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Little Pigbacon
Guest
Imagine a slanted 4x12 cabinet, like the popular Marshall 1960A. Now picture disconnecting two of the four speakers. What does that do to the sound?
Re: Impact of internal volume on closed-back cabinets
disconnecting them? its no different than running only one side of the cab. i know plenty of people that run the cab in stereo mode with one head feeding one side and another head feeding the other side. you can switch heads for rhythm/lead or clean/dirty or run them both at once for a different tone. anyway, the point is running half a 4x12 works fine. it sounds a touch different since youre pushing less air but fairly similar
disconnecting them? its no different than running only one side of the cab. i know plenty of people that run the cab in stereo mode with one head feeding one side and another head feeding the other side. you can switch heads for rhythm/lead or clean/dirty or run them both at once for a different tone. anyway, the point is running half a 4x12 works fine. it sounds a touch different since youre pushing less air but fairly similar
L
Little Pigbacon
Guest
Re: Impact of internal volume on closed-back cabinets
Is it something you could compensate for with tone controls?
Is it something you could compensate for with tone controls?
Re: Impact of internal volume on closed-back cabinets
There is the obvious change in impedance.
Also, a lesser-known thing to try is removing two of the speakers leaving empty cutouts. What that gets you is what's called a "detuned cabinet." Same volume and tone but much lighter.
There is the obvious change in impedance.
Also, a lesser-known thing to try is removing two of the speakers leaving empty cutouts. What that gets you is what's called a "detuned cabinet." Same volume and tone but much lighter.
L
Little Pigbacon
Guest
Re: Impact of internal volume on closed-back cabinets
I'm definitely not into the detuned cabinet thing. I'm just going to be using half the drivers at a time. Now that I think about it, not only do you have the full cabinet volume of a 4x12 for two speakers, you also have the two other drivers acting as passive radiators. That's another thing you don't have in a sealed 2x12 cab; it's not the same thing as a 12" circle of cabinet wall.
I'm definitely not into the detuned cabinet thing. I'm just going to be using half the drivers at a time. Now that I think about it, not only do you have the full cabinet volume of a 4x12 for two speakers, you also have the two other drivers acting as passive radiators. That's another thing you don't have in a sealed 2x12 cab; it's not the same thing as a 12" circle of cabinet wall.
Re: Impact of internal volume on closed-back cabinets
Same volume, some say actually a bit louder actually.
As far as tone goes, pretty much the same but what it does is add depth and some natural reverb to the sound... "3D" is an adjective often used. Not really the same as just having an open-backed cabinet at all.
The concept was pioneered by Kevin O'Connor and his book on loudspeaker design goes into great detail.
It's not for everyone but it is stupidly simple to try... just remove the bottom speakers of your cabinet, or in the case of a 2x cab, take one out, set it vertically with the speaker on top.
Same volume, some say actually a bit louder actually.
As far as tone goes, pretty much the same but what it does is add depth and some natural reverb to the sound... "3D" is an adjective often used. Not really the same as just having an open-backed cabinet at all.
The concept was pioneered by Kevin O'Connor and his book on loudspeaker design goes into great detail.
It's not for everyone but it is stupidly simple to try... just remove the bottom speakers of your cabinet, or in the case of a 2x cab, take one out, set it vertically with the speaker on top.
