funkydoug

Great post, thanks. In such a case as this, where the dust cap is used intentionally to increase frequency response and dispersion does it still make sense to use a single vertical stack? Or can two columns of speakers (as in a trad 410 or 810) be used? I would think the dust caps perform better if they are vertically aligned but cabs like the PJB ones don’t use the single column approach, and I seem to recall that they do make the point that those aluminium dustcaps are intended to work as you’ve described. I’m not questioning Phil Jones’ design at all, I just don’t understand it … yet!!

While vertically stacked drivers is great advice the other solution is a three way cab with each driver crossed over before it starts to beam (as mentioned above also). It is a good one cab solution. The Fearless cabs and the markbass 123 cab are examples of this approach. Each driver should produce very widely dispersed sound in each frequency band. There’s a Dr Bass 1260 like this on eBay right now (not mine btw).

Are you working from firmware 2 or 2.1 ? I found it didn’t work (in a similar way to your experience) when I had 2.1. It needs 2.0, in my experience.

Just bought a combo from Jamie. Great communication throughout and it was really well packaged for safe journey with a courier. Thanks

I'll add some totally unqualified pub-talk here. Don't base any design decisions on this! My limited experience with cab building leads me to suspect that a cab of this size, with this driver and port will struggle with 200w, in the modelling realm. You'll go over the red Xmax line and the port velocity will be higher than you'd want it to be. That's the bad news, in my unqualified opinion. Two thoughts about why you don't need to worry about it too much though: 1) In real life 200w is more than you'd be likely to feed a small cab (not saying you won't have a 200w+ amp, but it won't be playing 200w constantly) and the good design and components used here mean that it will sound loud and very good none the less, as a compact cab. If you really want a bigger sound there are loads of bigger and two-cab options there, but I'm sure this will be a great design for its intended purpose. 2) Secondly, the modelling realm is not the real world, so although the excursion crosses the red line in the software in the 75hz ish zone, in real life once it does so the relationship between power-in and excursion changes so that it sort of self-limits excursion for several reasons. This means you don't have to worry about it as much as that graph suggests. Also, although you are beyond xmax, you are probably no where near Xlim (the limit) so there isn't much to trouble you there. The extreme excursion you see down at about 30hz is subsonic, and if it were me I'd use a thumpinator or some kind of HPF / EQ to cut that crud out of the signal. Anyway - I'm sure someone will be along shortly to give you a proper answer, these are just based on my own experience and 'learning' from lockdown builds.

Thanks guys

Can anyone recommend someone to work on a bass in NE England? My trusty guy Alan Brason in Tyneside has retired sadly (probably great for him!). I need a new loaded control plate fitted but also a proper neck/fret/action/intonation job. Cheers, Doug

thanks @DiMarco and @Downunderwonder for those replies. Much appreciated.

I've heard that from a few people. How loud do you find them to be? How far can one cab go before you need two? I appreciate that the correct answer to that question starts with 'it depends... ' but if you can shed any light on how they perform in different contexts I'd find it very helpful indeed - and I'm sure others would too Thanks!

yeah, look at an old SMX or Series 6 and then look at the ABM range: Input gain 'visualiser' choice of solid state or tube preamp compressor sophisticated eq big toroidal transformer form factor shape switch weight TE approach to amp making is very much alive and well, they don't even try to pretend otherwise. If you really want the sound and reliability, go ABM ... if you can live without green paint that is!

Yeah the cabs ... look very big and old school. I remember reading on TB somewhere from a Peavey employee that Peavey knew (or at least thought) that no-one would ever pay a premium price for a Peavey cab no matter how amazing it was - the brand is just not seen as a high-end marque. Which is a shame, because they've made enough amps and cabs to know how to make them very well indeed, I'm certainly a fan. From that perspective it makes sense (for them) to use the TE label to access the higher end of the market. They've done small with the ELF cabs. These cabs look like old TE / Peavey cabs from at least a decade ago. I'm sure they will sound excellent - but may be too large and heavy for the tastes of younger players and the backs of older ones.

Perfect fit for a vertical BF210?? Oh man, I almost made it out of the thread GAS-free!

you might be right @Bigwan, although I think Peavey make their own power modules as they do so much in the way of live sound / PA amps - either way I agree that it'll probably be 1200 @ 2ohms.

My money is on 1200 RMS at 2ohms, 600w at 4ohms, 300w at 8ohms. That is more in keeping with Peaveys of old. As for the illuminated dials, I am guessing: gain, treble&bass, switchable shape, drive&blend, chorus and dual band comp. So, very much like the Transit preamp but with less control of the mids. Very excited as a fan of both Peavey and Trace - I'd far rather speculate and second-guess this than the England team selection for the Euros

Yeah, experience has taught me that Laney know how to make a great sounding preamp, and are also good and sneaking valves into tiny spaces (and running them at high voltage) so I wouldn't rule out a real tube being in there or a solid state preamp sounding good. Shame about the name 🤦‍♂️

Well it has passed the female vocal test with flying colours. Played Sade, Stevie Nicks, London Grammar and Bjork. All sounds brilliant and far better than my Sony hifi Also pinned the issue down to preamp distortion. Turning the Lpad right down is one way to dirt-proof the box, another is to use the onboard preamp as it was intended ('grind', not wild distortion) and leave any real dirt to pedals with tone dials / cab sims which seems to be a pretty standard approach. I am amazed this doesn't happen more often though, especially on cabs with tweeters crossed over at 3.5khz and lower ... or do all dirt pedals really roll off the highs sufficiently to prevent this? Curious because as we know, Barefaced cabs crossover low, as do Bill's, and both are well regarded and road tested by countless players. Anyway, this is now just a matter of curiosity. The combo works very well for my intended use. It has lovely low end, crisp top end and as a small amp it is very satisfying. The modelling suggests that there are no problems in terms of driver excursion or port chuffing up to 100w which is as much power as it will see with the 16ohm driver and play testing supports that, at least to my ears. It will marry up with an 8ohm cab (2x10) without asking too much of the onboard driver and port, and the tweeter can be turned up in that situation to balance the 3x10s rather than 1x10. And it looks smart! Very happy. Thanks for all your input guys.