Peavey Sessionbass - good cab match

[321adam]

Hi,

First time poster here. I'm looking for advice on good speaker cabs to pair with a Peavey Sessionbass head.

The head is 130 watts into 8 ohms, 200 into 4 ohms. Ideally I'm looking for something light-ish in weight, something you could cart around on public transport without killing your back.

I'm playing in a rock band, and need something that can handle small gigs and rehearsals. I'm totally new to the head. Have been playing through an Ashdown combo that isn't mine, and is about to be taken away from the rehearsal room. Am thinking 2x10 or 2x12 or 1x12...

If anyone's selling something they think would be suitable, please let me know. I'm in the market. Anyone who uses this head, again, any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Adam

[casapete]

Peavey TVX210 - fairly portable (65lbs), 4 ohms and sound pretty good. Oh yeah and cheap too -
circa £199 new, s/h £100 or less.

[deepbass5]

With only 200 watts into 4 ohms you are gunna want allot of grunt out of the speaker which means as high efficiency cab as you can find for your money (SPL quoted at 1 metre)
I would not go for the Peavey 2x10 as they are not very efficient at turning your watts into sound. Just remember for every 3dB increase in level requires a doubling of your amps power. So the difference in buying a cab with a rating of say 96dB @ 1M to one at 99dB would be half as loud again. Half as loud as it takes about 6 dB to appear twice as loud to the human ear. That’s just part of the storey then there is cone surface area. Hence lots of 4x10's out there. I've kicked this around for years we all have to compromise to suit our pocket and our Motors. You said Rock Band to me that means multi speaker cab. So to be portable that means more than one cab (two small cabs) or go for a good second hand 2x10 or 2 x12. High efficiency. Less eff cabs can sound good cranked up but you need an amp to match their wattage rating. Running your amp flat out into a 400 watt cab will blow the speaker quicker than pushing it hard with a 500 watt amp. Bass is Fun but the science gets us in the end

[321adam]

Hi, thanks for your responses so far.

So this is a bit complicated...

Am happy to go with a 2x10 or 2x12, but it doesn't sound like I want a 400 watt cab to go with the Sessionbass amp. Sounds like I need something at 300w or thereabouts, right?

Any recommendations on high efficiency cabs? Does that mean expensive? Second hand is fine by me, and I'm keeping my eyes open on Gumtree and on the forum here. The other option, I guess, is to try to sell the amp and put the money into a combo or higher wattage amp that can be scaled up with more cabs.

I'm looking for that magic balance between decent enough sound (I'm no snob, just something fat, warm with a bit of kick), price and weight. Which I suppose is what everyone here is after too.

Cheers
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[Musky]

[quote name='deepbass5' post='1065192' date='Dec 20 2010, 09:46 PM']With only 200 watts into 4 ohms you are gunna want allot of grunt out of the speaker which means as high efficiency cab as you can find for your money (SPL quoted at 1 metre)
I would not go for the Peavey 2x10 as they are not very efficient at turning your watts into sound. Just remember for every 3dB increase in level requires a doubling of your amps power. [b]So the difference in buying a cab with a rating of say 96dB @ 1M to one at 99dB would be half as loud again. Half as loud as it takes about 6 dB to appear twice as loud to the human ear.[/b] That’s just part of the storey then there is cone surface area. Hence lots of 4x10's out there. I've kicked this around for years we all have to compromise to suit our pocket and our Motors. You said Rock Band to me that means multi speaker cab. So to be portable that means more than one cab (two small cabs) or go for a good second hand 2x10 or 2 x12. High efficiency. Less eff cabs can sound good cranked up but you need an amp to match their wattage rating. Running your amp flat out into a 400 watt cab will blow the speaker quicker than pushing it hard with a 500 watt amp. Bass is Fun but the science gets us in the end[/quote]
+6dB is a doubling of SPL but that's not double the perceived volume: +10db is a doubling of volume. Likewise, +3dB is not half as loud again, it's about the minimum you would appreciate as being louder in a real world situation.

Adam, the point deepbass5 is making is that your choice of cab is going to make a huge difference to the volume you're going to achieve. If you use a single 8ohm cab you'll be getting 130w out of your amp - whether that will be enough is going to depend on type of place you're going to be playing and how loud the rest of your band is. Using a more efficient cab will make the most of those watts. There are a lot of factors that affect cab efficiency including the number of speakers, hence the suggestion of multi speaker cabs. Using a cab rated at 4 ohms would give you the full 200w from your amp, but that kind of increase in power would scarcely be noticeable. Two 8 ohm cabs (so an overall load of 4 ohms) would also get you 200w plus an extra 3dB from the doubling of drivers. Doesn't really fit the ease of transport criteria though.

FWIW, I used to gig with an amp that knocked out 130w into a 15" speaker and it was fine. That was my band though - yours may be very different.

What kind of budget are we looking at here?

[321adam]

[quote name='Musky' post='1066322' date='Dec 22 2010, 12:00 AM']+6dB is a doubling of SPL but that's not double the perceived volume: +10db is a doubling of volume. Likewise, +3dB is not half as loud again, it's about the minimum you would appreciate as being louder in a real world situation.

Adam, the point deepbass5 is making is that your choice of cab is going to make a huge difference to the volume you're going to achieve. If you use a single 8ohm cab you'll be getting 130w out of your amp - whether that will be enough is going to depend on type of place you're going to be playing and how loud the rest of your band is. Using a more efficient cab will make the most of those watts. There are a lot of factors that affect cab efficiency including the number of speakers, hence the suggestion of multi speaker cabs. Using a cab rated at 4 ohms would give you the full 200w from your amp, but that kind of increase in power would scarcely be noticeable. Two 8 ohm cabs (so an overall load of 4 ohms) would also get you 200w plus an extra 3dB from the doubling of drivers. Doesn't really fit the ease of transport criteria though.

FWIW, I used to gig with an amp that knocked out 130w into a 15" speaker and it was fine. That was my band though - yours may be very different.

What kind of budget are we looking at here?[/quote]

Think I would stretch to around £300 if I thought it was going to be worth it, and hopefully retain a bit of resale value in case I need to trade/upgrade at a later date. I'd also consider selling the amp so as to have more money to put towards a combo or a better amp/cab duo.

Have been playing through an Ashdown combo - a 1x15 - for rehearsals recently, and I haven't really loved it. I need to be fairly loud, but nothing ridiculous, and have found that combo to be a bit muddy. I normally like a nice, warm sound, but I guess it needs to cut through just a little more, so I'm thinking a 2x12 might be the right thing for me. Could be totally wrong though, and need to try some stuff out.

Bassmerchant have a TC Electronic RS212 nicely priced, but it's still quite a lot of cash to part with and I'm not sure that a 400w cab is the best thing to match with the Peavey amp.

Thanks for all the advice and explanations...please keep it coming if you're not sick of this subject
Cheers
Adam

[Musky]

Muddy/woolly is a fairly common criticism of Ashdown cabs, though those who like them love them to bits. However it seems that you're not in that camp. I wouldn't write off cabs with 15" speakers entirely though, as obviously they don't all sound the same.

Buying used is the best way of hanging on to an items value, and your money will go further. As for suggestions, maybe a Trace 1518 (plenty of older ones go sub £150 and even less if you want to hang on for a collection only auction local to you). There's also a couple of Tecamp 2x10 going for £320 in the for sale forum (both in the South East).

And don't worry too much about the rated wattage of the cab - that's just the point at which the voice coil will eventually melt!

[TheRev]

I used a Peavey Black Widow 1x15 cab (4Ohm) with a Sessionbass head in a loud 3 piece pub rock band and it was great. Pleanty of volume and just the right ammount of thud without getting muddy. You can pick up secondhand Black Widow cabs for around £100 but they're definitley not lightweight.

2x10 cabs are OK as long as the band isn't too loud - I used a Hartke 210 with the Sessionbass in a folkie acoustic type band and it worked well. Nice compact rig, very portable but not capable of keeping up with a loud drummer.