Best thing about closed back is, you can remove the backplate and mic it if you wish. I had one lower end Marshall 4x12 cab, it sounded so much better without the backplate!
Most overlooked feature when people buy speakers.. If you put a well used and broken in Vintage 30 in a small closed back 1x12 and compare it to an open back cab the sound is very different. The vintage 30 can sound anemic on the bottom end and have overbearing mids.. Put in a closed back the mids gets a different sound and the bottom comes out.. The vintage 30 being rich in mid frequencies and have a low resonance frequency (75Hz).. 75Hz is below the guitar frequencies but by putting it in closed sealed cab the air trapped inside acts as a damper for speaker cone movement and moves the Rf up into the more audible and punchy bass area (above 100Hz). I often go for boutique producers recommendations for their amps.. Hampstad uses either the creamback 65 in their open back 2x12 or a single G12H anniversary in their 20W open back combo.. So these two speakers work great in an open back cab.. A vintage 30 sounds better to me in a closed back though
Thanks for the nice video. Two different cabinets, different sizes, different cubic physical volumes. Hard to say we compared open-closed, when it was done with two different cabinets. How about taking an open-back cabinet then screw a plate on the back to make it a closed cabinet? That would be a better A/B comparison. Also, there are way-open-back cabinets, and slightly-open-back cabinets. It would be nice to compare how much of an opening sounds like what. Sounded like a looper-pedal was used, ryhthm and lead combined together, which sounds like playing two guitars through the same amp, which to me never sounds good - gets muddy. Do you ever have your friend over and both plug into the same amp? Not very often cuz it doesn't sound right. Same with a looper pedal. The looper obscures the integrity of the test. Also as many have pointed out, it might be nice to include the room sound, since lots of viewers play live small rooms and are not recording or not miked going through a PA. And of course how about some various music styles/sounds and a Fender single-coil vs Gibson Humbucker? Seems like there is a reason metal gravitates toward closed-back Marshall-type amps & cabs, while other cleaner-sounding styles lean toward a Fender open-back sound. Hard to say one is "better", like apples and orange groves. To me though, the closed-back seemed to have more punch.
The mic being jammed against the speaker cone did a great job of what the speaker sounds like at ground zero... Back it off 4'-5' from the cab and it would give us listeners a much better idea of the differences in the room that YOU are hearing. Minimal difference on the vid on my end w Sennheiser headset on but lm sure in the room the difference was quite significant. Thanks..
But like I’ve said to everyone else- in rock and metal, we don’t back the mic off for “room”, and we really don’t care what you’re hearing in the room. What you hear recorded is far more important so this has relevance to me
@@adamsteelproducer okay..for recording l can understand the mic position...l was under the impression it was more about the difference in open or closed back sonically for performing.. for recording purpose it makes sense now..l must have missed that part.
But what the mic is picking up is essentially the speaker's responsiveness and the difference in responsiveness between open and closed back. A closed back speaker essentially puts a vacuum behind the speaker, ok it's not actually a vacuum, but every time the speaker moves forward, the pressure in the box drops and kinda sucks the cone back in. So with a closed back cab you get a more responsive speaker which works well for metal... the cone vibrates in a more snappy manner. With an open back cab there's no drop in pressure behind the cone working against the cone's movement and trying to suck the cone back, the cone moves less snappy which might give a sound more pleasing for blues. The difference is as if one cone is made of a stiffer paper (closed back) and the other (open back) is made of a softer, more rubbery, paper. So if you want to hear what the speaker's doing, then put the mic at the speaker, we're not interested in what effect 5 feet of air is having on the sound. You can't really record the speaker's responsiveness if you're adding several cubic metres of room space to the equation. For example at 100 metres distance you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.
Should have shown the back of the open back cab for us to see how open it is. There is a difference between 1/3 open and 2/3 open. I like semi-open cabs, with an opening in the middle third. It's not too mellow and not too aggressive. I recently put a panel on the top third of my open back combo amp to tighten up the sound.
I've made my 2x12 cab with a removable panel, so I can do either depending on what I need to record... Both speakers are Celestions, but one is an old (1976) and beautiful sounding Rola-Celestion greenback, the other a Vintage30 (25th Anniversary). I like versatility 😎👍
Unless you use the same cab you will get very different sounds. I have made 6 cabs but they are all different and they sound different depending on the speaker and from one to another.
Great video! I built a custom 212 cab and made it to be either closed back or partial open back. I keep it partial open all the time. About to build a custom 112 cab similar to an OS port city cab with a celestion redback in it
These videos are about a year old now, I am aware and I tend to edit differently, I have a new set of videos coming out. I can’t really go back and re-do the older ones though because then they will lose the notoriety they already have. And “viral” doesn’t seem to apply so much to niche markets like these.
Closed back cabinets are made because of the drums. Speakers that are with open back tend to humm in the drums with low frequencies. You can have guitar cabinets with open back, but you will probably never see a bass cabinett with open back. With closed back the air cant escape and that give you more sound from the membranes of the speakers, but the sound can be muddier.
It's generally excepted that open backs will have a good amount less bass and less focused sound. For me if im playing rock/metal its definently a closed back. But if I want some nice clean single coil stuff I'll possibly use an open. Open backs are generally a lot harder to get consistent sound from due to how much it's position in a room can alter the presence and resonance. Closed backs will normally be a more consistent sound and are in my opinion better for recording due to their directional nature. Of the few open backs I've owned I couldnt call any of them my favorite. Mainly because open backs like I said are just very inconsistent and moving them for jam sessions or recording was always very unpleasant. There are certainly people who will disagree but in my opinion if you have an option id go with closed back. That way you'll be able to cover more ground tonally. At home I'm using a closed back orange ppc1x12 with a 150w eminence speaker. I love it but I'm seriously considering going back to a 2x12 because having a 1x12 with a Marshall DSL100HR is not the best look lol. Also I want to use my v30 with my swamp thang together. I'll probably buy a Luke 2x12c from seismic audio. It's only $179 shipped and I'll get to keep the orange and black asthetic I get from using a Marshall head with an orange cab.
I must also say to Michaels point..having a Marshall DSL..and amongst other heads, playing open backs is indeed fun for single coil or max P 90 s..endless fun..but not happy with humbuckers on this!!
Adam, great video! I own a Peavey 6505+112. After watching this video as well as your Celestion shootout video, I am still indecisive on what speaker I should change to. In your opinion... What would be ideal for this amplifier in terms of both the cabinet and speaker?
Hi! I loved the video. I'm in the process on buying an amp but I'm not sure which one I should pick. My choices are the Peavey 6505+ 112 (closed back) or the Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier Rectoverb Combo 50 (open back). I love Mesa Boogies, but this amp is open back. What are your thoughts on the Peavey 6505+ speaker and cabinet?
Two different types of animals you're talking about. Close backs are for rock to heavy chunky guitar riffs. Open back is more for jazz, blues, and very clean playing.
Thanx for such a great comparison video. It sounded to me as if closed back was not spikey but more full range. Open back mids and higher frequencies sound attenuated. For recording, personally I would take the closed back and carve out (eq) what I don't need. Kinda the opposite of what your saying. :) lol
Appreciated the video - I thought closed was brighter which surprised me. I wonder if the mic should have been off the speaker a bit more to record the ‘room sound’ which may be more noticeable in open vs closed? Thanks again
A few people have suggested that, but no- having the mic further away isn’t really what we do recording rock, metal and even pop. The results would be very different, but for the music I do would give the wrong impression I think
Like I keep telling everyone, that wasn’t the purpose of this test. Obviously open backs make more “room” sound. But for those of us who close mic, what difference would changing the cab make? That’s what is demonstrated here.
It's a great idea and an interesting comparison but is this only relevant to high gain players? It's the usual "play at very high gain with some bottom string chugging and a lot of highly distorted lead, then do a bit of clean noodling to show even metal players can be tasteful" review. There are other genres in the world you know and their needs range from ultra clean right through to what you showed in stages. It really would be nice to see some of those different levels of distortion represented in a review once in a while.
Open-back sounds best. The closed-back sounds like you are playing in a compressed chamber, let's say an airplane. The open-back..in a car, with the sunroof open, if you will. I would rather hear the rumble of the road... 😆
