4X12 Open Back Question?

[Papple]

First off Happy New Years to everyone.....

Now on to something I've been curious about for a while now. It seems to me that a lot of the 1 & 2 12" speaker cabinets seem to have open backs. I also seem to recall that the early ABB guys had them. What does this do to a 4-12 cab and how would the sound differ from the usually closed back unit.

Does anyone here have both an open & closed back set up. What differences are you hearing and are both cabinets equipped with the same speakers?

Thanks
P

[windjamma]

less directional sound i think because some of the sound emanates from the back.

[JB6464]

First off Happy New Years to everyone.....

Now on to something I've been curious about for a while now. It seems to me that a lot of the 1 & 2 12" speaker cabinets seem to have open backs. I also seem to recall that the early ABB guys had them. What does this do to a 4-12 cab and how would the sound differ from the usually closed back unit.

Does anyone here have both an open & closed back set up. What differences are you hearing and are both cabinets equipped with the same speakers?

Thanks
P

Years ago i cut out the back on a Carvin 4X12 cab loaded with Celestions and compared it to my other 4X12's that are OEM closed back and found it really thinned out the tones.
Great if you want a over-sized combo effect , lol.
The only speakers that saved that cabinet was the early version EVM12L
speakers that had lots of low end thump to bring back the fattness.
The EVM12L II's or Reissue Classics don't sound like the original EV's from the early 80's , their more brighter and balanced sounding.
Needless to say i never did that again . :FM
If you want something very simular , try a Mesa 4X12 that has the top half open and the bottm half closed with EV's or try a partial open-back 2X12 cabinet from AvatarSpeakers.com because it's cut out just enough to balance the open/closed back tone and properly designed.

[TubeStack]

Some early Marshalls used partially open-back cabs, scroll down for a pic of a 40th Anniv RI example here. (http://marshallvintagemodern.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=9365)

[Billion81]

I have that 40th anniv cab.. It's an insane tone. I would go open back for Alnicos- in a 4X12. Definitely would not do that with a 4X12 of Greenbacks.