Phil Starr

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1461656453' post='3036413'] Phil the first solid state amps like the Vox T60 were not even using 2N3055 transistors. Of course the real boost in power came with MOSFET. They could be paralleled up to get more current as in the latter HH professional power amps, Trace, Ashdown and Ampeg among others used this technique. [/quote] Yes and of course the Mosfets weren't susceptible to thermal secondary breakdown so reliability improved. About that time there was the introduction of integrated circuits as well which made a further huge difference in mass produced amps. I suppose I was answering the OP's question about why early SS amps were so poor. They were under powered due to the cost of high voltage components and unreliable/unstable due to the technology available. We went a long way in the ten years following the early attempts at high powered ss amps. I guess underneath the OP's question is the thought that we are in the first few years of commercial Class D amps and the problems of these will be sorted as more reliable and better engineered solutions are worked out.

Most of the first generation SS amps used the 2N3055 transistors as output devices. These were cheap and handled quite a lot of power but were limited to 70volts and only developed just over 60W into 8ohms. Like all bipolar output transistors they were liable to breaking down very quickly when hot and many did. Protection circuits were developed but many of these sounded awful or even shut the amp down when triggered. A lot of the early amps also oscillated at high frequencies which didn't help either. A lot of early class AB designs also suffered from a lot of artefacts (distortion) at the point where the output transistors crossed over. More consistent component manufacture and the adoption of split rail power supplies helped. When the HH amps came along they used the superior 2N3773 which ran at 100V and better protection circuitry was developed. The price of components also fell rapidly and for bass and PA a load of output transistors were run in parallel increasing the power handling. Is that geeky enough?

Yep, I think the solution is fairly simple. You've tried a range of amps and not liked the sound of any of them. It must be either the bass or the speakers. Maybe head for the next Bass Bash in your area, or just networking with a few basschatters up there if you can't find a good shop?

[quote name='Subthumper' timestamp='1461446024' post='3034762'] I get to talk to a lot of regular players in the guitar shop I work in and it always amazes me how much pa gear a lot of bands use. Even when using old school big backline a lot of guys are micing cabs and drums in a tiny venue with a pa using tops and bass bins. Surely it's over complicating the setup and far more than a small venue needs. You only need an engineer if you have a complicated setup. [/quote] [quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1461502105' post='3035172'] If you want to get better gigs then you have to sound better, and if you want to sound better that means doing whatever you can to differentiate your band from the rest. That means good PA, and someone to run it. Even if he's not George Martin he will still give you something that no one on the stage can: a set of ears in the audience. [/quote] I think this is the point where a decision has to be made. Bill is right of course a set of reliable ears in the audience will be the biggest thing you can do to improve your sound once you've got a basic package. Getting a decent mix is something that is going to make your band sound so much better than the other bands around and potentially get you more and better work. There's really no substitute for someone hearing what the audience hears. However IME there is a shortage of people with decent ears who are prepared to give up their time to do the job week in and week out. I've never found one for any of my bands who can make every gig. That's where you pretty much have to make the decision to keep it simple, back line and vocals only PA. There's little point in miking up cabs etc if there is no-one to mix and if the technical help isn't always available you have to design a system that works without it.

Never in doubt, well done.

I won't be the only on to have picked this up but there's an interesting bit of research on his remarkable voice. The easy read is http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/04/new-scientific-study-confirms-the-audience-freddie-mercury-had-an-unparalleled-singing-voice/ and if you want it from the horses mouth http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/14015439.2016.1156737 good luck with this one if you aren't a scientist Apparently he was a natural baritone singing in a higher range and had unusual use of his ventricular folds in the voicebox. the authors neither confirm nor deny his ability to sing over four octaves, Wish I could manage two. Fascinating.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1461188501' post='3032368'] I haven't seen EV mentioned & I've just ordered spme of there speakers ..I hope I haven't made a huge mistake . [/quote] They are good speakers if you got them at a decent price. I did a shoot out a couple of years back and they were more articulate than the JBL's, warmer and more 'natural sounding' (struggling for the right words there) than the Yamahas. The RCF's however give a lot more detail in the vocals and are freer of resonances especially the ones with the larger horn drivers, but at a higher price than the others. I've heard a lot of local bands using EV's to good effect.

Stop worrying about impedance. Because of the way we perceive sound the extra 200W only give you a barely noticeable increase in sound level. Technical explanation here https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/gear_maintenance/making_it_loud.html Choose on the basis of sound and practicality

Sad but true most bands don't notice the bass player until they are gone. Your job as they will see it is to keep it simple and tight. All they are looking for is Will the new guy work at it (25/30 songs says yes) Does he have the pro attitude and gear (take all you'd need at a gig and your best bass, spare in the car)? Will he fit in with the band or cause a lot of strife? how quickly can we get gigging with him? If you can play 25 of their songs then it isn't going to take you long to learn the extra 5. Play like the original but erring on the side of simplicity. Make sure you listen to them, smile a lot and relax. If you've got the gig you'll all relax forget it's an audition and just play music. You'll just be musicians having fun and their bassist headache will be over. In half an hour you'll only get to play four of five songs. They may choose them or you might have to suggest some, be prepared either way. Good Luck let us know

Depends upon what you mean by paying well. It's mainly small country pubs and £200-250 is the going rate unless you get functions. Skidder has pointed you in the right direction. Lemonrock covers pretty much all the venues round here and contact details are on the site.

I find it hard to believe a simple drop would create enough acceleration to o that much damage. I suspect the speaker might have been loose inside the van.That would make it the responsibility of the courier. Unless it was damaged before it left. Write to the courier. Point out that the cab was undamaged so the packaging was adequate. The damage was clearly caused by a violent deceleration. Tell them that you intention is to repair the item and then bill them for the repair via the small claims court if necessary.

There's a local covers band (Blue Arse Fly) who have gone down this route, electronic kit, no backline, musicians with IEM's. I think they had some vocal monitors turned down low but that may be a false memory. Behind the stage you could clearly hear the tapping of the sticks on the rubber pads and a bit of vocals acoustically, out front it sounded like most of us probably sound. Quite enjoyed them. I'd find the atmosphere a bit odd but I wonder if you get used to it.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1460798544' post='3028795'] Obviously it's not illegal to send the pot around or for the pub to say "it's for the band", and then keep it. We've had that happen in the past. Currently all the gigs that put the jug around give us the money. There are no "rules", so there is nothing you can do except cross the gig off your list. If it's a good gig I'd still do it. [/quote] It's in France so who knows but in the UK it's illegal, actually fraud. Of course nobody can actually afford to enforce the law though there have been cases where restaurant owners have been prosecuted for not passing tips on to staff. I'm with the OP though, you get to a point where dealing with dodgy dishonest B*******s just leaves such a nasty taste that life is too short to put up with it.

[quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1460119139' post='3022765'] Looking forward to making some more progress, but work and other things have a habit of getting in the way so I'm not sure when I'll get the chance which is a bit frustrating. [/quote] That's why I don't have a full set of instructions written up yet.

There's a few reasons for battening all round. It increases the glue area, actually it doubles it increasing the strength and reducing the chance of failure. It also braces all the panels, effectively supporting them further in towards their centres and helps with panel resonance. Mainly though for a home builder it means you can screw your cab together which holds it whilst the glue sets. This makes it a whole lot easier if you don't have a set of clamps to hand. Drill out the battens and screw them on from inside, make sure the screws are short enough that they don't penetrate through the cab walls. I mark out all the panels before starting. Screw and glue all the battens on first then make a sleeve of the top bottom and sides. and sides. If you slide the back and the baffle in whilst the glue is drying they will hold the cab square until the glue is set. Then you can glue in the back. I fix the baffle with screws and a gasket. If you can't get the baffle out then screw something into the bit you will cut out for the speaker and pull on that, obviously not a problem if you have done the cutout first. Good luck, I hope you like it.

I used to build PA systems in the early 70's. The problem then was lack of volume and that dominated everything. Backline had to often do the job of the PA and reach the back of the room. Early solid state amps struggled for power, the early WEM amps wouldn't really do 100W and the HH amps only gave a lttle more (I'll see your 2N3055 and raise it a 2N3773 Dad ) Valve amps were heavy and expensive. Speaker drive units were low powered due to the materials they were made of and burnt out frequently. As a consequence speakers for PA were huge with a lot of drive units and a lot of complex horns around. The sound quality of live bands was frankly fairly iffy most of the time as few people could afford enough gear to do much better and 'engineers' were making it up as they went along. We didn't care though, it was our music and no-one had done it before so we didn't know any better, and it was louder than any music that we had ever heard. So the reason we use more powerful amps is two fold. It's cheaper and so we can afford it and it makes more sense to ditch the huge, hyper efficient speakers and carry something manageable in terms of size and weight.

Lemonrock is worth checking depending upon where you are in the country. It's a subscription based site for pub bands mainly, though free to gig goers. Not so many ads as the above but they are pretty much all from gigging musicians/bands so a lot fewer dreamers to sift through. Open mics and music shops always worth a trawl. I find JMB quite useful but word your ad carefully. As soon as you put the words 'gigging cover band' in you'll sift out the youngsters looking to form a first band, the dreamers who've written 200 great songs 'looking to put an album together' and those just looking for someone to jam with.

[quote name='Fonkbass' timestamp='1459550859' post='3017702'] Ok, i see your point on the Fane's, do you think the Beyma's would suit the Simplexx 212 design? [/quote] Stevie's right, or you could copy the design for the 1x12 we've been working on. If you wanted a 2x12 it wouldn't take a minute for one of us to re calculate the porting for a 2x12 twice the volume of the 1x12.

[quote name='Fonkbass' timestamp='1459446806' post='3016729'] Thanks Passwind, i'm beginning to realize this fact....i also had a look at Bill F's Simplexx 212, at least a choice of drivers is offered. I like the look of the Fane 12 500LF....I wonder if they will work with the Simplexx I've had Fane in the past and like the sound of them. [/quote] The Fane Sovereign range aren't great for bass guitar on their own, they are designed to be the bottom end of a PA speaker really. The response is usually flat and rolls off fairly low down. If you were going to use them in a multiway design then they might sound fine. Generally anything labelled LF won't be too good for bass on their own as they are designed for LF only.

Confession, I bought mine from Lidl, if the Aldi one is the same then the arbor (bit in the middle) is standard and you'll be able to buy any number of cutters that fit, should you later need a different size. Good spot Stevie.

Go for it, there's a lot of great music there to play and far too many people competing over earlier decades which have ever reducing audiences.

If you like the rig then buy another cab, it'll make a real difference to the sound which doubling the amp output won't equal. If that isn't enough then a Thumpinator or another HPF will limit the subsonic bass and clean up your sound much better than just backing the bass off a couple of clicks and will achieve that without affecting your sound.

30mm, I haven't looked it up but the cone will travel something like 14mm, you'll want some sort of grille to protect the cone and that will need some clearance so the cone doesn't hit. Most grilles end up with dents or a sag, so make that generous then you'll probably want the cabinet sides extending beyond the grille to protect it, maybe another 10mm. 30mm is a minimum in a practical cab that is going to be chucked in the back of a van. IME It'd be better if you did want it less to simply reduce the depth of the sides which would make the cab slightly (probably insignificantly) easier to carry. I mount all my speakers from the front, and simply run a gasket of draught proofing foam stuck to the baffle if there isn't a gasket on the speaker.

Maybe if I make it to the Festival this year!

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1459420936' post='3016324'] I'm still keeping the SM212 in mind as a possible option for my DIY cabs (which have Eminence Betas currently), but I'd want to spend some more time with the Betas before deciding if actually have a need to change. If I end up in a louder band some time, that might tip the balance... [/quote] Honestly I don't think the SM212 would be an upgrade, just different. The efficiency is roughly the same. The SM212 has a better xmax so will handle deep bass at higher power before farting out but the Beta isn't bad at that. At the other end the Beta has a nicely shaped upper mid peak and the SM212 a flatter response and slightly better top but I'd be reluctant to call one 'better' in that respect, just different. The extra Xmax and the cast chassis of the SM212 edged it for me at the time but I'd happily see people use the Beta. If curiosity overcomes you I suggest you try just one of the SM212's