Bill Fitzmaurice

[quote name='d-basser' post='47955' date='Aug 20 2007, 03:58 PM']think this is the wrong section mate anyhoo I am 5'8''/9'' ish Look for something smallish body (ie not fender) I like Peavey. Shorter scale may also help though I play 34" and 35". Adjust strap/ posture, the positioning could bet he problem rather than the bass. I found raising the bass quite high helped (so when i stood it was the same as sitting) hope this helps, you need to specify the discomfort really[/quote]I'm 6 foot 250 pounds and I prefer a 30" scale. Both Fender and Gibson make some with 30 inch scale boards.

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='46545' date='Aug 16 2007, 01:05 PM']On their own, wattage values are almost meaningless. It depends which speakers the amp is driving. Then there is the question of how efficiently the speakers convert the amp output into sound. This is probably a bit of a neglected area. Most look at the amp first and the speakers second. But, buy some really efficient speakers and you can then afford to look at a less powerful amp. You'll get the same sound power level (SWL) with fewer watts, lighter weight and less cost.[/quote] +1. I personally am now running one channel of a Superfly and find it's more than adequate, but I have high sensitivity speakers. It makes a difference with tubes too, as the natural compression of a tube amp can easily make it sound as loud as an uncompressed signal with 200 watts SS. While I'd not say that 50 watts tube is enough with off the shelf speakers, in the case of high sensitivity speakers it can even be more than enough.

[quote name='stanton119' post='44626' date='Aug 12 2007, 05:25 PM']Even when I used to have bass direct to amp. If I touched the strings and the radiator I would get a small shock as you have described.[/quote] This is where a GFCI outlet protects you. Your strings are grounded, but not perfectly so, as there is resistance in all of that wire that connects your bass to your amp, and then your amp to the outlet, and finally the outlet to the street mains panel. There can be quite a bit of resistance in that wire, while alternate paths to ground, such as heating systems and water pipes, or God forbid standing on damp earth or concrete floors with no shoes on, may have considerably less resistance. Electricity always takes the path of least resistance, and in cases such as described that path is you. GFCI outlets sense when current is flowing through pathways other than those intended and shut it off.

[quote name='stanton119' post='43891' date='Aug 10 2007, 12:50 PM']I think I may have sorted it out: Using a ground loop isolator i tried connecting item by item every configuration possible, measure the PD each time. The best solution I have found is by placing the ground loop isolator between the mixer and the laptop. There was then not shocks between the laptop case and the cable. However, know there are now sparks between the cable for the bass and the laptop case. Would it help to place ground loop isolators between everything?[/quote] Isolators aren't fixing the problem, they're just hiding the symptoms. All of your devices should be grounded together at one single ground point, say a power strip, while any peripherals such as cable or internet connections that are remotely grounded should be transformer isolated.

[quote name='stanton119' post='43506' date='Aug 9 2007, 05:07 PM']What can I do to eliminate this???[/quote] Is your TV also connected to cable? The voltage you're reading indicates more than one ground path is present. Read this: [url="http://www.rane.com/note110.html"]http://www.rane.com/note110.html[/url]

This is required reading for anyone using electric instruments and sound gear: [url="http://www.rane.com/note110.html"]http://www.rane.com/note110.html[/url]

[quote name='stanton119' post='42518' date='Aug 7 2007, 11:16 AM']connected to separate mains supply connected to different mains supply and ethernet[/quote] That's your problem. Don't do that.

[quote name='Kurt' post='42390' date='Aug 7 2007, 06:34 AM']I'm not sure if the whine will be an issue as it doesn't increase as the master volume is increased, although it is annoying at practice volume levels. I'll post back when I get the new one and let y'all know how it pans out.[/quote] Mine has 60 Hz hum in both channels, not loud enough to be a problem and no worse than any other $300 amp, but at the original price it would have been unacceptable. Mine also has whine in one power amp. It is very high frequency, and turning the tweeter off gets rid of it. I suspect owners of cabs without tweeters would never notice it. The source is undoubtably a defect in the low pass filtering on that power amp, and may be a basic design flaw. If all those who do have whining amps have tweeters and all those who's amps don't whine also don't have tweeters it would explain why not everyone has a problem.

[quote name='peted' post='42176' date='Aug 6 2007, 04:08 PM'] Is this what you were talking about BFM? I'm going to make it my mission to make this rig in a store to see what it sounds like.[/quote]That's it as far as the soundfield height is concerned. That doesn't mean you'll necessary care for the tone of any specific pair of 2x10s, but it's on the right track. Find the 2x10s that give you the tone you're after and you're there.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='40640' date='Aug 2 2007, 04:08 PM']Never owned one but I can see the appeal. I would never pay the obscene prices Ampeg charge for what is essentially eight cheap 10" woofers in a simple box. This is near as dammit the speaker they use: [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?id=EMIALPHA10A&product=Eminence_Alpha_10_150W_10!dquote!_Driver&browsemode=category"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?i...semode=category[/url] Keep an eye out for a well used one, or consider building your own - make it from 1/2" ply and make it a 6x10" instead of an 8x10" and you'll save yourself a ton of weight but get the same tone and only fractionally less output. Sealed cabs tend to roll off at a higher frequency - usually around 150Hz and then the response gradually decreases eventually dropping at 12dB/octave lower down. Ported cabs stay flatter lower and then drop at 24dB/octave - but many have a mid-bass hump tuned in around 100Hz to fake sufficient bottom. Alex[/quote] Mostly spot on. While more expensive drivers tend not to work so well in sealed cabs, the Alpha 10 has sealed friendly specs, and typically is pretty flat to 80 Hz; in an SVT the -3dB (half-power) point is 58Hz. The main source of the SVT 'sound' isn't the drivers or the sealed cab, it's the height of the radiating plane. One can get the same effect from a pair of 2x10s stacked vertically, sans cost, hernia and transportation issues.

[quote name='Ba55me15ter' post='37898' date='Jul 27 2007, 12:23 PM']Although don't get too set on the biamping idea. I tried it (with a 'suitable-for biamping' advertised pair of cabs) and didn't like it. Sounds much better full range into both.[/quote] That's usually the case with cabs that are 'suitable for' rather than 'optimized for'. True subs and tops don't work well at all when not crossed over, either passively or electronically.

[quote name='Hamster' post='19589' date='Jun 18 2007, 08:11 AM']I bet you half a mars bar it's a fried output transformer[/quote] On a SS amp?

[quote name='Hamster' post='37369' date='Jul 26 2007, 10:28 AM']Who was it said American's don't have a sense of humour? [/quote] Benny Hill?

[b]Acme's #1 Endorser:[/b]

[quote name='Bigwan' post='36552' date='Jul 24 2007, 03:09 PM']Hi Bill. I was hoping you'd see this post. If I were to build one of your cabs and disregarding size (within reason!) which of your omni series cabs would be the 'flatest'. From a VERY brief look at your website I'd assume it was the omni 15 full range cab - would an 8 ohm Kappa 15LF eminence driver be suitable for this cab? If size were a more pressing concern, would an omni 12 be suitable for what I'm looking for? Cheers Ian[/quote] The O15 is the flattest to the lower reaches, but most will find that the LF extension and power of the O12 most adequate. When it comes to modeling it's the midrange that's critical, and that's where commercial cabs are the most dodgy. The Kappa 15LF is fine for the O15LF. 20" wide versions of both these Omnis will be available soon, so if you fancy a tallboy rather than the present versions wait until you see the TallBoy versions offered.

To get truly flat response a cab must either have a dedicated midrange driver or some very sophisticated engineering, if not both, and you will have a hard time finding either of those qualities in an inexpensive cab. As for size, good bass response at high levels requires a reasonably large cabinet, though not necessarily a heavy one. But again, the engineering required to build a cab that's large, lightweight and still inert won't be found in an inexpensive product.

The LA would be OK if it sold in the $500-$800 range. However, Bose has an advertising budget somewhat larger than the GNP of most countries, and paying that nut has to come from somewhere other than the pockets of the shareholders.

[quote name='paul, the' post='33801' date='Jul 18 2007, 02:07 PM']Any big box makers that aren't crazy expensive?[/quote] I can't say, the last time I bought a cab it was 1965, and to say the least I'm not in the market to buy another within this lifetime. At any rate, the single easiest way to improve on the performance of most cabs would be to simply make them bigger, and in the grand scheme of things it's also the least expensive way to make them better. But the actual cost of making an item is seldom the main determining factor in what it sells for. Perceived value is.

[quote name='Merton' post='30367' date='Jul 11 2007, 12:38 PM']All the Trace cabs are deeper than their combos I'm afraid.[/quote] As they should be. A cabinet's bass response is dictated more than any other factor by its size; the smaller the box, the less bass. The single most overriding reason why the vast majority of commercial cabs have performance well below what can be achieved is that visual esthetics and marketing concerns usually run roughshod over proper engineering. If engineers ruled the roost there would be no such thing as a 4x10 or a combo, as both concepts run totally counter to the notion of getting the best sound possible. In your case a larger box for the 15 and a smaller box for the 2x10 is a much better way to go than the other way around. OTOH, assuming the 2x10s are horizontally mounted to 'look right' you'll still be sacrificing utility for the sake of conventionality.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='33006' date='Jul 17 2007, 08:13 AM']Mike, did this translate to a better (or different) sound out front or just how you heard it on stage? when i first got my 1210 which i know is different to your cab i read that putting it on its side would reduce the low end although it would make hearing myself easier. Just wondering as i have only tried it once and it did seem to loose some low end out front but that could have just been the way I heard it.[/quote]Cab orientation has no effect on the low end. What is affected is midrange, and midrange defines what we hear. When you change the midrange you also change the perception of what is happening in the bass.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='32449' date='Jul 16 2007, 07:11 AM']2 turbo sound bass bins from our PA which weren't needed that day so I hooked up one of those. Got a phenomenal sound!! .[/quote] Of course you did, because they're high quality cabs that cost at least twenty times what the boxes in question here do. I suspect the entire reason for the poster's question is that he's seeking an inexpensive alternative to traditional bass cabs. The short answer: you get what you pay for.

[quote name='therealting' post='32110' date='Jul 15 2007, 12:18 PM']Was wondering whether anyone's tried using speakers like these in their bass rig: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PAIR-New-300-Watt-15-Bass-PA-Disco-Speaker-No-Reserve_W0QQitemZ270144714685QQihZ017QQcategoryZ69967QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PAIR-New-300-Watt-15...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] They're inexpensive, compact and pretty lightweight... I know I'd have to remove the passive low-pass-filter, but otherwise, is there anything to stop me getting a pair of 15" bass bins to use as bass speakers for pub gigs where I don't want to worry too much about beer being spilt over my equipment?[/quote] Cheap junk IMO.

[quote name='The Funk' post='27977' date='Jul 6 2007, 11:35 AM']Who dares me to test this out one day?[/quote] One day is all it would last. One note, even. Studio monitors are about 10dB shy of the sensitivity required for the stage. It would take 2,000 watts into a monitor to match 200 into, say, a 4x10.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='27885' date='Jul 6 2007, 08:02 AM']in this case its a trace 4x10, do you need an exact speaker as a replacement or would any 10inch do. i suppose i could google but what's the average cost a speaker. thanks.[/quote] Replacing a driver is no more difficult than replacing a spark plug. But just as with a sparkplug matching the driver is critical. If any 10 incher would do they'd only make one.

This 2x12 Matamp is what I mean: That's how a 2x12 should be done. The Carlsbro appear to be PA boxes. The Marshalls are guitar cabs, open back, and that's a far better way to do it than a half-stack, but the benefits are lost when you put two side by side. [quote]Are they designed like this for a reason other than making the cab a bit smaller?[/quote]No reason I can think of. If the high end PA industry built cabs based on how they look, rather than how they sound, at least 80% of those on the market today wouldn't exist.