DGBass

Hoping to use this rig at the weekend. It's the Harry D special named after its only previous owner. Harry bought it as an 1115 combo in 1985 and at some point in the nineties chopped the head off to make it a head and cab. The pre amp is an AH150 GP11 MK V and the amp section is an AH150 4 x mosfet air cooled power section. The cab has its original 38 year old Fane Sovereign 15-250w cast frame driver and even now sounds phenomonal. I recently posted this cab on a thread and tried using port tubes to change the cab tuning but in real world testing it sounded its best with the orignal TE tuning. The whole shee-bang was recovered and refurbished in a fetching alligator tolex from the eighties I'd bought years ago from a disco supplies web shop. It's fairly unique in that its a combo chopped into a cab and head but it sounds awesome and has that TE sound anyone whos ever used old school TE stuff will recognize. 38 years and still going strong. I had to consider if bass-chatters will be posting 38 years and still going strong about their boutique class D heads in years to come? Hmm I would suspect not!🙃

Something that came my way recently as a service and repair was a '71 Marshall Superlead 100w from a local contact who had bought it purely on spec without testing it. This thread has drifted somewhat off the orignal 'DSL" theme as various Marhsalls that are not 'DSL's' have crept in so I thought it worthy of a post. This particular amp hadn't been fired up in earnest for more than twenty years and needed little maintenance to get it working to a giggable standard. The thing that struck me most was the highly useable bass channel on the amp. My USA p-bass plugged straight in with no effects or anything to alter the sound was phenominal sounding. Transported me back to many a gig in the early eighties where all that you heard was a p-bass plugged into a Marhsall super lead or superbass with one of those curly coiled guitar leads that were all the rage at the time. Good times and a sound that is sadly missed these days. it was a wrench giving this back to its owner but i couldn't afford to buy it from him. Pre 72 Marshalls are fetching ludicrous amounts of money these days. This one had late nineties JJ pre-amp valves and the power amp section had mid nineties winged C Svetlana's in the power amp section. All biased perfectly and sounded awesome. Orignal mains and output transformers and old school tag board.

It could be said Marhsall 'offloaded' the Eden brand for whatever business reasons they had. There was an Eden Amps forum which had a dedicated and very knowledgeable following about all things Eden Amps & Cabs. You would have found all you needed to know their if Marshall hadn't switched the forum server off without warning or even a message to the forum users. I was an Eden amp user and forum member for many years and have nothing but praise for their products ( and the old Eden forum). I owned a smaller Terra Nova cab and it was superbly built, and sounded great. I bought it at a time when G4M were ridiculously discounting Eden gear a few years back before the Marhsall offloading incident. My experience was of a well made plywood cab with decent quality driver that sounded great. There are still some ridiculously good bargains for Eden gear. I recently bought a D115 XLT( Eden's top of the range bass cabs) OEM replacement Eden/Eminence driver which is essentaily a custom voiced Eminence Kappa Pro 15 driver for just £30! Terran Nova cabs are midrange and the earlier ones were carpet covered. Later were tolex covered. They were both made offshore and I don't expect there would be much difference apart from the outer covering. The D series cabs are the pro version and priced accordingly. These were most recently made by Marshall in the UK as far as I am aware.

Ahh..missed that post! Thanks for pointing it out, I obviously wasn't the only one who noticed. Thought it curious though that a possibly decades old TE branded valve would show up in an Ashdown EVO 5 demo amp and if that maybe says something about the current standard valves going in production amps.

Spare amp x 1 ( usually a Markbass LMIII - still not used it ) mainly because i've got a thing for using old well used amps these days and its peace of mind more than anything else. Spare instrument lead x 1 Spare speakon to jack lead x 1 Spare power lead x 1 Clip on tuner just incase my polytune fails on the board. Selection of used spare strings Backup clothing eg spare black t-shirt for sweaty gigs. Not needed spare underwear as yet but might consider it if I'm still gigging in the next few years😆. It's an age thing. Towel x 1 Pain killers for the third set of a three hour gig! More than anything its about packing only what I think I'll need these days and keep what I have to carry to a minimum. I used to take a full tookit including soldering iron, spare batteries, fuses, jacks etc but no one especially the band enjoys waiting for the bass player to change a fuse on a dark stage or troubleshoot leads and cables. A quick swap out is my plan these days. Troubleshooting can be done later after the gig.

I noticed this when I was viewing the promo video for Ashdown's ABM EVO V - 750. Had to double take at the part where the insides are revealed to the camera. Begs the questions, does the EVO V sound more like an SMX than and ABM?🤔 And do those lovely people at Ashdown HQ keep a secret backroom stock of tasty NOS Trace Elliot branded valves from the nineties to use with their own personal /demo amplifiers? My EVO IV had a no brand ecc83 in it (which didn't last long!). Wouldn't have minded a wee TE branded one to try in its place🙄. And no I haven't asked them for one - yet!

There's a UK company i've used in the past called Vital-Parts to source replacement blanking plugs for various different Ashdown and TE models. The only thing is the originals do vary slightly depending on the year and model and it can be tricky finding an exact replacement. Ashdown seem to use the bigger plugs these days for approx 16mm hole with overlap and the older smaller ones are mostly between around 14.8 mm to 15.1 mm with an overlap. The size of screwhead on the M6 mounting bolts also makes a difference because earlier combos like yours had large M6 screw heads with narrow wall plugs and later ones had smaller chrome head screws which leave more room for thicker plug fittings. Plug depth varies a lot as well but mostly 1.5mm to 2mm panel depth works. Most of the time its a case of measuring an existing plug and seeing if you can match whats on offer.

I just meant my particular MDF box cab🙂 And I guess you are saying the answer is Yes, it could make a difference to the sound although the yes word isn't specifically mentioned.

I suppose thats also another way to look at it and I would agree there would be inefficiencies in a big box design. The question about whether the inherent sound of such a cab will change by extensive bracing and wadding is still open. Perhaps a little inefficiency is not a bad thing? Tube amps are a case in point. People still rave about their tube amp tone and buy tube amps despite them being highly inefficient. An 18mm MDF cab might not require as much bracing as a similar sized 12mm or 15mm cab but i'm sure it would make it more efficient. With this particular cab, anything added will also increase weight at this point as the basic cab structure is there already there. Testing with and without is likely the only way I'll find out and thats the plan at the moment🙂

I had the same issue occur in my current ABM after only a few rehearhals from new. More of a buzz than a hum but i've owned enough ABM's to know when its a tube issue. Swapped it out with a reasonably good quality 5751 to dampen the gain a little and now very quiet. The tube it came with was all shiny new but no markings on it to say where it came from or who made it.

One thing I've considered is making too many modifications to what is a very old speaker in a box cab. Maybe part of the charm of an early eighties Trace Elliot mdf box is pronounced mid boom or very peaky responses to certain frequencies, if you like a 'pre-shaped' cabinet. I will definetely add some damping with Dacron to the interior panels. Bracing and vanes are a considerarion however its in the back of my mind that by bracing sidewalls and/or baffles and rear panels I may make the box much stiffer and less prone to certain inherent cabinet resonances that you get with big empty boxes. Could these mods change the cabs orignal sound by effectively cancelling out those resonances in the original big box construction? I have no illusions of it ever being a perfect flat response cab but how much of a change in sound could result by making the cab super stiff? Could it be a dramatic or more minimal change?

@Obrienp It was over six years ago that I mailed BF regarding my 1x10 issue (still have the original mail exchange) and I would agree its probably an uncommon occurence. In my case it wasn't the actual fixings that were the problem, it was lack of wood at the rear of the baffle where the nuts had fallen off. Also worth mentioning is that too much torque when tightening can cause the t-nut at the rear to rotate and chew up the timber that its fixed into. It then has little to hold it in place and will eventually loosen off with vibration from use. I never use power tools or power screwdrivers when mounting bolts and t-nuts with speakers because of this. Then again i'm not operating a production line😉 IME its much easier to over torque when working with thinner baffles. Less likely if its 18mm voidless plyboard and M6 fixings. I'd be interested to see how you get on with your plans.🙂

@Phil Starr It's an old school empty rectangular mdf box with no internal bracing and I suppose that was fairly common and typical of mass produced boxes in the early to mid eighties. I recall seeing battens fitted across the large rear panels of some Peavey cabs of this era and guess this might have been to reduce vibration from the biggest panel in a cab. It's not a very deep cab so there isn't huge scope(space) for fitting internal bracing once the large Fane driver is fitted. It's something to think about though and as its stripped down to bare wood at the moment it would be the ideal time to do that. I'll do some actual sound testing ( at rehearshal ) as it is and see how it sounds. If there are any serious cab vibrations that need attention I can consider trying battens 🙂

@Obrienp I Couldn't say, but it was mentioned that this hadn't happened previously. The first 1x10 I had started buzzing within a week of use. The second one after about a month of use. I only contacted BF about the first one and when it happened on the second, I fixed that and both cabs were fine. The bolts were quite small, maybe M4 or M5 and I did refit them with spring washers and new t-nuts before selling the cabs on.

I had the same with a pair of BF 1x10s ( early 100s serial numbers) where t-nuts worked loose from the rear of the baffle causing an audible vibration in the low to low-mid sound range. Luckily the t-nuts stuck to the magnet assembly when they fell off and were easily retrievable. I was able to fix this myself but had to rotate a driver slightly to get fresh baffle as I could see the wood in the original position was splintered away at the rear and there wasn't much for the t-nuts to grab onto. The baffle board wasn't very thick. I did mail BF about it first time it happened but was happy to keep the cab rather than send it back. I was using an ABM 500 with my two 1x10s at the time and they always sounded fairly farty because I was driving them too hard in the low frequency dept and they didn't like that at all.

I've decided to fully refurbish the 'porthole' bass cab I recently mentioned on another thread after finding out from its previous only owner it has had some interesting history. I'm happy about the porthole and port tubing aspect of what I hope to achieve however something thats always made me wonder is why some cab manufacturers use 'wadding' in their cab offerings and some don't. There doesn't seem to be a lot of consistency whether its in ported or sealed cab designs. Is there a specific scenario where 'wadding' is mandatory and is lack of 'wadding' in a cab just a cost cutting exercise? And does lack of wadding really make much difference, especially in ported cab designs? As examples, I once bought a Peavey MKIII bass combo which sounded very damped tone wise. It had a king size duvet shoved in the back and removing it totally changed the amp back to what I'd expect from a vintage Peavey combo. I also bought a TE 1110 ported combo which had about 20kg of four inch thick loft insulation in it. Again it was quite 'damped' sounding and removing the insulation changed the sound back to what I would expect a TE 4x10 to sound like. I've used Dacron in some cab restorations in the past but never more than one inch thick wadding and I have noticed that it sometimes smooths out the bottom end quite nicely but it doesn't always have the same effect with different cab designs eg 2x10s or 2x12's. It seems to affect 1x15s most noticeably or that may just be my hearing. So, is it worth 'wadding' a 3 cu ft 'porthole' 1x15 cab with 1 inch thick wadding and what should that do to the tone if anything?

Thanks @stevie, @Phil Starr and @Bill Fitzmaurice. It's sounds like a Kappalite in a box ( with a port hole) is the real world version of the dream. I have the feeling it wouldn't be a particularly small compact box either to get the best from a Kappalite. As an example, the box 'on the bench' at present that I calculated the tuning for is not much over 3cu ft internal volume and its not exactly small. When I have the time, i'd like to look further into a self build 1x15. For now, i'm going to experiment with some cabinet tuning basics using this project box.🙂

Thanks BFM. The Dayton kit looks very interesting. I've messaged their UK distributor. It's often occured to me that i'd like to get more into speaker box design if only to build the ultimate small compact and lightweight 1x15 cab. Its taken years of playing many different brands of bass cab to realise mostly everything is a compromise of some sort, whether its design, weight, or cost or usually all three. I can understand why the small lightweight cab market has really taken off and why most manufacturers centre their design efforts around 10 inch and 12 inch speakers. A 12 inch driver in particular is the perfect compromise of size and performance while still being able to fit into a relatively small compact box. But I see a trend where two are really needed in real life to feel the bass. So its a great sales opportunity for these manufacturers. Being an avid user of 15 inch cabs, the notion of a lighweight compact high performance 15 inch cab is more difficult. Perhaps thats why certain lightweight cab purveyors have no such 15 cab in their offerings and perhaps its time for a BC MK IV cab, the ultimate 1x15? Or has that been done? Some specs I have in mind - 600 watt, 4 ohm, ported and able to deliver a 35Hz to 5khz range, at least 100db 1w @ 1m sensitivity. No horn or tweeter and weighing 15Kg tops. And it has to fit into a small hatchback/town car. 5 kg for a high performance neo driver, 2kg for hardware and coverings, and 8kg for an enclosure thats strong enough and small enough to to cope with the rated power without vibrating, shaking apart or compromising the drivers performance and design parameters. It also has to retail at no more than £499 😉Some folks might scoff and say 'dream on' and they might be right. It's a nice thought and if something like that could be built, I'm sure the single cab fans who just like to feel the bass and dont really care about portholes would be interested. 🙂

via the wonders of the internet and out of curiosity I did find something that gave an approxiamate calculation for the tuning of this box I have with the 18mm porthole. It worked out at a cabinet tuning of approx 52-53 Hz. Sounds about right for a 15? Interestingly fitting a 3 inch depth port tube same diameter as the hole will re tune the cab to 41hz. I may experiment to see what different this makes real world.

Thanks that does answer the question. Its a 38 year old driver so i'm never going to find specs for it nowadays. I have searched far and wide but wasn't able to find a match. The cab is reasonably large and made from 18mm mdf from what I can see so port depth is 18mm. It's sounds fine although I haven't put any serious power through it yet. I'll assume Trace Elliot knew what they were doing at the time as the cab and speaker came as a package🙂

I've come across cabs over the years which appear vented but have little more than a hole cut in the baffle and no port tube or mechanism behind the hole. Sometimes its rectangular, sometimes tri-angular, but mostly a circle. I have a 1x15 cab 'on the bench' at the moment which has a basic circular hole cut in the corner of the baffle, diameter 4 inches. It's always been that way as the previous owner owned it from new and assumed it was a proper porting/venting design( from 1985 ). My question to the learned speaker cab guru's is does a simple hole in the baffle with no port tube or anything behind it other that air have any real sonic benefit where increasing speaker performance eg low end is concerned? The orignal driver is a vintage version of the modern Fane Sovereign Pro cast frame type with an enormous magnet assembly and what looks like a 3 inch voice coil. Rated 250 watts rms 8 ohms. It appears to be quite efficient but i have no specs for it.

I owned DSL401 combo and it was a guilty pleasure playing bass through it. Lovely bright tone and being all tube had that sparkle thats difficult to really emulate on a sold state amp. EQ was fairly basic but a little graphic boost worked well. The crunch channel was very sweet sounding and the stock speaker was a Marshall Celestion G12-100 so it could take a reasonable amount of bass. Curiously I enjoyed noodling with the reverb on. The verb isn't a common effect used these days on bass. Or is it?

The CL's and Heritage 300w versions do and older 300w tube SVT's do. Its usually tucked in behind the front grille and is pretty noisy if the ones I've used before are anything to go by. Of course you dont hear it once the amp is doing its thing. I'm not sure what the rack SVT's have for cooling, might be a different arrangement.

Person D(G)😉 - I've grown to appreciate each 'decent' amp I have on the amp shelf and to use their on board EQ sections to suit my purpose. Whether thats an AH250 GP11, an ABM, or a GK 700RB. I have a few other 'decent' amps as well and all have strengths EQ wise. Thats my thing though, having a few different amps and to enjoy what they can each do while working out how to get the best from them. My pedal board is now almost empty of bass effects/EQ pedals and I find that very liberating not relying on external boxes to shape a sound. But then I'm always supplying the backline and I can appreciate the need for a pre-amp/DI pedal option for shared bill gigs where I'd have to use what is on stage. In that case a good pre-amp box will carry your unique sound straight to the desk or into the line in/return jack of a donor setup. I don't need a seperate pre-amp box though, just more 'decent' amps!