Double Bass Small vs Large Drivers

Dec 29, 2005
4,693
7,557
5,621
USA
Hey Folks,

Curious to hear thoughts on the general sound difference between using 10 in or 12 in drivers. Possibly just the difference between smaller and larger drivers. Part of me wants to say that larger drivers create a boomier sound, but i'm not sure if that is actually true. It's also amazing to see what is being done with small 6 and 8 in drivers.

Thoughts?
 
Big proponent of small 6 or 8 inch drivers for double bass especially MAS gear.....But, a friend just gave me a pair of 1965 Klipsch Cornwall speakers for home stereo and after a lifetime of modernizing, man listening to music thru those giant 15 in woofers and huge horns, I swear it is a whole new experience, close to ecstasy.
Yes and you can probably drive them with your cell phone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tzohn and salcott
I own/use both small (PJB C4 w/4 5" woofers) and large(r) 12" (Hartke Hydrive 112) and 15" in vintage cabs (Acoustic 406 cab & 126 combo w/15"
and a vintage 80's 115 Peavey cab with a 4 ohm 300 watt Eminence.

I find myself matching cabs to the occasion/choice of bass.
I tend to use the smaller drivers in my open mic and acoustic settings or when space is restricted. Larger woofers more often for classic rock and blues.
I used to think sound was completely linked to speaker size. Not so much any more as technology is allowing my 4" equipped cabs to compete head to head with the main differences being how fast they respond and the amount of bottom in a headroom challenging situation, mostly attributable to how much air is being moved.

I let my taste in tone, playing style and overall band volume dictate cabinet and driver choices. It's taken a long time, but I didn't have the advantage of this forum back then.
 
Here's how I look at it. The basic electromagnetic theory of speakers is quite accurate for frequencies below about 250 Hz, and it shows that you can tune small and large speakers to have identical frequency response. In this case, the bigger speaker will be louder. But typical commercial speakers are not designed this way, and we have to live in the world of what's actually available. Most smaller speakers are designed to recover some of that lost sensitivity by sacrificing low frequency response. This is what I think explains the difference in perceived tone and dynamics of small and large speakers.
 
Here's how I look at it. The basic electromagnetic theory of speakers is quite accurate for frequencies below about 250 Hz, and it shows that you can tune small and large speakers to have identical frequency response. In this case, the bigger speaker will be louder. But typical commercial speakers are not designed this way, and we have to live in the world of what's actually available. Most smaller speakers are designed to recover some of that lost sensitivity by sacrificing low frequency response. This is what I think explains the difference in perceived tone and dynamics of small and large speakers.

Francis knows his stuff. Any cabinet, regardless of what speakers are used can sound amazing. Duke LeJune's TC-112 is a great doubling cabinet, provided you use his
handy dandy port plugs. Mike Arnopols MAS 4x5 is also a very intellegent design for DB and sounds very good. We are fast reaching the point where you can have
a bass cabinet that is small, light and loud. Just look at Mikes MAS 1/8 and Dukes Birdhaus 4/6.

Ric
 
  • Like
Reactions: fdeck
They can all sound great depending on the cabinet design. The most important part of the equation for me is how quickly any cabinet responds, especially at it's higher volume limits. That's been the challenge for me is to find a system that can respond to the dynamics of the instrument in time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ric Vice
My CDN$ 0.02 worth: having experimented for several years now, as a doubler, sometimes bringing a couple rigs to a gig just to do A/B testing live, my simple brain and ears have boiled things down to short list of preferences:

- for upright: multiple small drivers sound better to me than the same volume in a large driver. MAS45, Phil Jones Flightcase two examples of "multiple small drivers".
- for electric: the exact opposite sounds better to me, particularly for funk, slap, other times when the bass needs to shake fillings. A 15" Eminence in a Fender-inspired cabinet is what I mean by a large driver.
- when doubling, I can fake a good electric sound on small drivers better than I can fake a good upright sound on large drivers
- lighter is preferred to heavier :) :)
 
I've had 5", 8", 10", 12" and 15". The PJB 5"s were very good but not much volume(even with 10 of them), the SWR 4x8 was very nice (I would cheerfully have another of these), the Barefaced 10"s were good but didn't really handle my open E string too well, a Trace acoustic 15" was meh, but I 've settled on two Barefaced 1x12s. To qualify... I play jazz, country, vintage rock n roll and Americana, so my needs are not only accuracy but the ability to carry large open-air gigs without putting the bass in the monitors.