Why Do You Need 4x12 Cabinet?
Skalde
Aug 27 2008, 10:28 PM
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Hey,
this is probably a dumb question, but I was always curious about it cool.gif
I wonder in what situation you would need a 4x12 cabinet. As far as I know you usually mic only one speaker in studio or in a live situation. So, where is the sense in having 4 speakers in a cabinet?
Is it just to have a louder sound while playing with your band members or sound 4 speakers better(fatter?) than one?

regards,
Skalde


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Bogdan Radovic
Aug 27 2008, 10:45 PM
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You get a much more massive sound a more low end with 4x12 cabinet ! smile.gif

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Ivan Milenkovic
Aug 28 2008, 12:28 AM
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Sound is bigger and there is more low end like Bogdan said. More air is being moved. Now I'm no acoustics expert so I can really elaborate but trust me - 4x12 sounds a lot better than 1 speaker. 4x12 requires space to develop it's sound, so on a medium stage it is good to use it, but on a small stage in a confined space, it is unlikely that the sound will be that good.

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ZakkWylde
Aug 28 2008, 12:37 AM
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Take a 100 watt tube head and put it onto a 4x12 cabinet. Then pick a guitar of your choice, plug it in and stand right in front of the speaker. Now crank the amp to the max and hit a low powerchord and you'll see why you need 4 speakers^^.

Warning: May cause harm to your ears (and family jewels)!

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Toroso
Aug 28 2008, 09:46 AM
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I know ZakkWylde don't like Line 6, but, my lil Spider II through the 8" speaker, OK. Thru the 4x, whoa!

Removed a comment of sexual kind. /Micke

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This post has been edited by MickeM: Aug 28 2008, 05:44 PM


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Juan M. Valero
Aug 28 2008, 10:34 AM
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mmm well, IMHO I think that it is not necessary, is better to get a good 2x12 than a normal 4x12. And 2x12 is too much easy to carry. About the "low end" everybody says it but IMHO that's not necessary true, because you only put 1 mic in one speaker, and if you need more low end just need to adjust the mic angle.

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Ivan Milenkovic
Aug 28 2008, 11:58 AM
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I agree Juan. When I said low end I thought about the sound from the cab itself. With a mic you can make it bassy on the PA so there it no problem. 2x12, or even 1x12 will serve enough with proper monitoring and PA anywhere.

I do believe however, that it is pretty hard to make 1x12 to sound like 4x12, when miced. 4x12 has different sound, harmonics, sound physics is different etc.

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This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: Aug 28 2008, 11:59 AM


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Marcus Siepen
Aug 28 2008, 12:07 PM
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It is a matter of getting the sound that you want. A 4x12 cab produces a much bigger sound compared to a 2x12 or other cabs. Even the size of the cab has an influence on the sound, my Boogie cabs for example are bigger than regular 4x12 Marshall cabs, and they deliver a MUCH more powerful sound.

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Scott Gentzen
Aug 28 2008, 05:40 PM
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QUOTE (Skalde @ Aug 27 2008, 05:28 PM) *
this is probably a dumb question, but I was always curious about it cool.gif
I wonder in what situation you would need a 4x12 cabinet. As far as I know you usually mic only one speaker in studio or in a live situation. So, where is the sense in having 4 speakers in a cabinet?
Is it just to have a louder sound while playing with your band members or sound 4 speakers better(fatter?) than one?



See below as far as the sound goes. I recently went from a 1x12 combo to a 2x12 cab/head combo. It's not so much louder, but "bigger" sounding. Hard to explain.

One thing to note here is that you're not limited a single mic when recording. You're not going to get that 4x12 sound so much when you're close micing one of the speakers, but if you put a mic into the room, you'll get it there, then you can blend the two recordings together.

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kjutte
Aug 28 2008, 09:10 PM
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QUOTE (Skalde @ Aug 27 2008, 11:28 PM) *
Hey,
this is probably a dumb question, but I was always curious about it cool.gif
I wonder in what situation you would need a 4x12 cabinet. As far as I know you usually mic only one speaker in studio or in a live situation. So, where is the sense in having 4 speakers in a cabinet?
Is it just to have a louder sound while playing with your band members or sound 4 speakers better(fatter?) than one?

regards,
Skalde


They have different sound characteristics.

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Danilo Capezzuto
Aug 29 2008, 09:24 AM
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I quote Juan.
The 4x12 is really ok cause it makes you an instant rock star biggrin.gif
But is useless in small stage or even medium stage...cause the 4x12 need HUGE amount of volume to sound like it have to do. On large stage you'll miced it to send the sound to the p.a., this way you don't need to turn up the volume cause the people will hear you from the p.a. , plus you can turn up the volume even on a large stage cause the the band probably will kill you before you kill their ears! So I think it's better a 2x12, lighter and many time...better in sound too!

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Chris Evans
Aug 29 2008, 11:13 AM
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I have used a 1x12 combo or a 2x12 combo (both Marshalls) for the last 18 years, just last year I switched to a 4x12 cab and head set up, why on earth didnt I do this before!!! The depth & clarity of the sound is massivly different to the 1x12 & 2x12 (although the 2x12 set up worked very well.)

The sound is consistent accross all volumes, it doesnt need to be cranked up to massive levels for it to sound great, in fact I dont need to turn my amp up to anywhere near the sort of levels that I did before, I`ll never go back to a combo again for playing live.

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Scott Gentzen
Aug 29 2008, 11:41 PM
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QUOTE (Danilo Capezzuto @ Aug 29 2008, 04:24 AM) *
I quote Juan.
The 4x12 is really ok cause it makes you an instant rock star biggrin.gif
But is useless in small stage or even medium stage...cause the 4x12 need HUGE amount of volume to sound like it have to do. On large stage you'll miced it to send the sound to the p.a., this way you don't need to turn up the volume cause the people will hear you from the p.a. , plus you can turn up the volume even on a large stage cause the the band probably will kill you before you kill their ears! So I think it's better a 2x12, lighter and many time...better in sound too!


There's a small bar with a tiny little stage not far from where I live that bands tend to bring their 4x12's to. I've seen a lot of Mesa Triple Rec half stacks in that place. They mic the cabs and run them through the PA too. There's probably less than 20 feet from the front edge of the stage to the opposite wall. It gets a little loud. biggrin.gif

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Toroso
Aug 30 2008, 01:21 AM
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QUOTE (Smells @ Aug 29 2008, 06:13 AM) *
The sound is consistent accross all volumes, it doesnt need to be cranked up to massive levels for it to sound great, in fact I dont need to turn my amp up to anywhere near the sort of levels that I did before, I`ll never go back to a combo again for playing live.


I do not play live. But I agree with this. More consistent. Good description. And just more full overall.

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