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Again, I'm posting stuff as I find it, and thank you all of you who have helped me here. Re the "ski slope" mids on the 3012, apparently that is a deliberate design choice and is quite musical and practical. I read on a thread at The Other Place that the boosting in the high mids is so that you get a better off-axis response. How true that is wasn't confirmed, and as I say, it was on The Other Site.

It's off-topic posts like this that keep me hooked on Basschat. Thanks a lot!

Well for my part I did some digging and found this thread which seems to discuss differences in the 12PR300 and 12PR320. If big names such as Vanderklay and Bergantino are using the 12PR300 then I don't think I'd be disappointed with that, even if the thread seems to lean toward the 12PR320 as more bang for buck. Not sure I'd like to go for a GB Fearless, what with me already parting with money for the plans for the BFM cab, coupled with the fact it uses the Eminence woofer.

The guys at PMT say that the ABM is the go-to amplifier for letting customers test out basses in their stock. If that's true then it's understandable if it's the amp that gets bashed around the most.

I think something has changed recently. I have previously had fantastic comms from them but in the previous two emails I've sent to them I've been ghosted. Customer service is important to me and if it isn't there there's no reason I feel I should pay the premium for a particular brand that's historically been known for it. Such a shame.

I've got the plans for a BFM Jack 12. The plans recommend a premium driver of the Eminence Kappalite 3012HO, but for two reasons I would like to go with Faital: Eminence is American. Nothing against American products, but I would prefer to support European if possible Faital looks to me a smidgen cheaper for similar performance. However there are a number of speakers available. Some are outside the recommended T/S parameters such as the 12FH500, but there are two main ones which fit, the 12PR300 and the 12PR320. Looking at these side-by-side on paper it looks like the 320 has lower extension, and the 300 is more sensitive and perhaps gives a little more in the upper register. I've never done this sort of thing before. So, with that in mind: For those who know more about cabinet building, which would be the more appropriate for the horn loaded cabinet? I'm not an aggressive player and the loudest I expect to get will be for light rock and country. I'll be building the box with tweeters, which are crossed over at 2k. What kind of player would choose the 12PR300 and which kind of person would choose the 12PR320? The 12FH500 fits all parameters except the Qts, where it is too small (.3>.25). What does this mean in real-world terms? How bad would fitting this speaker into a cabinet designed for the larger Qts? Am I nuts for swapping the 3012HO for a Faital 12PR320? I asked on BFM's forum and BFM himself said that the Faital won't be so good in the mids. I personally thought the SPL of the 3012HO looked a bit like a ski slope above 1k which wouldn't be a good thing for a speaker! The good/bad thing about opinions is that everybody has one, so what do other people think about comparing the 3012HO to the 12PR3_0? With my first criterion above (and a slight preference for the second), is there another speaker manufacturer I should be looking at? Beyma? Anything British made? Any help appreciated. Yes this is ultimately for helping me build a BFM cabinet, but a large part is for my general education

Long story short, I have an old style GSS 06B400 amplifier head, one that takes a proprietary adapter when connected to the amplifier: I contacted GSS about buying this cable but unfortunately postage, customs, etc etc made it prohibitively expensive, so in the end I bought myself the end terminal from Amazon and knocked myself up one myself. These little plugs are 5.08mm PCB terminal blocks. I could only buy in packs of 10, so keeping a couple spare in case I break the cable I've just made I have 8 rattling around doing nothing and are free to a good home. If you want to collect from Oxford or want to pay postage for one, some, or many of these please do get in contact. I can help you source these new, but be warned that the clip can come on either side of the mould when you purchase. The ones I have a guaranteed to work in the CH2 slot of an olf 06B400 amplifier.

Think it's the NXTa that has active circuitry. The NXT is passive so will either need a preamp like the excellent Fishman Platinum, or an ultra-high impedance socket on the mixing desk.

Someone at Ashdown said on Facebook that you could indeed choose an original blue faceplate should you wish, so you're in luck!

Personally I wouldn't buy anything musical without playing it first, but I have the luxury of living walking distance from a music shop, and it's a bus ride to London if I feel moved to. Not everyone has that luxury so the shops have to sell the same stuff that my grubby mitts have been all over. 'd like to think I'm a conscientious shopper, but not everyone is so it inevitably gets dinged. Thomann is the new model where the norm is online sales. When you buy from them you're fairly confident that the instrument is still in its wrapping. That kind of shopping is not for me, and when it inevitably becomes the norm I'll be stuck. Places like PMT can't stay in business selling B-stock guitars that people have broken then not bought. Saying that, a missing back plate is a bit much.

Only for heavy metal guitarists.

If it's OP's band then yeah sure do this. If it isn't, then this is a really bad move and I'd be mega miffed to be on the receiving end of this.

Since we're venturing into Spinal Tap territory, "Why not make it go up to 5 or 6"?

This may be true in an abstract sense, but my TV shares a room with my bass amp and my hifi, neither of which exhibit this phenomenon. Now it may be that it just so happens that the TV is situated in a spot such that it causes real-world volume to cap after a certain point on the dial, and this bad luck has followed the TV across house moves, but I ain't buying that. I'm calling marketing shenanigans, particularly when this brand has such a poor reputation already on such matters.

To me it's one of those things where, when asked "what is natural?", the answer would be "I know what it isn't." I own a TV, of a brand that funnily enough has come up in this thread already. I cannot tell the difference in volume once the volume slider passes around 1/3 of the way up. There's nothing natural about that. Whether musical instrument manufacturers do anything quite as egregious as that I cannot say because I've never owned one that does.

Even then it's not simple. Different amps have different scales on their volume. Some are linear in volume (I think EA is a manufacturer that springs to mind), some are more logarithmic. Why does this matter? Well, if you have otherwise identical amps at 50% on their volume dial, then the logarithmic one will sound louder because it's actually at something like 80% of its maximum power. I'd call that a marketing trick for just such a scenario as you describe, but apparently some people like the non-linearity of their volume dials. To each their own I guess.

Don't know if it's been suggested to you before off-list, but bassbags.co.uk do case hire. Don't know anything beyond that I'm afraid. https://www.bassbags.co.uk/double-bass-hard-case-hire-rental/

They're still doing it, with pretty much the same technique. This is from 2022: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/22/06/15/0615211/samsung-caught-cheating-in-tv-benchmarks

I have nothing to share other than anecdotes, but I find that when expensive stuff breaks, it costs the same (or sometimes more) than when the cheap stuff breaks. The difference is that the cost of repair relative to the cost when bought new is significantly lower. As I say, this is anecdotal so perhaps I've been unlucky. Should say now that the standout exception to this for me in the bass world is Acoustic Image. I've had multiple failures out of warranty and they've done good by me at no charge other than the cost of postage to them. Suspect that if and when my head breaks again they'll fix it for a nominal fee, but if it does become unrepairable I would buy an identical replacement (while sobbing into my pillow at night.)

For me one obvious tell, at least in the PA market, is where I can see active PAs with some colossal claim as to what its power rating is, and yet when the same company sells passive units the number is a tiny fraction of it (because they're worried you might *actually* attach it to a powerful amp). While it's possible, it's seriously stretching my disbelief that there isn't some marketing BS going on. By no means are they the only ones, but QSC sell the 2000W K12.2 active top, but their E112 is rated for 400W continuous power. Yes yes they're not the same thing, but to me to be different by a factor of 5 is massaging measurements to the point of dishonesty

It's been in PMT Oxford for over a year (I used to glace at it longingly every time I went it), but I think that a recent nick in the tolex meant that they couldn't sell it as new

PMT said the EVO-IV that I just bought had been there for a while (over a year perhaps?) It may just be that I'm deaf, but I'm certainly pleasantly surprised after hearing all the complaints online about the fan noise.

Aww c'mon, at least pretend I got a good deal! In all seriousness the price of EVOs has gone through the roof recently (£749 at PMT for the ABM 600), so the fact I got it at the same price as last year I regard as a victory. Sounds amazing BTW, definitely no buyer's remorse. Cannot believe how alive it can make such a piddly cabinet.