JapanAxe Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 (edited) I'm sure I read somewhere on here that valve amps are generally a better match with sealed cabs than with ported ones - something to do with damping? I tried a quick search but there were gazillions of hits! If I were to run, say, a 120W valve amp through my Barefaced Super 12 (which is claimed to handle amps up to 1200W btw), would this cause any problem for the drivers or for the amp? If so, what, and would simple EQ adjustment mitigate it? Share your wisdom, BC posse... Edited May 31, 2018 by JapanAxe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fitzmaurice Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 You may have seen somewhere that the inherently low damping factor of tube amps works better with sealed cabs, but it's not true. This explains why damping factor is a non-issue: www.cartchunk.org/audiotopics/DampingFactor.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensenmann Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 My Ampeg B15 has a ported cab and still is sonic heaven. Who knows if it´s because or despite the port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 35 minutes ago, JapanAxe said: Share your wisdom, BC posse... Looks like it's a non-problem, but the only wisdom I have is to suggest you direct the question to Alex at BF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pow_22 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 13 hours ago, jensenmann said: My Ampeg B15 has a ported cab and still is sonic heaven. Who knows if it´s because or despite the port. Yup, my Ampeg SB12 is ported and sounds like chocolate thunder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Browning Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 39 minutes ago, Pow_22 said: Yup, my Ampeg SB12 is ported and sounds like chocolate thunder Not sure I'd want to hear chocolate thunder!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Steve Browning said: Not sure I'd want to hear chocolate thunder!! Not with a name like Browning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 16 hours ago, JapanAxe said: I'm sure I read somewhere on here that valve amps are generally a better match with sealed cabs than with ported ones - something to do with damping? I tried a quick search but there were gazillions of hits! If I were to run, say, a 120W valve amp through my Barefaced Super 12 (which is claimed to handle amps up to 1200W btw), would this cause any problem for the drivers or for the amp? If so, what, and would simple EQ adjustment mitigate it? Share your wisdom, BC posse... Seriously no problem. If there's any basis at all in this sort of thing then it's nothing to do with damping. It's more to do with power and the technology of the time. 120w is a big valve amp both in terms of cost and weight to carry around. Nobody was going to carry around an 800W valve amp! Back in the day there was often little PA support for the bassist so big venues had to be filled by the bassists amp. The answer to that was lots of efficient speakers built into a cab and the 8x10 was the best solution of the day. They were packed in a sealed cab which gave them a big boost in the bass and the cheap drivers also had a natural peak in the mids that helped punch through without sounding harsh. The Ampeg fridge was born and there were lots of 'me too' copies. Most of the cabs were sealed just because everyone had to offer a competitive product. just as everyone is offering a lightweight 12" now. So what you need is an efficient speaker. That Barefaced claims 102db sensitivity, though it doesn't specify whether that is at 1W or at 2.83volts. (2.83V is 1W into 8ohms but 2W into 4ohms and it's a 4 ohm speaker) Anyway 100W into a 102dB speaker is going to give you 122dB which is going to match a drummer pretty well and because it's a valve amp you can run it closer to the rated output without the distortion becoming objectionable so you'll probably be able to get an extra 3-6db if you need it. You could eq in an Ampeg sound if you wanted or just worry about eq'ing the sound you like best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.