2x12 disatvantages with recording?

basically it depends on the cab and usally it´s the same speakers just two instead of 4.

Don´t see any disadvantages though. I´m recording a pop punk band with a 2*12 orange cab and it sounds great.

Perhaps bigger cabs sound different because of a bigger size or distance between the speakers. The wood and material and speakers are usually the same.

Imo 2*12 speakers work fine.

allot of guitarplayers i know use them because of their smaller size for touring.

I even know a engineer that only uses a 1*12 orange cab for all his productions so he can concentrate on one speaker only.
 
The only advantage/disadvantage I can think of is that they sound different even with the same speakers. The volume of the cab determines the resonant frequency. The smaller the cab the higher the resonance.

*Edit: by "volume" I mean the internal size not how loud it is.
 
egan. said:
The only advantage/disadvantage I can think of is that they sound different even with the same speakers. The volume of the cab determines the resonant frequency. The smaller the cab the higher the resonance.

*Edit: by "volume" I mean the internal size not how loud it is.
Click to expand...

Hey Egan do you mean that a lower resonant frequency yields a deeper tone? I ask because I use my 4x12 in stereo so it becomes a 2x12 in a 4x12 box. I always wondered what the pros cons are and I can't just blast the thing to compare, my neighbors and house mates would kill me. Any help would be awesome.
 
Star Ark said:
Hey Egan do you mean that a lower resonant frequency yields a deeper tone? I ask because I use my 4x12 in stereo so it becomes a 2x12 in a 4x12 box. I always wondered what the pros cons are and I can't just blast the thing to compare, my neighbors and house mates would kill me. Any help would be awesome.
Click to expand...

your cab is still a 4x12 so it resonates like a 4x12 even if you play through it in "stereo mode"
 
Resonating frequencies higher up the spectrum perhaps? Probably in the lower-mids region?

Should we call this a disadvantage or more of a matter of taste/genre/production technique?

Edit: A Low B's got a fundamental frequency of 61.74hz, what can you make of this? Most people hi-pass/low-shelve the low-end, values ranging from 60hz to 100hz.

I recently read up about a particular modern metal engineer (can't remember his name) who hi-passes guitars at 150hz.
 
ive actually sold all my 412s.... had a marshall straight with eminence redcoats in it, splawn 4x12 with a bunch of different speakers(eminence, splwan, celestion), and a framus dragon 412 with emenance manowars. i only record out of my orange 212 with a weber bluedog and classiclead 80, and my avatar 212 with 2 pre Chinese v30s. i understand the whole resonant frequency thing but i think for ME anyways... the extra low end out of the 412 doesnt help the sound any, and just takes up more physical space space in my studio, and adds unwanted (usually) low end content that i end up cutting out......again this is for me :) the only bad i can say...is when im with a band and we are testing out different cabs/heads, they always want to plug in their 412 and will always claim it just sounds "heavier" and i just politely explain thats cuz they are hearing 4 speakers and a big cab...vs 2 speakers and a small cab. kinda like how a ton of SUB low can sound great on a bass rig live...but ruin recorded bass tone.

....although my stack of cabs was rather impressive looking before i sold them all :(
 
freakkguitarist said:
ive actually sold all my 412s.... had a marshall straight with eminence redcoats in it, splawn 4x12 with a bunch of different speakers(eminence, splwan, celestion), and a framus dragon 412 with emenance manowars. i only record out of my orange 212 with a weber bluedog and classiclead 80, and my avatar 212 with 2 pre Chinese v30s. i understand the whole resonant frequency thing but i think for ME anyways... the extra low end out of the 412 doesnt help the sound any, and just takes up more physical space space in my studio, and adds unwanted (usually) low end content that i end up cutting out......again this is for me :) the only bad i can say...is when im with a band and we are testing out different cabs/heads, they always want to plug in their 412 and will always claim it just sounds "heavier" and i just politely explain thats cuz they are hearing 4 speakers and a big cab...vs 2 speakers and a small cab. kinda like how a ton of SUB low can sound great on a bass rig live...but ruin recorded bass tone.

....although my stack of cabs was rather impressive looking before i sold them all :(
Click to expand...

My personal experience is that the problem with smaller cabs is having prominent higher resonances, not the lack of the lower ones. You're likely gonna high pass it anyway, so the super lows are irrelevant, resonances in the higher frequencies are almost impossible to compensate for
 
2x12's sound more pissed off and ratty, you'll either love or hate that... most of you guy's will hate it ;)
 
The difference between a 4x12 and a 2x12 is the last thing I would be worried about while recording. If you can't get a good tone out of a 2x12, switching to a 4x12 isn't going to solve anything; the differences are minimal to nonexistant if the speakers and wood used are the same.

Started recording with my Orange 2x12 that I bought after selling my piece of shit Marshall 4x12; best decision ever.
 
I tend to find 2x12's don't have enough low-end chunk for me, and the mids can be a little more wooly than a 4x12. It's a subtle difference and can be compensated for on the amp and some post-EQ. But I prefer a 4x12 for recording.
 
Every cabinet is different. You really just need to audition ones you like, whether they be 4x12s or 1x12s... on that note, I have a surprise in the near future for my fellow forumites :)
 
I'm still looking for one more amplifier before I can do that ;)

It's something that has to do with the OP... I'll leave it at that. I want to make a bang when I break the news :D
 
kaomao said:
your cab is still a 4x12 so it resonates like a 4x12 even if you play through it in "stereo mode"
Click to expand...

A little OT but I've noticed that stereo effects through a single cab don't sound the same as through two different cabs, no matter what the speaker configuration. As far as a 2x12 versus a 4x12, you'll notice a bit less chunk on the palm mutes. Some engineers prefer this though...less mud to have to cut away later. I've heard lots of great tones recorded through 2x12 or even 1x12 cabs.
 


This has recently been posted by a sneapster here already. At 5:00 he talks about why he prefers 1x12 cabinets. Some of my best recorded tones have been played through 1x12 cabinets.
 
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The main thing I can think of is the tone in a 4x12 seems to be a bit deeper due to the mass and volume and the extra space inside the cab. I prefer 2x12 though (I have a Vintage Avatar 2x12 with V30s.)
 
John_C said:
My personal experience is that the problem with smaller cabs is having prominent higher resonances, not the lack of the lower ones. You're likely gonna high pass it anyway, so the super lows are irrelevant, resonances in the higher frequencies are almost impossible to compensate for
Click to expand...

hmm funny, rarely have problems with high frequency resonances, by the time the mics/different speakers are phase aligned there usually still too much low end! it really comes down to, the number of speakers isnt gonna make or break you....in fact my friends emperor 6x12 is one of the worst sounding cabs ive ever heard...and all speakers are in phase! so yeah, dont worry so much about the cab size, worry more about the speaker inside :headbang:
 
Okay I'll give you some physics on the subject. :)

Guitar cabinets resonate but mostly it's just bad resonance. What it means is that it's exaggerating specific notes. YOU DON'T WANT THAT! (at least I don't) The bigger the cabinet, the lower the resonance. Ofcourse all cabinets resonate in a different way so you can't generalize that all 4x12, 2x12 and 1x12 cabinets have the same resonance. That's just stupid. However a 2x12 is sized in a very bad way because if it does have resonance (so if it's not Mesa :D ) it's located all over the low middle area which means your guitar tones will be a bit more muffled. A 4x12 resonates lower than that like around 80hz and that will be something guitarist love but all the engineers know we usually cut it out if we want space for the bass. Anyways... it's easier to cut it out with a 4x12 cab. Sure you can cut holes in the low end of a 2x12 spectrum but if I'd have to choose I'd rather not have anything in the recording process that I know I must take care of later on.

Now a 1x12 might not resonate at all (if it's Mesa :D ) Nah... I'm not sure why I think I get more low end on a 1x12 than a 2x12 cab. Orange 1x12 cab had more low end than the 2x12 version. The 1x12 actually sounded a lot like the Orange 4x12. Crazy stuff. But I guess it's because the resonance is all the way up to mids so it's not at all boomy and you don't have to cut the low end.

This is all just my experience... test results may vary. :)
 
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