vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

jon the art guy

jon the art guy

Nerdy Nerd
I'mma gonna get an amp sooner or later, and when I do that I'm gonna have to have a cab to go with it. I would prefer a stereo setup, so I'm thinking about making a pair of cabs.
So, the obvious idea to maintain projection and oomph would be a slant vertical 2x12 like a Mesa, times 2. There's smaller ones as well, such as the Marshall. I would like to have a little oversized cab with a closed back for dat thump as I would prefer to be prepared for an Orange or Hovercraft.

Or...
Ported cabs? Anyone have experience with them?
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

Used Orange cabs are getting cheaper... Sometimes you can score an Emperor for less than you'd think.

I think a quality cab is more important than the head. My Micro Terror through any of my cabs sounds better than my model T through cheap junk. I would seriously consider budgeting the best cab you can to start with.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

A ported cab will change the sound of the speakers. Speakers are designed to have a certain amount of air behind them. In a ported cab, since there isn't a fixed amount of air behind them, the speaker is free to travel the full distance of the transducer. This gives you better bass response, but makes detail and treble muddy because there's no fixed airspace behind the speaker dampening it, making the speaker respond to fast transients.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

Eh. I'm gonna build them, whatever they be. I wonder if a ported bottom and closed top would work...
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

I would have a thin slot as the port to avoid turbulence and keep it small to maintain some back pressure on the speakers. That way you get some bass response without losing the high end. This is how Hiwatt cabinets are.

There probably is a formula to figure out what dimensions to use, but that gets beyond me - you have to consider xmax and Thiele parameters as well as other factors of the speaker to calculate it.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

Might be easier to just work with a set of measurements from a popular cab for my tastes. There's cab size calcs online too, but the formula for an Orange pp212 cant be too hard to replicate
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

I have a vertical 2x12 fully closed-back cab built to roughly mesa recto 2x12 specs, but with a very slightly slanted front baffle so it points upwards. It also has feet to lie horizontal if needed. With the speakers I have in there, the bass is more than ample. It's tight and full and is fully capable of making the walls shake when i turn my amp up.

I guess the port vs no-port decision will rely heavily on the kind of speakers and the kinds of amps you plan on using. If using trebley amps with brighter speakers, a port could make sense.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

Carvin makes 2x12 cabs with open/closed convertable design
In flat and slanted front
With feet for horizontal or vertical
For $300
+$70 for celestions

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

beaubrummels said:
There probably is a formula to figure out what dimensions to use, but that gets beyond me - you have to consider xmax and Thiele parameters as well as other factors of the speaker to calculate it.
Click to expand...

You're correct. A port needs to be tuned in order to both avoid turbulence and provide a certain amount of back pressure. My primary cabinet is a 2x12 that is ported to provide similar tone to a Marshall-style 4x12; I find it sounds pretty much identical to my '78 1982B cab for a little more than half as much weight.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with a ported cabinet...if it is done right. Thiele was an Australian engineer who in coordination with another Australian engineer named Small created formulas for designing loudspeaker systems. Using the data parameters of the woofer, their calculations could determine the best volume of the box, and by using a port of the proper dimensions, increase the range of the bass response and increase efficiency.

One of my favorite combinations is to use my Mesa Mark Series combos with a Mesa 112 Thiele extension cab with the EVM speaker. It adds tremendous low end punch and projection.

I think what you need to do is correctly assess your needs. In smaller clubs with a tight stage, a smaller open-back cab or combo might be preferable to a closed back cab, as the sound disperses better, and long-throw projection may not be needed. Back in the day, high-volume arena concerts required volume and projection of "full stacks", but modern PAs and mincing techniques have made these monsters nearly obsolete. Of course, there is the "glam" factor. :)

My favorite cabs, other than the 112 EVM Thiele, are my vertical Mesa 212 and 412 Half-Back cabs. The tops are open, with a slanted baffle, and the bottom is closed. The 212 cab has a ported bottom. This cab is the same as using my combo plus 112. Great for not only a small club, but for bigger stages and venues as well. I've never had a problem hanging with bigger half and full stacks. And one great advantage of this system is that the designer can select a speaker that works well in an open back cab, and a different speaker to maximize the low end from the closed and ported bottom.

So the real question isn't which is best; it's which cab is best suited for your style of music and the venues you'll be using it in. You may eventually find that you need a few different cabs if you play venues both big and small.

Good luck.

Bill
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

I feel like, if you knew exactly what you wanted, I'd be all "**** yeah, build that thing yourself."

But this thread makes me think you just need to take a decent head to every music store in your town and find something decent to test speakers in. There are tons of cabs lying around these days for a couple of hundred bucks... By the time you factor in cost of materials and the cost of your own time assembling the thing, you're going to be in it for more than that.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

You can get 2x12 verticals in Legacy and X100 trim if I remember correctly. It may have been the V3m...

The halfback slant cab sounds like what I'll be aiming for; that is if I even bother with a 2x12 set...but as I'm planning on getting a Mustang V with 75w x2 I'll either need a little box with a macho speaker or a bigger box with a pair of normal speakers per side.

This is all conjecture at this point, and I may end up either getting the cab to go with it or a Carvin 4x12 that hasn't moved from the local CL.

I'm also think heavy on a trapezoid cab. Pizazz and retro glam.
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

It's the one listed with the x100b

I had to hunt to find where they had it listed

They used to have a vintage version for the Belair
Another for the SX series and x100
And a third version for the legacy


*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

vert 2x12" case: The Mesa is the ****, along with the Engl vert 2x12". You can't get it any better IMO. Anyway, one of the best live sounds of a band I've ever heard came from these funny little furry beasts:

Fotos-de-Colunas-para-guitarra-ADA-2X12_434752788_1.jpg


I'm not sure about the speakers, maybe the guys changed them. They used 8-string guitars and a zillion of different sounds, guitar synths whatsoever and this little ADA sounded spot-on all the time. They also seem to be extremely portable.

As far as horizontal 2x12"s go, I think most of them do the job nicely if you just rotate them 90 degrees and lift the front a little towards your ears with some solid spacer. It worked like a charm with a Laney IRT cab some weeks ago. Just my 2cents :)


open cab case: They are better suited for clean / light OD sounds. They have a somewhat quicker and more direct response than closed backs so they may fit certain solo styles better. Also, you can get more umph and cling but midrange is tricky, you need some experience with them to find the sweet spot on your amp EQ. Onstage, placing them can be also tricky as obviously they bleed backwards like hell and their projection can be really strange (a shape of 8 where the hip is your speaker position) so maybe standing in front of them you won't get the best response. You walk away one step and it's perfect, walk away an another and your sound disappears completely in a band environment. The focused closed-backs are quite predictable.

They have their use though. For a clean-dominated music I prefer them to close backs. Besides, an open-back cab can be really light so they are ideal to travel with, at least for folks who have similar harsh spine problems like I have.
 
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Re: vertical 2x12 or ported 1x12 or...

if you want oomph there OP I would look into a Ported 1x15 and then use another 2x12 or 4x10 cab... That would be a good sounding setup.

I just use a Ported 1x15 Peavey cab in my 2 piece heavier band and with a high headroom amp it is plenty low end and oomph for most shows. Stereo cabs is always fun though too!
 
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