Back in the late 70s, Chris Squire used 12" speakers. I currently have an 800 watt amp with 1x15" (which I bought first because it was what I could afford, and years ago I used a 2x15 cab with front-loaded speakers with rear-loaded folded horns). I also played on a friend's Ampeg 400w 1x15 amp, which with my round wound strings would actually sound like a wooden roar at times. With the amp, I also got a 4x10 cab. The 15 and the 4x10 are both vented, and both have tweeters. I would like to replace the 15 with a powerful 2x12 when I can afford it. I like quick punch, but I also like a roar.
I would say the mic, mic placement, and signal chain on that is even more important because that is what other people will hear. One approach would be to run direct with a Reddi, which essentially gives you that 15" low, warm tone, and blend that with a miced 12" or 10" speaker (or even just with another preamp with some grit and/or speaker simulation).
Phil Jones Bass has cabinets that use 5" drivers that produce an impressive amount of bass and very fast response time. They are lightweight and sound amazing. You don't need huge speakers to create big bass and PJB products are proof of that. That being said I do prefer 10" speakers over 12 and 15 inch speakers. To me they just sound better but the PJB gear is on another level.
LOL I just commented about Phil Jones and then saw your comment. That’s great yes the d1000 with two c4s is beautiful. I wouldn’t mind a road case neither though.
Glad you mentioned the SWR Redhead! After reading a Bass Player magazine almost 20 years ago and seeing Marcus Miller jamming on it, I knew I wanted to get my hands on that amp. Here we are all this time later I finally picked up the Super Redhead back in February. Took some hunting as I specifically wanted the American pre Fender model, but now I'm loving every minute of it. Sure, its got a little more weight than a MarkBass or your Aguilar set up, but I can't get over the tone of that 350W tube pre pushing those 2 10's! Thanks for all you do to educate and equip guys like me with great tips, tricks, and all around knowledge. I'm really loving this series, always anticipating the next topic!
Thank you so much Daniel, I'm honored! Ya the redhead is a great amp, hard to beat especially for playing around town. Can't go wrong! And truly, thank you so much. I'm glad you're enjoying the channel and the series! If it's not too much to ask, would you mind sharing this video for me? I'd really appreciate the help dude!
I've played 2x12 for some time, I missed 10" because I prefer tightness and articulation. The 12" is neither 15" nor 10". I play Rock and Metal, and 4x10 or 8x10 is the way I go :) 12" are not for everyone :) You gotta try them out. Just like your experience with the musicman, I see bass players getting an awesome sound outta of 12", I don't like it when I play one or two of them.
follow up question, how does the wattage and ohmage of amps and cabs effect tones? I have a 4x10 that i run at 800W at 4 Ohms, if i add another cab it'll be 500W at 8Ohms. I would like another 4x10 for rock gigs but i also don't want to lose EIGHT HUNDREED WATTS of power.
That's a loaded question, and unfortunately I really don't have the scientific understanding to answer it. But I know the folks at Aguilar are super knowledgable about this stuff and would definitely be able to help you with that. Call em up or send an email and tell them I sent you :) They're at aguilaramp.com :)
Most people find running more drivers with less power, not pushed as hard, sounds better. I would check your numbers... because usually if you add a cabinet in parallel the resistance goes down and the amplifier's power goes up accordingly. It would make more sense if you had told me you were running an 8 ohm cabinet with 500 watts , but your power output increased to 800 watts when you added your second 8 ohm cabinet (making 4 ohms total resistance). You could post your question on the talkbass.com forum, which is a gold mine of helpful people and (usually) useful information. Cheers, javadog
love your tone quest vids. Circle of Tone has video advising people (guitarists mostly) to just plug their bass into any 100 watt tube head and vintage 30 4x12 guitar cabinet for recording. i tried this with a cheap P bass through a Triple rectifier and mesa cab... holy crap it sounded good! it was the first time i'd heard of putting bass through 12" speakers. i have some 15" dual loudspeakers, that i want to try just because... well, just because. so far i'm pleased enough with the tone out of my tube guitar amps that i'm likely going to put off buying a dedicated Bass amp for a while. especially since i won't be performing live, just recording at home. admittedly though, a 4x 10" would be nice for some tonal variation options.
Nice! Ya running bass through a guitar amp sounds great in the studio. Live it may not give you enough low end, but blend it with the DI signal and you'll be in heaven :) Thanks for reaching out dude!
Bukati Kumar of Phil Simon band runs Phil Jones Bass 5 inch speaker I think his combo has 12 of those 5 inch speakers in it and as far as clean bass sounds I don’t think there is anyone doing a better job than Phil Jones. Double bass players at Berkeley school of music are now all converting to these small drivers and I’m willing to bet we are going to see these popping up more and more. Check them out.
i love a mix of 10 n 12, clarity and bawlz cuz i play mostly jazz to metal, a 15 i ain't fan of my neighbours hear my bass and tone better then i can, this gives me an idea , cuz if u pic one mic and like 2 spots u can tell the difference by having placements and mic be the control and the speaker be the variable
I've one burning question about Aguilar cabs but finding Aguilar gear on a showroom floor is rare in my area (most areas I think). I've noticed a lot (seriously a lot) of 2 x Aguilar SL 112 cab configurations out there. How do the DB 112 and SL 112 tone differ? FWIW, I have listened to the Aguilar product demos online which are helpful but I'd love to hear more opinions from someone who has lived with DB 112s. Cheers!
Hi Jayme, thanks for your tutorials first. In my case i play several Styles a mix of funk jazz reggae and the truth is sometimes i get overwhelmed by the sound since it affects me and if it does not sound good i do not play well, do you think i should use a pedalboard or how can i solve it? Thank you so much 🙏
Hi! This is a great question and I'd love to answer it for you. Come to my Twitch channel and ask there, I stream M-F at 5pm PST every week :) See ya there! www.twitch.tv/jaymelewisthebassist
I've not played it before so I'm afraid I can't comment. However, if you're just getting started then ANYTHING will work. A 10w amp is probably the size of a shoebox and it'll suffice for practice, but certainly not rehearsal with a band or performance. Hope that helps Cindy!
Certainly true for me, I'm DI 80% of the time. Except in the studio, we just about always mic a cab in the studio. And depending on the house PA system, there can be an amazing benefit to micing a cab to get the mids that the DI won't pull. This is actually a great topic, and if you come back next way I'm pretty sure we'll be discussing it more :)
Back in the late 70s, Chris Squire used 12" speakers. I currently have an 800 watt amp with 1x15" (which I bought first because it was what I could afford, and years ago I used a 2x15 cab with front-loaded speakers with rear-loaded folded horns). I also played on a friend's Ampeg 400w 1x15 amp, which with my round wound strings would actually sound like a wooden roar at times. With the amp, I also got a 4x10 cab. The 15 and the 4x10 are both vented, and both have tweeters. I would like to replace the 15 with a powerful 2x12 when I can afford it. I like quick punch, but I also like a roar.
I would say the mic, mic placement, and signal chain on that is even more important because that is what other people will hear.
One approach would be to run direct with a Reddi, which essentially gives you that 15" low, warm tone, and blend that with a miced 12" or 10" speaker (or even just with another preamp with some grit and/or speaker simulation).
Phil Jones Bass has cabinets that use 5" drivers that produce an impressive amount of bass and very fast response time. They are lightweight and sound amazing. You don't need huge speakers to create big bass and PJB products are proof of that. That being said I do prefer 10" speakers over 12 and 15 inch speakers. To me they just sound better but the PJB gear is on another level.
LOL I just commented about Phil Jones and then saw your comment. That’s great yes the d1000 with two c4s is beautiful. I wouldn’t mind a road case neither though.
Glad you mentioned the SWR Redhead! After reading a Bass Player magazine almost 20 years ago and seeing Marcus Miller jamming on it, I knew I wanted to get my hands on that amp. Here we are all this time later I finally picked up the Super Redhead back in February. Took some hunting as I specifically wanted the American pre Fender model, but now I'm loving every minute of it. Sure, its got a little more weight than a MarkBass or your Aguilar set up, but I can't get over the tone of that 350W tube pre pushing those 2 10's! Thanks for all you do to educate and equip guys like me with great tips, tricks, and all around knowledge. I'm really loving this series, always anticipating the next topic!
Thank you so much Daniel, I'm honored! Ya the redhead is a great amp, hard to beat especially for playing around town. Can't go wrong! And truly, thank you so much. I'm glad you're enjoying the channel and the series! If it's not too much to ask, would you mind sharing this video for me? I'd really appreciate the help dude!
That was before you discovered PJB :)
I've played 2x12 for some time, I missed 10" because I prefer tightness and articulation. The 12" is neither 15" nor 10". I play Rock and Metal, and 4x10 or 8x10 is the way I go :) 12" are not for everyone :) You gotta try them out. Just like your experience with the musicman, I see bass players getting an awesome sound outta of 12", I don't like it when I play one or two of them.
i don't care if it's a mess, I'd love to come round to your studio! thanks for the vid, as ever it was great.
follow up question, how does the wattage and ohmage of amps and cabs effect tones? I have a 4x10 that i run at 800W at 4 Ohms, if i add another cab it'll be 500W at 8Ohms. I would like another 4x10 for rock gigs but i also don't want to lose EIGHT HUNDREED WATTS of power.
Haha thanks!
That's a loaded question, and unfortunately I really don't have the scientific understanding to answer it. But I know the folks at Aguilar are super knowledgable about this stuff and would definitely be able to help you with that. Call em up or send an email and tell them I sent you :) They're at aguilaramp.com :)
Most people find running more drivers with less power, not pushed as hard, sounds better. I would check your numbers... because usually if you add a cabinet in parallel the resistance goes down and the amplifier's power goes up accordingly. It would make more sense if you had told me you were running an 8 ohm cabinet with 500 watts , but your power output increased to 800 watts when you added your second 8 ohm cabinet (making 4 ohms total resistance). You could post your question on the talkbass.com forum,
which is a gold mine of helpful people and (usually) useful information. Cheers, javadog
love your tone quest vids. Circle of Tone has video advising people (guitarists mostly) to just plug their bass into any 100 watt tube head and vintage 30 4x12 guitar cabinet for recording. i tried this with a cheap P bass through a Triple rectifier and mesa cab... holy crap it sounded good! it was the first time i'd heard of putting bass through 12" speakers. i have some 15" dual loudspeakers, that i want to try just because... well, just because. so far i'm pleased enough with the tone out of my tube guitar amps that i'm likely going to put off buying a dedicated Bass amp for a while. especially since i won't be performing live, just recording at home. admittedly though, a 4x 10" would be nice for some tonal variation options.
Nice! Ya running bass through a guitar amp sounds great in the studio. Live it may not give you enough low end, but blend it with the DI signal and you'll be in heaven :) Thanks for reaching out dude!
The Markbass New York 804 is the best cab in my opinion. It has the punch of a 4x10 but the portability of a 112.
Nice, I'll have to check it out Marcel!
Bukati Kumar of Phil Simon band runs Phil Jones Bass 5 inch speaker I think his combo has 12 of those 5 inch speakers in it and as far as clean bass sounds I don’t think there is anyone doing a better job than Phil Jones. Double bass players at Berkeley school of music are now all converting to these small drivers and I’m willing to bet we are going to see these popping up more and more. Check them out.
It's funny that 12 inch speakers are now common ,I had a music man HD130 TUBE AMP WITH A TWO 12 CAB FRON THE 70 S I THINK
nice!
I use 2- 112 cabs. Euphonic Audio CXL'skiller sounding cabs that lack nothing.paired with mesa boogie walkabout head or a carbine.
That's a killer rig!
i love a mix of 10 n 12, clarity and bawlz cuz i play mostly jazz to metal, a 15 i ain't fan of my neighbours hear my bass and tone better then i can, this gives me an idea , cuz if u pic one mic and like 2 spots u can tell the difference by having placements and mic be the control and the speaker be the variable
I've one burning question about Aguilar cabs but finding Aguilar gear on a showroom floor is rare in my area (most areas I think). I've noticed a lot (seriously a lot) of 2 x Aguilar SL 112 cab configurations out there. How do the DB 112 and SL 112 tone differ? FWIW, I have listened to the Aguilar product demos online which are helpful but I'd love to hear more opinions from someone who has lived with DB 112s.
Cheers!
I'd say the db cabs have more mid, body and throw than the sl cabs, given the neo speakers. Hope that helps!
Do you consider ohms at all when figuring out what rig to use?
Hi Jayme, thanks for your tutorials first.
In my case i play several Styles a mix of funk jazz reggae and the truth is sometimes i get overwhelmed by the sound since it affects me and if it does not sound good i do not play well, do you think i should use a pedalboard or how can i solve it? Thank you so much 🙏
Hi! This is a great question and I'd love to answer it for you. Come to my Twitch channel and ask there, I stream M-F at 5pm PST every week :) See ya there! www.twitch.tv/jaymelewisthebassist
Have you ever tried to carry a SWR Redhead in one hand? That thing is a beast. I wouldn't recommend it
I have not but I've used them before. Great sounding amps!
Is the fender frontman 10g 10w any good? I’m going to start playing soon, not in a band or anything just as a hobby so
I've not played it before so I'm afraid I can't comment. However, if you're just getting started then ANYTHING will work. A 10w amp is probably the size of a shoebox and it'll suffice for practice, but certainly not rehearsal with a band or performance. Hope that helps Cindy!
here you got a video from the bass channel comparing speaker sizes:
ruclips.net/video/SWwagppLAmE/видео.html
Ehhh... DI? Almost everyone on stage use only DI these days. Amp and cab just for visual. Di direct to PA.
Certainly true for me, I'm DI 80% of the time. Except in the studio, we just about always mic a cab in the studio. And depending on the house PA system, there can be an amazing benefit to micing a cab to get the mids that the DI won't pull. This is actually a great topic, and if you come back next way I'm pretty sure we'll be discussing it more :)