Open-Back Cab?

jmp4001 · Post by **jmp4001** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:54 am

Hi! I was wondering if any of you have used any open-back cabinets for their bridge/treble pickup. I’m thinking of getting a mid-size combo guitar amp (100w 2x10 or 2x12) for my son to run his Ric’s treble PU through. I’ve only used separate 4x12 closed back cabs for this, (or 2x10s in a biamp compatible bass cab) so I don’t know if there are pros and cons to this with the open back design.

My JC-120 and JC-77 both work great for it in a studio environment, but I'm not really pushing it hard. I'd like the amp to have some oomph because he'll be playing it in a rock band so it has to crank without crapping out. I'm not sure if that makes a difference with one type over the other.

Before I get something I figured I’d ask some people who would know from a bass standpoint.

Thanks!

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:41 am

wave cancellation from open back cabs alter your sound. If you're bi-amping the system and only have higher freq through then there's not as much concern.

then again, depends upon the music played, db level desired, coolness factor...

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:51 am

Is this for bass or guitar? Open back cabinets do not work well for bass.

jmp4001 · Post by **jmp4001** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:17 am

It's for the treble PU of his 4001 bass. I figured there might be some issues, even though there isn't a whole lot of 'bass' going through it. Most of the 'bass' in his sound is from his neck PU going through a legit bass amp with a 15" speaker. I always had a good sound using guitar amps for the treble PU, but never used an open back combo amp for that purpose in a live setting.

The music would tend to be somewhat loud rock. He'd be competing with a guitar player, which always means 'turn it up.'

Do you suppose there would be some of the same problems even though it is to be used just for the treble PU?

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:20 pm

If you have the .0047uF cap in place and not bypassed, an open back cabinet will work just fine.

jmp4001 · Post by **jmp4001** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:37 pm

Thanks for the comments! Yeah, it's a stock '78 so it has the cap. My Ric is a '75 with the cap and it works fine in the studio with the Rolands open-back, but like I said, I'm not pushing it.

We both tend to let the neck PU and amp do the brunt of the low end power and have the bridge PU and amp emphasize the upper mids/hi-end predominantly and run some effects on that line as well.

I figure that some of the guitar combos are better equipped with some of that stuff than the bass combos I've seen. Chorus, DSP, Modeling.

He's 15 and he doesn't need to be carting multiple heads, cabs and pedal boards around, I'm trying to keep it simple - a couple good self-contained portable amps with pretty much everything built in and a footswitch. Beefy amp with a 15 for the bass and a good second amp with 2x10 (or 2x12) for the treble, preferably with a decent complement of FX. Which is why I was looking at guitar combos.