Customer Comments: Wave Cabinets
“Every now and then you plug into something
and wonder how you ever got by without it...
That's the case with the Port City Wave cabinets."
Greg Howe
Got the cab today. Thanks so much for your advice on the speaker. This cab blows away any other cabinet I have ever had. Somehow it sounds HUGE but very balanced. There doesn't seem to be an overly dominant frequency. This is the first 1x12 cab I have ever played that actually lives up to the hype of having the fullness of a 2x12 or 4x12!
Quentin Colgrove
I have recently purchased the OS 1x12 wave cabinet and regular sized 2x12 wave cabinet. Mine have celestion g12-65 speakers. These are the finest sounding cabs I have heard or owned...bar none. Customer service was really great and my orders got to me incredibly fast. I have enjoyed the cabs a lot and it was very nice meeting you recently...I am afraid you have not heard the last from me...I will keep in touch! Thanks, most sincerely,
Geoff Guthrie
They are the best 2x12’s I have ever heard the oversize 2x12 sounds better then my 4x12 hard to explain but its great.
Dave Freidman
Just wanted to let you know I received the speaker cab today. I loaded it with 2x Celestion G12-80 Superleads. It sounds excellent. I actually ordered a set of Weber beam blockers the other day but I don't think I will be installing them. Your cab really spreads the sound around the room. I don't have the usual "loud spots" and "dead zones" that I experienced with my other cabs. I also believe my amps equalization controls are much more versatile now. I will be ordering another cab in the not to distant future.
Thanks,
Terry
Your cab is a work of art and its sound is exactly what I've been searching for, for many years. The ports you designed add an extra low end tightness to the cab especially with a tighter speaker/EVL it’s a powerful combination. Add an old Les Paul to that equation and its buttery fat and creamy!!!
Jimmy Dormire
You're a f'ing genius as all I have to say. The 4x12 OS is just so amazingly well-defined and spacious, I am deeply inspired to play so much stuff through it. I normally have it cloistered way in an iso room in my studio, but I just spent a very wonderful hour with it here in the control room getting re-acquainted :) I particularly love how even it is from fast moving, muscular low Morse type of single line stuff and then, the definition and clarity just follows it all the way up to very high notes. I hear the highs of the low notes and the lows in the highs so naturally, it's very inspiring. It's no longer a case of scrambling to find the one magic combination for a tune that will work; it makes just about everything sound good. I know this seems like a bunch of hyperbole, but I am really trippin’ this thing. Best speaker investment I have ever made.
John C. (Hectic Watermelon)
Daniel,
You asked me to let you know when the cabinet arrived and I can't resist telling you about my experience with it. First, I need to tell you about my rig and the previous cabinet. I play through a Hughes and Kettner Switchblade and I was using a Carvin Legacy 2x12 cabinet with one V30 and a G12T75 speaker combination. The sound was always acceptable to me, but there was always something missing. As you know it is difficult to find the right adjectives to describe guitar tone. I would have to say that the previous sound was boxy, harsh, edgy, cold, and metallic. As soon as I played the first chord with the Port City cabinet, my eyes opened so wide, and I instantly knew that all of my research had paid off. I now have such an open sound. The spectrum of sound has grown so much. My first element of proof was that I immediately reached for the tone control on my Stratocaster and turned it all the way up! From my cleanest/chorusy settings to the "Ultra" channel on the Switchblade, everything is so full now. The "Ultra" channel on the Switchblade is a very scooped mid sound that requires a nice tight bass to get the point across. Port City was able to bring that home with flying colors. I was going to buy a new amplifier to solve my problems, but instead of spending $2500 dollars, I was able to solve my problem with $49 dollars. In this economy, being an intelligent consumer has never been more important. Daniel, you have truly created a 2x12 cabinet that gets the job done.
There are lots of great 2x12 cabs out there, but my favorite out of the ones I've owned/tried is the standard sized Port City Wave 2x12. I sometimes play clubs where the drummer and bass player need to setup behind the guitar amps and they were forever bitchin' about the noise coming out of the open-back cabs. The PC solved that problem and allowed me to keep the open, airy sound of my open-backed cabs, but with an even more balanced and powerful sound out front. Another unexpected benefit was consistent tone from venue to venue because the proximity of the back wall was no longer a variable affecting tone.
Dave C
“I've sold off 80% of my gear this year and it has been rather painful, so I decided to allow myself one treat. I bought a Port City Wave OS 1x12 and installed an original G12-65 in it. This thing has solved all of my problems. The 4x12 I was using was just too overpowering for playing at home and it was a PITA to haul around. I only have one amp left, a 4xEL84 Fiscus and it sounds way better through this cab than it did with either a 4x12 or a 2x12 semi-open back loaded with Greenbacks. I'm getting a nice big sound with good focus and projection. The overall balance is just right, the bottom is tight and the highs sing out. I haven't tried it at high volumes yet, but I suspect it will do great. This baby has brought it all together for me.”
Today my new 1x12 OS port city cab arrived. What can I say? I thought I bought a good cab for my Badger, but I didn't. This cab must be the best 1x12 I have ever heard. It's such a huge and natural sound and a very nice tight bottom end. I just tested it for a very short period at home at 'small bar volume' and in short.....it's incredible ;o) I just can't believe all that sound comes from a 1x12 cab. To be honest I was a little skeptic as I thought your design seemed a bit to 'easy', but others told me that it was a great cab. I took the chance and ordered one. I don't know how you managed to make a cab sound this good, but in my book, you sure deserve a lot of success.
Jack
There really is night and day difference in the Wave compared to the EC. (Ear Candy) I don't have that much experience with other 112 cabs with the exception of the Bogner Cube, and I like the EC better than the Cube….. but your Wave cab is bad a**. It really is! I am chomping at the bit for a 212 or another 112…it's gotta make an already great sound, sound even better. Thanks for a superb product.
Cam
I got a new cab recently. It's a 2x12 from a new company called Port City Amps. You can read about the cab on their site but I'll give you a brief description and my impressions of it and why I now own one.
Ever seen pictures of engineers mic'ing both the front and back of a classic open-back combo in the studio? There's a reason for that. Sound DOES come out of the back of your speakers and a good percent of that sound is desirable and usable. Port City designed a way to keep the tight punch of closed-back cab while delivering those rear-speaker, open-cab additional sounds to the front. I had to try this for myself.
I A/B'd the PC 2x12 with my good ole Mesa 2x12. Right off the bat you can hear more low end. Chords are punchy and very full. I thought the Mesa 2x12s had a lot of nice bass response, but after I switched back to the Mesa, it was easy to tell what was missing.
However, the PC cab really shined when it came to playing solo notes. The broader frequency range adds a nice "beef" to the single notes that make them sing a bit more and sound nice and big and full. The high end of the cab is very round and warm, much like the Mesa, but the boosted frequencies in the other areas of the spectrum are very apparent.
I really enjoyed playing this cab. I plan on using it on future recordings. The best way I can describe it is by saying it's "HD" (hi-def) compared to the Mesa. Mesa's are great cabs but if you're looking for something that not only looks original but also has a vibrant sonic spectrum, check these out.
Dave Weiner (Solo artist/ Steve Vai band)
The 2x12 sounds like a 4x12, but even across the frequencies. Tons of bottom and no spikes in the high end that you usually hear from vintage 30's.
Dave P.
To be honest I don't get too excited about gear anymore…..But I will say this: I am loving this cab! It's amazing how unbelievably good it sounds, at any volume. While I like each of my cabs for certain amps or styles, this is my new go-to cab. There is really something special about the design. It has great clarity at high-gain, and it kicks for a 1x12. It really does rival a 2x12 for big-ness. I have never heard a cab project the sound like the Port City cabs do and I happen to own 2 ported cabs. The sound that came out of the cabs were truly stunning. The really amazing thing is that the sound coming from the amp felt as if it was 2 inches away from my face and I had to be at least 10 ft from the amp. It was truly uncanny!! I tried both the regular and oversized cab and they are both amazing and each have there own thing going on but they both project the sound like a beast!!
I cannot say enough great things about Daniel and his work. He treated me and my friends like gold and that goes a long way with me! I would highly recommend anyone to check out his stuff if they can!!
Ralph
I'm not a gearhead at all, so when I try something and like it, you're going to get a gear review from that perspective. So keep that in mind since you won't see any big technical descriptions here.
Daniel from Port City Amps was nice enough to come by the RMA last week and show me a couple of his 2x12 Wave cabs. I've got to say, these cabinets are most impressive. The punch and full body sound they deliver is nice. As he mentioned to me, they aren't really designed to cut or boost certain frequencies. To me, it just sounds like a very natural representation of your amp's tones. I tried my Suhr and my Vigier (dropped to C) with them and they really delivered tight and focused sound. The oversized 2x12 sounded MASSIVE with the Vigier.
Later, I took the oversized 2x12 home and A/B'd it against my Mesa 4x12. This is where I think I was most convinced. The Wave cabinet just sounded fuller and had more depth. I went back and forth and tried several guitars with the same result. This thing just punches you in the gut, in a good way.
He's really on to something, I think. You can read on his site about the 45 degree sound deflectors that move the sound inside the cab on out the front and you can indeed hear the difference. I think it does allow the speaker to move better and have a better response.
Of course, folks love different cabs for various reasons, but since I really thought these were excellent sounding, I wanted to share my experience.
Paul Warren (President - Raleigh Music Academy)
(The next day Paul emailed me......)
Just came back from my first rehearsal using the cabs. This is the best tone I've ever achieved. Man, good tone makes for a much more productive rehearsal. You just get into it more.
Paul
“I really dig my 2x12 OS. Ive tried it with lots of speaker pairs and it has a transparent quality that is crazy cool. And agreed....... loud is not an issue, dropped tunings is also not an issue, switching speakers is not an issue, and it looks cool too. Props to Daniel indeed.”
I have a 1x12 OS with G12H30 and another on the way. Super cool cab... huge and transparent sound, great low end....which is still tight. What can I say...... the best 1x12 I have heard.
Jack
You can't go wrong with the Port City 2x12 Wave Cab. They sound pretty huge with Vintage 30's. About the only cab I have heard that all the freq sound even, no spikey highs that the 30's normally have. The bottom end is like a 4x12.
Dave Phillips
Greetings Daniel, you have some of the best amps and cabs I've heard in a long time, great design and innovation.
Ede Wright
“The cab is a beast on it's own. It's super lightweight and beautifully constructed. I can't really even describe the tone coming from this guy -- so full and powerful. Stealing a sentiment from my friend, it's got that "4x12 midrange growl"; It's a big cab sound in a much smaller package. Combined with the speaker, it's got great separation and clarity which was an unexpected surprise for me.”
“I own 3 of the 1x12 Port City Wave cabs... great, great, great !!
Did I say they are great?”
“Tight, focused, great definition and bottom end.”
“I own a Port City 1x12 and just ordered a OS1x12 cabinet. They are certainly a great sounding cabinet. They sound very full, big, right amount of highs and lows. Just order one, you will not be disappointed. Daniel is a CLASS ACT, and has amazing customer service give him a call.”
“Build quality and value: You will be hard pressed to find a better built and better sounding, and better priced cabinet than the Port City. I think you will be happy with them.”
“The Port City Wave is a unique design and it really works, best sounding cab I've ever owned. I wasn't sure if I cared for the looks of it until I saw it in person. It is a gorgeous cabinet. Build quality, fit / finish and sound are all top notch.”
“The Wave OS 1x12 has solved all of my problems and made my whole rig come together. I'm loving it!”
“I own an OS 2x12 and just can't get over how good this is. Thinking about getting some OS 1x12's for a wet/dry rig. I believe the OS 2x12 rivals many of the 4x12's available. Great for all styles of music.”
“I just received my Port City oversize 2x12 cab yesterday. When I first pulled it out of the box I was surprised at how light it was. I grabbed a couple of loose speakers I had laying around (very broken in V30 and an eminence GB) and had them loaded and wired in about ten minutes. I plugged my amp into my current cab which is a Marshall 1936 2x12 with broken in v30's. Played some nice clean chords, then some crunch, then some palm muted high gain. After five minutes I plugged into the PC wave and WOW what a huge difference. Bigger, warmer, smoother and just plain rich sounding. Plugged back into the Marshall and the sound just got smaller and boxy in comparison. The Port City is also very easy to move and just has an expensive look to it. Really a classy piece of gear. The other 2x12's that I have owned are Bogner OS, Avatar special and vintage oversize. The Port City really met my expectations.”
“I own both the 2x12 cabs. I got a standard 2x12 and just got a OS 2x12 at Tone Merchants. The standard has some vintage G1265's and sounds absolutely phenomenal. The OS 2x12 has Cannabis rex's and also sounds phenomenal. Daniel has really done a great job with the OS. I was afraid it would be a boomy, mushy cab like most of the other OS' I've tried. The OS is perfect. It is even and large sounding without losing the definition of tone to use it live. For now, I will use the standard with my Fuchs TDS100 and the OS with my Red Iron T-Rex and Mesa MKIII green stripe. great job Daniel. Now I have to save my pennies again to get one more....”
“Port City has more bottom end, thicker and richer tone to my ears. These are great cabinets!”
I just took ownership of a 1x12 G12-65 Celestion in an Port City Over Size (OS). It is superb. I run my Mesa Lone Star Special and my Fender 4x10 Deville (modded by Jim Price at omega amps) through it. The sounds, the tone, and the magic I have looked for over many years in now in my project studio. You cannot go wrong with a Port City cabinet and speaker. It is a compliment to all of your equipment. Do it!
Dr. Steven Gurgevich
“I use a Port City OS 1x12 cab loaded w/g12-65 and I am still amazed how big and fat it sounds with my Suhr Badger. The port at the bottom of the cab pushes so much more bass out than that of a regular closed back cab and as far as weight is concerned the OS cab is so much easier to carry than the combo I used to use. Daniel is right with the cab on the floor - you will have no problem using it for monitoring.”
“I been playing my OD2-100 through Port City cabs - I recently picked up a 1x12 and a 2x12, both over sized and both loaded with EV12Ls. I'm totally sold on them - couldn't be happier. The Port City cabs are closed back and ported (with well thought out interior baffles) I've always used open-back cabs, but the Port City design really caught my attention. The amount of bottom end the 1x12 delivers is unbelievable. The CA has tons of bottom end and the PC can really take advantage of it, while still managing great clarity in the high frequencies. It's also less than an inch wider than the head (it's a wide 1x12), so the head and cab fit physically well and look great together. The 2x12 sounds WAY big - no surprise - it's a big 2x12, and with the 2 EVs is a bit of work to tote. I should say, though, that the PC cabs are pretty light for their size. Of course when you load them with EVs... Of the 2, I prefer the sound of the PC 2x12, but the PC 1x12 oversized is works incredibly well with the CA (and every other amp I've run through it), and while I'll always like the sound of open back cabs (and have many), I'll grab the PC 1x12 every time for the smaller CA rig.”
“Love this cab! Got it about a month ago and have been breaking it in at the house, looking for a good opportunity to use it on an appropriate gig. Got an invite Thursday to sit in with a friend's band last night. Ended up taking the PC 2X10, a Pure 64 head, minimal pedals, and a Grosh BTC. Many compliments on tone from the rest of the band and the crowd. Tight bass, sparkly highs (no ice pick), very balanced. This morning I tried it with an amp I thought I was going to sell (Two-Rock CR Artist) and it sounded GREAT - the Port City really brought something out of that amp that seemed to be lacking with my other favorite cabs. Guess I'm keeping the TR after all. Great construction and look too, plus I can mix and match if I want with the "flex mount" (baffle converter) system - put a 12" in for a 10" and a 12" in the same cab - cool!”
”My goal has been to find the open, airy sound and speaker smoothing effects of a semi-open-back cab, like my old Jenkins Highway 61, but with all the all sound coming out of the front.
Well, after trying both the Scholz Sugarcones and Celestion Heritage G12-65s in both cabs, the clear winner, without hesitation, is the Port City Wave. It made both speakers sound absolutely wonderful. The sound is huge, warm, clear, 3-D and very resonant. Dispersion is wide. Under all kinds of volume and distortion settings on the TDS, this cab (with both speakers) maintained a silky smooth tone. This is exactly the effect I was looking for!
The Buzzbomb, by contrast, sounded constricted, a little boxy and kinda' small next to the Port City. It was very focused and while walking around in front of both cabs, as far out as 15-20 feet, there was much more off-axis volume drop off on the Buzzbomb compared to the Port City.”
The sound and build quality are superb. I am very happy with my purchase and would do so again should I need a 2x12 or larger cab. Thanks for the excellent product and customer service.
Mike B.
