alexclaber

Les on Tommy the Cat is brilliant! Jaco on Havona. And Willie Weeks on Everything is Everything. Oh yeah. Cliff Burton's solo on Orion is pretty great - most people mistake it for the very last guitar solo because he's using full-on metal distortion and wailing high up the neck. I have to say though that a great bass solo is a rare thing, it's just not built for it! Alex

[quote name='Musicman20' post='556698' date='Jul 30 2009, 11:43 PM']The double midget sounds good...how will it compare in weight to the Compact...and how will it compare in tone? I presuming roughly the same size?[/quote] A smidgeon taller, more sensitive, slightly greater power handling, more midrange, less bottom. Slightly heavier because each 12" driver is almost as heavy as each 15" driver. Alex

[quote name='pete.young' post='545793' date='Jul 20 2009, 10:16 PM']In a vain attempt to drag you back on topic, when will Midgets be available and what about Big Baby ?[/quote] Midgets should be in next couple of weeks, Big Baby box will be done by then too but probably a fair bit of crossover tweaking before release. Alex

[quote name='Sjonnie' post='556419' date='Jul 30 2009, 06:23 PM']If only it would be possible to try these cabs in the EU in the same way you can try them in the UK...[/quote] Now that I've found that very few cabs end up coming back I'd be happy to extend the free trial to the EU - you just have to bear in mind that it'll cost about £30 to return it if the two of you don't get on. (I've also found that those that spontaneously buy the cabs are far far more likely to return them than those that have made a more considered decision - maybe I need to send out an 'are you sure you've chosen the right model for you?' questionnaire before shipping! ) Unfortunately as soon as you go outside the EU the cost of shipping goes absolutely through the roof! Alex

Quite a long way off at the moment. Although I'm pretty set on what I'm going to do regarding the components, tuning, dimensions, I have get to get into the details of the crossover design. Costs-wise, I'd expect it to be in the region of £1500 for a pair of fullrange 3-way speakers, though I might do some discounted introductory prices to get the ball rolling in that market. When it comes to subwoofers I'm still working through the ideas. Probably going to go with a dual 12" direct radiator model that is suitable for bands and DJs, and then a single 12" horn which is better for install or large PAs (because you need lots of them or a guaranteed corner/wall position to get the benefits from the horn). Regarding passive vs active, the lower echelons of the market seem to all be plastic and active whilst the better gear is plywood and passive with outboard DSP etc. The latter approach is certainly more versatile. One thing I hope to achieve with these is actually have a small pair of cabs that can really whomp without a separate subwoofer! How satisfying would it be as a function band to take such a small simple PA with you and get better sound than you did with those plastic tops and a subwoofer that weighed a ton? Alex

I wouldn't give them names but I don't mind others referring to them as such. Like the Low-B2 also being the Acme 210 in some people's eyes. Alex

[quote name='mildmanofrock' post='556264' date='Jul 30 2009, 03:54 PM']Yep, those Crown amps look really good. Sorry Alex, what will the patches do on your models? I'm a bit crap with abbreviations like Berg IP, HT and DSP. [/quote] A DSP is a digital signal processor. The Berg IP has one of these built into the onboard power amp, which provides EQ, filtering, compression and limiting to make the cab sound much louder and deeper than you'd expect from something of its size. The XTi amps have a DSP built in and you can download patches for them to you computer and then load them onto the amp via USB, so if you're using them to drive a JBL PA speaker system you can get those patches from JBL's website. Now obviously my cabs are already designed to go stupidly loud for their size, and even more comically loud for their weight, so they don't really need DSP to help. But if it's available then why not use it? So I can do two patches for each cab, one which provides simple highpass filtering, compression and limiting (highpass filter removes all unwanted energy below the tuning frequency to minimise wasted power and excursion, compressor would only kick in once the cab/amp are reaching their limits, and then limiter to kick in after that), and a second patch which also adds EQ to flatten and extend the response in the lows and smooth out response in the mids and highs (in addition to highpass filtering, compression and limiting). Alex

Am not calling it the Highlander - Land Rover almost called the Discovery that and the last thing I want to do is doom it to similar unreliability! I'd forgotten about the earthquake connection - the name purely came from it being the big one, whilst the Compact was the small one. Confusingly the Vintage now gets referred to as the big box whilst the Big One is the medium box... If Barefaced Big One is too embarrassing you could refer to it as the Barefaced 15/6.5 (or 15/6 or 156 or fifteen six or maybe the six fifteen or 6:15) - I prefer to avoid using nominal diameters in names simply because it continues that incorrect habit of equating sizes with tones - whilst the Compact is the 115, the Vintage the 215, the Midget the 112, etc. Alex

I have a customer that I believe is using one of these with a Compact. Will drop him an email! Personally though I don't see much value in bass amp modelling in live situations as you're almost always going to be limited by the loudspeaker cabinet performance. Alex

Somone on finnbass referred to it as the Big Juan, which amused me. Am open to suggestions on the name(s). Don't you think La Grande is too similar to the AccuGroove names? Alex

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='555662' date='Jul 29 2009, 10:13 PM']The isobaric cabs should agree nicely with the huge wattage. There aren't very sensitive but have lots of bottom for a small size (if you like your cabs they way I like my ladies).[/quote] Problem with the isobaric designs is that they're still going to be limited by the excursion limited output of the drivers on the outside. So the 2x10" will only be able to move as much air as a 1x10" and the 4x10" will only be like a 2x10" in terms of maximum fatness at gigging volume. Maybe I'm being too harsh but it strikes me as design by the marketing department - more watts and more drivers equals more better. But in reality, not. Alex

Those Crown XTi amps are such good value! I'm going to make patches available for all my models so if you use an XTi with them it'll be like the difference between a Berg IP and a HT - that DSP means you can squeeze out a surprising amount of extra loudness. Not that you're likely to need that extra output but a little bit of overkill never goes amiss in rock and roll... Alex

Not used one myself but greenboy rates them very highly - I think he replaced an Alembic with his (before getting into the V-bass), saved money and gained a whole lot more tones. Manual, schematic and tube mod (for more gain) here: [url="http://lowdownlowdown.com/greenboy/DL/Max/"]http://lowdownlowdown.com/greenboy/DL/Max/[/url] Alex

I've also worked out an alternate version which should always be used with subs (and is thus a few dB louder). Alex

[quote name='josh3184' post='554385' date='Jul 28 2009, 08:21 PM']tis my shuttle that got me gassing for a Compact![/quote] It was trying CK's Shuttle 6.0 with the first ever Compact at the SE Bass Bash last September that got me interested. Funny thing is that my main rig is a U5/PLX so you'd think I'd prefer a Markbass head. My problem now is going to be what to gig with? A Big One, a Vintage, a Compact, a Midget/Compact. Decisions, decisions... First thing first is to find how just how loud this micro-head can push the Big One! Alex

Yes, I have. What a great little head - look forward to trying it at full blast with the various Barefaced cabs. It's now in my gigbag waiting for its first outing with one of my forthcoming Midgets - that will be a mini rig with a maxi sound! Alex

If you're sensible you shouldn't have a problem bridging the LH1000 into a single medium to large cab, just don't expect to be able to crank it all the way up without the cab complaining (and then damage occurring if you ignore the bad noises). If that much power scares you then you can just use one channel. Then again the LH500 is lighter and has plenty of power. Alex

[quote name='Musicman20' post='553250' date='Jul 27 2009, 09:45 PM']How far away are double midgets with horn?! [/quote] End of August should be possible! Alex

Check out Barefaced Apparel #1 ici: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=55747"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=55747[/url] [url="http://www.redbubble.com/people/robotrobotrobot/t-shirts/3492303-1-barefaced-afro-bear"]http://www.redbubble.com/people/robotrobot...faced-afro-bear[/url] Kudos to robot.robot.ROBOT! for adding that essential je ne sais quoi, sweetie darling. Lacroix is so last century. Alex

Right, I do believe I've finally made some decisions regarding a badass wee multi-purpose PA speaker. It will be a compact 3-way design, using a high-excursion 12" woofer, a very high-sensitivity 6.5" midrange and a rather nice horn tweeter. Approximate size should be 24" high x 13.5" wide x 13.5" deep. Approximate weight should be under 35lbs. So that's 600mm x 340mm x 340mm. Best used with an amp that puts out 500-1000W per channel into 8 ohms. To get absolute maximum output the cabs should be used with a Crown XTi, for which I will be writing a model specific DSP profile with EQ/compression/filtering, but even with a generic power amp with no EQ they will exhibit smooth extended response and very high max SPL with low distortion. I can certainly provide patches for other outboard or intergrated DSPs. The aim is for a pair of these cabs to have enough output and bottom for smaller gigs without any subs being required, to be used as wide-dispersion stage monitors, and to be used in conjunction with subwoofers and extension cabs for larger gigs. They won't be cheap but they will be very very good. Alex

I would stack them vertically on top of each other, except outdoors I'd try horizontally on top of each other. I would never place them side by side unless I had more than three cabs, in which case I would cross-fire two vertical stacks of two. Alex

For a single cab vertical is better because it gets the driver further off the ground, so more mids/highs direct to your ears and less bouncing off the floor. Horizontal but on a beer crate would sound the same though. For two cabs there are pros and cons both ways but the differences are subtle. Two vertically will get more treble to your ears and should exhibit slightly more even response in the mids. You could turn the top cab upside down to get the speakers to couple higher, which will get you a bit more midrange. You could also turn the bottom cab upside down to reduce the coupling. If you put the cabs on their sides then you'll lower the baffle-step and get a bit more low midrange whilst increasing coupling to get more midrange. However as the stack won't be as tall you won't hear as much upper midrange and treble. In reality you've got so much output and power handling with a pair that you can do whatever you prefer aesthetically and tweak the tone in with EQ, though I think if I was outdoors without PA support I'd lean towards stacking them on their sides for the extra directionality. Alex

I'm not sure about this 'detuned' cab design. It strikes me that it's either going to behave as a ported cab which is tuned rather high, or as an open-baffle cab, neither of which will perform as well as a well designed ported design. Once I have a Double Midget on my hands I'll block the ports and measure it with only one speaker loaded and let you know what's actually happening. Alex

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='551324' date='Jul 25 2009, 07:17 PM']Well, lightly amplified acoustic and 2 vocals through a little PA is what we usually get, and possibly a quiet drummer. I currently use a Lowdown 110 (75W) and that easily covers what i do with this outfit.[/quote] For that then I'd want something as loud as that Celestion 10", I'm sure it's a better speaker than whatever's in the Lowdown. From the Barefaced perspective I'd expect the Midget to cover that role admirably whilst being able to go much much louder if need be and work modularly with the Compact, so if I were looking to do a lower volume practice cab I'd be going quite a bit smaller and less sensitive. Alex