alexclaber

[quote name='obbm' post='1179162' date='Mar 28 2011, 09:42 AM']So rear ports are fine out in the open then with nothing behind them?[/quote] Yes, absolutely. The problem outdoors with all bass cabs is they lose bottom due to the lack of boundary reinforcement from nearby walls. The worse the cab is at doing lows, the more obvious the problem is. And rear ports are more commonly found on smaller cabs (due to a lack of space for ports on the front) and smaller cabs tend to be worse at doing lows, hence the common assumption that it's due to the ports being at the back.

[quote name='obbm' post='1178656' date='Mar 27 2011, 07:56 PM']One of the reasons I got rid of my original Ashdown mini 4x8s was because they had the ports at the back and were totally useless outdoors.[/quote] That wasn't because the ports are at the back!

The less colouration the speaker adds, and the more linear the response as it gets louder (i.e. the less the colouration increases with increasing SPL), the easier it will be to hear effects. I used to use tons of effects and it can be a nightmare when the tone of your speaker is significantly different at LOUD gig SPL compared to sensible rehearsal SPL.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1176734' date='Mar 25 2011, 11:47 PM']I may well look at BF after I have the RH450.[/quote] Ironically they'll be even better pushed by your SVT5 bridged - because they were designed to handle tons of power and go damned loud and move lots of air for their size. The lightweight thing was a 'why not?' rather than a 'must have'! I've never really cared much about the size/weight of my own rigs.

You can't make a valve amp properly light because you're limited by the weight of the output transformer. However, not everyone likes the sound of valve amps. For my playing I prefer really high power s/s amps, very clean preamps and very accurate cabs. My rack weighs about 40lbs but that's easily light enough - and the amount of power on tap is huge. Up to 3000 real watts if I bridge the amp. But that's really the two extremes of the spectrum - the all valve amp and big sealed cab posse, vs the uber clean huge headroom s/s amp and big full-range ported cab crew. (I still go for big nasty tones but that's courtesy of a big nasty bass and some aggressive playing). For all those bass players in between you can go lightweight on the amp front without compromising your tone. For the cabs - well you can guess what I think...

[quote name='nash' post='1176630' date='Mar 25 2011, 10:09 PM']i see some of your points but still no one has explained why you would bother having 100 watt splits. i've seen a 200 watt BTA on a site. so 200, 300, 400.[/quote] I can't see why either. [quote name='nash' post='1176630' date='Mar 25 2011, 10:09 PM']i bet anyone with a 400 watt valve amp has never pushed it past 200watts.[/quote] I bet they have. 200W isn't that much power, especially if you're pushing a smaller cab, especially one that goes low.

Some of these articles may help: [url="http://barefacedbass.com/bgm-columns.htm"]http://barefacedbass.com/bgm-columns.htm[/url] The one about strings and harmonics is probably the key one!

Depends how light you want. ABM500s and LH500s weigh half as much as your SVT5, are equally loud or louder than the one channel from the SVT5, and are nice slants on the Ampeg vibe. RH450 does the Ampeg thing well but much lighter. The new Streamliners seem to be along a similar line. Also starting to hear good things about the SVT7. If you use the Superfly with a loud bass (so you don't run into the lack of preamp gain problem), and a loud cab or are not in too loud a band (so you don't run into the lack of power problem), and don't push it too hard or remove it from the aluminium outer case (so you don't run into the appalling cooling problem), and like a relatively clean uncoloured tone then it'll work just fine (assuming you don't get one of the many unreliable examples).

I've always felt that micing a cab is about capturing the midrange and treble character of the speaker, hence why it tends to be more popular with the Ampeg SVT rock set. With the larger scale pro tour rigs there's often an Avalon U5 or similar lurking in the background delivering the weight of the sound. Close micing a large 2 or 3 way rear-ported cab with no supplementary DI is not easy if you want a balanced sound!

Yes and no. It has moved on but not that much - the Superfly was rubbish.

Contrary to Mr Snickers I'd avoid kick drum mics and go for instrument mics with better midrange performance. So I'd rather use an SM57 than a D112. For most bass sounds I'd rather DI, or DI and mic.

Absolutely serious. Clipping can damage speakers if, and only if, it causes too much continuous power to be delivered than they can handle. Clipping will never damage a correctly designed amp - high power lightweight amps may go into thermal shutdown, lower power / heavier amps won't even do that. Note that most overdriven guitar sounds are the result of amp clipping. If your amp is rated at much more than the cab(s) it's driving then continuous clipping risks thermal speaker failure. You got away with it this time (I presume!) but you may not be so lucky the next time. [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/mythbusters1.htm"]http://barefacedbass.com/technical-informa...ythbusters1.htm[/url]

No. Clipping never damages amps.

Every manufacturer makes lots of different models and they all sound different! Most 2x10" guitar cabs will be too small to work well for bass but with some high Qts (>0.5) and low-ish Fs (<60Hz) drivers with reasonable Xmax (>3mm) and plenty of stuffing it shouldn't be too bad for lower volume use.

Play lots and listen hard!

In that case, get a thin sheet of foam and a length of webbing and strap your Shuttle onto the cab with the foam sheet under it so it grips and doesn't move. Shorten the speakon lead so there's minimal slack and you thus have a reasonably lightweight combo, for about a fiver!

[quote name='Linus27' post='1165165' date='Mar 16 2011, 11:42 PM']Talking of Ashdown, what about the Ashdown Five 15 100 watt 1x15 Bass Amp? Any good?[/quote] Well it isn't lightweight... Cheapest way of going light will be to find a small secondhand cab, use your Shuttle with it and just be careful how loud you turn up!

The Delta12LF also works well in a ported enclosure for bass guitar, though it's a bit short on treble (but so's the stock GS112 driver!) The lack of voice coil / gap binding does suggest it's a case of bad luck rather than abuse, as does how it was being used (reasonable amount of power driving a pair of cabs indoors).

How many gigs or loud rehearsals have you played with it? If it's quite a lot then it's most likely to be a blown driver as manufacturing faults or loose connections tend to manifest themselves early on. When speakers die due to thermal failure it tends to be pretty instant, unlike mechanical failure where you get increased distortion as the suspension is damaged and/or the cone creased. By gently pushing on the centre of the cone, just outside where the cone meets the dustcap, you'll be able to feel if the speaker is moving freely or if the voice coil is warped which then rubs on the magnetic gap.

A 240V model will probably also work on 110V, it'll just have less gain and only one quarter the maximum power output!

If an amp is designed and specced to pro PA standards it shouldn't make any difference if you're running within the amp's limits - however a lot of bass amps cut corners to save cost, size and weight, hence all the discussion about so-and-so's watts being louder than thingumajig's watts. There's a lot of clever digital processing happening in the TC amps which is why they sound fairly loud for their rating - I'm sure if you used their power stage unprocessed they'd sound substantially quieter. Clever engineering.

Might be a long shot since the sell-out but you could try emailing SWR to find out if that serial no. is for a US or European model. I do find it hard to believe that an amp that old could be in this country and not be a 230V model, unless someone immigrated with it and then left it in their attic for years.

[quote name='Phantomnin' post='1162444' date='Mar 14 2011, 09:46 PM']My point should have read though...isn't the 450 enough for most venues that mortals, amatuers etc play. [/quote] Depends on what it's plugged into, how loud your band is, and how deep you like your bass sound to go. Would need to be a properly loud band for the RH450 not to be enough into a good 2x12" or 4x10" - but with an ultra-deep responding 1x12" as you see on the left you'd need more power to bring the rock!