Is Guitar Cabinet Tone Wood a Thing?
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- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2024
- Tonewood is Snake Oil as far as Solid Body Electric Guitars are concerned. But what about Guitar Cabinets? They're made out of wood! Will changing the material make any kind of difference in guitar tone? We put three cabs to the test!
Extreme special thanks to Steve Chaisson for constructing the custom guitar cabinets!
Drums: Jackson Ward
Guitar: Jared Keefer
Many thanks to Celestion for providing the incredible EVH Speakers: Check them out at these affiliate links:
Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/orGnn
Thomann: www.thomann.de/intl/ca/celest...
0:00 We Make Metal here!
0:58 Why so Obsessive
2:10 Speakers vs Cabs
3:18 Is this effecting the tone?
4:40 Knock Test
5:28 Let's cut the crap!
5:41 Observation
6:39 Ask a Question
6:56 Hypothesis
8:02 Prediction
9:23 The Test
9:50 Full Mix Test
11:07 Guitars Only Test
12:31 What do you Think?
About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!
Crazy to me that these types of videos don't perform as well as others. We appreciate the time and effort you put in! Thanks for all the saved money!
I'll offer my reason for skipping these: As much as Glenn tries to deny it, some of his knowledge is useful outside the metal sphere. Since his "science" videos disregard all other genres, they aren't as helpful to me.
I'll throw in my two cents as to why I skip these as well. Bedroom djenty boi who uses IRs. None of this applies to me, and I have a feeling most others are in my position.
@@izzajoker Knowledge is still useful, wherever it comes from. I doubt that the end results will be that much different. At least its a good start.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 that was my point, a lot of SMG's vids give tips that I can use as a ska and reggae guy. This one starts by saying it isn't for me, so I didn't watch it.
I don't know why more people don't watch these either. I love them. My insatiable curiosity makes me just want to know more and more! About almost everything.
*If there is a a difference*
"See, we told you!"
*If there is no difference"
"You did the test wrong!"
Keep up the good work, Glenn!
Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
This video is amazing and eye opening. I heard no difference in the full mix, and the differences individually were so minimal, I won't even bother ranking them. I'd easily be happy with any of those tones. I get every artist wants to sound unique, but this video clearly proves that obsessing over the technological components of it will probably hinder overall creativity and output.
I was thinking the same thing.
i think obsessing over technical aspects of tone is valid to an extent, but i absolutely follow science when it tells me this shit doesn’t make a difference.
One of my favorite channels to watch by far. Keep up the hard work. Love tuning into your channel Glenn.
I've also experimented intensively.
What I've found is that your left ball hanging free while playing will give you a certain amount of high end reverb, but having your right ball hanging loose will result in a darker tone.
Having both balls vibrating freely sounds like a good idea, but in practice, you'll run into phase issues when they clonk together.
Hahahahaha dude you made my day. Hahaha
Well I never!
What an astounding observation!
LOL like that old one, "I find I need to go on stage with my member pointed up in my jeans, that way when it gets hard, its pointed in the right direction."
Makes sense, after all toan is stored in the balls.
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 as stated by acdc big balls so much better when held every night 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
When soloed, B and C sounded the same to me, and A sounded a tad bit "bassier". But in the full mix, the difference was so negligible that I didn't notice any change.
+1 on my 🎧
Same to me as well…I can can tell A sounds different but can’t quite put my finger on “how” it sounds different.
same
Ditto
same
I gotta say, the B amp had the best tone to my ears. It has a very full tone with each strong having value and not being muddied by the low string or ghosted by the mid and high strings. I like the precise feedback from each note. I liked the test and hope there is more cool ones down the road like this. Good Luck Glenn. Btw, you have opened my eyes up to a lot on both the financial side and recording side of being a musician. You have definitely helped me stay away from making poor choices as a musician with limited financial flexibility.
To me the A cab has a bit less clarity so my guess is particleboard, maybe B is plywood? I can’t tell the difference between B and C. They all sound near identical and in the mix, without labeling it, it’s effectively impossible to tell the difference.
Edit: I was right about the particleboard, but B was actually mdf.
Agreed, A was too thin, C was too thick, B was the best balance and sounded best to me.
These are easily your most interesting and inspiring videos. I’ve already shared this to all my recording buddies.
The only time I notice a major difference was from 12:20 when sustaining the last chord - when flipped from cab A to C and then to B there's a noticeable change in tone, more so in the bass - treble sounded close enough to my ears - but in a full mix, with the bass and kick drums blasting away, you'd never know!
My thoughts exactly!
B sounds best to me, I am sure all 3 mixed would sound great as A was treble heavy and C was high mids
I totally agree!
I noticed that, but also noticed on one point, in the solo, when it swapped from A to C.
From 11:55 to 12:05, you can head the difference.
Other than that, I heard absolutely no other differences. Maybe some smaller ones I wasn't sure about, but that was it.
I only noticed it *WITH* the labels, not without.
Chances are that those bass frequencies are going to be attenuated anyways to make room for the bass and kick in a full mix, so in the end, it won’t even matter.
The overall Sound is great. But that Bass sounds is so brutal. Absolutely love it. Keep up the awesome work Glen
Yes that bass sounds is amazing !
Yeah I was wondering how you got it to be so clicky! Perhaps an updated how to record metal bass is in order
@@TheAntonio7102 to get s good clicky sound out of your Bass look no further then Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. He has the String action as low as possible so that he basically smashes them into the Threatboard when ever he plucks the strings. There are a few videosby Didier Gerome and Bass Buzz here that show how you get that signatur clicky sound
Yeah.
I thought Bass and drums sounded great! While the Overall guitar sound was meh in the Mix...
Just wanna say thank you for doing all this and putting this information out there for all to see (and hear)! The efforts are appreciated
I’ve been waiting for this video for a while now. Thanks for all your effort Glen. It’s appreciated !
For me, on headphones, A sounded a bit "thinner" when compared soloed with B and C. In the full mix, I thought sometimes the guitars sounded thinner but I couldn't point out exactly when the change happened. So, I guess, in the end the only thing that is worth spending time and money on is finding the right speaker!
I am fuckin' LOVING the deconstruction of the tone wood myth! When I was learning to play as a teenager back in the 90's, I was SURROUNDED by old guys who SWORE by tone woods, tubes, and brands. These videos of yours are nothing short of VINDICATING for a guy like me who got overwhelmed by all these idealistic rants about how to make distortion sound good.
This is a super professional video, and any views on it are well deserved. I hope this video blows up Glenn!!!
i really appreciate the free value! you do a lot for so many of us, keep up the good work brother
I normally don't put a 'like' on videos, because I keep on forgetting to, or am typically am just listening to videos instead of watching. But because you worked so damn hard for this scientific experiment, and deserve the attention for all this hard work, I made sure to put a like, which I hope everyone else will, to help your algorithm.
Thanks for doing all of that work, Glenn! B & C sounded practically identical to me and A was brighter than those. My guess for which is which material is B & C have the same baffle made of plywood while A is MDF. I can't wait to find out how wrong I am!
This is my guess too, and agreed about B and C being indistinguishable.
These vids are SOOO VALUEBLE!!!
Thank you so much Glenn for taking the time and spending the bucks to help us and SLAM those myths to bits!
Truely amazing...
Very interesting! I honestly couldn't hear any difference between them! The tone sounded really cool either way, and I love how much the guitarist gets into while playing.
I found cab B and C generating an equal sound when cab A had a different tone. For my taste I felt a lot more of treble on the cab A, which I didn't like that much after I listened to B and C that feels more balanced in the overall tone.
@Jakob Nägler not yet. stayed tuned for more after this week long break
I agree. A sounded inferior, and I noticed it in two places in different parts of the music. But the difference was slight enough that I would not be surprised to be told that they were all 3 the same cab and we've been punk'd.
@@grayaj23 yeah it can happen, but I still find it very interesting
@@TR-zf6io dang, I want to know already 🤣
My thoughts as well.
My thoughts on cabinet material has always been from a durability standpoint. I always thought the shape and size of the cabinet played more importance than materials. I'm at the 4:40 mark so I don't know the results of this test yet.
Edit: I finished the video, and I don't have a favorite. Standing 15 feet away with my monitors cranked I couldn't tell any viable difference.
True but also notice that those in video have microphone up close direct at the speaker driver
so you really only get the sound from the speaker / driver itself and not whole sound as if in the room
a few feet away ( or longer ) .
To hear the real difference you need to listen far from the cabinet and not just a microphone close up to
the speaker . After all the cabinets resonate at different frequencies depending of materials .
For metal I think it doesnt do so big impact because the signal is already heavily distorted .
The form factor or construction type will be of a real difference here .
Especially with open compared to closed box and size ect .
@@kennethsrensen7706 This was a test to hear it compared in a close mic recording situation specifically, as he stated at the start of the video. For this purpose it doesn't matter how it sounds in the room.
That's a very valid point. I notice way less of a difference than I was expecting since say a Mesa oversized cab will sound vastly different from a Marshall, but the amount of wood is definitely different between those 2
@@kennethsrensen7706 Distortion level would make zero difference in noticing tone differential. I'm so sick of this deaf logic.
@@legacyShredder1 Yes thats right and here it really doesnt matter because you have microphone up so close .
thanks for taking the time to do such videos.
Wow, I was expecting a bigger difference than that, the differences were almost impercievable. I think the wood of the guitar body only sounds percievably different with microphonic pickups so I wonder if some speakers would just sound the same and others may bring out the tone of the cab wood more? I'd love to see you try this experiment a couple more times with wildly different speakers, maybe a 5 inch and a 15 inch speaker?
Interesting! To my ears, I really couldn't hear that much of a difference in the mix and, with the guitars soloed, there was a slight difference, but it sounded like with some simple eq'ing onc could get any of the 3 cabs to sound like one another. Like, if you really wanted the tone of Cab A but owned Cab C, you could get Cab C there.
This.
Not B though, B had more bass and better presence, C had higher mids, less bass, A was kind of thin
Pretty much.
An accidental nudge of a treble or presence button would easily make the difference between any of these and any other.
Fascinating though.
We're you listening through your phone speakers?? Some times listening through head phones ( good ones), and or good studio speakers make a big difference with videos like this...
@@ericwilliams538 I have studio monitors. There is a difference in the tone of the three cabs that becomes less obvious in the mix. The three cabs are similar enough to where some basic eq'ing could have any one of these cabs sound like the other two. Are they different? Yes. But can they sound like one another? Also Yes.
I’ve always wanted to make a cabinet out of solid oak and fully varnished so it can double as a piece of furniture.
It would have to be furniture. You'd need a forklift to move that bad boy.
i did...it ends up looking like a kitchen cabinet...i redid it in black and it just looked like a giant shelf speaker...and if i didnt get the wood for free i wouldnt recommend it....stupid heavy & the sound difference was minor too
@@kazzTrismus
My best friend's dad had to cabinets for his home stereo system that were made out of oak back in the 70s. He had 15s in them. They sounded pretty good but they were pretty much a permanent fixture I'm the living room. 🤣
The intro/background was a great idea. Hopefully, this goes viral and you get a ton of new subs from it!
Thanks for this shootout , so so helpful! You the man!
Thank you for putting so much effort! 🙏
Okay so here are my thoughts on this after multiple listens in:
I was expecting there to be a more significant difference between the speakers given the densities of the three woods, but I'm very surprised that the differences are a bit more subtle than I thought.
One thing that did stand out to me though is the resonant frequencies between the three cabinets. You can hear a whistling frequency around the 500 to 600 hz range for all three cabinets. In the guitars that have been soloed, this is much more obvious.
For cabinet A, there is this resonant frequency at around 515 ± 3 hz while for cabinets B and C, the resonant frequency is around 585 ± 10 hz.
Now this is just purely speculation on my end, but here's what I think which cab is which.
I think Cabinet A is the MDF cabinet. This is because the the whistling frequency is quite prominent which suggests that the material around it is much denser, reflecting more sound energy into cavity of the cabinet and then creating some sort of resonant spot.
For cabinets B and C, it is much harder to discern which is which because their differences are a bit subtler, but here are my guesses:
Cabinet B is plywood and Cabinet C is particle board. I say this because cabinet B's resonant frequency is slightly more prominent than cabinet C's suggesting that cabinet B is made of a denser material than cabinet C which explains (or at least I think it does) the differences.
Personally, I like all three of them, but cabinet C was my favorite because its resonant frequency, though still audible and prominent, is not as much compared to the other two, especially to cabinet A.
That's my thoughts on this, can't wait for next week! Fuck you Glenn for all this effort!!
For me, when solo'd A stood out a bit while B & C sounded very similar to my ears, but in a full mix I honestly didn't hear a difference.
Looking forward to seeing the reveal. Thank you for doing these tests - awesome job as usual!
Same for me at the start. After that, it got REALLY hard to pinpoint the exact difference between specific cabs.
However, it was absolutely jarring every time it switched.
Awesome been waiting for this video Glenn!
First of all: Thank you very much for your time and effort!! I couldn't distinguish the cabs from another in the full mix. The most most noticeable changes were at the very end of the A/B/C comparison, where the note was held a little longer. But the changes are in the realm of overall random tone variation in one song.
My personal conclusion: The wood of the cab does change something, but it doesn't matter.
thanks for all the work you put into this Glenn. Its something that plenty of us would like to test, but most of us don't have the stuff/ time/ ability to do so. :)
Thank you Glenn, for all of your time and effort, your videos are very much appreciated. The results of your research enable us to make informed decisions when buying gear, that we tend to hang onto. Before finding you, I made some bad choices, wasted my time and money, sold gear at a loss (because it was crap) - it's longer journey and nowhere near as much fun as the road I'm on now. It's great to have you as a go-to, trustworthy place to for answers. Have an awesome week. 🤘😎🤘 ❤
Glenn, these are some great videos. Thank you.
First. I appreciate the hard work. I’ve been waiting for this one.
I heard different nasal/mid qualities with each cab. B was a bit brighter so I preferred it.
Probably more subtle than a speaker difference though. But a noticeable difference nonetheless.
Much more of a difference than the guitar wood comparison.
I thought cab B was slightly darker than the other two tbh
Thanks for putting in the effort man!
I've build a couple of small and odd cabinet my self and found that the (slight) difference in tone usually is not worth the extra expenses on the wood.
A surprising candidate is "betonplex" (the stuff usually used for flight-cases).
In my experience (as a hobbyist I must add) the size of the opening in the back (if any) and the angle of the front face, make a larger difference.
Thanks again for showing the world how a A-B test is actually done and hope the video does well!
I appreciate the work you put into your videos.
Of the three cabs I discerned no audible differences.
The science nerds in us (and those of us looking to not feed pre-existing biases) LIVE for these videos. Thank you so much for putting in the time and attention you do into these. You are part of the reason my 4x12" was rebuilt with Warehouse Veteran 30s (and I LOVE it!!!)
I look forward to seeing the results. B and C are very similar and A just sounds smaller than the other two. Great job!
That's where I landed as well. I think C was the most versatile, but it's impossible to tell until someone tells me what to think.
All three sounded great for lead, and I'll die on that hill
Noticeable difference between A and B+C but he could fool me by saying B and C were the same cab.
@@elmonkeh Exactly what I heard also.
Yes same here though i thought A sounded prettier than the other two. But i have no idea what it's made of.
Great work Glenn! Not sure if it’s possible, I’d love to see null tests between them all
Hey i really dig that disclaimer in the beginning. Sharing this with other musicans/producers in the future with that big "HEY THIS IS FOR METAL" really clears things up when your bass players watches the video
Now this is the type of video i subscribed for! Can’t thank you enough for all the time/money you’re helping me save
My pleasure, Will!
There is a difference, but it not like night and day. To be honest: I only noticed a few cab changes in the full mix by paying attention to the high end. Sometimes the sound got a little bit muddier. However sometimes even the thickness of the pick and the angle how you hold it can make such differences, too.
Thanks for your huge effort in pursuit of da troof of where the tone comes from. Those cream backs sounded really great at the beginning of this vid. Do you have to know physics in order to make your own cabinet?
Your experiments make me wonder why, since everything sounds the same, is gear so damn expensive?
Thank you for all of your hard work, Glenn.
Great video. Loved it. Very well excecuted experiment.
Every episode could feature the next great Butthurt!
Science episode! I love dropping my jaw :)
man, I really wish someone made videos like these for other styles of music, with well-thought out experiments controlling all the variables, can't say I've found a lot outside of this channel. Great video! I think I prefer tones C and A, but the differences are subtle between them and I only really heard them in the solo clips. Tone B was the most different and my least favourite, but I'm not a metalhead, so take that with a grain of salt. My theory is that people obsess way too much about tone (me included) and in the end it doesn't make enough of a difference to matter
I'm pretty sure in other styles of music people rely on tonewoods and other buzzwords to make a living so I dont think there would be much
@@thekramer1097 I tend to agree with you on that, but right now I can't say that for sure because of the lack of experiments, especially on the amp/cab/speaker side of things
@@gianlucacagliari4327 Makes sense
Jim Lill is a country guitar player (I generally hate country music) who does lots of tests like this. Really smart dude makes great videos.
This information for new guitarist and bass player or any musician is Gold and this channel is the fountain of the knowledge 🔥👑🤯
Defnitely apreciate those experiments!
As some said, allways had it that most of the difference would come from shape/size and maybe how that would behave with the particular speaker being used at the time?
Keep up the great work!
C was definitely the best sounding with B being a close second, it just wasn't quite as tight. My money's on A is the particle board, B being MDF, adn C being plywood.
I think these are my guesses too, rigidity of MDF and Plywood seem to be similar.
That bass tone was killer. I was listening on a loudspeaker with my back turned and eyes closed. I heard zero difference. It all sounded like 1 seamless track.
We needed this out there Glenn.
Man, thank you for doing all this Glenn. This must have taken you days if not weeks to complete.
Especially since you did this in a previous video doing even more work.
I appreciate you and take your advice as gold.
I gotta say, all my mixes have sounded leaps and bounds better since subscribed to you almost 2 yrs ago.
I’d love to also hear the roomtone, if there’s a difference. I know it’s all about recording, but i’m about to build a new cabinet for myself, so it would be wonderfull to hear if i need to consider the matererial and if so, how much, because playing at small venues means that most of the sound is coming straight from the cabinet, not PA so much.
Cheers from Finland!
I only really heard a difference when soloed, especially between B and C rhythm playing, C had a more "nasal" quality to my ear. In a full mix i couldn't hear the difference, so the overall effect isn't that strong. Maybe listening back i might hear something different, but only if i know what to look for, so I'd say its negligible
This was awesome. thank you glenn.
Sweet video and timely that I ran across it just as I am looking for a cab for my Joyo head I just bought.
From the most favorite to the least favorite: B, C, A. Cabinet B sounds the fullest. C is very close to B, up to a point that the difference might be negligible. A sounds thinner, but in the context of a mix it might actually help cut through. The differences from A to B aren't that big and I bet you could easily compensate by using an eq. I'm thinking that the wood of the cabinet might actually make a bigger difference if I'm listening to the cabinet directly with my own ears, but when using a mic, as it is so close to the speaker, the tone differences might be less pronounced. Glenn, could you please address this matter in the next video? Cheers.
I like this assessment. I had a similar experience with B C and A. I want to guess that B is MDF and they C is plywood and that A is particle board but I suspect A is probably plywood even tho emotionally I want the stronger material to sound better.
@@enemyandy when Glenn knocked on the wood, I think plywood was the brightest one, which makes sense as it's the harder one. In this case, I think plywood would be A. But my memory could be playing tricks on me or I can simply be wrong. Anyway, I'm curious about the final results. I've been waiting for these videos since he announced the tests.
As a man who just bought a cab made of MDF, I’m hoping the answer is “no”
Cab A sounds the murkiest to me, B sounds very standard, and C has a very nice crisp top end.
I think B and C sound similar, so I’m betting A is the MDF…
note: I think there was some fuckery here. the second time he cycled them.
Hey Glenn! Thank you for the time and effort you put into to this experiment. In the mix I could not hear a difference at all. But when you soloed the guitars I was surprised to hear that there were subtle differences. For my ears, it was more notable for Cab A. Between Cab B and C, it was such a minor difference but Cab C sounded like it had more high end than Cab B.
Awesome video. Head twirly dude was fun to watch too haha.
In the full mix it was really subtle most of the time, there were about 3 times where I thought I heard a difference and one where I was 100% sure (10:55)
With the guitars only, I can say that personally C was my favorite, followed by B and then A (being worst by a fairly large margin).
I agree, I disliked Cab A the most.
I liked the a the most
@@gabihakler868 honest question...are you an emg fan?
@@kazzTrismus no i like the dimarzio super distortion the most
@@kazzTrismus plus what does that have to do with anything. For metal rythms emgs are amazing. Especially with a mesa boogie which i use
I was able to pick up on when the changes in the mix happened but couldn’t really tell which I preferred in the context of the mix. I was only able to detect a slight tonal shift.
I preferred the cabinet B isolated. Seemed the most balanced to me. A sounded a little thin and C was a little darker.
I’d guess cab A - particle board, cab B - plywood, cab C - MDF
Glenn, it is so sad to hear, these videos don't get the views, due to the fact they give so much information!
I did not hear much difference, from cab to cab. The isolated guitar track, you gave us, people were saying that cab A had a little more bass, but that was the first part of that track. The cabs got a different part of the track. Hence, the human playing variable has come into the equation. This would mean playing a few bars, switch cab, replay the same few bars... I don't know if you had done so, if yes, then Dang, you are spot on, in your editing and Great job. If no, could you just do a short doing the same few short bars repeated?
Thanks again and keep doing this great work!!! 🤘
Smashing up below par equipment never gets old .. Keep up the good work :)
I could definitely hear a difference. The difference between cab A and cab C was slight, but noticeable. Cab B sounded a bit warmer and had a bigger low end. But it sounded “looser” in the low end. Sounded really good, but maybe not tight enough for modern metal. It seemed to muddy the low end a bit. To me, cab C would be my preference. A bit deeper on the low end than cab A but still tight. The mids and highs on all 3 cabs didn’t have enough of a difference to make a difference. Just my 2 cents and opinion. Cool video and appreciate all the work that went into making it!
Agreed
To me, A and C were very similar, whereas B was slightly brighter than the other two. But, I think the difference is still extremely negligible, and any of the options would be more than fine in the mix.
Couldn’t tell a damn bit of difference. Wouldn’t have known there was a change if you didn’t tell me there was. Great video Glenn 🙏🏼
keep it up brother, me and my gf really enjoy your vids:
the Netherlands EU we love you!!!
I feel like cabinet A sounded slightly more resonant or almost like there was a touch of reverb, it was extremely slight though. I couldn't much of a difference at all between B and C
Funny, i had the opposite observation :p
As if B and C had some slight resonance to them, which made me believe A may be MDF.
There's definitely a small change but not big enough to worry about IMO
I'm with both of these comments, and add there shouldn't be any difference anyway unless you're using a ported cab with an extra mic to pick up that resonance. I shall also note many cabs in the '70s - that sought after VINTAGE tone (hmmmm) - were made of particle board, the reason they took a wheel cart and a horse to move. Also some of the home stereo 12's were mounted in solid pine with a front port, something I'd like to play with for a guitar amp.
Holy crap that's a nice tone! As for the cabs I think the cab B sounded the best but the difference was way smaller than I expected. It would also be very interesting to see how the tone changes with cab dimensions.
B had a HUGE bass and presence in the mids boost. C was more mid heavy, A was kinda thin
Just wanna say my favorite part was the guitar performance... he was havin a blast and killin it at the same time.. nice one!
Can't wait to see the result next week, I hardly noticed any differences, it was so minimal but i kind of expected it a little bit
I feel like A gets lost in the mix... So I'm assuming MDF one. The other two sounds great, so I'll say B is Plywood and C is particle with plywood baffle. I think the baffle is vibrating with the speaker, so I think this is the most important part of a cabinet, a bit like the top of an acoustic guitar
Awesome work Glenn, great job putting this all together. I really liked the sound option c put out, i feel it sounded more resonant and nuanced. I also felt A sounded a bit lacking and empty.
Amazing work Glenn! You definitely deserve more recognition for all your hard work.
Comment for the algorithm, appease the RUclips gods!
I'm loving all the scientific videos, so helpful! I couldn't spot a single difference between the three cabs, shockingly...
Well glen, I watched this. Happy to help your viewership
Also, after watching the video, Cabs B and C were very similar to me while A sounded thinner in the midrange. C had the most grind up top and B was pretty even across. Both B and C were better to me, but I couldn't find any differences in a mix.
This video is going to trigger so many people. I love it! Triggering people with facts, not opinion, is commendable. Great job!
Great video Glenn! The guys playing were badass. For me B had a little something extra (something in the Lower mids) than A or C but only slightly. Definitely not enough to worry about when recording and that’s why we close mic guitar speakers. It gets it right at the source. NOW the next test you MUST do is to test putting batting/insulation in a cab to see if absorbing standing waves in the cabinet improves or ruins the tone.
Thumbs from me just purely for the effort you put in the to making this. I couldn't really tell there was a difference. If you would have said that it was really the same cab in all clips I would have believed you. I guess the next video should be does cab size make a difference. Good shit Glenn.
Wow, thanks for a great content!
Glen maistro you amaze me!
I was going to buy a 1500 euro(dutchie here) guitar because the wood was beter they said, that night in the bus to work you video of tonewood shootout came out while listening on my rolfstone neo I didnt hear any fudging difference.
So now I saved myself a wopping 1000 euros by just buying the guitar with the same shape and pickups but it wasn’t a gibson and now this. I love these videos keep up the work tou deserve more love for these!
And I could hear some difference between A and B/C, A was somewhat thinner in my case.
Thankss again!!
Thank you so much for this, Glenn! As a long-time musician and someone with a BS in Physics, I really appreciate these types of videos.
In the mix, I could not hear any difference. With the guitar soloed, the difference between B and C was so small, I couldn't hear it without the labels, and sometimes not even with the labels. I could hear a slight difference between A and B/C. My preference for tone seems to change daily, so I couldn't' tell you which cab sounded best.
If I had to guess, I would say the two that sounded most similar (i.e. B and C) were MDF and particle board due to the amount of glue used in production. Based on that assumption, I'm guessing A was the plywood one.
Cheers from the West Coast of the USA!
Thanks for the video!
Loved the science experiment, I mean the thoroughness should not have any questions from naysayers. Extremely honest and upfront. Please continue making more videos like these, I am sure there is always an audience for such things! 😀
Guess A is the particle board, B and C are the MDF and ply boards respectively. Liked the tone of B and C more than A. But the bass tone in the full mix was absolutely brutal.
Glen, absolutely appreciate the effort. On headphones, all sounded great, very little if any difference. Love the sound of the EVH speakers. How are they with clean sounds ? another video? Thanks. Good luck in Canada.
Regardless of what RUclips tells you, addessing these kinds of scientific issues are among my favorites of your content! Party on, Dr. Glenn! I'll be the first to admit that I rarely hear a difference in almost any of your tone comparison content, particularly changes within a mix. I attribute that equally to both my relatively untrained ear and listening to RUclips on cheap USB headphones; I generally listen while working from home with the same headphones I use for work calls. However, even I could hear a difference between cabinets A & B/C, especially in the guitars only presentation. Not so clearly in the mix. As for scientific method, an interesting (but probably irrelevant) metric would be recording a frequency sweep to see where the responses peak and valley. I understand you would also be characterizing the room and the microphone to some degree, but I think keeping the test methodology consistent as you definitely are doing would still render valid results. The cabinet material may make some big difference at some frequencies and less at others and this response curve is probably masked within the context of a musical performance.
Going in this, I was pretty sure, that the tonewood at least had some sort of greater impact. Especially at the speaker end of the signal chain it made sense to me, that the resonance frequencies of the wood should impact the sound in a greater way. Yes there was a small shift in the frequencies, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as I was hoping for.
Thank you so much for the effort Glenn! These Videos are so great and will save us guys a shitload of money!
Jared killing it in those riffs at the end!
As soon as you mentoined tonewood, I imediately thought of Jim Lill's extensive tests,
and got all the more hyped, once you mentioned it.
That guy is a legend!
Couldn't hear a difference on my end. I've always been fascinated with these types of experiments and appreciate all the work you put in and share with us.
Unfortunately not much people watched this video, but it will really help me make my final work of college, so thank you very much!
Love your vids dude!!! Cab b had a subtle shift to a heavier tone to me. A and C cabs were identical. Just my humble opinion. Respect 🤘🏿🔥🤘🏿
I couldn't tell any differences in the mix but when only hearing solo guitar tracks I could hear slight differences. Honestly makes me think that I shouldn't pay any mind to what wood is in my cabinets or my electric guitars because in a mix there's no perceivable difference in tone.
As an aside, I love these types of videos from you. Thanks for another awesome video and I hope it does extremely well 🤘
I watched. Love these deep dives. Thank you. Ranked in order of preference, greatest to least: B>C>A B sounded the most full bodied, A the least. C sounded closer to A to me with just a little more low end than A. B sounded the best. In the mix, couldn’t tell a difference and I’m too lazy to rewatch that part to see if I can discern a difference after the solos. Great work and may you receive many views👍🏻
I'm watching, Glenn. Its nice to see you getting some daylight on your friendly face, in the video. Totally vouch for the speaker/cab theory. Great speakers in good cabinets can make average or worse guitar rigs sound crisp. Professional. Rich. Grinding. Dare I say, fu**ing amazing! Bless you Glenn.☺