alexclaber

If I was doing a rig from scratch now the LH1000 would definitely be my head of choice. Alex

[quote name='ruztiwarren' post='275976' date='Sep 3 2008, 01:42 AM']Out of curiousness why?[/quote] Overpriced, silly snake oil claims, dubious business practices, and the oversized 1/4" plugs have a horrible habit of breaking jack sockets. Alex

[quote name='tom skool' post='275831' date='Sep 2 2008, 10:02 PM']...i think i need to get the amp looked at as i dont think i should be getting that kind of distortion so early on in the volume stage. (there is only one volume knob )[/quote] Keep in mind that if you have a loud bass and play hard the amp will distort much earlier on the volume control than if you had a quieter bass and a softer touch. Alex

[quote name='Balcro' post='275774' date='Sep 2 2008, 09:00 PM']I made the statement because from endless spec checking over drive unit web-sites like usspeaker/madisound etc., I saw a pattern emerging.[/quote] Aha! Presumably because the 10"s and 12"s you were looking at had a higher Fs and lower Qts than the 15"s because they're less aimed at producing lows, thus higher efficiency. Alex

Mark King. Alex

[quote name='Zerofret' post='275659' date='Sep 2 2008, 05:55 PM']It is definitely advisable to have some headroom on the driver's input power as running it close to the edge all the time with bass is not a good idea. I wasn't suggesting using a driver that would handle two or three times the power either, just a bit of headroom is useful for reliability. Anyway I guess it's not a valid argument anymore because you'd be hard pushed to find a 15" driver rated at 50 watts nowadays!![/quote] Indeed - in this case you'd struggle to find a driver without much greater thermal power handling. However due to the dynamic nature of music even a heavily clipped amp is unlikely to put out more than 1/3 power averaged over time so thermal power handling headroom is not required. Mechanical power handling headroom (excursion ability) is far more useful as that limitation is one which peaks can reach, it doesn't require sustained power to cause problems, but unfortunately no-one quotes figures for this type of power handling. [quote name='Zerofret' post='275659' date='Sep 2 2008, 05:55 PM']I didn't suggest that a ported cab was a compromise between an open backed and a sealed cabinet - I said that a vented cab was a compromise. A vented cab is usually a crude generic design where there is generally less science involved but it generally improves the lower bass response. A ported cab is design critical and driver specific - I thought that I got that across by suggesting sticking to a speaker manufacturers published designs but maybe not because I was probably rambling by then.[/quote] I don't know of a difference between ported and vented, they're synonymous nowadays. I've seen older designs with bizarrely shaped vents and so on I presume they're the generic designs to which you refer. I think most of these designs still work like a ported cab though, with a mass of air (in the vent/port) resonating against an air spring (the air inside the cab) and frequencies above the resonant frequency of that system being kept within the box. Alex

Monster cables. Alex

I'm left eyed... Alex

Lots of good points Zerofret! However... [quote name='Zerofret' post='275502' date='Sep 2 2008, 03:20 PM']But first, two essentials - the speaker impedance must match that of the amplifier and second, the speaker rating must be in excess of the RMS wattage that the amp is putting out.[/quote] The speaker impedance should be greater than a solidstate amp's minimum impedance, it doesn't need to match. With a valve amp the speaker impedance should be similar to the output transformer tap impedance - if there isn't a matching one then you should use the next highest tap. The speaker power rating does NOT need to be in excess of the amp power rating. Also a ported cab is not a compromise between an open-backed and a sealed cab as at all frequencies above the port tuning frequency the air inside the cabinet is effectively sealed from the outside air. Balcro, I'm not sure why you think 15"s are less sensitive than 10" or 12" speakers. If all else is equal then sensitivity (efficiency) is proportional to cone area. It seems to be that using a 50W valve amp for bass is only a wise idea if you like your sound to be dirty and overdriven all the time or you play in a small jazz combo. If not you're so short of headroom that you'll have to cart such a big cab to get loud enough and stay clean. Nice wattage for guitar though, more than enough for anything! Alex

[quote name='The Funk' post='275304' date='Sep 2 2008, 11:28 AM']Can you get commercially available 8x10", 4x12" or 2x15" cabs with an impedence of 8 ohms? If not, the DIY BFM cabs might be the way to go.[/quote] You can rewire most 4 ohm cabs to 16 ohms which would do the job. Alex

Ignore all the posts that mention power ratings on cabs, they are totally irrelevant in this case. Your problem is a lack of amp power causing the amp to fart out, not the cab! The solution to this is a high sensitivity cabinet and the easiest way to get this is lots of speakers in a large box. If you have to use this amp I'd be looking at 8x10", 4x12" or 2x15" cabs to get enough sensitivity. Alternatively a DIY horn loaded box like a DR250 or OmniTop212 could do a good job with less size but you'll have to compromise on bass extension. When people talk about "driving lots of cabs" like the amp is a truck pulling lots of trailers (cabs), they're completely misunderstanding how this all works. A better analogy is that the amp is like a burner and the cabs are like hot air balloons, and then the loudness you need is the weight of the basket and passengers. Add more balloons or bigger balloons and that burner can lift more weight. Alex

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='274820' date='Sep 1 2008, 06:17 PM']Model a typical MI driver in WinISD Alpha Pro using two box sizes, same tuning, then look at the Maximum SPL chart.[/quote] I already have. Increasing the box size gives you a few dB extra in about a 10Hz band around the tuning frequency. However this fails to take into account that the speaker can handle more than the thermal power handling for peaks and also that the ports are rarely large enough to allow full response around the tuning frequency. Alex

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='274679' date='Sep 1 2008, 04:04 PM']-1. Maximum low frequency output is the product of sensitivity x displacement limited power. The larger cab will go louder in the low end, assuming they use the same drivers.[/quote] That doesn't make sense - you are overlooking that as sensitivity goes up displacement limited power handling diminishes proportionally. If you EQ the smaller cab to sound the same as the larger cab then the cone excursion for both speakers is identical and both cabs will run out of Xmax at the same point. If thermal power handling was the limiting factor then the larger cab would have the advantage but for bass guitar use it is almost always the mechanical (excursion) limits of the speaker that restricts max SPL. Alex

[quote name='sixshooter' post='274596' date='Sep 1 2008, 03:07 PM']I thought that one was front ported and the other rear ported, therfore you would get a different sound?[/quote] Port location has no bearing on sound. Also note that although the HF cabs will produce more bottom with equal power they still have the same maximum low frequency output as the HR cabs because the limiting factor is the speaker displacement (excursion x area). So if you have enough power to add some bass boost without your amp clipping then the HR cabs will produce just as much bottom as the HF cabs, they'll just need some EQ to do so. Alex

HF have bigger cabinets so will have a bit more bass. That's it. Alex

[quote name='WILD FROG SHOT' post='274498' date='Sep 1 2008, 01:43 PM']...any chance you always play with a pick?[/quote] Good question but no I don't, quite the opposite in fact. Normal fingerstyle, thumb plucking, slapping, muffling, strumming and so on, all without a pick and changing constantly as the sound requires. My right hand is fast but it doesn't have the grip strength or stretch of my left - I do like quite heavy strings and quite high action though. Alex P.S. I think I'm palm muting and thumb plucking in my avatar pic.

[quote name='Merton' post='274472' date='Sep 1 2008, 01:30 PM']I know someone who is convinced she has seen a left-handed piano. If anyone would care to enlighten me and show the world she was right, feel free.[/quote] I've seen something about a left-handed piano a long time ago, not quite sure what the point was though! I'm right handed and after years of playing bass there is no doubt that my left hand is now stronger and more independant than my right because it does a harder job! Alex

I don't know why left-handed basses and guitars exist. I've never seen a left-handed violin, saxophone, piano, trumpet, etc etc, etc. Alex

[quote name='BassManKev' post='274311' date='Sep 1 2008, 10:49 AM']1x15 cabs/combos when used on their own, meh[/quote] You need to hear a good 15" cab. Maybe the most over-rated bass related product is everyone's opinions... Alex

You haven't mentioned composition at any point - why not focus on that? Alex

Progress is continuing. I've just ordered a load of drivers so that'll keep me going for a good few months! Alex

All basses that are less than 36" scale. Y'all don't know what you're missing... Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='273687' date='Aug 31 2008, 01:45 PM']Well every time someone uses a graph I ignore what they've written. [/quote] Glad to hear that you're good at interpreting graphs! Alex

As soon as anyone uses the word sterile I ignore everything else they've written. Sorry! Alex

[quote name='eude' post='271699' date='Aug 28 2008, 12:37 PM']Nice one Alex, there is quite a difference, however I don't really notice a whole lot different between the 33" and 34" in the lower register. What strings are you actually using on your bass dude?[/quote] I'm using Overwater nickels - getting 36" scale strings can be challenging... But I'm very pleased with them - I've always used s/s strings previously and based on my tonal likes years ago that makes sense but I should have switched over a while back! I never found a 34" scale bass with a low B string I liked - the tension felt all wrong to me - but I like to be able to dig in. Tonewise I notice the lower strings have more top and bottom to the sound and thus less mid-bass and low-mids - they don't necessarily sound as fat but they do sound bigger if that makes sense. When I use the very upper register on my bass it tends to be for more rhythmic parts so the less singing and more piano like tone works well for me. I've been pleasantly surprised that the 38 gauge G-string has more fatness than I expected, having always used 45 gauge G's on my 34" scale basses. Of course one can never clearly ascertain what is affecting the tone - my RIM Custom has a chambered body which may be fattening up the midrange on higher notes, that was the plan anyway! Alex