alexclaber

That's a very low Qts driver so it definitely needs a ported enclosure. At a guess a 3" hole should work ok. If that's too boomy, add some tubing to make a longer port. Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='571573' date='Aug 17 2009, 01:24 PM']I'm all curious now. What would actually happen?[/quote] I suspect you'd blow the output transistors and release the magic smoke. Alex

[quote name='Mizzle' post='570786' date='Aug 16 2009, 04:40 PM']Thank you all for the replies so far, just had a look at the Big One as suggested and that's got me thinking now (GAS attack) just wondering if the Shuttle would power it well enough?[/quote] It'll be fine if you're not playing crazy loud. However I would not consider the Big One the kind of cab to buy as an additional cab for practices and small gigs - it's more of a 6x10"/2x15" replacement! Alex

[quote name='Alien' post='570204' date='Aug 15 2009, 08:29 PM']Care to elaborate a little on this Mr C? Are we talking about birch facing on a lightweight core? I've used Poplar ply in the past which is just stupidly light, but it lacks the strength and surface finish of birch, so a composite of the two would be about the ultimate cab material.[/quote] Yep, not birch facing but another very hard wood on a poplar core. My sums suggest a 30% weight saving on the plywood in the cab, so maybe 20% of total weight. It's stiffer too! Downside is the cost but as the cabs are so cheap for what they are there's some wiggle room on that front. The other downside was having to move a ton and a half of it on my own... Alex

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='570103' date='Aug 15 2009, 06:18 PM']More than happy to let you do it to mine, could bring my Superfly too if that would help?[/quote] Yep, that would be groovy! I know the frequency response plots won't tell the whole picture of the amps by any means, but it should prove useful for advising people on gear pairings, plus I'm interested to find out what's going on below 100Hz them - whether they have any highpass filtering and how the bass EQ is voiced (peaking/shelving, what frequency and Q). Alex

Would anyone mind if I brought along some testing gear and did some RTA on as many of the amps present as possible? Would be really useful to build up a database on the natural response curves of various amps. Alex

How big is a big gig? And how loud is your band? What are you up against on the guitar front, what genre are you in? And what are you currently using? And what sound are you going for? Any key tonal influences? Regarding your choice of cab, I consider the most cost effective match to go for something that is within a 2:1 ratio either way. So with a 500W amp I'd be looking at cabs rated at between 250W and 1000W. The rating on the cab is a thermal rating and it doesn't take into account how much the speakers have to move to produce the lows. Fortunately speakers kindly start making nasty noises when you ask them to produce too much bottom, so you can back off before you cause damage. The amount of bottom a cab can produce is fairly closely tied in with how large it is, so don't expect anyone near as much bottom at gigging volumes from a 500W 1x12" as from a 500W 4x10". With my range of cabs I don't even bother quoting a 'power handling' rating - instead I just suggest a recommended range of amplifier power ratings, for instance 100W-500W for the Compact. Alex

[quote name='Mr.T' post='570049' date='Aug 15 2009, 04:49 PM']MDF is more sonically 'dead' than Plywood and therefore makes a pretty decent material for cabs. The downside is the weight![/quote] The other downsides are that it's very brittle and prone to crumbling and moisture damage. It's a great material for home hi-fi cabs (especially if you use CNC machining so it can be folded/bent into shape) but not for anything that has to be moved because you have to use such thick panels to get sufficient strength. I'm pretty certain the Vintage will slide onto the back seat of any car with rear doors - that's where the shallowness really helps. And if you put the seats down it'll fit in any 3-door hatchback. So the only cars that are out are 2-door coupés (or my old Vauxhall Nova saloon but I think they're almost extinct...) We never got an accurate weight for the Vintage - I think BottomEndian measured his at 54lbs. If that's close to accurate then with my new high-tech plywood it should come in under 50lbs. I shall let you know once the first of this new batch is done (I have bought some accurate scales!) Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='570060' date='Aug 15 2009, 05:07 PM']You'd be even better off selling it in the States, buying several multi-voltage micro-amps (e.g. Eden WTX series) which cost an absolute fortune over here, and then selling all but one at a huge profit.[/quote] This is an excellent idea (although I'm sure HM Customs and Excise wouldn't approve! ) Alex

Deja vu! Ask Mesa! Alex

[quote name='Raggy' post='569920' date='Aug 15 2009, 02:00 PM']Out of interest, could these ever come with black cloth instead of silver?[/quote] I've been thinking about that and it makes sense to offer such options. So going forward you'll be able to have black with silver cloth grill as standard, or specially order: Black metal grill (no cost) Custom cloth (+£25) Custom colour metal grill (+£50) White finish (+£25) Custom colour finish (+£50) Alex

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='569919' date='Aug 15 2009, 02:00 PM']To my surprise (and I suspect his) he preferred the WTX-260 to the Demeter/Digam.[/quote] I know that feeling! I have strange suspicion I prefer the Shuttle 6.0 to my Avalon U5/QSC PLX rig, can't be right, surely... Alex

Though I admit I'd want to take the Squier logo off so I didn't suffer from other musicians pre-judging my tone. Alex

[quote name='robocorpse' post='569011' date='Aug 14 2009, 01:45 PM']Why don't you stick with this magical Squier you were banging on about? It sounds like a damn fine instrument, and you aren't giving it a chance.[/quote] Yep. Bear in mind that wood is just wood - what sets apart Sadowskys from Squiers is that they are much fussier about the quality of wood used. However as both will have maple necks and similar body woods if you get lucky you could end up with a Squier that sounds identical to a Sadowsky when unplugged. Put good electronics in and reliable hardware and you have an amazing bass at an amazingly low price. With Sadowsky you pay for their outstanding QC but I bet if you spent a day in the Squier distributor's warehouse you could find one which sounded like a Sadowsky. Alex

[quote name='BassBod' post='569790' date='Aug 15 2009, 11:02 AM']Just a quickie.....but the Clarus (III) worked splendidly with the Compact on a liitle jazzz gig....I'll report in detail in few days[/quote] Glad to hear it! It's only one negative experience with the Clarus and UL502 I was referring to so maybe I shouldn't write off those pairings just yet (I can't see why it would be a problem either, the impedance curve actually makes Class D amps run even more efficiently as they recycle the back EMF - unlike low power transformer coupled valve amps which run into an impedance matching problem which explains their fussiness). Alex

[quote name='endorka' post='569734' date='Aug 15 2009, 09:01 AM']Long sustained notes in this context sound wrong, and it can be very difficult to create a convincing swung feel with them. You can't simulate the sharp decay by muting with the LH (it stops the note too quickly) or with the volume control (there is not time to do this for each note).[/quote] Absolutely. But you can do it with thumb plucking and palm muting - opens up a world of different feels! Alex

[quote name='funkypenguin' post='569870' date='Aug 15 2009, 01:04 PM']My B and E are set a little higher than the top 4 to stop the notes choking but they could go lower.[/quote] I'd have thought that's the case with most bassists, particularly with standard strings sets. Excursion increases with decreasing frequency so for equal tension the low B will need to be a lot higher than the G not to buzz. Factor in that typical low B strings are much lower tension than G strings (insert Carry On humour here) and the action difference required gets even bigger (that's why I have a .038 on the G but a .134 on the B ). Alex

[quote name='cris the man' post='569814' date='Aug 15 2009, 11:49 AM']The WTX500 is going for around £550 odd... worth it?[/quote] That's roughly parity with the other microheads and I've yet to come across an Eden that doesn't sound good. Both TheFunk and HappyJack like their WTX260s with their Barefaced cabs so with twice the power it's a safe bet. Compared to the LMII/III I'd expect it to be rounder and warmer (LM is very clean) whilst I'd expect the Shuttle 6.0 to be more punchy. Add a couple of decent lightweight cabs and you've got a modular rig that could handle just about any gig. Alex

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' post='569676' date='Aug 15 2009, 12:39 AM']Can measure my double bass if anyone's curious...[/quote] I am! Alex

Ah I forgot - you're tuning that .095 down to D, so way lower in tension than my 2" longer .104 tuned to E. Just looked up a thread from the past: [url="http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/707909"]http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/707909[/url] And I see my '87 Warwick Streamer with 45-105 s/s rounds was at 2.8mm at the 12th fret. Whilst my Hohner Jack frankenfretless (also with 45-105 s/s rounds) was at 6.3mm at the 12th. Good exercise! Alex

[quote name='BB2000' post='569631' date='Aug 14 2009, 11:41 PM']Distance from strings (EADG) to PUP poles would be real interesting as well, and whether bass is active or passive.[/quote] That's a different issue though - one for another thread! Ped, am surprised that your action is as high as that - just goes to show how the lighter string gauge makes it feel lower. Alex

RIM Custom 5, 36" scale, 38-58-78-104-134 nickel rounds: 1.5mm, 2.5mm, 3mm Medium WoT - string gauge matters as well, because higher tension makes action feel higher. Alex

Nigel again: (holding up a guitar) The sustain, listen to it. Marty: I don't hear anything. Nigel: Well you would though, if it were playing. Alex P.S. I believe brass nuts and zero frets are a bad idea because they fail to take into accout the damping that your finger provides on a fretted note. Ebony seems to actually get closest to a fretted note sound.

If you want to join the Barefaced trial tour, go here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=53414&view=findpost&p=569574"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=569574[/url] I guess you'd be at the end of route 1, so when I have some spare cabs I could start a cab at your end of it and then send it on through the Wirral etc. Alex

Due to various things (not least of which being a pallet of woofers vanishing) revised routes as follows: Route 1: musicman20 cleethorpes casapete hull finbar sheffield sean.robinson rotherham monz barnsley hubrad bradford rik (esa) bradford wateroftyne newcastle delberhot camelon lemmywinks blackpool josh3184 preston guyl manchester bassbunny manchester bass culture chester protium chester mike 257 wirral steve soar wirral Route 2: bassbod bristol mr foxen bristol sk8 bristol gunsfreddy2003 cheltenham phil the bassist newbury barelyl4 salisbury voxpop reading sibob high wycombe alien milton keynes bananaman leamington spa giblett123 birmingham adee corby redroque norwich physcoandy ipswich pete young ipswich crez5150 wickford dannybuoy london/surrey bythesea shoreham However, I realise it's going to take a while to get round these routes so once I have some spare cabs I'll subdivide the routes and send them out. I'll also send some Midgets around, stick your hand up if you want to see what a really really small cab can do. As I said previously, could y'all endeavour to post your experiences directly on this thread, for good or for bad. Photos/video/audio would be a bonus. Please bear in mind that although the Compact can go very loud it is inherently a smooth fat sounding cab, not a honky midrangey growly bottomless thing. This means that if you want to try it in a rock band where you're up against a couple of 4x12"s you will need an amp with enough power and growl - Musicman20 fell foul of this by using a friend's SVT3, which is top of my hit list for famously wimpy amps at wallet-shocking prices. If you're in a band where you're not doing the dual 4x12" battle then a couple of hundred watts will do fine, and tonally you're not going to need to add colouration to bark through the mix, you can just bring the natural fatness and punch. So to repeat that, any old solidstate amp of 200W+ will do fine unless you're in a LOUD rock band, in which case bring more like 500W and angrier tone. Anything beyond 1000W is overkill - be careful with the gain and EQ. Low power valve amps don't seem to like the Compact due to the high power motor giving them a difficult impedance curve (which conversely makes it an easier load for solidstate amps). More powerful valve amps are fine. Not sure about the middling (200W) ones, let me know! Oh yes, and some earlier Class D designs appear to be a bit finicky too - UL502 and AI Clarus - so be interesting to know more about them. Other than those curious beasts it really doesn't care what you shove into it, it's easy. Alex