alexclaber

The first will work well with a Kappalite 3015 or 3015LF (the latter will need some kind of midrange speaker). Are the cabs already ported and what are the port dimensions? Alex

Low B strings are floppy enough on 34" scales that I really wouldn't want to go any shorter! I was very impressed by the Peavey Grind 6 I tried a couple of years ago - pick one that sounds good acoustically and then upgrade the pickups when funds allow. Alex

[quote name='beerdragon' post='152436' date='Mar 6 2008, 03:25 PM']i noticed when i plugged my bass in. [/quote] Would that have been the infamous rumbly fart of death noise? Alex

I have tiny little stainless steel frets on my RIM Custom and love how they feel. I think they're mandolin size. I was playing an early '70s J-Bass at the weekend and the neck seemed so round but skinny and the frets so huge in comparison. Alex

[quote name='The Funk' post='152438' date='Mar 6 2008, 03:29 PM']Would you realistically need a small monitor cab? At 30" tall, that should be high enough to get some detail to your ears.[/quote] The small cab would be for standalone use when recording and possibly rehearsing. This beast is certainly tall enough and loud enough to handle gigs singlehandedly! Alex

[quote name='eude' post='152412' date='Mar 6 2008, 02:55 PM']You're going to have to get hold of a Digital Camera mate.[/quote] Links sorted! Seems picasaweb and basschat don't get on. [quote name='eude' post='152412' date='Mar 6 2008, 02:55 PM']Especially your mini monitor style cab.[/quote] Not sure if I'll bother with that now - we'll see. I hear a 3012LF is in the pipeline which might make it viable to build a decent compact cab - unless Andy @ Acme will sell me one of his magic little 10"s! Alex

Five sides of second cab built. Baffle cut out. Voila! Alex

[quote name='beerdragon' post='152087' date='Mar 5 2008, 10:48 PM']I'll have to get a new camera. or cut down on my drinking.[/quote] Were you drinking when you set your EQ?! Despite the fuzzyness that looks like almost 15dB of boost @ 30Hz, a fine way to either blow your speakers (if you have plenty of amp power) or cause your amp to clip very prematurely. Deal with that and your fine monolith should play way louder without distortion and last longer! Alex

[quote name='Scorchin' post='152146' date='Mar 6 2008, 02:24 AM']Definitely some great advice here, cheers guys! In terms of muting, I'm yet to work with plucking string, have done some basic slap/pop but mainly use fingerstyle. Are there any particular muting techniques for fingerstyle that you guys could recommend?[/quote] Fret a note with your index finger, then try to get as many different tones as possible from that note. Vary your attack point along the string, between bridge and neck, pluck with your fingers, thumb, fingernails (experiment with using the tip, flat or side of the digit, or two digits together), and then try resting your right hand palm or your spare left hand fingers on the string to add muting control. Once you've work through all the different sounds you can make, work on adding variation to those sounds by being able to play them very quietly, very loudly and everything in between. I guess I have about five vague signature sounds that I reference - Geezer's clank and dirt, Jaco's growly burp, Jamerson's muffled yet clear boom, Larry Graham's thick fatness and Family Man's soft round depth. Regarding the difference in tone between different models of bass, if you have a decent instrument with two pickups and good technique I believe you can cover so much tonal ground that few will be able to tell from a recording if you're playing a Rick, Musicman or whatever, and none will care. Alex

[quote name='david_l_perry' post='151507' date='Mar 5 2008, 08:25 AM']The typical figure [i]before [/i]power compression comes into play is roughly HALF the RMS rating.. Put simply anything more than half the RMS rating is just turning into heat, and is not adding to the output level...Anybody who has played a long gig with high power could have experienced power compression coming into play but simply not be aware of what is going on.....[/quote] Power compression is power compression, not power limiting. So as any voice coil warms up its resistance will increase and thus the impedance the amp is driving, thus reducing current flow and thus the power going into the voice coil. But it isn't a simple on/off state, and to say that once you're above half the thermal power rating that any additional watts will make no difference in output is incorrect. I understand that Bill F has written about this regarding his subs and in those cases more caution is needed due to the combination of the acoustic low pass of the horn hiding any over-excursion distortion and typical compressed program material having greater average power and thus more risk of overheating the voice coil but for live bass guitar use I can't see power compression causing many problems. Here's some power compression data for a midrange driver I'm using: Power Compression @-10dB (12 W) 0,7 dB Power Compression @-3dB (60 W) 1,2 dB Power Compression @Full Power (120 W) 1,6 dB So 12W input to this 102dB sensitivity driver produces 112.1dB when it should produce 112.8dB output, 60W gives 118.6dB when without compression it should produce 119.8dB, and 120W gives 121.2dB when without compression it should produce 122.8dB. Note that going from half to full power gives you an increase in output of 2.6dB, versus the 3dB increase you should get without power compression but it's still 2.6dB more output which is a lot more than 0dB extra output. [quote name='david_l_perry' post='151507' date='Mar 5 2008, 08:25 AM']But - and this is huge factor:- If you actually measured the voltage coming out of your power amp during playing, and worked out what the actual wattage was, I think you would be astounded how low a level your 900w amp is actually putting out. Its not to say your amp is not capable of 900w, just that due to the type of playing being dynamic, and all the other gain factors coming into play, its typically a LOT less than you expect. This is why most people don't have a problem (including myself when I ran a pre/power amp combo for a while)[/quote] Exactly - far far less! And if you bear in mind that the speaker impedance is rarely as low as the nominal impedance the power involved is even less. Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='151496' date='Mar 5 2008, 08:01 AM']You'll find that near impossible without two basses - one strung with flatwounds (1952 - 65) and the other with roundwounds (1965 - date). You'll never get near the sound of Macca on a Hofner violin bass or Jamerson's P-bass without flatwounds.[/quote] I disagree, you can do amazing things with palm muting and thumb plucking. Another good trick is to use a five and drop down a string and up five frets for more boom and wooliness. Just spend ages experimenting with different plucking, fretting and muting techniques and you'll build up a huge library of sounds which can all come from one instrument without any knob twiddling. Listening is the key! Alex

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='151312' date='Mar 4 2008, 08:37 PM']Just glad it appears I haven't stuck my neck out too far on this one, but hey, if you don't try you don't learn.[/quote] Indeed - I have an engineering degree and am pretty good as sussing out anything vaguely mechanical but it's still taken me ages to get my head round all this stuff. Emailing back and forth with Andy @ Acme I'm pretty certain that he has forgotten more about speaker cab design than I will ever learn! Sadly there are few bass cab makers with that degree of understanding... Alex

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='151244' date='Mar 4 2008, 07:07 PM'][b]Suspension compliance.[/b] This is a measure of how easy it is to move the speaker back and forth on the suspension. The more compliant a speaker is, the lower the resonant frequency will be, and therefore the lower the potential bass response will be. Too much compliance results in the speaker flapping about and hitting the end stops. Too little compliance will give a resonant frequency too high for practical bass use. [b]Speaker cone mass.[/b] A 15 will generally have more than a 10 - fairly obvious. The mass usually affects higher frequencies, where the speaker can't be pushed and pulled quick enough to reproduce high mids and above. This is one reason why 10s will often sound clearer.[/quote] I'm not sure how much cone mass alone comes into midrange response - I believe the issue is more one of cone mass versus magnetic field strength (Bl) and much of the midrange issue (and also the transient issue) is due to voice coil inductance. Cone diameter of a rigid cone does clearly affect dispersion. Also resonant frequency is a product of both cone mass and suspension compliance. Qts is very important too - that's how much the speaker wants to resonate at its resonant frequency. Too high and the speaker is so well damped that the response rolls off long before it gets down to resonance, too low and the speaker lacks precision and output (as Qts is closely related to magnet strength). [quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='151244' date='Mar 4 2008, 07:07 PM'][b]Speaker cone stiffness[/b]. A stiff cone is better, as it helps stop cone break up, where only parts of the cone are effectively working. Easier to control stiffness with a smaller one. [/quote] Conversely a flexible cone can produce more midrange and with better dispersion - but for good bass a totally rigid cone is indeed what you want. [quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='151244' date='Mar 4 2008, 07:07 PM'][b]Excursion limits.[/b] The further the speaker can travel back and forth the more work it can do, and the stronger the bass output. This has no bearing on frequency response per se, but can boost the amount of bass a speaker can produce, and alter the perceived response.[/quote] More excursion equals more ability to move air and in doing so handle more power at low frequencies - this is why Acmes can handle so much more power in reality than other cabs that may have higher thermal power handling. [quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='151244' date='Mar 4 2008, 07:07 PM'][b]Enclosure design.[/b] [i]The[/i] critical area of getting what's required from a driver, and a well designed cabinet will have more bearing on the overall response than anything else. Assuming the driver is half decent to begin with that is. A good cabinet is able to combine extended response with efficiency - not easy. A 15 enclosure may [i]appear[/i] to sound bassier due to the lack of mids that 10s would provide, but won't necessarily go any deeper. The slight overhang - the tendency of a 15 to continue moving after the signal has stopped, due to higher mass - may also change the perceived bass response.[/quote] The problem with most bass cabs is that they squeeze the speaker into too small a space and then tune the port too high so you get annoying resonance, boom and poor transient response. This is particularly common with cheaper 15" cabs because cheap 15"s tend to need big cabs to sound good. But at least cheap 15"s can usually handle more excursion than cheap 10"s and thus move more air. I'm currently building a cab with a 15" woofer which will go less deep than my previous 10" cabs did. Furthermore neither will sound like typical 15" or 10" cabs in the mids because both have dedicated smaller midrange drivers. It is a bad idea to generalise because such vague rules of thumb tend to get taken as gospel. I actually started out with a 15" combo, then a 12" combo and then 10" cabs, and as the speaker size got smaller the bass response, loudness and power handling actually got better! Totally coincidental and nothing to do with speaker size and all to do with the quality of the designs. For every pro that a typical 10" has, there's a con, and likewise with 15"s - they are all subject to the same rules of physics. A better question than 10" or 15" would be simply, well designed cab vs poorly designed cab. I'm sure we'd all want the well designed cab and if it was well designed then we wouldn't care what it contains! Alex

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='151026' date='Mar 4 2008, 01:05 PM']Right, a few things here.... i am not a good enough player to actually stand in a shope and play somethin...[/quote] In that case pick up a used amp from here, eBay or a local ad or shop. Run whatever it is by us so you can be confident you're getting a fair deal. Don't think too much about it, just buy an amp and then concentrate on playing. If in some years' (or months if you're terribly fussy) time you want something better you're unlikely to lose money upgrading because once an amp is secondhand, it's secondhand - they don't really depreciate any more than that, assuming you don't bash them around. In answer to the original question, the difference between 2x10 and 1x15 is 5. Alex

Exactly what Bill said! I recently tried modelling a whole pile of reflex, bandpass and sealed cabs with the 3015LF and a straight forward reflex box comes out very well. You can get a smidgeon more output from a bandpass cab but to do so you have to drastically narrow the operating range which means you end up carrying more gear anyway... Alex

Despite rodl2005's schizophrenic caps lock key, I think that says it all... Alex

I shall be bringing my '87 Streamer, Avalon U5/PLX3002 and the new bass of doom (see sig). And possibly a new DIY cab, build progress permitting. And of course my mad skillz and loveable demeanour. Alex

[quote name='Krysbass' post='147219' date='Feb 26 2008, 12:59 PM']Having an inequal number of tuners either side of the headstock offends my need for symetry in this area (we're all individuals) and the only bass I've seen with all 5 tuners in a row is the Squier Affinity Jazz 5-string...[/quote] Having inline tuners on a 5-string is just asking for neck dive. 3+2 makes much more sense if you want your bass to naturally rest in a playable position. [quote name='Leowasright' post='147320' date='Feb 26 2008, 04:52 PM']In a reply to early posts, 5 string basses are too wide in the neck for me, not because I have small hands (far from it), but they force me to play "unnaturally" with the thumb resting on the back of the neck (a la classical guitarists). I am lazy and sloppy, and I like to damp the low strings with my thumb over the top, hence my very clear preference for the Jazz type neck.[/quote] I've found the wider neck of a five does indeed promote better technique, which is a good thing! And I can still damp the low strings with my thumb when I want to. [quote name='Leowasright' post='147320' date='Feb 26 2008, 04:52 PM']I would have thought all would be OK if one used a heavy set or about .060" to .125", as I would have thought the extra unit mass of the string minus the lower tension of the BEAD tuning would kind of cancel itself out, to about the tension of "regular" guage strings.[/quote] A typical B string has lower tension than a typical G string so the total tension on the neck will diminish somewhat but it isn't a huge change. Alex

To those that sing backing harmonies, do you prefer to work out a harmony for yourself or be given something to sing? Am wondering how to help out my guitarist - I'm singing lead though I'm not really a singer... Alex

Also judging by the fuse rating you'd actually need an 1800W transformer. Even if the internal transformer does not have twin windings you'd be better off changing it to a 230V one than using a 230V to 120V step-down transformer as well. Alex

[quote name='bassace' post='145660' date='Feb 23 2008, 05:15 PM'][b]Every line I've ever worked on has become more and more simple, and the simpler it is, the happier I am with my playing.[/b]+1 to that![/quote] While that is often the best approach, sometimes more actually is more, especially in smaller bands. Alex

[quote name='bremen' post='146488' date='Feb 25 2008, 12:11 PM']I'd have thought electric guitar harmonics go higher than an acoustic...but then again the 12" speakers that most guitarists use would limit anything above 5-6kHz.[/quote] Exactly - amp colouration is part of 99.99% of guitar sounds. [quote name='Clive Thorne' post='146561' date='Feb 25 2008, 01:25 PM']I think we should be careful here. Going by the rest of the instruments listed I would have assumed that they are talking double bass and classical guitar, and Im pretty sure that the harmonic content of these would be quite different to a bass and electric guitars.[/quote] Except in the instrument data window they have a photo of an electric bass guitar and an electric guitar respectively and they do refer to the difference in acoustic and electric guitar sounds. Also in a purely acoustic setting there is very little sub 100Hz output from any double bass, the body is far too small to have much output down in the low fundamentals. It would be really interesting to see some analysis of how different mixes are divided amongst the various instruments in a band - it's a very complex issue with a lot of masking going on but it would nicely demonstrate how the different sounds slot around each other. When mixing our last EP I found that subtle cuts and boosts of only a dB or so could open up space for each instrument to be heard better, a great example being rolling ~10kHz and up off on the guitar made the cymbals sound brighter and clearer. Alex

My 6ND410 is here - very nice! Also soldered up the circuit for my PLLXO yesterday. Alex

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='145900' date='Feb 24 2008, 10:39 AM']Alex did you consider going the wedge shaped route for this cab at any point?[/quote] I did consider some degree of tilt but concluded the cons outweighed the pros - less internal volume for given exterior dimensions, more difficult build and not so great when providing FOH as well as monitoring. With a cab of this height and a midrange driver there should be plenty of detail getting up to my ears. I'm considering having an flip handle to give me some tilt on the micro cab. Alex

Been doing some more thinking about the bracing and joints. Looking forward to getting iteration 2 happening. I think I need to get a big framing square so make sure all the panels are true rectangles. Now I've seen how big this is compared to my Acmes, I'm looking to build a baby cab for monitoring myself when recording (usually in my drummer's loft). Current plan is a Deltalite II 2510 in 50 litres tuned to 50Hz. Wanted a midrange speaker but I can't find anything yet that'll do the job like the 6ND410 but I'm not paying another £100 for one of them! So looking at using the Eminence APT150 supertweeter, and then making my PLLXO switchable between 750Hz (for 15/6) and 1300/2000Hz (10/tweeter) crossover points. Alex