adding a cabinet to a MarkBass 102P (2x10) rig. MarkBass haters welcome!

[Killed_by_Death]

I decided to get rid of my combo amps this afternoon. I have two heads & one MB Traveler 102P cabinet.

The 2x10 is 8 Ohms, so I thought that if I were to buy another cabinet, I'd want it to be 8 Ohms, so I can pair it with my 2x10, should I ever want to.

The trouble is, I want a single, or at least something small.

Would I be causing sacrilege to run another 10 (or 12) paired with the 2x10?

Any suggestions?

The heads are an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 & a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18.

Another reason I want an 8 Ohm cabinet is because the H&K's minimum Ohm rating is 8.

I don't plan on running the 18 watt tube head with two cabinets. It just doesn't have the cajones for that.

I've assumed I'm better off buying a bass cabinet that I could use with both heads, whereas I think a guitar cab might disintegrate under the flex of bass frequencies.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Would I be causing sacrilege to run another 10 (or 12) paired with the 2x10?

It is but you can do it.
You already have the smallest 2x10 so you will need to get a one 10 or 12 to go smaller.
For what you do I would not worry much but you should be aware of the power distribution. It will be split equal between cabs but one cab will have two speakers sharing the power.
With your 350, the cab with one speaker will get 175 watts, the second cab will get that but be split to 87.5 watts each speaker.
That is only a problem with higher wattage amps.

 

[walterw]

I was just thinking if the 110 was 16 Ohms, that would even things out, and my H&K can handle 16 Ohms. I don't think it's that common however.

sure, the cab just wouldn't be worth much by itself, the amp wouldn't produce much power into it.

i wonder if the 10s in your 2x10 are 16Ω each wired parallel or 4Ω each wired series?

if the former, i suppose you could wrangle a replacement 10 for that cab and put it in its own cab, giving you three identical 10s getting equal power and presenting 5.3Ω to the amp.

still think a second 2x10 would make way more sense, they're not that big.

 

[Downunderwonder]

These days you got a bigger gig than jamming with the kid next door on clarinet?

 

[Linnin]

I'd dump that MarkBass 210 cab in a heartbeat. It's one of the most unnatural phony baloney sounding boxes I've ever heard.

 

[Liam Wald]

Try out some different cabs and see what YOU like.

 

[arbiterusa]

I've assumed I'm better off buying a bass cabinet that I could use with both heads, whereas I think a guitar cab might disintegrate under the flex of bass frequencies.

Might, might not. I wouldn't plug the Aguilar into a guitar cab and max it out, but it'd probably be fine otherwise. The H&K isn't going to blow out anything.

If you're trying to play guitar through your bass cabinet you're going to be one unhappy camper.

 

[eekamike]

I'd dump that MarkBass 210 cab in a heartbeat. It's one of the most unnatural phony baloney sounding boxes I've ever heard.

You take that back!
The Fender Rumble that I dumped for my wonderful Markbass 210 probably feels the same way, though, so I understand (I'm just playing with you: to each their own, YMMV etc etc)

Back to the topic, if you like your Markbass, maybe ditch the 102p and buy two 112s? The Markbass 112s are also small and light.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yeah, there's another option I hadn't considered, two lightweight 12s, which would probably sound better together than the 210.

 

[yodedude2]

if you had three 16 ohm 10s, that would mean a nominal load of 5.3 ohms. i think.

 

[Linnin]

Yeah, there's another option I hadn't considered, two lightweight 12s, which would probably sound better together than the 210.

You have to admit that your Tone Hammer 350 sounded much MUCH MUCH better through my V2 Rumble 112 Neos.

 

[Eminor3rd]

Sounds like it might make sense for you to sell the 2x10 and get two 8-ohm 1x12's.

 

[Eminor3rd]

I only buy used, so finding a matching pair of 12s would probably prove difficult.
I will see what I can dig up though.

I feel like I used to see people moving matching pairs of Aguilar DBs or SLs somewhat commonly in the Classifieds here. Not sure if that's still the case. Sounds like you're in a position to be patient though, which is always the best.

 

[DavC]

get a 1x12 know ... see hows it works/sounds with your 210 ... you could swap the 210 for another 12 latter on .. !??!

 

[thehangingmist]

I have a traveler 102P because I'd only ever buy and take one cab with me if I have to. And we usually rent backline for loud stuff

But if sl112 Aguilar cabs were available here I'd get two of them eventually. They are really light and easy to carry around

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I decided to get rid of my combo amps this afternoon. I have two heads & one MB Traveler 102P cabinet.

The 2x10 is 8 Ohms, so I thought that if I were to buy another cabinet, I'd want it to be 8 Ohms, so I can pair it with my 2x10, should I ever want to.

The trouble is, I want a single, or at least something small.

Would I be causing sacrilege to run another 10 (or 12) paired with the 2x10?

Any suggestions?

The heads are an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 & a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18.

Another reason I want an 8 Ohm cabinet is because the H&K's minimum Ohm rating is 8.

I've assumed I'm better off buying a bass cabinet that I could use with both heads, whereas I think a guitar cab might disintegrate under the flex of bass frequencies.

First off, if you head has an 8 ohm minimum load, you can't add another cabinet to it. Adding a second 8 ohm cabinet would drop the ohms load to 4 ohms, overheat, and possibly fry your amp. The only way around that is to hook it up in serial instead of the industry standard parallel connection that is used on speaker outputs. You can sometimes find a serial/parallel box that will allow you to switch from 8 ohm to 16 ohm by hooking it up in series instead of parallel. Of course, that drops your wattage but you'll probably still come out ahead because of the increased speaker area pushing more air.

As far as adding another cab goes to an amp that can handle a lower ohms load, adding a 210 will "probably" give you the best results. However, I heard a friend of mine play in a large club (~400 capacity) using an Eden Metro, which is a 210 and he had an Eden D112XLT stacked on top of it and that worked great. It sounded present and clear pretty well throughout the club as I was wandering around. I was impressed because I didn't think it would be enough. It was.

So mixing them can work, but you'll always be safe adding another of the same size cab you're already using from the same manufacturer.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The Tone Hammer amp is 4 Ohms minimum. I wouldn't even think of running two cabs on the 18 watt tube head, which is rated 8-16 Ohms.

 

[Doner Designs]

I'd dump that MarkBass 210 cab in a heartbeat. It's one of the most unnatural phony baloney sounding boxes I've ever heard.

Can you elaborate? I have thought about buying one from time to time.

I have a pair of Markbass 1x12's and they make a great team but GAS always gives me a wandering eye.

 

[Linnin]

Can you elaborate? I have thought about buying one from time to time.

The box is too small for the drivers as far as I am concerned. There is no definition below a C. It's just a bunch of mush, not mud, just mush. Mids are soft and hollow. No punch. No Meat. No Balls at all. And those are it's fine points. It's not even any good as a guitar cabinet. Give me a openback Fender Bassbreaker any day for guitar.

 

[Doner Designs]

The box is too small for the drivers as far as I am concerned. There is no definition below a C. It's just a bunch of mush, not mud, just mush. Mids are soft and hollow. No punch. No Meat. No Balls at all. And those are it's fine points. It's not even any good as a guitar cabinet. Give me a openback Fender Bassbreaker any day for guitar.

Thanks for sharing. I think the combo amp uses the bigger box. Not sure I have ever heard or played the NY mini but love the size.