Front VS Rear loaded cabs actual test

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Bram576

Bram576

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Cool to see someone actually do this. Might I add someone reputable that actually goes through and analyzes this. Real cool stuff. I always suck out 550 hz… especially in my rear loaded Mesa cabs… but does it actually matter.
 
The unfortunate thing for a comparison like this is that the thump in the room of rear loaded cabs isnt captured on mics so front loaded ones just sound better recorded
He does mention that at the end. Basically the direction of the cabinet. Steve Fryette talked about it in their interview.
 
I don't notice a difference between FL/RL cabs. I've had and currently have numerous FL and RL 412s and no significant difference to me. I think room type and placement has far more effect. At least IME.
 
There's 100% a big difference. I've owned and played Diezel FL/RL and VHT FL/RL cabs side by side (not all at once). The RL is way bigger sounding every time IME. It fills the room much better. The FL is a straight punch to the body. Way more clarity but directional sounding at the same time. This goes for both sets of cabs.

I've owned the RL Uberkab but never got to compare side by side with my current FL that I own unfortunately like I was able to with the cabs I mentioned above. I much prefer FL I have now. Bogner cabs are dark so the added clarity is welcomed. Still thumps like a mofo though.
 
This is all interesting. I have never played a frontloaded, unless @RedB4Black says i have...

I wonder what playing both at same time is like, especially with same speaker type
 
There's 100% a big difference. I've owned and played Diezel FL/RL and VHT FL/RL cabs side by side (not all at once). The RL is way bigger sounding every time IME. It fills the room much better. The FL is a straight punch to the body. Way more clarity but directional sounding at the same time. This goes for both sets of cabs.

I've owned the RL Uberkab but never got to compare side by side with my current FL that I own unfortunately like I was able to with the cabs I mentioned above. I much prefer FL I have now. Bogner cabs are dark so the added clarity is welcomed. Still thumps like a mofo though.
We all perceive things differently. I just don't notice a difference. I have a FL Uberkab and Fryette D412 that I compare to a Friedman 412 and EVH412 I have here, no difference to me. Also had a Fryette FB412 that I had side by side with the EVH RL 412 and didn't notice a lick of difference aside from slight tonal variance due to different speakers but even that was marginal.
 
I played both the Diezel 4x12 front and rear loaded side by side. Big difference with the Diezels, can’t say if the same would be so with other brands. I preferred rear loaded Diezel by a mile. Under a mic , I don’t know.
 
Towards the end of the video, he realizes the baffle of the front loaded cab was very slightly angled, where the rear loaded cab had a perfectly straight baffle.

He concluded that it was the slight angle of the front loaded cab's baffle, NOT the front vs rear mounting, responsible for the bump around 500Hz as heard in the rear mounted cab.

Cool video.
 
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Towards the end of the video, he realizes the baffle of the front loaded cab was very slightly angled, where the rear loaded cab had a perfectly straight baffle.

He concluded that it was the slight angle of the front loaded cab's baffle, NOT the front vs rear mounting, responsible for the bump around 500Hz as heard in the rear mounted cab.

Cool video.
Basically the Fryette FB is the perfect cab to mic for me lol. Sucks out all the shit I don’t want.
 
i use my front loaded old randall cabs mostly for recording, im sure theres a slight difference in front vs rear loaded but im honestly not even interested to know what, that will just be one more thing ill be questioning and im trying to get away from that lol
 
i use my front loaded old randall cabs mostly for recording, im sure theres a slight difference in front vs rear loaded but im honestly not even interested to know what, that will just be one more thing ill be questioning and im trying to get away from that lol
💯 paralysis by analysis. Interesting results, but it's another rabbit hole These kind of threads lead me into bad ideas, lol.
 
My vht 2530 from the early 90s is front loaded and I love it to death. It punches hard and sounds amazing.
 

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Fryette went back to RL after years of FL on the Deliverance II Series..
 
Guitar cabs have really not had much engineering effort compared to bass cabs and PA cabs.

Back in the day, I had a Cerwin Vega 1x18 folded horn for bass, it had a handtruck built into the cab. There were bi-amp rigs such as my full ADA bass rig with a crossover frequency setting, and various ported cabs. PA have linear arrays, and various folded and ported cab designs for subs...

I remember Port City made ported cabs for guitar, but don't recall much interest in them; ported guitar cabs never really got popular.


Anyone play through a Port City Wave ported cab?


11 years ago...

 
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I have a RL UberKab and a FL Diezel. With the same amp settings, the FL always sounded a little harsher where the RL was a little more rounded. But could dial in either to sound great. The speakers are way different too with K100’s in the FL and an X of V30/G75 in the RL. So hard to say it’s totally FL vs RL. Both sound good though.
 
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