabinet is the most I have ever needed.

[The Bear Jew]

You're tubey goodness and delight.

 

(you had to know that was gonna happen)

[...]

You're tubey goodness and delight.

 

(you had to know that was gonna happen)

 

Well yeah.

[Danzilla]

You're tubey goodness and delight.

 

(you had to know that was gonna happen)

 

Ah, yes, another bit of Valentine's Day love from the Lowdown!

NTTATWWT

[Tom Capasso]

David - I use one 112 for church, two for rock. I'm sure if I had an Epifani 3x10 of Berg 322 cab it would be fine for rock. I might even get away with a 2x10/12. The problem with them (outside of my liking my two 12 cabs) is that one cab would not be as good for my back.

 

Bump - I hate to read that wishy-washy stuff about your Mesa combo. Damn boy - tell us what you really think !!

 

Tom

[yourlord]

If the stage will handle it, I run my 8x10 and 2x15. If the stage won't handle both, I run the 8x10. I prefer the tone of both together so if it's possible, I run both. I keep my volume high on stage, because it's rare I find a sound man that will give me an adequate volume level in the monitors.

[getz out]

If the stage will handle it, I run my 8x10 and 2x15. If the stage won't handle both, I run the 8x10. I prefer the tone of both together so if it's possible, I run both. I keep my volume high on stage, because it's rare I find a sound man that will give me an adequate volume level in the monitors.

 

Every soundman hates you.

[...]

[quote=getz76][quote=yourlord]If the stage will handle it, I run my 8x10 and 2x15. If the stage won't handle both, I run the 8x10. I prefer the tone of both together so if it's possible, I run both. I keep my volume high on stage, because it's rare I find a sound man that will give me an adequate volume level in the monitors.[/quote] Every soundman hates you.[/quote] True story.

[The Bear Jew]

If the stage will handle it, I run my 8x10 and 2x15. If the stage won't handle both, I run the 8x10. I prefer the tone of both together so if it's possible, I run both. I keep my volume high on stage, because it's rare I find a sound man that will give me an adequate volume level in the monitors.

 

Every soundman hates you.

 

True story.

 

If I had my druthers, I'd SO do exactly what YL does. But, then again, if I had my druthers, I'd also do nothing but sit on a soft leather couch, watching Coen brothers films, eating fried chicken, sushi and barbecue in my mansion full of naked women who look just like Beyonce and are all in lust with me... while my accountants try to figure out how a man as good-looking as me managed to acquire fifty bazillion dollars simply by osmosis overnight.

 

However, in the real world... I figure out what I'll need for the gig (2x10, 4x10, 1x15, 6x10, 8x10) and bring whatever cab (or combination thereof) will work best. Then, I listen to the person running sound at the venue and adjust my volume according to their desires... because I'd actually like my band to have a balanced sound in the room and get booked again.

 

I also watch my diet, go to work, have just one girlfriend and do my own taxes.

 

Dammit. I want my druthers.

 

But, until I can have 'em and do whatever I want, I try to work with the people I encounter, not against them.

[yourlord]

I always give a new sound man a chance to set my levels on stage before i turn up.. If he does the stage mix and i'm still completely buried, I walk over and bring it up on my amp so I can hear myself.. I've played at exactly 1 venue where the sound man gave me enough stage volume to hear myself, and at that show I never turned up past about 3 on my master gain as it just wasn't needed. Most of the sound men at the venues I play at bury the bass as a matter of course because either their PA can't handle it, or it's just typical of most metal bands that the bass is buried.. I carry a lot of the melody of our songs, and if buried, our songs lose a big part of their "sound".. IF I was guaranteed a decent stage mix, or we had our own sound guy we knew would get it right, I'd be perfectly happy running DI.. Less gear to manhandle around all the time would make my band mates happy.

 

 

[SteveC]

I don't have enough money or space to have multiple cabs like many of you guys seem to have.

 

I currently use a GB 112 and it work great for all my gigs - for me anyway, maybe not for you.

 

I am debating a GB Shuttle 3.0-10T fo rsmall gigs, jazz gigs and rehearsal and using my Neo112 with it for the full 300 watts at bigger gigs.

[getz out]

I've played at exactly 1 venue where the sound man gave me enough stage volume to hear myself

 

How many venues have you played in total?

[yourlord]

4.. #5 is tomorrow night..

 

#4 was the only one the sound man got it right..

 

#2 they had some puny little speakers for the pa that just wouldn't cope so I carried the whole show on my rig alone, no mic, no line, at a mid sized venue.. About 200 people there..

[Bob Gollihur]

Depends on the gig and the volume/competition. That said, I seem to like the "thick like a brick" that a pair of identical cabs seems to provide for most electric bass gigs.

[TimR]

My Trace Elliot 1x15" is 280watts RMS 560 peak. I believe the speaker is 200W rms. For most gigs less than 200 people indoors turned up to 7 it is fine. We play pop/disco for functions etc. At larger venues I have it DI'd but only if the drums are going to be miced and the PA is capable of handling it. Obviously other types of music will differ.

 

There's no point in playing your rig louder than your drummer can hit, otherwise the audience can't hear the drummer. The guitars will just turn up and all you hear is loads of midrangy guitars. It turns into loudness wars on stage and no one can hear anything at all. So if your band is louder than the drummer you're better off getting a decent PA with good monitoring rather than multiple cabs. If you turn up loud when the drums are miced, you could then bleed into all the drum mics and your bass will sound like mud.

[Tenstrum]

1 cabinet will usually do the job depending on the circumstances and the cabinet.

 

But who cares about circumstances when you can have sixteeen 10" speakers at your back powered by a 1600 watt power amp turned up to 8!

(No not me, just a guy I know.)

 

 

[Ross Brown]

Are there not two issues here? How many cabs for the volume you want/need and how many cabs for the tone you want/need?

 

Maybe too many variable to consider for changable live venues....

[getz out]

Gig enough and you learn tone nuance is not noticed by anybody but yourself.

 

Also, in most cases, Want != Need. Your Want is often not shared by the soundman, your bandmates or the audience. If your Want is more important to you than the collective Wants of those around you, then do your thing. Just do not confuse your Want with your Need.

 

Now, as far as trying to "fix" the mix by blowing away the soundman, that is about as dumb as dumb gets. On stage, you have absolutely no idea what the FOH sounds like. Turning up in order to counteract the actions of a soundman will do no good but only harm to the FOH sound. You are making a bad situation worse. If your venue has inadequate sound reinforcement, you are going to fix it with the volume knob on your $300 amplifier. This begins the death spiral. You turn up your bass amp, so the soundman takes you out of the FOH and then turns up the guitars, vocals, and any drum mics. It pushes the system even further than it is already being pushed and induces feedback and distortion. Your crappy sound just got more crappy.

 

My advice; deal with the issue and play through it or hire your own soundman.

 

Do your thing. Just do not fool yourself into thinking you are actually helping the situation.

[jeremy c]

If the stage will handle it, I run my 8x10 and 2x15. If the stage won't handle both, I run the 8x10. I prefer the tone of both together so if it's possible, I run both. I keep my volume high on stage, because it's rare I find a sound man that will give me an adequate volume level in the monitors.

 

This is based on how many shows?

 

Where are you standing that you can't hear yourself with one of those cabinets?

 

I have played with two cabs (one on each side of the stage): a 2x15 and an 18+12. The only thing in the PA was vocals and the music was very bass oriented. (Yes, it was disco and before you stop laughing, everyone in the band bought houses with the proceeds from that band.)

 

The bands I'm in now are not as loud as those days. When I played with a 9 piece soul band recently, I used two cabinets in order to play SOFTER. The 1x12 cabinet on top of the larger cabinet was so I could hear myself without having to crank the larger cabinet (which was aimed at the back of my legs). If I had cranked the big cabinet, as getz76 says, EVERYONE would have turned up accordingly. And then no one in the audience would have heard the vocals, which are pretty important in the music we were doing...lead vocals with three backup singers. I was one of those. I would have been doing steps as well except that there was no room to move.

[Luke73]

Gig enough and you learn tone nuance is not noticed by anybody but yourself.

 

This is very true.

 

I've had a great many amps over the last few years in my quest for tonal Nirvana.

 

Most of the time, my band mates didn't even notice the different box, let alone and subtle difference in tone!

 

 

To quote my guitarist:

 

I don't know why you bother trying out all that different gear man - I mean it's not like guitar where tone matters - all bass has to do is go boom boom boom....

 

[...]

Gig enough and you learn tone nuance is not noticed by anybody but yourself.

 

Also, in most cases, Want != Need. Your Want is often not shared by the soundman, your bandmates or the audience. If your Want is more important to you than the collective Wants of those around you, then do your thing. Just do not confuse your Want with your Need.

 

Now, as far as trying to "fix" the mix by blowing away the soundman, that is about as dumb as dumb gets. On stage, you have absolutely no idea what the FOH sounds like. Turning up in order to counteract the actions of a soundman will do no good but only harm to the FOH sound. You are making a bad situation worse. If your venue has inadequate sound reinforcement, you are going to fix it with the volume knob on your $300 amplifier. This begins the death spiral. You turn up your bass amp, so the soundman takes you out of the FOH and then turns up the guitars, vocals, and any drum mics. It pushes the system even further than it is already being pushed and induces feedback and distortion. Your crappy sound just got more crappy.

 

My advice; deal with the issue and play through it or hire your own soundman.

 

Do your thing. Just do not fool yourself into thinking you are actually helping the situation.

 

Yes. Exactly this.

 

IF I was guaranteed a decent stage mix, or we had our own sound guy we knew would get it right, I'd be perfectly happy running DI.. Less gear to manhandle around all the time would make my band mates happy.

 

Or you could get a nice smaller rig and accomplish the same end result. I know you don't believe that a 2x12 combo amp can do what your 8x10 + 2x15 rig can do. But believe me. It can.

 

If you insisted on having a "big" looking rig and like the combination of 10's and 15's you should investigate a 4x10 and 1x15 cab combo. The poor bastards who are schlepping your gear around for you will thank you for it.

[Luke73]

8x10 + 2x15

 

That really is very big.

 

I feel extravagant when I lug in two 2x10s.

 

[_Sweet Willie_]

It's been said on this forum before, but I'll say it again. A vast majority of gigs can be handled quite well with about 400W into a 4x10 cab.

 

Extra headroom is nice, so having more power can be great. However, I still stand by the statement above as being mostly (not always) true.

 

Also, regarding the soundman -- work with him (or her) and not against him. Usually it all works out better in the end. If you consistently struggle doing this, re-evaluate your approach OR hire your own soundman. Some friends of mine in a band that toured clubs around the US for a few years had a tour manager/ roadie/ extra driver/ friend who would get in the good graces of the soundman and then work with him so that the FOH would be representative of the kind of sound and balance the band was looking for.

 

Peace.

--s-uu

 

[...]

You're a balance the band was looking for.

[Seamy ALB]

I agree with SW.

 

I like the tonal options of combining cabs. I don't run my rig any louder when using 2 cabs, it just produces a different tone.

 

I have found that in most instances my cabs are really for onstage monitoring creating a good sound for the band to play of. If the sound guy says turn down then I always do.