whats the trick to a great sounding bass guitar speaker?

[60ndown]

in a rehearsal room. the bass player in our band has good equipment and a 2 x 12 vented speaker, but compared to my car bass, or a nice pair of speakers/home audio sub it just sounds ugly.

anyone know any tricks to getting nice sq type bass out of a bass guitarist?

[tinitus]

unfortunately, I think manufacturer have used woofers where they they dont even know the proper specs
I suspect that they at times maybe even havent tried to calculate or sim a box properly
and they might use crappy drivers

often it appears like a hit and miss design
and good looks have priority
not much luck there either

man, I seem to be in bad mode today

on the good side, it shouldnt be too hard to do better
some of the difficult aspect of manufaturers problems...cost, size, weight...and looks

[simon dart]

Bass guitars (depending on style of course) have surprisingly wide bandwidth. Its been a while since I gigged but I had two 4x10's sealed using 10's specially for bass guitar. Great transient response and a lot of energy in the 2-4kHz region which gives you "speed" It was fantastic for a 4 string bass. Don't think it would go low enough for a 5 string though

bass guitar frequency range

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by simon dart

bass guitar frequency range

ah, I didnt know that thread
must read it

[bunkie]

Perhaps a better definition of "ugly" is in order. Is the sound distorted? Does the volume vary depending on the note? Is there any obvious rattlling at particular notes? Do the notes sound "loose" or "tight"?

Finally, you're talking about a total system here with the player, the bass, the amp, the speakers and, finally, the room all having a major effect on the sound. The key to fixing issues is to isolate individual elements as much as possible and address them.

[60ndown]

Originally Posted by bunkie

Perhaps a better definition of "ugly" is in order..

Originally Posted by 60ndown

compared to my car bass, or a nice pair of speakers/home audio sub

hes a good player, id just prefer it if his rig sounded like a quality home audio subwoofer,

but able to get much louder then that 'and' retain its musicality. .

[kevinkr]

Try blocking the port(s) on the cabinet, should be interesting to see whether or not this tightens things up a bit. Is the 2 x 12 used actually intended primarily for bass guitar use?

[60ndown]

he uses this

Genz-Benz NEOX-212T 600W 2x12 Bass Cabinet: Shop Bass & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend


looks like people like it? guess ill experiment with placement...

or, because its designed to be used 'on stage; it will never sound great in a small room?

[tmblack]

How about a Fender Bassman?

[cyclecamper]

It all depends on the style of music.

I love the sound of two SVT cabinets with 8 10's in each for bass. Even better with the Hartke drivers. Sounds great with rotosound strings on a Travis Bean. Great treble and wonderful for a funky slap/pop lead bass style.

But my brother prefers a lot of 18's with his fretless. Just a loto of really low boom boom boom.

Regardless, a sealed cabinet is the way to go IMHO.