alexclaber

[quote name='Tee' post='163301' date='Mar 25 2008, 06:37 PM']So what [i]is[/i] the difference between the LMII and the F1, bar the obvious look/size?[/quote] Class AB vs Class D power amp. Alex

Can you get the t/s specs for this woofer? In the vast majority of cars the best result will be from a sealed box, as the 12dB/octave roll-off below resonance is the inverse of the 12dB/octave cabin gain below where 1/2 wavelength = car's largest interior dimension. Match the Fb of the sub to the cabin gain knee frequency and you can get pretty flat response down lower than you could ever need. Alex

[quote name='david_l_perry' post='163088' date='Mar 25 2008, 12:42 PM']Hows the build going Alex...expected it to be finished by now....... [/quote] Been busy doing a combination of DIY and nothing the last week or so - so the build is no further on. However, am hoping to have it making noise by the weekend. Alex

I'm surprised how people are leaning towards even less balanced tensions than usual sets. 45-105 is pretty uneven but 45-100 or 50-105 is worse. To get near balanced tension on a five you need 40-55-75-100-130. I have 45-105 on my 34" scale Warwick, 44-134 on my 36" scale RIM Custom 5 but I've ordered some 38-58-78-104-134 as the top three strings are crazy tight at the moment. Alex

Just played our first gig together - amazing! What a fantastic tone and I didn't get lost once. Brilliant, abso***inglutely brilliant! Crowd liked it too. Alex

[quote name='Solaris' post='160788' date='Mar 20 2008, 01:22 PM']Yep, it seems like it loses tone and character when turned down though.[/quote] No, that's just your ears, it happens with all amps: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curves"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher-Munson_curves[/url] Alex

Have you tried turning it right down? Alex

And my medium sized ones. Alex

Am watching this for the third time. It should be compulsory viewing for all musicians. Alex

[quote name='bigjohn' post='160368' date='Mar 19 2008, 05:52 PM']They're my beloved Acmes now They are uncanny.[/quote] [quote name='bigjohn' post='160368' date='Mar 19 2008, 05:52 PM']How's your build coming on Alex?[/quote] Pretty good - it does take some time to source all the bits but the end is in sight! Am also about to start building a 15" bottom for another bassist and have a pending order for another 15"+6.5" monster. Just need to get the process efficient because right now it's taking quite a lot of time, though much of it thinking and measuring as opposed to actual building. Alex

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='160314' date='Mar 19 2008, 04:22 PM']I'm not trying to pick fault with your design or choice of driver(s) it's just that I have genuinely owned 2x10 equipment that sounded as deep as just about any 15 I've heard (others have commented on this too)[/quote] I should also add that most 15" cabs are too small for the response to go deep, thus ending up with a midbass hump that overshadows the true lows. [quote name='warwickhunt' post='160314' date='Mar 19 2008, 04:22 PM']and yet you tend to hear the same argument from bassists "want to add more bass? add a 15".[/quote] I've heard that SO many times from fools who were incapable of using their ears and hearing that my beloved Acmes could go lower than any 15" on the market. Maybe the lack of mud confused them? Alex

Here's Vd for the speakers in question: 3015LF = 846cc 2512 = 255cc 2510 = 147cc (Acme OEM 10" ~ 280cc) Double the Vd and you gain 6dB more max low frequency output before farting occurs. Alex

If you raise the tuning frequency then you can reduce the depth of that scooped out bit but then you shift the steep drop off below the tuning frequency higher. If you make the cab smaller you can increase the power handling in the lows but you also decrease the sensitivity in the lows, so in terms of max SPL they cancel each other out. You can easily make any of those speakers I've plotted above sound as deep as the 15". The problem is that they can't move enough air to go deep and loud at the same time. At the end of the day, when it comes to low frequency reproduction there is no substitute for volume displacement (Vd). This is cone area (Sd) multiplied by cone excursion (Xmax). Acme's OEM 10" have big Xmax but there still isn't a lightweight non-OEM version available. So I'm not comparing all 10"s against all 12"s against all 15"s, I'm comparing what is available on the market and has suitable specs for bass guitar in other respects, whilst remaining lightweight. Eminence have spent the money on creating a neo 15" which can really move a lot of air - I gather they're working on a similar neo 12" which will be out next year sometime. If I had £50,000 to throw away I could get them to do me a similar 10" too. So as tone of the woofer in my design isn't hugely important because it's being crossed over to a midrange speaker and thus the whole "sound of 10"s, 12"s, 15"s" argument goes out of the window, it makes most sense to me to use the woofer that can move the most air for the least weight. Alex

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' post='160064' date='Mar 19 2008, 08:40 AM']Slightly off topic, there was an internet outdoor-clothing site which kept a list of retailers. They would actually direct potential customers to their local stockist to try on gear, so they would know the correct size when they came back to buy online. I think that is just wrong.[/quote] They can join Behringer on my shortlist of morally bankrupt companies with parasitic business models. Once you get into what I deem interesting bass gear the market is so small and varied that it would be madness to run a normal retail outlet. Even one as long established and well thought of as The Gallery has to mark everything up heavily because the volume of transactions is so low. Poptart's Bass Direct looks like a neat approach for such a small market, he's already got quite an extensive selection of rather cool gear - the PJB Flightcase keeps appealing to me... Alex

[quote name='BassBunny' post='160126' date='Mar 19 2008, 10:11 AM']God knows what they would weigh with Neo's installed.[/quote] 6.7 lbs less. Alex

Jerry Jemmott Jaco Pastorius Family Man Willie Weeks Chuck Rainey Anthony Jackson Alex

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='159224' date='Mar 17 2008, 09:13 PM']Is it a personal choice that you've gone for 15's rather than 10's or 12's? Couldn't you have manipulated your design to get as much out of a pair (or 3) 10's as you could out of a 15?[/quote] Hopefully this will explain - it's a plot of maximum SPL as limited by either twice the RMS thermal rating or the excursion limited power handling, whichever is lower. To keep a level playing field, all speakers are mounted in the same size cab tuned to the same frequency - this leaves a bit of wiggle room for the lesser performers but not a lot. Red is 1x15", blue is 2x12", orange is 3x10", yellow is 2x10". This is all using Eminence's premium neo speakers, OEM variants of which are used by the likes of Epifani and Bergantino. Alex

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='159076' date='Mar 17 2008, 06:10 PM']Well what about starting a Bass Chat own brand! there's enough of us fussy old farts wanting the ultimate lightweight cab! Be fun to come up with a brand name too.[/quote] I have some ideas about a brand too, with a series of three models - a superlight and simple 15", a 15"+6.5" and a 15" bottom to give you a full 2x15" rig. I think these cabs are viable as commercial items but only with direct sales from the manufacturer - i.e. me! - because otherwise the retail price would be stratospheric once the usual series of mark-ups have been added (due to a combination of fiddly build and expensive components). Would be nice to give a more affordable alternative to the other lightweight cabs on the market which also (hopefully!) sounds better. Alex

I should probably point out that I'm on a mission to build the ultimate lightweight bass cab - more details over here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=13344&st=40&start=40"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...40&start=40[/url] Alex

Here's a plot of predicted response for the passive crossover version: Alex

Blue Aran for most stuff [url="http://www.audio-components.co.uk/"]http://www.audio-components.co.uk/[/url] for crossover components And I've used lautsprechershop.de for more esoteric speakers. Alex

[quote name='david_l_perry' post='158986' date='Mar 17 2008, 03:27 PM']I assume you are adding a fair number of 'panel to panel' cross braces as well as the side panel braces ?[/quote] Indeed, though I can't be sure where to fit them until the drivers are in and handles mounted - making the first cab takes a lot more thinking than subsequent ones I suspect! Am planning to place panels under compression whilst fitting crossbraces to further raise the resonant frequency of the panels. Just in the process of ordering parts for a passive crossover and L-pad - as I've had some interest from other bassists who'd need a non-biamp cab I thought I might as well try it for myself too! Fortunately the drivers have fairly flat impedance around the crossover point which means using a resistive model should give decent results, though I'm still working on putting together a reactive complex model for the best possible results. Alex

Most of the bracing now done, just the crossbraces to do, and the triangular corner port and its brace. Rear of baffle: Cab, base towards left of shot: Alex

Didn't Dookie come out in 1994?! Alex

[quote name='ste_m3' post='157805' date='Mar 15 2008, 02:57 AM']Tbh, Ive had much more success finding a rig with a really musical midrange as this is what helps me on stage. Its nice to have a real nice boom occasionally but it just dont cut it in a band.[/quote] Exactly. You want a cab that doesn't break up due to the lows going into it and has plenty of midrange output and punch. Ampeg 8x10"s are -3dB by 60Hz and therefore -15dB by 30Hz (i.e. nowt!) but they have plenty of output in the 80-500Hz area which is what will get you heard when competing with a metal kick and detuned guitars. A bit of clank and grind up around 1kHz tends to help too. Your Peavey 1x15"s should do a fine job - just don't be afraid of turning the lows down and try using the semi-parametric EQ on the head to punch through in a frequency range where the guitars are making less noise. If that doesn't work get your guitarists to give up some of their lows - all too often inexperienced guitarists set their EQ so they fill up both the bass and guitar sonic space, not realising that most of the great guitar sounds don't have very much bottom at all. Alex