What gives the cabinet that PUNCH!

[ForrestS]

I have a general question that I hope can be explained to me in a bit MORE than a simple answer.

I currently have a Carvin Valve Master 100 amp and two different cabinets. Cab number one is a Randall 4X12 with celestion vintage 30s in it. Cab number two is a Musiclord 1X12 with a celestion vintage 30 in it. Both cabinets are sealed. When I play the amp through the Randall 4X12 cab the sound coming out has a ton of PUNCH to it. When I play through the Musiclord 1X12 cab the punch isn't quite there.

I'm wondering why... I'm thinking that it's more than the factor of just having four times the amount of speakers in it. Perhaps something to do with the size of the cab??? How much air is being moved???? What would be the outcome of having a 1X12 cab but the dimensions of the cab being larger???

 

Any thoughts??

[lz4005]

Bigger cabs with more speakers have more surface area moving more air, are louder and have more bass emphasis. There's also interaction between the speakers that makes the sound different, and to most people's ears better.

A large 1x12 box would theoretically have more low end than a small box but, but probably not all that much more. It also wouldn't be louder.

[Cirrus]

The punch is because the bigger cab is resonating at a lower frequency - one which you can feel in your chest and sounds awesome. On top of that, splitting the sound between four speakers means that each speaker is working more efficiently at any given volume, so can more effectively translate the pick attack/ transient response of the amp into sound waves. 4x12s are also more directional so focus the sound energy forward.

 

In comparison, the 1x12 has a single v30 trying to do the job of four and will be compressing more as well as having a smaller box, hence higher resonant frequency which doesn't give you that body. It'll also be less directional so the sound energy spreads out over a wider area and dissipates faster.

 

If you made the box bigger you'd get more low end, but it would still be limited by the single speaker. You'd get a comparable tone if you lowered your amp's volume to about 1/4 of what you're using with your 4x12, except it'd be quieter and in all probability doing that would change the tone of your amp anyway, so there's no way you could make a practical comparison.