1x12 cab questions.

[DanDrysdale]

Hey folks, I'm looking to see if anyone can help me understand the key differences between a couple cabs.

Mainly, the regular 1x12 widebody cab and the 1x12 thiele cabinet.

What does the porting on the side do exactly?

Does anyone run either/both with a mkV head?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Dan.

 

[YellowJacket]

The thiele cab has a shelf and a vent inside the box. Basically, you get maximum bass response from the most compact design. As I understand it, the widebody 1 x 12 sounds bigger.

Personally, I love the 27" 1 x 12 Royal Atlantic extension cab. Biggest sounding 1 x 12 I have ever heard!

 

[elvis]

The standard cabs are open-back. This gives plenty of air movement, and a bright, open feel. It can also sound a little shrill. It also has the effect of bouncing sound off of the wall behind it, further brightening the tone.

A closed-back cab has a more controlled high end tone, so it tends to sound more low-heavy. This works well in a 4x12, and even a 2x12, but at the 1x12 size, the closed cab does not have enough volume to allow for air movement. They can sound sterile and mid-heavy, as the air flow and high end are impeded.

The ported cabs are a cross between open and closed cabs. They are designed to give heavy, punchy bass, with controlled high-end. The port design is critical, as it will have a lot of effect on frequency response. You can extend the bass response significantly, depending on the diameter and length of the port tube.

Ported cabs tend to have a lot more bass response than closed cabs, but can also sound very boomy. They don't have the open, airy high-end of an open cab. They also don't really have as much low-end as a larger cab.

I've had a number of 1x12 cabs, and use 2x12 and 4x10 because I was never happy with any of them by comparison. BUT I prefer 4x12 tone. If you like a more open tone, then the open-back cabs are great. I would avoid the 3/4 back cabs, as they are huge and overly bassy.

I am interested in trying the 27" open based on YJ's reviews. But I also love me my 2x12 recto cab.

 

[screamingdaisy]

The 1x12 Widebody Open Back produces more midrange with a reduced top and bottom end.

The 1x12 Widebody Front Ported produces more top and bottom end.

Both are good cabs and produce basically the same sound with the slight variations noted above.

My favourite 1x12 is the Electra-Dyne 27" rear ported. It produces a bigger, more even sound than either of the two cabs above.

That said, if you're on stage and close mic'd with an SM57 all three cabs are going to sound pretty much identical through the FOH/Monitor.

 

[Mrjason]

I recently bought myself a 1x12 3/4 back widebody cab.
I checked out both the 3/4 back widebody and the closed back ported thiele.
I thought the thiele sounded very sterile. More bottom end but "boxy" ... especially thin at lower volumes.
I believe the 1x12 3/4 back widebody is out of production though. I bought the last one he had in stock 8)

 

[YellowJacket]

My favourite 1x12 is the Electra-Dyne 27" rear ported. It produces a bigger, more even sound than either of the two cabs above.

Now known as the Royal Atlantic 27" 1 x 12...

Just like the Traditional Rectocab vs the Stiletto 4 x 12.

 

[bluez]

And the speaker must also match the cabinet. So an Electro voice EVM-12L with a smal QTS (Thiele/Small parameters) is designed for beeing used in a ported cabinet. Mesa understands this and used them in their ported cabinets :

However i have seen EVM-12L in open back speakers, not good. Clestion green back with a QT of around 0.7 is ideal for this.


Qts tells a little of how a speaker handles the lower frequencies when mounted in a baffle. 0.7 is perfect for open baffles and large sealed boxes. Less than 0.5 is ideal for vented boxes. Speakers in the 60 and 50's usually lower quality and week magnets used often sealed boxes. The more modern strong magnet speakers performs better in and can easy handle ported speakers.