alexclaber

Alex

Bass - pretty it ain't. Alex

[quote name='Uncle Balsamic' post='565932' date='Aug 11 2009, 02:34 PM']You mentioned you'd finished the protoype on twitter. Any new pictures? [/quote] I think that was an -ing not an -ed and I am still indeed -ing-ing! Alex

Design #2: [url="http://www.redbubble.com/people/robotrobotrobot/t-shirts/3575216-1-louder-than-lemmy"]http://www.redbubble.com/people/robotrobot...uder-than-lemmy[/url] Alex

Hard to say unless it does it outdoors - indoors the room effects on bass response are pretty overwhelming. Alex

It's a good limiter isn't it - here's some stuff from Andy, Genz Benz design engineer, on it: "The clip-limit LED turns on about 1.5-2dB before clip and this is also the threshold for the output tube emulation limiter which is a soft knee circuit that allows for a combination of soft clipping, compression and then harder limiting within the two dB before clip and ultimately compresses ~6dB of remaining input dynamic range into 1.5-2dB of output dynamic range before the power amplifier clips... ...Output limiting (and limiting in general) is an integral part of achieving some player's tone. This is one of the chief advantages of a tube power amp, where the inherent compression/limiting and graceful transition into clipping is a highly desireable feature. This mechanism has been emulated in our power amp's limiting algorithms (in the analog domain) and there is nothing wrong with driving the signal into the limiter just like with a tube power amp stage." Also although GK (not GB) amps don't have any normal limiting (they have a longterm overcurrent IIRC but that's all) they are designed to be run into clipping and RAG's view is that you should choose the amp that 'hits the rails' at an appropriate SPL for you (obviously this is cab dependant, so for louder gigs take more speakers). If you wanted that behaviour with a Shuttle 6.0 you'd have to use a quieter cab, like the Midget for instance (which isn't quieter in the mids but you'll need to boost the lows which will eat up a suitable amount of headroom). I guess you could also play some games with the acoustics, using them to your detriment to suck out lows and waste power. I'm looking forward to gigging with my Shuttle - my rack rig is so far removed in that it has such massive headroom and almost zero distortion or compression in the signal chain that when you play louder it gets louder and louder and louder - much greater dynamic range than even the drums, which can lead to drowning out the rest of the band on fortissimo moments if you're not careful! Easy to forget how reliant even the live sound of rock and roll (and everything that it sired) is on compression. Alex

Well the Hartke amps aren't bad at all. And a cab like the VX410 probably sounds as good as many other cabs when its running within its limits - however because it uses cheap drivers its limits will be low. And if the acoustics are in your favour and maybe you prefer the lower colouration of the Hartke's preamp then it's an easy win for the cheap rig. What is your Ampeg/Mesa rig? Alex

[quote name='d-basser' post='563901' date='Aug 9 2009, 12:09 AM']Looking good, I am sick of shifting my Fafner and Black Widow combination up and down 3 floors from my flat so thinking a Shuttle and Compact is the perfect soloution. Think a midget would be perfect to either as a an addition or with the shuttle when playing really small acoustic gigs. Out of interest Alex how well does the midget sit on top of the compact? Is the midget the same high as the compact is wide or do they not stack neatly?[/quote] The Midget is exactly the same height as the Compact is wide, and they're the same depth too so the corners interlock (though sometimes a forceful wiggle may be required to seat them into each other). With something like the Shuttle 6.0 pushing it I think the Midget could hang in a rock band as long as you have PA support to fill in the lows, it really is very loud indeed! Alex

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='565542' date='Aug 10 2009, 11:20 PM']Hi - what are the connectors like? Screws seem like a bad idea? Can't the leads be soldered to prevent further mishaps?[/quote] They're pretty chunky screw terminals so with enough wire in there and done up tight I can't see them ever working loose. The woofer itself has screw terminals too, though they're ones you do up by hand, so I think it's fairly normal practice for high power gear. Definitely user error (with me being the user!) Alex

[quote name='SS73' post='565688' date='Aug 11 2009, 09:49 AM']Ok that makes sense, but because the ported cab is producing more sound and moving more air, would this not affect speed.[/quote] No. Alex

[quote name='SS73' post='565668' date='Aug 11 2009, 09:30 AM']...if you strike a note with a sealed 10 the speaker moves back until it can't compress the air in the cab further then that compression drives the speaker cone back ready for the next signal, with a ported cab it will travel back further creating more sound and pushing more air but on its way back there's not much help from compression so its just the spring in the material to get it back so it must be slower surely.[/quote] If the speaker didn't move back to the centrepoint quickly enough then the note would go out of tune. It has to move at the input frequency - that determines the speed. One of the key factors which differentiates ported and sealed cabs is that properly designed sealed cabs use speakers which have weaker motors and looser suspension so they rely on the back pressure to damp their movement, whilst a well designed ported cab uses speakers with stronger motors and tighter suspension so the damping comes from the driver itself. Alex

[quote name='davidmpires' post='565661' date='Aug 11 2009, 09:14 AM']But that's not the case with the Compact. It's quick without having a mid or a tweeter and it's also sealed.[/quote] Definitely not sealed - big slot port at the front! The sound has plenty of midrange and a fair bit of treble - although it's a single driver it isn't a subwoofer, hence it has the transient attack to sound quick. Alex

A badly designed ported cab may indeed have boomy lows. But a well designed ported cab will be just as quick as a sealed cab - any impression of slowness will simply be due to it having more bottom - lows by their very nature cannot be fast. The overriding factor for whether a cab sounds quick or not is its midrange and treble response - the more it makes of the attack transients, the quicker it will sound. The quickest tightest most impulse perfect subwoofer will always sound slow until a midrange/treble speaker is added. Alex

I have to say I really do feel like a complete moron having had this happen. Ah well, live and learn... Alex

[quote name='Musicman20' post='565493' date='Aug 10 2009, 10:36 PM']When I used the Compact test cab for the first time with an Ampeg SVT Pro 3 (not my amp by the way) we had a fair bit of volume. Then it dropped whilst we were tweaking the EQ....it dropped by about 75%...not sure if it was a connection on the amp or cab. I turned it all off, changed power supplies, no luck. Took the cables in and out....no luck. Took the cables in and and out again, it was fine. I think it was an amp problem...not sure.[/quote] That doesn't sound like a cab problem. Plus there's not exactly much to go wrong in the Compact - Speakon connector, one lead, speaker, that's it! Chris has established that it's what I thought so I've sent him instructions on how to fix it. If he has any problems I'll get it back and sort it out but it should be pretty straightforward. Alex

Oh dear... Why is there such a huge miss to hit rate with heavier music? Alex

[quote name='dood' post='564995' date='Aug 10 2009, 02:10 PM']Cheers Alex, just to add a bit of clarity - I'd be looking at anything up to a 6x10 size cab in a 'single solution' or up to the size of a 4x10 in a multiple box solution. Ie the Forge Bass thang is pretty spot on for a single box, including Tri-amping etc.[/quote] I think you'll have to test out the first T'Big One and see if it's loud enough. Do you wear ER15s or 25s? Alex

Get a decent used one - StingRay 5 is a fine choice - and then should you find the sound/ergonomics are not for you you'll not be hit with a wodge of depreciation. I played 4-string for 11 years, switched over last year, and I can't see any reason to suggest beginners avoid 5-strings. My main bugbear with fives was a lack of tension on the low B (hence I ended up with a custom extra-long scale five) but it seems not to bother most people and as you've only been playing a few months you'll probably not even notice it! Alex

If you want a modular solution then the forthcoming Big Baby and Baby Sub will sound incredibly similar to the Big One but be in two smaller lighter boxes, will go a bit lower and a bit louder. Alex

[quote name='chris_pokkuri' post='564741' date='Aug 10 2009, 10:24 AM']Ha ha! I can't imagine it would have blown, I haven't used it with the LH1000 louder than 5/6 so it shouldn't have been put to its limits![/quote] Even if 5/6 on the volume is full power on the peaks (unlikely though) you'd have to be pushing right into heavy clipping/limiting to get the average value high enough to cause thermal problems, by which point you'd be hearing a load of distortion, whilst mechanical (excursion) damage is practically impossible with that woofer and bass guitar. I'll apologise in advance for the likely loose screw culprit. Alex

[quote name='The Funk' post='564736' date='Aug 10 2009, 10:17 AM']Ok, just to confuse things further, once you've got a flat response cab, how will it interact with the actual PA cabs on stage?[/quote] If you're running a DI into the PA then your stage sound should end up more similar to the FOH sound than with a less flat cab. Sadly nothing is ever truly flat so there will always be a host of other factors to mess things up - damned acoustics! Bear in mind though that flat on-axis doesn't really mean a lot - what matters is how the performance is at all angles. Alex

P.S. If you've managed to blow the woofer I'll give you a prize! Alex

[quote name='chris_pokkuri' post='564700' date='Aug 10 2009, 09:29 AM']Or could it be a problem with the cab, Alex would be able to answer this - If the driver on the 15" broke for some reason and only the mid driver was working, because of the awesome crossover no lows would come through?[/quote] Check how it sounds with your other cab - if that's fine then I bet something has come loose on the woofer side of the crossover. I had a similar problem with another cab from that batch which was simply because I hadn't screwed the terminals down hard enough on the woofer lead - solution: bigger screwdriver! I now give every lead going into a screw terminal a hefty pull to make sure its firmly seated. Let me know and I'll talk you through how to get the grill off, woofer out and check the crossover if need be. Alex

[quote name='Uncle Balsamic' post='564626' date='Aug 10 2009, 01:11 AM']Are you going to update the Big One to be more flat or not?[/quote] No. It's just that it's brighter in the treble than it should be, which in practice on the gig helps you hear yourself better - plus it's easy to cut treble with EQ. One of my earlier crossover designs had a switchable circuit for flattening the treble response but it sounded better without it! I bet it's flatter through the midrange, especially at high SPL, than any other bass cabs. Alex

[quote name='dood' post='563836' date='Aug 8 2009, 10:20 PM']An uncoloured backline, like a blank canvas that I can paint my tones on to, would be nothing short of a miracle! - Especially if it was in one nice neat (large) box that I could plug my outboard in to and know that I had headroom and more than enough volume to take on any situation that would require it.[/quote] Whilst the Big One isn't as stupidly uncoloured as I originally planned, with the additional tweeter it's certainly better than most PA systems you're used to going through. Regarding the Acmes, now that I've done more measurements of my own systems I'm starting to suspect they're not quite as flat through the midrange as I thought. However they do go very low indeed - the tradeoff is that a single Big One will spank two B2s in maximum output. Alex