Bill Fitzmaurice

As the manual says keep it fully tumed up if you don't hear distortion, turn it down if you do. Don't expect to hear a massive difference in volume. There's surprisingly not that much difference between 20w and 150w; subjectively 150w isn't even twice as loud as 20w, let alone 7.5 times as loud.

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1440755624' post='2853501'] More importantly interested to hear BFM's views on the Bass Array cab - it reminds me a bit of some of his designs [/quote]More than just a bit. All that differs is that they use cone midranges, by necessity, as horn loaded drivers would not fit in front of the woofer with that cab configuration. [quote]Doesn't sticking an array of open-back cone tweeters like that in front of another driver mean that you'll get colossal intermodulation distortion through the tweeters and on the reflected sound from the main driver? [/quote]The mids would have to be sealed back or contained within their own sub-enclosure to function well.

[quote name='kedo' timestamp='1440523054' post='2851571'] Should I consider a third party speaker (power handling should be 400w) and fit it myself [/quote]You should, but to do so you'd need the complete set of T/S specs and SPL chart on the original driver to be sure of a match, and that information is rarely divulged, mainly so that those in your position have no choice on where to get a new driver.

The 5kHz crossover to the tweeter is a bad idea. Twelve inch drivers start beaming around 1.6kHz, so the highest you want to cross over is 2kHz. At the othe end of the spectrum, 50kHz response is useless. Not only can you not hear above 18khz or so, there's nothing to be gained from an electric bass cab that goes above 8kHz except hiss. The vertical alignment of the woofers is the right way to do it, but otherwise I don't see anything to recommend these.

Impedance is not a constant figure, it changes with frequency, ranging on average (with an 8 ohm cab) from 5 to 50 ohms. A sealed cab has a single impedance peak, a ported cab two impedance peaks. By and large tubes prefer lower average impedance loads, which is what sealed generally provides.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1439196444' post='2840613'] Is this the marketing dept. using what they copnsiser a musical adjective? [/quote]Could be. A marketeer with no engineering expertise might think that a resonant cabinet was a good thing. As to whether the cab is resonant or actually inert, as it should be, one can only speculate. The reference to a resonant cabinet isn't the only market speak faux pas.[i] 'Orange signature skid runners to acoustically bond the cabinet to the stage and improve bass response' [/i]describes a phenomena which does not exist.

[quote name='Greg.Bassman' timestamp='1439143518' post='2840376'] Hi Bill. Forgive my ignorance, LPad? [/quote]http://www.bcae1.com/lpad.htm

[quote name='Greg.Bassman' timestamp='1439134047' post='2840278'] Even without a bass plugged in and the tweeter level set to zero, it can be heard. Rolling of the tweeter control off has no effect; [/quote]Assuming it uses a standard LPad that probably indicates that the LPad is bad or that the ground lead that should be connected to the LPad isn't.

[quote name='Thunderpaws' timestamp='1438984528' post='2839285'] Orange say they have a pleasingly reverberating enclosure. Does this make it an inherently poor cab design? [/quote]Any energy expended causing cabinet panels to vibrate is energy that doesn't exit the speaker as useful sound output. Where electronics are concerned Orange seems to have things well sussed, but where speakers are concerned, not so much.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1438288920' post='2833371'] Would you class your simplexx range as a "commercial cab" option? [/quote]No. While they don't have a midrange they do specify the Eminence BGH tweeter, the only bass specific tweeter that I'm aware of. Used with a 4th order high pass it runs to 2kHz, nearly an octave lower than most commercial cab tweeters, eliminating the off-axis response dip which commercial cabs suffer from. It also rolls off lower, at 8kHz, reducing hiss. Crossing at 2kHz also eliminates the typical electric bass woofer break-up mode in the 2.5kHz-3.5kHz region, so overall response is flatter as well.

The only commercial cabs that I'm aware of that have reasonably flat response are Baer and Barefaced. If you want to be able to tell if a cab may have something close to flat response see if it has a midrange driver. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Even if it has a tweeter it won't be flat, there will be a response hole between the woofer and tweeter, if not on axis definitely off-axis. OTOH a tweeter isn't necessary, a good midrange driver goes as high as at least 90% of bass players really need.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1438152174' post='2832015']thought maybe with the Tweeter Box connected I'd get the full 60 watts [/quote]Adding a tweeter will give more output, but only in the highs, where the tweeter operates. As for the effect of going from 45 to 60 watts, it would be inaudible anyway.

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1437667212' post='2828060'] Good point, Bill. Despite the established consensus that one should drive preamps as hard as possible for best signal to noise, I find I get a cleaner sound out of my bass head (EBS 350) by running the output gain high and keeping the preamp gain well down so that the clip light never illuminates. I run my mixing desk channels well below the red, too. I think the advice originates from the time when circuitry was far noisier than it is today - you had to keep the hottest possible signal to mask that noise. As you say, passing an already clipped signal to a hefty power amp is asking to destroy your drive units. [/quote]Actually the advice dates to the early days of pro-sound when 100 watts was a huge amp, and instead of using enough of them to do the job sound providers did clip the power amps, resulting in this from JBL: http://www.jblpro.com/pub/technote/lowpower.pdf

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1437589404' post='2827389'] [url="http://sound.westhost.com/tweeters.htm"]http://sound.westhost.com/tweeters.htm[/url] - why tweeters blow, plus interesting bits on the trend to heavy compression in the recording industry and why using a bigger amp isn't the answer. [/quote]Most of that is correct, but it doesn't really apply to bass amps, and only partly with respect to PA. That's because bass amps and PA systems routinely pass clipped signals, some created in the power amps, but most created much earlier in the signal chain. Those clipped signals result in abnormally high THD, and that does kill tweeters. It's true that a larger power amp usually won't make any difference, because more often than not the clipping takes place in the pre-amp or in the mixing console.

I went from a digital board and separate amps to a powered mixer, this one (RX 1200L), as it does everything I need it to when mixing on stage: http://carvinaudio.com/collections/rx-series-mixers A separate board does offer more utility, but if you don't have a soundman running it you probably won't be able to make full use of it.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1437245646' post='2824674'] Volts are volts, right? [/quote]Right. That doesn't mean that some Class D amps might not be anemic, but don't blame it on being Class D, blame it on poor design by the manufacturer. Powersoft wouldn't be where it is if there was something inherently deficient about Class D.

Go to music stores, try various cabs, buy the one that has the tone you like the best. If you need more volume than one will give, buy two, stack them vertically.

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1436396245' post='2817909'] Looks like he's back in business soon [/quote]Only because Fender sold G-B. He would have signed a non-compete clause that kept him out of the business for at least five years when he sold out to Fender, but as that agreement would have been terminated when Fender sold G-B.

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1436362564' post='2817508'] Well I have learnt something today then As its happens since we bought a better mixer with XLR outputs we use mic leads leads now anyway but with our old mixer with only jack outs w3 used speaker leads! [/quote]They will work, electrons aren't picky, but since speaker cables aren't shielded they're prone to low frequency hum and high frequency noise. It's usually not severe with a low impedance line level signal. Use a speaker cable to connect a high impedance passive pickup bass to your amp and the hum and noise will likely be intolerable. [quote]Thanks for your advice, I'm going to do it anyway. [/quote]Then why did you bother asking the question?

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1436359678' post='2817460'] But then why out of the same mixer you use speaker cables to go into active speakers when its the same principal??? [/quote]You don't.

[quote name='landwomble' timestamp='1436356448' post='2817393'] Don't do it. Fire risk. [/quote]Fire, and a blown amp too. Those are worst case of course, but it can happen. Speaker cables are made to handle high current, instrument cables are not.

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1436100807' post='2814910'] Methinks HJ was being silly [/quote]Could be, but far too many think that there's a difference. Were that not the case the terms 'SS watts' and 'valve watts' wouldn't exist. Not would 'TC watts'.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1436087450' post='2814770'] I would love to have something which sounds at least as good as my 2X12" but is a 'one-hand carry'..[/quote]Simple task, use two tens or one twelve with as much driver displacement as your 2x12. [quote]Maybe I should find a custom cab design company, and send them some sketches? [/quote]It won't come cheap. My fee for a one-off design is $2,000 USD. That's because the average time required to come up with a fully functional design is at least 80 hours. That's not an issue for a company that expects to sell hundreds, if not thousands of cabs. The only way I manage to sell my plans for $15 is that their sales also number in the thousands.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1436002290' post='2814246'] So are these solid state watts or valve watts then? [/quote]Really? James would do a face palm if only he could. A watt is a watt, no matter what the source. The difference between SS and valve is that valve has a natural compression, easing the transition into clipping, making them subjectively able to apparently go louder at the same power level before things sound nasty. Using the right compression alogorithm with SS can duplicate the effect. TC does just that, and in the process they attempted to re-define the watt. That probably sent James into doing cartwheels in his grave.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1436049247' post='2814636'] if it was as simple as working out the calculations for the optimum bass cab, surely there would be only one design which was 'the best'? [/quote]True, which is why it's not that simple. Every speaker is a compromise. Knowing where you can compromise and where you shouldn't is something that one only learns through experience. For every diamond I've designed there were at least four lumps of coal, which like all lumps of coal ended up as ashes.