12" Speakers Good For Midrange Grind?

Mr.Sharkfist

Mr.Sharkfist

Nov 8, 2015
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4,551
Holland, MI
#1
Hi everyone, I'm getting a custom 4x12 bass cabinet made and I need some suggestions for 12 inch speakers... I typically go for a tone with alot of midrange and a fair amount of bass to cushion it, this results in a grinding but full sounding midrange bass tone. My amp settings are Bass: 6-7, Middle: 9-10, Treble: 4-5, Presence: 7-8, Volume: around 5-6 (varies on situation). Does anyone know speakers that would be good for midrange but not spongy or flabby with bass frequency? Perhaps does anyone know what speakers Lemmy Kilmister used in his custom 4x15 and 4x12 cabinets? Thanks for reading!
 
#2
Most successful speaker cabinets are designed around the Thiele/Small parameters of the speakers.
I'm not saying it can't work to decide on speakers after the fact, but the chances of a satisfactory outcome are lower.
Do you have access to the cabinet drawings that the woodworker is using for the build?
It may be possible for someone here to run the design through cab modeling software and find a reasonable speaker match.
 
#3
I have access to the dimensions: (H) 29-1/4" x (W) 30" x (D) 14". However I have no drawings. It will be a lot like the Marshall 1984a 4x12 cabinets. I have one of those already... What were the speakers used in those?
 
#4
Mr.Sharkfist said:
I have access to the dimensions: (H) 29-1/4" x (W) 30" x (D) 14". However I have no drawings. It will be a lot like the Marshall 1984a 4x12 cabinets. I have one of those already... What were the speakers used in those?
Click to expand...
A person would need to know the internal volume of the cabinet.
Not just internal LxWxH, but also accounting for any internal bracing and other parts of the construction.
The closer you can get to the actual volume, the better.
There are some good people on here who might be able go into this in more detail.
Wish you luck.
 
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#7
I haven't run the dimensions to see if these would work in your custom build, and porting would be a major factor, but from your description of the basic tone you're looking for, I immediately thought of Eminence Basslites. 12's with good bass and nice clear mids, plus they're lightweight and not too costly.
 
#8
Beta 12a2 eminence would work well

better than the factory celestions cab ratings for the 1984 range from 60 to 120 to 400 watts
depending on what celestion is in there. the "400" watt one the beta will walk all over it

marshall archive shows G12H-100 but that cab was in production from like 64 to 87 lol so its various plywood/mdf versions of it with many driver changes, like any other marshall cab. most of them "low frequency" drivers for guitar...blehh

marshall archive=
http://www.amparchives.com/folder/1305/


history marshall = 1984a/b
The History of Marshall

12a2 all done
 
#10
A good custom bass cab maker will be able to choose a driver and cab design that will meet your tone and spl needs. If you are in the situation of having to tell a cab maker what drivers, cab volume and tuning are needed, you are probably dealing with the wrong person. There are some excellent bass cab builders who frequent TB. Talking with a couple of them would be a good start to getting the cab that you want. Having a cab built by someone without the knowledge and experience to choose drivers and design a cab that will meet your needs is only saving you from building it yourself, DIY. The early builds are mostly hit and miss, and hopefully a good learning experience.
 
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#12
AstroSonic said:
A good custom bass cab maker will be able to choose a driver and cab design that will meet your tone and spl needs. If you are in the situation of having to tell a cab maker what drivers, cab volume and tuning are needed, you are probably dealing with the wrong person. There are some excellent bass cab builders who frequent TB. Talking with a couple of them would be a good start to getting the cab that you want. Having a cab built by someone without the knowledge and experience to choose drivers and design a cab that will meet your needs is only saving you from building it yourself, DIY. The early builds are mostly hit and miss, and hopefully a good learning experience.
Click to expand...
BurningSkies said:
Didn't Lemmy use predominantly guitar cabinets and amps for most of his career?
Click to expand...
AstroSonic you are probably right. I'll look into another cabinet maker.
BurningSkies no he used 1970's Marshall JMP SuperBass heads that he modified and custom 4x12 and 4x15 bass cabs.
 
#14
CL400Peavey said:
This means nothing with out knowing what kind of tone stack and amp you are using.
Click to expand...
YUP! And a lot of the time knowing that still tells you nothing.

Numbers on knobs are not calibrated to anything.
Their only purpose is so you can approximately duplicate some setting you had before.
And having a pointer with no numbers will also do that just as well.

The only certainty with pointers or numbers on knobs is that:
All the way down is all the way down.
All the way up is all the way up.
Half way up does not even mean half the power or half the signal.
 
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#16
well SWR and Ampeg seem to like them
my V4 cabs were absolutely crushing with them, likewise the pair of Marshall 1935B straight fronts i loaded with them.
Beta12a2

As mentioned there is various versions and variations of the basic Marshall 1960 cabs used for bass with different suffix numbers. with 4x12

1984, 1935, and 2033 i guess you could say being most well known.

their is alot off versions of your basic Celestion " G12" but for majority of 70ish bass cabs G12H would be more than likely used for bass and the wattage of the voice coil will be included such as G12H-75 , G12H-100 , G12H-150 so on and so forth
celestion usually marks " Bass Resonance" either 75hz or 55hz obviously the 55hz is a deeper lower resonant frequency speaker likewise some 75hz baskets can be reconed with 55hz cones.

55hz speakers are used for bass/ guitar cabinets 75hz more common for guitar

as mentioned we are talking 100 watt bass amps here but yes "Bass" cabinets ranged from 60 to 400 watts over the years

a 400 watt bass cab probably have a 55hz loaded G12H-100 or G12H-150
dont get feelings hurt i hate celestions and find them a absolute waste of money
absolutely wont do 400 watts lol just thermal rating

likewise if you want a "44hz" lol, bass speaker again just use a Eminence Beta12a2

the short run of 4x15 bass cabs from the 70s was a really tall 1984 good luck finding one

there is also your basic square cabinet width but taller 2x15 called the 1981B
likewise a 1x18 square cab that was a taller squareish cab called 1988

if you want marshall cab its easier to find loaded or empty ones..kinda. not gonna find them on craisglist, but there is marshall collectors and alot of them have buttload of empty cabinets laying around. took me awhile and few different states to find a matching pair, and 100 watts no problem, start pushing them and i only use straight cabinets and add extra front to back bracing. likewise alot of marshall cabs i considere "cheap" are ones that are all wood except for the back panels which are huge chunks of heavy mdf. ill talk the seller way down on mdf cabs, and then change the panel to plywood to save the weight, and i always line the cabs with batten
 
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#17
Surprisingly Jensen 12s sound great when paired up with an 18. But you need more than a 100w amp man or you are gonna sound thin and poopy. Behringer 412 ultra stack cabs with the jensens may answer your question. But they are rated for 400w 8ohm 75hz so get another cab (2x15 or 18 whatever) and a amp head 500w or higher. If you do it right you can get a pretty sweet rig for under a grand
 
#18
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