bass speaker help

[tobee1]

hey, i know nothing about speakers. I've blown a 15 and now a 10.
I play a 5 string bass with high c, i like the crunch sound similar to that of an old mesa tube amp cranked. i currently play through a hartke system, i like the sound of the aluminum cones. any ideas on what speakers would be better for this type of sound for bass guitar?
i'm willing/capable to build. i thought that a 12" might be a good route but i don't have a clue, i just play.

[Geek]

Hi,

Most bass amps crank out far more power than a single speaker can take.

What's your Mesa amp's power?

[tobee1]

the head is 400 watts @ 4ohms. one other question. can a paper cone speaker produce good low highs like that of an aluminum cone?

[Geek]

Yes.

And you'll need a 4x10 cab for best results here, or one VERY expensive single driver.

Have you discussed your needs with your local music store? Really, the tone you seek can't be found outside of the listening room :-\

Cheers!

[Nordskov]

I'd say you need a cab with good midrange definition like a two- or three way system.
Since you are here, I guess you are a DIY guy, so why not build your own cab.
There's a guy, Bill Fitzmaurice, who design PA cabs. There are many bass players on his forum who praise those 2-3 way PA cabs for bass.
He sell the plans for $15 or so.
I have build one of his small 1x10" cabs and the midrange clarity is beyond every commercial cabs I've heard.
I would consider an Omni 12 TB or an Omni 15 TB. Both 3-way.
http://www.billfitzmaurice.net/
There's a lot of helpful guys on the forum. There's a lot of tech stuff too.

Henrik

[unclejed613]

i once bought an Earth PA cab and used it with my Earth bass amp. sounded great after i stuffed foam in the port to stop it from whistling. i didn't know at the time about the mach number calculation for ported cabs.

[tinitus]

Eminence KappaLite 3015LF looks good

Needs a box of 130-140liter netto, port 350cm2 x 25cm long, which could be squared like 500x70mm x length

[Nordskov]

I know this is an old thread, but I wouldn't use a 3012LF alone without an upper midrange driver as it drops like a stone from 1.8 kHz.
With a crossover point that low you will squeeze the butt out of a tweeter.
A midrange speaker arrangement could be two Alpha 6A in a small seperate chamber crossed at 1 kHz.

[vinylguy]

I firmly believe that you can't have enough power for a bass amp. What really causes a speaker to blow is driving the amp too hard rather than exceeding the limits of the speaker. My rig: Ampeg SVP Pro tube preamp, Crown CE 1000 power amp (bridged mono; 900watts rms@8 ohms, 1100watts rms @ 4 ohms) a Hartke 115XL cab with a Eminence Kappa Pro LF 15" and a Foster compression horn tweeter added. My basses are stock 1969 and 1973 Fender Precisions. I play mostly classic rock and this rig will get louder than I need, even outside. IMHOP, 400 watts is not enough for a bass amp if you're playing loud rock. BTW, those Hartke aluminum cone speakers sound ok but can't handle much power.

[Nordskov]

The 3015LF will handle full bore down to 45 Hz because of the large Xmax. That's a hell of a lot noise.
The difference between 400W and 900W is sore 4 dB or so, hardly noticable and most of most of the extra power is wasted by heating the voice coil into power compression.
Going with a larger number of, or more sensitive, speakers makes sense.

Of course head room is your friend, but 400W into a 3015LF is roughly 125 dB, 200W is 3 dB down at 122 dB.
If you need that high sound pressure on stage, you should either hire a PA or find another band who can control their stage volume