gilmour

one of my students has one, it's good, and built like a tank

[quote name='eude' post='137962' date='Feb 11 2008, 09:04 AM']Nice work [b]Gilmour[/b]! That looks amazing! I've been GASing for an [url="http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/Omni12.html"]Omni 12 Tall Boy[/url] for a while, and you're really not helping... Glad it came together so well though, credit to your craftsmanship.[/quote] Thanks Eude, have to give Larry some credit to, he took a fraction of the time that I would have done to do the electrics. You should go for it, I've really enjoyed the process (and have already purchased the parts for and omni 10.5). I was tempted by the O12 as it would be more portable, but I'm gald I went with the O15 the bass tone to this thing is really sweet and deep

[quote name='Gwilym' post='137852' date='Feb 10 2008, 10:35 PM']hi Gilmour - that's looking great - contgrats! How easy is it to move around, lift into the car etc? Do you know how much it weighs?[/quote] Hi, it is pretty big, so it's not like the O10.5 that is really transportable. It's about the same size as a 6x10 maybe slightly smaller, or one of those SWR 8x8 and massivley lighter than either of those. It's not to difficult to move around, it's is narrower than most commercial cabs so really is saving my knuckles going though doors etc. As I said above it's probably lighter than my peavey, and considerably lighter than my trace elliot 4x10. I don't have any scales sorry. That said I certainly don't struggle to lift it, and think i'll be able to cope quite comfortably withou adding any castors too it. I may put a third handle on to it if I carry on loading it into the car as I have above, just to make lifintg it in and out a little easier, but if I was folding down the seats I wouldn't even be considering it. (I might have benefitted from mounting my handles 5 or 6 " lower) Weight is saved by using a neo woofer, which weighs next to nothing, and 1/2" ply wood that is then cleverly braced (rather than 3/4" MDF used in most commercial cabs). It's certainly a lot lighter than comparable FUll range PA cabs too.

Yamaha TRB 5, Eden WT 405, BFM Omni 15 Finished, full range cab, crystal clear amp, clarity personified..... My full review is at the end of my build thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11971"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11971[/url]

Whilst waiting for the PXB lamp to arrive I removed all of the speakers and added a grill at the end of the horn (basically where bill suggests pet screen) Looks like this... midrange ...and this... woofer Once the PXB lamp arrived I gave my mums fella (Larry) a call to ask if he'd mind helping me, he said sure. Larry is a bit of an electronics wizard, when I arrived at his he was in the middle of building his own flight simulator, mum now has no spare room! Whilst laying out the parts we realised, genius that I am, that I had some how ballsed up my order for crossover components and was missing a coil and capacitor. A quick call to John at Audio Components and all was sorted, he had the bits in stock and I went over there to collect them, also got to listen to his amazing hi fi again, mine sounds rubbish again now When I got back from Johns (about an hour later) Larry had nearly built the entitre crossover (without taking any pics, sry) He'd also mounted them on a board attached to the rear bracing, he's mounted the board in such a way that it can be removed for maintainance and adding components (an LPad if I decide it's needed) It looks like this... exciting eh? I stuck my hand in the cab and tried to take a pic of the crossover components, but it didn't come out so well... this is just part of it but you can see the long awaited PXB lamp though - isn't it a beauty? In Bills plans he says to mount the coils quite far from each other, however Larry had done all this whilst I was out and ensures me that provided the magnetic fields are in different dirrections it will be fine. I'm sure he's right he does electronics like this with his eyes closed. Screwed the back in, couldn't get the screw cups in black (and was in no mood to spray paint them), but they look knda cool in zinc FINISHED Transporting the kit back to min I realised one of the things that I like the best about the cab... look at that fits perfectly in me boot. This is the forst gig sized cab I have ever owned that I don;t need to fold the seats down for! [b] So how does it sound?[/b] most people here usually say loud, and yes it is noticeably louder than either my 1x15 or 4 x10, but that wasn't my overall impression, in one word I'd say ... [b]PUNCHY [/b].... and not like many 4x10's with that kind of grunty sound but a much more clear and defined note that still doesn't distort. I've always used solid states and relied on cabs to give me that little bit of grunt, however since I've been playing this I've had the 'warm' button (basically a valve emulator) on my am permanently on. My signal is now so clear, such an accurate representation of my bass The sound is really clear, all of my little mistakes it picks up - for example resting my thumb on the B string you can hear when I knock the string against the pickup. The sound is really really HiFi and does come through as Bass, Middle, and Treble. When I turned up or down one of the controls on my bass the corresponding speaker got noticeably louder or quieter! I know it's designed to do this but it still blows me away, and spent ages with a stupid grin on my face doing exactly this. The top end is crystal clear, and I did find myself backing off the treble a lot more than I normally would (perhaps I won't have to change strings so often now ) When you slap at volume my biggest piece of advice would be - don't sit dirrectly in fron the amp, the top end is truly eye popping As I said above the midrange is really punchy, I'm amazed at the volue and clarity that single 8" speaker gives out. The low end is (without any doubt) my favourie part of the cab, it is subby, yet crysal clear, deep bass that doesn't boom. When I was playing around with this Sally made me come and turn down as the shower was rattling. You do need the 8" alongside the woofer, as it really is kicking out sub and deep bass, but sounds beatiful. Over all I'm well pleased, I haven't decided wether or not to add the LPad, I think I probably won;t bother as you can control the volume of it by backing of the treble, and it's not an unpleasant Quacky treble like on so many cabs with tweeters. There is a little bit of hiss that comes out of the tweeter, It's only really audible when you are up close to it and directly in fornt of it, the minute you move to the side it dissapears. I don't know what causes this, but I'm not overly worried. The other downside is that it is pretty big, and as you can see from the pic above I can't put castors on it or I'd have to fold a seat down in my car. That said it is considerably lighter than my Trace 4x10 and a comparable weight (maybe slightly lighter) than my Peavey 1x15. I can definatley live with the size I've not gigged this weekend, so will try it in anger at Band Practice on Wednesday. My band is an 11 piece with drums, bass, guitar, keys, horns, 2 vocals, so hearing and cutting though can be a problem, we'll see...

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='136629' date='Feb 8 2008, 03:29 PM']Aaaargh!!! must resist... must resist... saying how awful that is... IMHO of course [/quote] I musn't, I couldn't listen to that, where's the groove and feel in that music, does he even realise he's playing a bass?

Isn;t there an option in Media Player to save as MP3 rather than WMA? I thought there was?

I always detune my bas a couple of steps, not completeley slackened though (as this can result in the truss pulling the neck in a backbow) however if you don;t your strings can snap. I agree with all the advice about packing it well and tightly, but also stick in a couple of sachets of Silica Gel, the stuff that comes with most electrical appliances, i f you ask in a music/electrical shop they are bound to have some lying around. This absorbs moisture which can result form all the atmospheric changes etc, basically stops your bass getting damp

I'm not quite sure what you are getting at here, I'm not sure if it's even possible to run two channels into one cab, but surely tw 4 ohm channels would take it down to 2ohms, rather than up to 8?

When I've gigged with both I've used my Trace Elliot, I haven't gigged with both since I've had the Eden. And It's sounded fine. Generally I have my EQ set pretty flat using the onboard pre for tone shaping (on electric) Most of the stuff is on electric and when I siwtch to Upright I use a cheap Behringer Graphic EQ pedal for tone shaping and to cut frequencies most likely to feedback, sounds absolutely fine. It's not the most sturdy pedal but I'm not stomping on it mid song, it's either on or off. The best soloution I've seen for gigging both is a pedal called the Radial Bassbone, but they are pretty expensive. It bassically has two channels in, that IIRC have seperate EQ's it also acts as a DI box, really nice bit of kit, but I don't perform often enough with more than one instrument to warant it.

[quote name='walbassist' post='136657' date='Feb 8 2008, 03:56 PM']Don't forget Elrick. I had two of his basses and they were lovely... [/quote] I really like that, but can;t find it on their website ?

The magnets on the back of the speakers are a massive part of the weight of the cab, but so is the wood used. I think those peavey cabs use 3/4" Chipboard or MDF. I don't know about replacing the spekaer, I guess it would be ok, provided the inernal capacity of the cab is big enough to cope with the new speaker. I'm sure AlexClabber will be along in no time to provide a proper answer !

Finished sounds awesome will find time for a proper update when I've finished waking the neighbours!

ask John at audio components, he'll source you anything www.audio-components.co.uk

[quote name='neptunehealer' post='135154' date='Feb 6 2008, 04:57 PM']Done that to be fair, the strings sound bright for a few days but as i gig nearly every weekend the brightness soon goes. That in my opinion is an expensive way to have a bright sound for one gig only.[/quote] Yes I know what you mean, If you are giggin a lot you do need to change your strings a lot. I tend to change my strings once a fortnight (which will be 3 or 4 gigs), there's not really a way around it. Luckily my Bass has quite an effective preamp onboard so I can boost the treble for a few gigs, but it's not the same. If your strings are dead it will always sound dead, although sometimes that is desirable it doesn't sound like what you are after. If you are gigging that often you deserve a new bass!

Cheapest option is to cahgne your strings, IMO dead strings don;t give nearly the same tonal variance that a newer set will

yeah I've been thinking more and more about grill cloth as a cheap alternative, unfortunatley the retro stuff is quite expensive and that is becoming an issue, I keep buying bits for this build (there were loads of hidden costs in screws, glue etc, and it really adds up) I'm wondering if the grill cloth might look a littl odd with the carpet? most of the cabs I can think of with grill cloth have buffalo skin or tolex coverings? Knowing me I'll wind up doing nothing lol

Thanks Bernmeister. Whilst I've been waiting for the fuse to arrive I've removed all the speakers and added a grill into the back of the horn's for protection, it looks quite smart and should offer all the protection I need. I'm still unsure whether or not to add a large black grill to the front or not, this woul be purely cosmetic now I have the smaller grills in place but it will give it a pro finish, however as AlexClabber pointed out it is exensive, and adds extra weight. hmmm decisions, decisions... I'll try and add some pics of the grills tonight

[quote name='bremen' post='133663' date='Feb 4 2008, 04:07 PM']Cunning, but isn't there a risk that the bass will come out in another universe, thereby ruining your gig *and* the vicarage tea party in said alternative universe?[/quote] hehehe that is a worry, I'll have to do a little more thinking on this...

Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I'm still waiting for my PXB Lamp (tweeter fuse) to arrive. Everything else is done, just need this part, an argument with the soldering Iron, and then screw on the back. THis part is the bit that John had to custom order for me, so can't really rush it along Ho-hum

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='133178' date='Feb 3 2008, 06:36 PM']Hoffman's Iron Law: small, loud, low. Pick any two, you can't have all three. Sticking a 15 into too small a box will only result in loud, not low.[/quote] The more I read up on DIY cabs the more I understand about Hoffman's Iron Law, it's pretty straightforward but still everyone is obssesed with breaking the laws of physics, perhaps the answer is to use some sort of quantum technology in cab designs, bending the space time continum would allow for more low end resonse in a smaller space !!

[quote name='mhuk' post='131336' date='Jan 31 2008, 03:32 PM']A single 10" driver cab omni 10.5 will be [i]very roughly[/i] about £100, 2x10 Omni about £180, although timber will have an impact on this cost.[/quote] I think £100 is underestimating the cost a little, there are probably £20 - £30 worth of sundries to add to this (Screws, glues, bolts, sanding paper, speaker wire, the tweeters, delivery grrrr) not to mention any tools you may need. Don't mean to nit pick but probably worth taking all this stuff into consideration if you're looking for an accurate cost. Based on the above I make it £145, (Paint - £20, Driver - £60, Handle (x2) - £8, Plastic corners (x8) - £4, Plate - £4, Connecors - £4, Ply - £20, Sundries - £25) Still well worth it IMHO

If you are used to 10" and 15" the BFM omni15 is probably closer to what you want than the omni 10 (although less portable) You can see my build thread here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11971"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11971[/url] I haven't finished yet but have paid for all of the parts, I couldn't give an exact price as I ahven't sat down to work it out yet, but it's in the region of £350 there are quite a few hidden costs, the one that kills me is that £30-£40 of that is delivery costs. I do have quite a few bits left over as I tended to buy more than I'd need assuming that I'd muck up at some point (which - touch wood) i haven't. All I'd need to do another cab is the driver, cab corners and a connector. The other big cost is your time, I'm quite lucky because for the last few weeks I've had a lot of time, and have neraly completed my build inside a week, infact it's only waiting for one tiny part that has stopped it being finished (grrr) once that arrives I've probably got an hour or so of soldering to do. I second what Bill says I don't think it's the cheapist option that would be to buy second hand (i'll have a peavey BW for sale soon ) but if the cabs are as good and efficent as everyone suggests then it is definatley value for money. It's also really enjoyable. Rob EDIT: Just made the link work properley