Slant vs. Straight Cabs

[bretwomack]

What's the difference, if any, besides the obvious? Which do you prefer and why?

 

[s.fitzsimmons]

The angled cabs offer the angle for self monitoring when used by themselves. Both fill a small room up pretty quickly with sound when loud enough though. I always prefer the look of the straight cabs and my OCD tell me that they are somehow better sounding because the baffle is one piece as opposed to two joined at an angle.

 

[Twinfan]

Cabs and designs will vary by manufacturer, so you'd have to compare a new Marshall with a new Marshall (for example).

I would always choose the straight cab as I want the speakers to point into the crowd, and not angle up towards the ceiling.

 

[DRM_777]

I would always choose the straight cab as I want the speakers to point into the crowd,

Why? That's the P.A.'s job, not your cab. As mentioned before, these days cabs are firstly meant as a signal source for the P.A. and secondly are used as a direct self monitoring source on stage.

Cabs are NOT for providing volume to the audience.

As an engineer, my biggest issue with other guitarists is them not being able to understand that they can't just crank their amp on stage since it makes it impossible to provide a balanced sound and inevitably causes feedback issues. This in turn means that guitar has to be taken out of Foldback monitor mix and the guitarist complains the whole time that he can't hear himself (despite having his amp cranked!) Where as if they set the amp to the volume the engineer specified, then the engineer would be able to mix the sound properly and provide the whole band with a far superior monitor mix.

Long gone are the days where P.A.'s were not large enough and a full stack with a straight cab on the bottom and angled cab on top was required in order to help fill a large venue with sound.

These days angled cabs are generally meant to be placed at stage level and the shallow angle is meant to provide the guitarist with a sound reference while standing a few feet in front of the cab. (the angle is far too shallow to simply direct the sound at the roof).

Straight cabs in a half stack, in my opinion are entirely pointless.

Sorry didn't mean to go on a rant.......these topics just irk me a bit as an engineer! LOL

 

[Twinfan]

Calm down dude!

We don't mic up, I play pub gigs with a backline and a vocal only PA. Hence to me it DOES matter where the speakers point, and on a slightly raised stage a straight cab points straight at the crowd.

 

[Boogie]

Calm down dude!

We don't mic up, I play pub gigs with a backline and a vocal only PA. Hence to me it DOES matter where the speakers point, and on a slightly raised stage a straight cab points straight at the crowd.

+1
Us too. A couple drum mics get added to the PA but otherwise, we self amplify. I've used a slant vert. 2x12 for decades and only recently changed to a horiz. straight 2x12 cab. I'm pushing the power stage much harder and need to govern the volume better...like putting a guitar case in front of it!

 

[László]

Calm down dude!

We don't mic up, I play pub gigs with a backline and a vocal only PA. Hence to me it DOES matter where the speakers point, and on a slightly raised stage a straight cab points straight at the crowd.

That's the traditional way that we played back in the 60s-70s...mics only into the PA. However...

The fact is that the audience isn't hearing much direct sound from your cab regardless of whether it's angled or not. The sound is reflected all over the room, and bounces everywhere. Because you're standing close, you hear a predominance of direct sound. But only a few feet back, and the audience is hearing a combination of direct and reflected sound. More than ten-15 feet back, and it's probably reflected sound that's predominant.

It's doubtful whether anyone in the audience could tell the difference between a straight cab and an angled cab, even from 5-10 feet away, especially in the context of a band.

So my recommendation would always be to get what you like to work with, because as far as the audience goes, they're not going to hear a difference.

 

[Twinfan]

Fair points!

Straight cabs look cooler to me so I'll stick with them

 

[László]

Fair points!

Straight cabs look cooler to me so I'll stick with them

A perfectly reasonable thing to do!

 

[DRM_777]

Calm down dude!

We don't mic up, I play pub gigs with a backline and a vocal only PA. Hence to me it DOES matter where the speakers point, and on a slightly raised stage a straight cab points straight at the crowd.

That's the traditional way that we played back in the 60s-70s...mics only into the PA. However...

The fact is that the audience isn't hearing much direct sound from your cab regardless of whether it's angled or not. The sound is reflected all over the room, and bounces everywhere. Because you're standing close, you hear a predominance of direct sound. But only a few feet back, and the audience is hearing a combination of direct and reflected sound. More than ten-15 feet back, and it's probably reflected sound that's predominant.

It's doubtful whether anyone in the audience could tell the difference between a straight cab and an angled cab, even from 5-10 feet away, especially in the context of a band.

So my recommendation would always be to get what you like to work with, because as far as the audience goes, they're not going to hear a difference.

Fair points!

Straight cabs look cooler to me so I'll stick with them

It makes more sense that you might be concerned about speaker positioning when only using a vocal PA but LSchefman summed up pretty much what my response would have been and probably better too.

My only addition at this point is that if you're only using a Vocal PA then you're not going to have any form of on stage monitor mix and so actually an angled cab would actually theoretically be more beneficial for hearing yourself, cos you know, that's what the angle is there for.

There is no right and wrong as it's down to the individual, but certain options are definitely more beneficial and it's not quite as simple as form over function, but yeah, each to their own etc.

Interestingly enough, the new Line 6 L3t and L3m speakers have a virtual tiltback. When used in a backline configuration for the likes of Electric guitars etc, it activates the Virtual Tilt Back mode which optimizes the speaker's tuning to achieve an upward tilt to its main axis and aim the sound towards the performer.......I don't know what kind of voodoo magic it uses to achieve it, but it sounds very clever and I'm very interested to try it out with my POD HD500 in the new year when I get mine!

 

[wilerty]

I only play at home and prefer the speakers off the floor so they are pointed toward me. Therefore, all amps I have bought in the last 20 years have been placed on top of a 20" table. This has included all sizes from my Boogie Lonestar Classic with a 2X12 cabinet to the Mark V and Fishman Artist I use now.

 

[bretwomack]

Very informative, guys. Thanks!

 

[gush]

I would have to say the angle really wasnt designed to allow the performer to hear amp. When stacks were designed the angled cab was on top to maybe help people in the upper levels of the venue hear. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Twinfan]

I think it was maybe just a cosmetic thing?

 

[DRM_777]

I would have to say the angle really wasnt designed to allow the performer to hear amp. When stacks were designed the angled cab was on top to maybe help people in the upper levels of the venue hear. Any thoughts on that?

Umm, yeah I covered that in my main response........

Long gone are the days where P.A.'s were not large enough and a full stack with a straight cab on the bottom and angled cab on top was required in order to help fill a large venue with sound.

These days angled cabs are generally meant to be placed at stage level and the shallow angle is meant to provide the guitarist with a sound reference while standing a few feet in front of the cab. (the angle is far too shallow to simply direct the sound at the roof).