JohnDaBass

Now that is beautiful.

Will the tort make it better for Metal?

Thanks for sharing the sound clips. The Nordstrand was my favourite.

That really appeals to me. Great starting spec and space for a number of permutations of upgrade routes. Warman MM Pup, with a Retrovibe "Stinger" pre, methinks ??

This could be an alternative with a little less fettling 😎

I have used Warman MM pups in a couple of basses and they offer a wide tonal palette. Alnico magnets so offer something warmer but if wired in series offer huge gain. For ceramic magnets I like the Roswell MFR-4(??). If you check my SpectorRay Bitsa 32ins build it's listed there.

Rather than starting a new NAD thread I thought it best to resurrect this fine thread of @discreet. I purchased my MiniMax from a fellow Basschatter for my Basschat Easy Build 10ins speaker cab/combo, which has resulted in a great sounding,13kgs, easy carry, loud combo. I previously used my Fender Rumble 500 head to compare the BCEB 10 to my BF One10 as I was familiar with my tone settings on that amp and I was very pleased with the outcome of my handiwork. The merits of MiniMax have been previously been detailed so I just wished to add my personal comments. The tone control frequency settings offer a huge range of tone shaping variation which allowed me to craft a tone which compared favourably with the Fender + BF One10 and the MiniMax + BFOne10. Many are familiar with the pleasing colour baked into the BF One10 but the Celestion Neo BN-10-300X had a much more cleaner tonal offering. After a number of hours playing with the MiniMax pre I was able to home in on precisely the same tone as the Fender+BFOne10 AND the MiniMax +BFOne10. Gain 9 o’clock Punch IN = +6dB @ 100Hz Bass 2 o’clock Mid Shift IN = 250Hz Mid 2 o’clock Bright IN = +10dB @1K Hz Treble 9 o’clock These settings warmed up the BN-10-300X considerably to deliver the same colour and heft as the BF One10. I noted that others on the thread found that the “Fancy Buttons” did not appeal to them but I have to say that they add a great level of flexibility for tone crafting. The amp is built inline with the Peavey heritage and I suspect it will be reliable as the build quality is first rate. The only downside is the noisy cooling fan. I have tamed the noise slightly by housing it in the combo cab with plenty of side vents in the cab side walls but it is still noticeable at home output levels. I am sure that no one would notice it down the Dog & Duck on a jam night which is what the design brief set out to deliver. If anyone has replaced the cooling fan I would appreciate any guidance on your experiences. I wonder if the new version has had this issued fixed, if so I would be happy to hear from anyone who has recently purchased the new version. All in all these MiniMax amps are really, really good and I would recommend them to anyone seeking a flexible, loud power house for very reasonable money.

Thank you @stevie for taking the time to do the technical comparison. From your explanation the Pulse appears to have a similar character to the Eminence driver in the BF One10 but the BF may have a higher Xmas. IMHO the B10N-300x appears similar to the cleaner BF Super Compact rather than the more coloured BF One10. The extra 100w thermal power gives a decent safety margin when used with the MiniMax delivering 300w of headroom. So I've built a 13kgs, easy carry, 300w combo with sufficient headroom to match any "shed building " drummer who may turn up for a jam down the Dog & Duck. Happy days 😎

I have purchased a handmade SpeakOn to SpeakOn speaker cable and a fabric guitar cable from John, excellent service, fast response and very price competitive for superb quality leads. Thanks John, I really appreciate your work.

So after a few hours of Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, Motown greatest hits and Cream Live I used some rice and the online tone generator to check the frequency of the cab tuning. I was really pleased that it turned out to be between 49.5 and 50.5 Hz so I am happy to call it 50Hz. It’s not that easy to accurately detect when the rice stops vibrating but it’s in the ball park. Setup to A/B the cab with my BF One10, a bit “Heath Robinson” but I wanted to compare what I had built with what I had bought. The BF One10 has only been used at home, and has not been pushed further than home volumes would allow. Fortunately Mrs DaBass went for a walk down the beach so I was able to let rip to hear the difference at some higher volumes. Firstly the BCEasy Build-10 has a much tighter bottom end the BF One10 had a fuller G down to open E. Secondly, the BCEB-10 was definitely louder. While the BCEB-10 was not as “warm” as the BF One10 it did have a greater “attack”. The mids of the BCEB-10 were much more forward, clear and clean. The BF One10 broke up much earlier than the BCEB-10 when I was able to crank up the volume out of the Fender Rumble. All in all I am really, REALLY, pleased with the outcome. It may not be a £400 cab but I tell you what it's a little Monster!!!! We are so blessed here on Basschat to be able to follow @stevie and @Phil Starr excellent technical guidance to enable us to enjoy building something of personal value and achievement. The purchase of the MiniMax has added a combo to the original speaker project and the cab dimensions have allowed for a nifty “cubby” to hold, mains lead, speaker lead, guitar cable and the Zoom B1 Four in the back of the amp compartment. BTW thanks to John @Chienmortbb for the supply of his excellent hand made speaker cable.

I glued the sewer soil pipe to the baffle and then glued in the 100mm X 120mm port from the front to give a nice pro-like finish. So the cab is ready for some warming up playing some gentle music through it and then to check the tuning frequency with the old rice test. Later some A-B comparisons with my BF One10 using my Fender Rumble 500 with its regular settings rather than confuse matters using the MiniMax.

A few hints. For those amongst us who suffer with S.I.A.D.’s (Soldering Iron Anxiety Disorder) Blue Aran offer a fully built SpeakOn connector plate with screw terminals. It’s around £9 where the individual parts cost around £6. If builders wish to achieve a pro look-alike finish, those with S.I.A.D. can practise their soldering iron technique burning holes & scrolls into cheap Wilko roller sleeves. It’s great fun and a lot cheaper than buying the purpose made rollers. The pattern I have used mimics a sort of leather Ostrich Skin finish. I generally apply with a brush and then use the roller to create the texture. I like to use the large dia tall rubber feet on my cabs, mainly to keep the cab way off those wet rainy pavements and those beer wet floors down the Dog & Duck. As many have experienced from feet “popping off” cabs of some repute, it is difficult to achieve a decent means of securing wood screwed feet on light weight, thin wall cabs. So I try to fix the front feet through the base and into the baffle batten meaning at least 30mm of “ meat” to hold the wood screw. To align the rear feet I add a glued off-cut to the inside of the cab to “beef” up the wall thickness to 24mm. I tend to use the “filament” type speaker cabinet wadding which I staple to the internal battens, not forgetting to fit some to the rear of the baffle

Good move from Ampeg, IMHO, I can understand the delay in coming to the market, the transition of any company after an acquisition can be a long slow process. Couple that with the Japanese dedication to product reliability and the desire to ensure that the first product launch from the new owners is a success. So all this takes time. Clearly Ampeg weren't it a position to launch a combo line at the same time as Fender and didn't appear to have the resources to compete. These new Ampeg combos really appeal to me and I hope they are successful as volume sales may bring down the "street price".

Totally agree. One of the best tones I had was in 1968 with my Selmer T'n B 50 through a Selmer 1 x 18 100w Goliath cab with my Gibson EB3. I can achieve a similar tone today with my two BF Super compacts and Mesa Subway D800 in one of my rock bands. Technology has moved on so much since 1968 and agree that tweeters add to the overall harmonic delivery of the bass guitar. The 40 to 2500 Hz frequency response of the BN-10 300X will probably be fine for me knowing that the combo's target use is down the Dog & Duck for causal Open Mic nights. I love the sound of my two DIY Beyma SM 12 Basschat Mk1 cabs in my function bands and the BF One10 that I use at home, the tone I like and enjoy is delivered in differing ways thro differing rigs. As already mentioned I still have the option of adding the tweeter if I discover I am missing something in the sound output of the combo. But Hey-Ho it's a Lockdown project so we're all allowed an ocean of flexibility.

Thank you Phil for your kind words. The MiniMax was the ideal solution, a lot lower cost than the ICE Power modules. It's a bit noisey but I hope I've calmed that down with the slotted sides to the amp cavity. The BN10-300X is a super light Neo speaker with specs close to the Pulse 10 that Stevie selected. I had a spare 100mm dia port but it was only 110mm long and I needed 186mm long so the soil pipe fitted the bill. It's been sanitised and once it's had quick spray no one will know that copious amounts of poo have been thro it. So it will be quite comfortable reproducing my poo bass lines😂😂. I'll update the thread as I progress with the build.

***** Stingy old Skinflint ALERT******** As a Zoom B1 Four Fan boy I thought a small powered cab with the B1 Four would be ideal for the odd pub Jam & Open Mic nights down the Dog & Duck. I have been toying with the idea of building a powered 1X10 for a while, but the cost of Plate amps and ICE Power modules seems very expensive. @Chienmortbb As a @stevie & @Phil Starr follower I have been waiting for the Basschat Easy Build 1 x 10 cab ever since @Stevie teased it last year. My personal bass tone does not demand any top end so I decided to use just the speaker. So I started my Mini Combo. The baffle dimensions were already fixed as I had salvaged a front grill off an old Carlsbro PA cab. So after buying a Peavey MiniMax from here I decided that I would go for an 8Ohm Celestion BN10-300X speaker as the MiniMax output was 300W at 8 Ohm and 500W at 4Ohm. I played with WinISD to get the final dimensions and port length, and since I had a Roqsolid cover I tried to work within the covers dimensions so I did not need to buy a new cover. ( I told you I was Stingy) I used @Phil Starr guidance to construct the cab and a spare length of 100mm sewer pipe for the port. As per the thread I used 12mm for the cab but 18mm for the baffle because it was a bit of a squeeze to get the Speaker & port in the 345mm X 375mm baffle so I wanted to be sure it was rigid enough. The cab ended up being 345 x 375 x 280 internal with a volume of 36.3 Lts, resulting in the port being 186mm long. Here's the progress

Welcome Pete, I am a Fender Rumble 800HD & Rumble 500 head user. I run the heads through one or two Barefaced SC 1x12. I find that this combination provides a wide range of tonal options. The footswitched Drive function is very usable and the 3 character switches offer instant basic pre-selects. There's plenty of comments & opinions on here and other forums that will enlighten you to the Fender's pros & con's.

That's a stunning bass, great job. It's going to sound huuuuuuge.😎

Looking forward to your review.

This makes a lot sense, integrating Line 6's portfolio of technologies into single "standalone " pedal. The Pod Go has been on my radar since it was launched and the integration of wireless is very appealing to me.