4x12 cab dudes, check in.

[dorrisant]

Sorry... I have tried the same speakers in a cab that could be loaded either way. With the Express they sounded to mushy and loose. I preferred them front loaded by far. I thought they were a bit too focused when rear loaded. The front made them disperse a little smoother yet with a tighter bottom end response.

Tony

[Mark]

The question I have is why do you think front or rear loaded would make a difference?

The anchor points are the same, the only difference is how much of the speaker frame makes contact with the cab. I wonder if more contact means less pressure and when do all these factors become significant?

I'd be inclined to go with rear loaded as this appears to be the intent of the design of the frame.

[RCGPNY1]

If you can, try 2 front, 2 back assuming it's a straight front cab. This is
what the Fieten cabs(being sold by Andy Fuchs)do. They claim it's a
"best of both worlds"...I personally never heard that much difference, except for a little less beaming with the front loaders, but I wonder how much is placebo effect...

[Nigel Tufnel]

I'm a sucker for the classics in this regard. Rear loaded with familiar dimensions just sounds right.

[Ken Moon]

A rear-loaded cab doesn't have the separate grille cloth frame, but usually has a rectangle of thin wood lathe to hold the grill cloth about 1/4" away from the baffle, so you can get a slightly neater look to the grill cloth.

Then again, it's easier to change grill cloth when it is mounted to a separate frame.

With a rear-loaded cab, it's nice to use the Fender screws that look like these - They won't turn in the baffle when you tighten the speaker nut.
[img:600:360]http://angela.com/images/products/detai ... 517448.jpg[/img]

I go front-mounted on cabs unless I'm going for a vintage Fender look. For combos, it's always rear mount.

[Gaz]

Well, we know Ken liked the V4 cabs with Celestions and those were front loaded. Similar dimensions to a Soldano straight cab at 28" W. Those also have dampening material inside (the Ampegs, that is).

Sealed front loaded cab, compact dimensions (relatively), Celestions (I'm guessing Greenback variant), and dampening material = tight and bright...

just like the Express. So it seems like maybe Ken wanted more of what the Express was already doing, and I think that would be inline with his design ideology, which IIRC was something like: 'Listen for what the amp want to be, and take it there!'

Does anyone know where he talks about that, by the way?

[Mark]

I thought Ken pulled the insulating material out of the Ampeg cabs?

Again I don't know where I read that. Probably here though.

I'm not going to get wound up about changing topics as I re-read the posts and LFD originally hot off topic first.

[Gaz]

Yeah, I can imagine pulling the insulation. I really only like that in a cab for metal, and besides the Ampeg stuff is just totally stuffed and usually disintegrated.