Bass guitar amplifiers are specifically designed to reproduce low-frequency sound reproduction. As such, these amplifiers usually feature larger speakers and cabinets than electric guitar amps.
Speaker selection in a bass amp is as important as selecting an amplifier to power it; follow these tips for selecting the speaker best suited to your needs.
Size
As one can imagine, bassists often hold strong opinions regarding what speaker size would best suit live performances. But in truth it all boils down to personal choice and the style of music you perform.
Typically speaking, larger speakers tend to offer deeper bass and richer tones, and have more headroom than their smaller counterparts, meaning they can handle higher power without distorting.
For an impressive and large sound, 15″ speakers should be your top choice. These standard bass guitar amp speakers can provide the bass you desire while also offering deep tones and powerful projection so your audience will hear you.
Other bassists prefer the tried and true 10″ speaker in a 4×10 configuration for maximum sound projection and clarity with plenty of mid range punch. It helps project your sound across a room full of drummers playing like drunk cavemen while offering clean sound that projects.
Not surprisingly, there are high quality PA oriented 15″ speakers on the market which have little in common with bass guitars. People may have previously considered 15″ speakers as being unintelligibly muddy and boomy; but with such high-grade PA-oriented models now available this no longer is true.
There’s a good reason why so many bassists utilize multiple speaker sizes – each size can make an impactful statement about how you hear sound. Experimenting with different speakers is one of the best ways to find your ideal bass guitar tone, often yielding greater results than changing amps, guitars or pickups. So why wait? Get out there and give it a go today! Start experimenting and find your ideal bass guitar tone! You might just be amazed at what you discover! Good luck! – The author of this article is both a professional guitarist and writer; working as a freelance contributor for various guitar magazines and websites. He writes for his own guitar reviews and advice website, taking great pleasure in covering everything related to guitars – both hardware and software developments alike.
Ported or Sealed
Bass guitar amplifiers must manage the unique challenges associated with reproducing low-frequency sounds, and this can be seen in their speaker cabinet design. Bass cabinets typically use larger speakers than those found in electric guitar amps and tend to use either sealed or ported speakers – the choice can have significant consequences on tone; each option offers distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Ported bass cabs utilize ports in the bottom of their enclosure to increase air movement within, increasing bass frequency response while decreasing distortion. Manufacturers will often tune these cabinets to emphasize specific frequencies; bassists often find them especially rewarding because of their punchy sound. Unfortunately, as these speakers require more power from amplifier heads in order to produce equivalent volume output.
Your bass cabinet selection depends mainly on two factors: gig size and power available through your amplifier head. Sealed cabinets can be perfect for smaller shows and studio recording sessions as they do not require too much processing power from the amp head to reach full volume. However, for bigger venues or increased volume needs ported cabinets may be superior options.
Bassists seeking stronger low-frequency response may use a subwoofer cabinet in addition to their main bass guitar speaker. These cabinets specialize in reproducing very low frequencies, so pair it up with another bass guitar speaker to reproduce all tonal range of your instrument.
Larger ported bass cabinets may be cumbersome and difficult to transport, yet they often produce massive volumes and powerful bass tone. When combined together into stacks they make for ideal live performances or recordings – for instance Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) uses eight 10-inch speakers in his bass cabinet; Reverend Horton Heat bass player Jimbo Wallace utilizes a stack featuring four 10-inch and two 12-inch speakers in his.
Power
There are many factors that influence bass guitar tone, including your choice of amplifier and number and size of speakers in your speaker cabinet. But the speaker is where everything really begins: amps simply boost an electronic signal from your bass to send to speakers who then convert that into sound; their quality and power determine whether an amp or cabinet sounds great or terrible.
Size does matter in speakers as larger models can move more air at lower frequencies for deeper bass tones and greater volume. On the other hand, smaller speakers often offer better clarity for players prioritizing quality tone production.
Some bassists prefer combo amps with two to four 10″ or 12″ speakers, while others opt for separate amp heads and cabinets. A combo amp combines equalizer, preamplifier, and power amplifier into one unit, while separate heads (sometimes called “cabs”) include preamplifier, power amplifier and speaker cabinet in their design – often lightweight for easy transport.
Both types of bass amplifiers are available with both solid state and tube (thermionic) technologies, with hybrid designs also combining these components for extra versatility. Your choice of technology and size of speakers will determine what style of music you play – be it beginner or professional gigging musician.
Your speaker cab’s woofers may move back and forth to produce sound, but their range is limited by how far electricity flowing through its voice coil can create magnetic fields that push and pull on pole pieces of the magnet, moving the woofer cone. The size and ability of its voice coil determines its distortion producing ability; some bass players appreciate this harmonically rich distortion when their tube amp is overdriven.
Design
Bassists who specialize in styles that emphasize lower frequencies (bass guitar notes between B0 and 31Hz) may benefit from using a subwoofer cabinet as it offers powerful low-frequency response. A subwoofer specializes in very-low frequency reproduction; thus it should be combined with a full range speaker cabinet to recreate all frequencies associated with playing bass guitar.
A speaker used in a bass cabinet can have a significant effect on its tone. These speakers come in all sorts of designs from plain uncolored drivers to high frequency horns – each type having their own set of unique characteristics that have an influence over both how sound comes through an amp and output from it.
Sealer and ported bass cabinets are two popular choices of bass cabinets. Sealed cabinets produce tight bass tones while porting can produce less bass but reproduce higher frequencies more accurately than sealed cabinets do. A combination of sealed and ported cabinets may even be utilized for optimal results.
Design of bass speakers requires many considerations, from voice coil composition and cone material and profile, mechanical suspension and motor structure, through mechanical suspension to motor structure – each factor contributes to giving each speaker its unique sonic signature, often called its “flavor”. Parts Express stocks premium professional lead and bass guitar speakers from top manufacturers Eminence and Celestion that are known for their distinctive tonality.
Impedance of bass speakers should also be carefully considered; it can help determine its power handling capacity and determine how much power is necessary from an amplifier for driving them. Speakers with higher impedance require more power from an amp than their lower impedance counterparts.
Many are curious as to which speaker size produces the best bass tone, though ultimately this question is highly subjective and subjective to each individual’s tastes in tone. That being said, general consensus suggests that larger speakers tend to produce deeper and more powerful sounds due to being better at reproducing low frequencies; smaller speakers have limited capabilities of reproducing these low frequencies while larger ones can handle a much greater spectrum of the bass spectrum without becoming overwhelmed.