Can anybody please tell me any good reasons to record with a 2 X 12" guitar cabinet vs a 4 X 12" guitar cabinet?
I was gonna do this...
Buy 3 amps for recording (to get me going)
1st amp Marshall 120W (power amp/ tube head)
2nd amp Hughes & Kettner 120W (power amp/ tube head)
3rd amp Roland JC120 (combo cabinet)
Now, as far as the Roland is concerned. That has it's own speakers. But for the two power heads /tube heads. They are gonna need a cabinet for all that power. Obviously the 2 X 12" design does not take up as much room as a 4 X 12" guitar cabinet and weighs quite a bit less. But I didn't want to get something that is not a good idea for a lot of reasons. And I'm not what you would call an expert guitar player.
I was also intending to purchase a "Hot plate" for maximizing the drive situation, at lower levels.
What should I do? two 12's or four 12's
Comments
Depends what type of sound you want. Open backed 2 x 12s will pr
Depends what type of sound you want. Open backed 2 x 12s will probably give you a better blues tone, while you will almost certainly need a closed back 4 x 12 for heavy metal riffing..
.. I think its the size & design of the cab that makes the real difference, rather than the number of drivers.
Some amps do better with a 4x12, some with a 2x12...I have found
Some amps do better with a 4x12, some with a 2x12...I have found that I get more "punch" from a 2x12, probably due to the fact that there are only 2 motors being driven instead of 4. "Motors"?!?! Yes-a loudspeaker is essentially an AC motor. Some 4x12 cabs just don't get that "tight" a sound from them. But then again, they CAN produce more OOMPH from the air mass that they move. I have a couple of cabs in my studio-an Avatar
2x12 with a Celestion AND an Eminence (open back) so that I have 2 different, mic-able "zones", and an old Marshall 1960 slant when I want that "wall of sound"...plus others, like a Showman single-15 for big clean tones, a little single-12 SRO cab for maximum midrange slam, and a 4x10 Reverend for that big "super reverb" tone...geez, it's an addiction! Hep me, hep me!
Ahhh yesss.... the old cabinet question. As has been said, o
Ahhh yesss.... the old cabinet question.
As has been said, open back is one thing....closed back another...and then the number of drivers and cabinet size is yet another. There are other factors too...Type of material the cabinet is made of...The material of the soundboard...whether the cabinet is sitting on the floor or is decoupled....Its enough to drive ya crazy..............or is it?
For a starter kit heres a suggestion. Buy one Marshall slant cabint. Wire it for two, four and a single speaker configuation. This will give you (assuming you know how to wire for impedance) a 16ohm load, 2- 8 ohm loads and another 16 ohm load..It will also give you the ability to run a stereo(not REALLY stereo) processor with a stereo amp into each of the 8-ohm loads in a single cabinet. Before any of you jump up to challenge this, we're talking beginner set-up...and FYI splitting a Marshall cabinet into two 2-12 sets of speaks actually sounds very good.....Anyway, the single speaker(I have found) works best as one of the upper speaks...and can be accomplished with a switched jack.
The second cabinet to have is a 2-10 cabinet. Closed back, the model would be the Fender Tremolux 2-10 from the early 60's as far as size goes. 10's are fast and will drive hard as well as give an edgy blur to all things heavy.
You already have a 2-12 open back cabinet in the JC120. Use a long enough speaker cable and plug it into the other heads for more variety.
Whatever you do, dont buy partical board cabs...they are heavy and not very musical.
a 4x12 definately has a bigger sound, that you won't get out of
a 4x12 definately has a bigger sound, that you won't get out of a 2x12. for heavier stuff, you're definately going to want a 4x12.