So you've got that perfect bass, and chosen the amp with more knobs and flashing lights than the Starship Enterprise - great! But what are you going to plug it into? Bass cabinets (sometimes called Enclosures) are often overlooked, despite their vital role in your rig.
Getting the Right Speaker Cab
Perhaps the main consideration when choosing a cab is the speaker size - contrary to popular belief, bigger is not always better! For example, your guitar player probably has 12" speakers, but the majority of pro bassists rely on 8x10 cabs (that means eight 10-inch speakers) - confused yet?!
It's actually pretty simple. As a rule of thumb, the tighter the sound you want, the smaller the speaker you should go for - 18" subwoofers are great for dub and reggae, but for rock or funk you'll probably want 10"s or 12"s. Other important points to look out for are:
Power Handling - if your amp puts out more power than your cab can handle, you'll blow your speakers! Pretty rock'n'roll, but not very economical.
Impedance - if the impedance (measured in Ohms) of the cab is lower than your amplifier's minimum impedance (look on the back near the speaker output), you could do your amp some serious damage.
Finally, Castors - any pro musician will tell you, especially for bigger cabs, that those little wheels are invaluable.