But over lunch I decided to see how the 1503's worked as bass guitar cabs. Using the Carvin 1503's as bass cabs is a fad that struck talkbass.com. I say fad because it seems to have passed from the majority of people talking about it to just a here-and-there conversation.
But they are surprisingly good for the task. Fairly flat and cut really good, but almost a little too high heavy. If you like the sound a horn brings to your bass tone, *cough* Paul *cough*, you might want to try a set of these out.
Sound wonderful with overdrive and distortion. Really clear and punchy still.
I wouldn't consider them the perfect cab, but I can sum them up pretty good with a one liner: "Jack of all trades, master of none." Except! If you have a good amp that you're really happy with the DI tone, these cabs will do it justice. Same goes with one of the POD amp/cab simulator, I think these would sound amazing with a good power amp and a Bass POD xt Live... Kinda makes me wish I hadn't sold mine...
Built like a tank, seem to tolerate 1200watts of slap/pop each without any sort of sign that I should have backed off. have not tried the bi-amp thing at all but in this duty I don't think you're going to see too much benefit.
I probably won't gig on these as bass cabs so I won't be able to take this post there. But I can say they would physically hold up to the bar band lifestyle and you could get away easily with just 1. So if you wanted a one trip in/out solution, a 1503, a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0, and a backpack type bass case and you're set for under a grand. (if you already have a bass that is). You could pretty much walk into any genre and sound good.
