Mr. Foxen

Live in the House of Bass. Actually, it is fairly competative for space. I've actually secretly got an amp sized cardboard box reserving a space for when I have another amp turn up.

[quote name='BT!' post='1049053' date='Dec 6 2010, 10:00 AM']My band have recently started to use Drop B [B-F#-B-E] so any advice on strings etc would be very much welcomed [/quote] Use bottom 4 of a 5 string set and tune BEAD, makes it a bunch easier to reach the useful notes without going up and down the neck so much.

[quote name='billyapple' post='1056528' date='Dec 12 2010, 08:52 PM']I've been doing a little more research and found Matamp's main amp builders have parted company (Dave Green and John Tilley). Would you still buy a Matamp, are they still the quality/tone that they were?[/quote] Matamp's main man died in the 80s. The designs are still good. Dunno about John, but Dave was a designer rather than a builder, sure he got his hands dirty, but he tended toward the drivey guitar stuff, he works for Hayden/Ashdown now, he was behind the dirty amps for the American market stuff that Jeff dissaproved of as Matt Matthias was a clean amps guy who didn't like distortion, it is easy to make a distorting amp, clean is hard. If you look at Tayste's build thread or other internals one, you can see the build quality is top notch, just from the neatness of the wiring. The people there know what they are doing with amps, the only thing that might of left with those guys is a degree of innovation (Dave Green was behind the turret-track thing, where PCB track on the board with turret mount components to combine best of both worlds). The actual construction is down to the skill and care of the assemblers, and if you don't really care about what you are doing, you probably won't be working for Matamp. If you want a Dave Green designed amp, I have one going, shoot me a PM.

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1056234' date='Dec 12 2010, 05:29 PM']Look at Bill's Jack 10s compared to the same Eminence driver in a ported cab, the mid-range response is massively different - one of the reasons he favours the Eminence drivers as their rising mid-range compensates to an extent for a drop in output from the horn.[/quote] BFM's Jacks are horn loaded in the midrange though, if I'm picturing the right ones, exactly what I was thinking of when I mentioned in my question. Pretty good example of how a cab is acting in different ways at different frequency bands, they are horn loaded in the mids and act as a ported/direct radiator cab lower down as the horn is too short to contribute.

If there is a local signwriters, might be able to score some suitable plastic there, as they stick letters to it for signs.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1056174' date='Dec 12 2010, 04:42 PM']Not sure what you mean! You've asked if it be confirmed/disproved that design of a cab affects the sound but then you've gone on to say that the design generally affects frequencies below 200hz, that the mids may be affected by lining materials and finally "a bass cabinet is down to the box design relating to the speakers"... surely all of those things are exactly what is being discussed or am I misunderstanding something? Aside from what you've confirmed can/does affect the sound coming from a speaker that is housed in an enclosure, all you've got to do is consider what happens if you take the same driver and fit it into a completely different enclosure. Even the materials that the cab is made from affect the sound, added to which if you don't brace a cab effectively that alters the tone; I'd think that design of a cab and its affect on tone would be apparent by comparing a ported and a sealed enclosure.[/quote] I'm talking in frequency bands though. Ported or sealed, I don't think there is much difference below 200hz (unless the sealed is seriously tiny and already rolling off by then). The cab material stuff, with flexing and suchlike is when it is acting as a pressure device, so is losing energy where that matters, which is low, but the stuff above that, aside from the out of phase reflection from a smooth surface, are down to the speakers own properties. This is what I am trying to confirm, with someone who actually knows. Maybe rephrase; 'what about a speaker enclosure affects the frequency response above 200hz, aside from internal reflections that are avoidable through lining?'. I know a the effect of a port is in a band about the tuning frequency of the port (not sure how wide, an octave or two?), and doens't do much outside of that to the sound, but the excursion below that band is increased beause the speaker acts like it is not in an enclosure.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1055898' date='Dec 12 2010, 12:06 PM']Aside from the spec of the actual speakers/drivers you have to factor in the design of the cabinet that they are fitted into.[/quote] Can one of the experts confirm/disprove this?: the effect of the design of the box generally (unles you get horn loaded and suchlike) mostly affects 200hz and below, the mids are affected to an extend by the lining of the box and how reflective it is, but most of the upper stuff is down to the speaker's own properties. Which is why guitar speakers have their own sound since that low stuff isn't very relevant, but a bass cabinet is down to the box design relating to the speakers.

I think custom builder Mo Clifton (I think, Bassbods got a few of his works, might have remembered the name wrong) likes working in cherry, but I think for bodies. Might have remembered all of that wrong though.

"Tonal consistency" is very apparent in some scenarios, mostly guitarists pointing their cab at you some distance away and sitting on their cab so it shreds you with treble they can't hear. Also the old not being able to hear your folded horn cab from right in front whilst people at the back of venue are melted. I've also had mad comb filtering from running an 8x10 either side of the drummer.

[quote name='billyapple' post='1054707' date='Dec 11 2010, 09:35 AM']So would having two 410's (or indeed an 810) on top of each other be like having two vertically stacked 410's next to each other?[/quote] The 8x10s speakers are probably gonna be closer together side to side and therefore better, but not by much. You could angle the two vertical 4x10s inward a bit which helps. Best plan is just using one with better drivers though.

They can colour it if you want them to, or they can be a straight through DI. Main use if you have a handy backup rig to go to PA, and an industry standard feed for the soundman.

The bunch of caps on a rotary switch thing does make some noise when you turn it as the caps discharge, dunno if the inductor ones do that. If you turn it all the way back and forth first, they are all good to go for a fair while after.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='1053976' date='Dec 10 2010, 01:12 PM']Actual fact Oli, the round holes are a giveaway of a Faker bridge - proper Rick ones are more squared-off. I've got a real Rick one on my Matsumoku copy & it's a lot thinner & more scruffily-made than the Jap ones.[/quote] Hmm, so the one I was sold as genuine rick might not be. It has chromed saddles also, and is different to the two faker bridges, same screw hole spacing, but the other two have the squarer holes, smaller damper knobs, very similar skeleton underneath. Could it be a modern one is different? Anyway, the ones I'm making are gonna be far superior to either, except possibly missing the mute bit because the knobs are difficult to do in small batches.

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1053303' date='Dec 9 2010, 08:18 PM']No, no, no, no, no. Did a gig like that, electronic drums to boot. It was a horrible (an horrible?) experience. No idea what the sound was like, no feeling at all, just away in my little world. Its one thing getting things accurate in the studio but this was so sterilised for a live performance that the word 'clinically cold' would be best used to describe it. Another subject, I know. btw, here's a pic of the 18 I'm always looking for opportunities to use:[/quote] That was ironic. Obviously the ideal setup is all of them. At once.

That bridge looks more like a genuine rick one than mine, the angle on the edge and the holes that are round when viewed from above.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1053211' date='Dec 9 2010, 06:59 PM']They didn't apply to vintage cabs either. If they did then all cabs loaded with tens would sound the same, as would all cabs loaded with twelves, fifteens, etc., and we could weed out 98% of the cabs out there as unnecessary duplication.[/quote] Those generalisations don't say that though, they say it changes according to configuration. There is a reason why the generalisations exist, but it is rooted in a point where there were far fewer choices of cab, and most of those choices are forgotten. So when you say 8x10, people are picturing an ampeg. The ideal setup is DI and in ear monitoring.

Not so different to making a car around a logbook and chassis number.

[quote name='algmusic' post='1052882' date='Dec 9 2010, 03:24 PM']I've usually been a 4x10 man, then I went down the 2x10 and 1x15 as an extension cab.. But I'm thinking about getting two 1x12's, as I'm falling for those lovely mids you get in basses.. I'm thinking the Aggies GS112 or DB112 You have to use your ears, everyone wants something different.. the bass, room and amp and if you play with PA all play a lot in this but In general rule in my non geeky knowledge and experience, but only MO 10's - punchy 12's - warmer (nice low mids) 15's big bottom end so 2x10 punchy - good for small gigs 4x10 punchy, but a fuller tone 6x10 punchy and bigger sound 8x10 Standard tour rig - full tone with good punch and big lows 1x12 warm - good for small gigs 2x12 full warm sound 2x10+15 - punchy and bottom end, some say best of both 2x15 - great for reggae - dubby like 4x12 - big rock sound, but maybe a touch wolley, [b]but not with modern cabs[/b] 18's ???? - earthquake[/quote] Really, none of these generalisations apply to modern cabs. But a lot of old cabs are still being made.

Cool, read about this on [url="http://www.chambonino.com/work/miscguitar/misc24a.html"]John's site.[/url] So was the 50 valve watts enough when it was doing that, might be a valuable lesson there for people.

Using a guitar head with a natural low roll off (Marshalls do) is probably enough, but eqing down the lows will help (and also avoid the combing effect). Guita amp into bass cab tends to not sound right as a bunch of the colour of a guitar amp is from the speakers, vintage bass cabs are more guitary, but that is because they use guitar drivers so aren't really tougher. Once you've eqed out the lows a 2x12 is probably going to be enough if you get it high and pointing at you.

[url="http://www.hificopies.com/"]This guy did some for us[/url], and is a good guy.

Gain based stuff is a bit reliant on input/output signal levels and impedance. The FX loop has a tendency to be line (loud) level, and expect that same loudness to be put back in, but gain pedals tend to be more gainy with more going in and output the same signal, so they might all disagree and give you a very distroted, but very quiet signal, plus the impedance mismatch might make it very thin too (but I don't understand how that works).