4 Strings

Thanks again everyone, interesting thoughts about port chuff. There is certainly plenty of air coming out that tube. I'll have a listen tomorrow (bit late now!). I'm certainly not putting 200W through it so it but it is a bassy signal to compensate for the cab size. I read somewhere about the K-200 having a low Qts reduces its bass response. I don't know what that is. I'd be grateful not to have to buy a new driver (but would still like to know any experience with the Celestion BN12 300X) Its a great little cab, nicely made and I'd be prepared to accept its well designed. I read here: [url="http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=hug&n=42234&highlight=jdruley"]http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=...ghlight=jdruley[/url] that someone had worked out a 4" dia tube around 3" long. I have no idea about ports, would I need one a foot long?

Thanks everyone, just to clear up a few things; No its not the original driver, nor is the port original. Yes it sounds fine, (of course not big and deep like a bigger cabinet, but then its a little 1x12) but breaks up a bit too early. I'm not too phased by whether its 200 or 300W rated as the amp is 350W anyway but won't be turned up too much (my very regular cab is a 200W 2x10 which, bless it, never complains even for very noisy gigs). Just looking for a suitable upgrade in driver and wondered if there was any experience in suitable . Turns out the current driver is a Beyma K-200, not familiar with it myself. Has a huge magnet but no impedance marked. Thanks again

I have a little Portabass 112 which needs a beefier driver. The speaker in it is not the original but works well, bit sensitive to signal (needs a good strong one with plenty of bass in it to get an deep tone, which can go nice and deep). However, I'd like to use it for rehearsal for a particular band but it needs a bit more volume without breaking up. Can anyone recommend a 12" that's not going to cost me too much which is going to punch out a good volume with plenty of depth that I can use as a substitute. The cabinet is around 13cu in (ie about 14 x 14 x 12) with a 3" port - don't know the tube length, could measure it if necessary - in place of the tweeter. I've been looking at the Celestion BN12 300X or the BL12 200 (bit heavier) and the LOOK suitable but I'll never know what they sound like unless I buy one and put it in. Fane Sovereign looks good too. Any ideas?

One of my pet wants is an original B15. A reissue would be a second, and I thought this would be a poor third. Since your description I would love to put in a order. It is very nice and from your description of the sound it would be perfect for the Motown band I'm in. Flat wounds an'all. Jealous. Is it 30W? Being No.2 means you have a good investment too.

Off the original subject now but one of the main things is for the cab not to be rocking (no pun intended!) or loose on its footing in any way (bit like putting your hi-fi speakers on spikes etc) as those low frequencies will be ruined. Agreed about the booming of wooden box stages, I knock off a bit of bass sometimes to avoid deep boom, as you say each venue to its own. You can buy foam decouplers to do the job. I don't have enough conclusive experience to set out any rules but, as a habit, I sit my cab flat and square. Years ago I had a little combo which sounded better tipped back on the floor than lifted on a chair but that's about all I'll argue. Back to original subject, yes top-hats should work well, I'd use bolts and big washers.

Its best to drill all the way through and use nuts and bolts with washers, the largest bolt that will go through the holes on the castors will do, large size washers on the inside will spread any load on the wood. (You'll need to take a speak out to get to the inside, won't have to touch the wiring though.) Otherwise screw length is limited to the thickness of the wood minus a bit. Hit a little lump somewhere and it could partially rip a screw or two out. Another thought is that, for some, its important to have a good contact between the cabinet and the floor/ground/stage and this will be compromised with castors. In which case put them on the side or back. Doesn't look great, but if you agree with the cabinet/contact thing they look foolish on the bottom. (Could always turn the cabinet on its side to play)

Interesting, what cross over do you use, or is it inbuilt to you amp?

Its truly an amazing piece of work, congratulation. I would have no idea how to go about tuning it, let alone playing it.

[quote name='tino' post='1000222' date='Oct 25 2010, 04:22 PM']Standby switches....................whats them all about????? [/quote] As you probably know, these are on valve amps. I always thought to keep the valve heater on without the rest of it operating to prolong its life. I had a look to find out really why and found this: [i][/i]"The standby switch usually allows the HT to be turned off while the heater and bias supplies are always on."[i][/i] Ok so far... [i][/i]"If you're wondering why all those old amps use a standby switch, its because Fender was designing complicated amps on the cheap. In the bigger versions of the Bassman, money was saved by using power supply caps that were rated only for the working voltage, not the peak voltage which occurred before that valves start drawing current. As everyone knows, Marshall simply copied the Bassman without a second thought, complete with standby switch, so now we have the two biggest names in the industry using standby switches, and the rest is history. The other big players, Vox and Gibson, never used standby switches since they didn't need them. Only very recently have they started adding them, purely because too many guitarists want their amp to look just like a Fender/Marshall, even though nowadays no designer (who values his reputation) uses underrated capacitors. But the average amp tech doesn't know this." [i][/i] How about that (assuming its true) So, maybe you're right but for reasons way beyond my previous knowledge (Found it here: [url="http://www.freewebs.com/valvewizard1/standby.html)"]http://www.freewebs.com/valvewizard1/standby.html)[/url]

Same rules apply as to active basses discussed above. I agree with Warwickhunt that active inputs are provided more 'because we can' than anything else. The no frills but serious Hartke mentioned is a prime example showing that its unnecessary. In actual fact, the workhorse HA350 is a little like it in that the 'gain' controls are there to provide the selected blend of valve and tranny pre-amp. I never move these. (But then I never use the graphic, compressor or anything else, only on rare occasions will the wrongly named 'lo pass' get a tweak for the room.)

Never knew about the OBBM but I have made up plenty of identical cables with Neutrics Silents and Vandamme cable and can only do it the same cost (and its my soldering as opposed to by someone who knows what they are doing!). Cables using these components are very reliable, sound perfect and robust. Use OBBM, they are doing it for what would be cost to you an me. (As an aside I have been monitoring the reliability of the Silent jacks and finding them to be fine in the long run (1 year so far), but watch sideways force. I found this can put a very slight angle on the shaft which makes the little slidey bit stick. Can repair simply by gently applying force the other way to straighten and all is right again.

Pretty soon the fake worn look fad will have passed and you'll be left with a great bass which you have mutilated. Get is as you want by all means, but, for me, I'd make it look perfect then set about wearing it out by using it and be amazed at how much my bass playing improves in the process.

Pretty soon the fake worn look fad will have passed and you'll be left with a great bass which you have mutilated. Get is as you want by all means, but, for me, I'd make it look perfect then set about wearing it out by using it and be amazed at how much my bass playing improves in the process.

+1 to watching every week, always enjoy the show, but I do agree the standouts seem to get less and less. I have plenty of cds bought on the basis of being impressed by a performance on Jools. I even used to keep some acts onto dvds but have not been tempted this time. I think this is directly proportional to the record company PR effect. I would certainly welcome the unsigned British band spot. Dave Bronze is clearly a competent bass player, but listening to Crossroads sounds rather like a pub band. Jools Hammond was the highlight!

Unless I've missed something there's a resistor on the active input to attenuate it to allow some meat on the gain control before the pre-amp clips. No damage, especially if its not clipping. Like Sockdeluxe I use the passive input all the time, mine with a Stingray. Never been a problem, been doing it a long time. (Not really sure why, just means the volume control is set a little lower. Feels punchier but I doubt that it actually is.)

Hey Josh - I'm having fun! No idea how or when I'll get a chance to use it. (I have a large auditorium gig at the end of Jan which might offer an opportunity.) I once saw Lotus Elans run rings around bigger and more powerful cars at a classic car race, very impressive. Bit like 10s vs monsters such as this. Using this cab is a bit like driving a big jag, at power at ease. There will be smaller and better cabs but this seems effortless. (Shifting isn't, its nar-on a hundredweight!)

I think the amp (not so much the cheeky name) is groovy, but mainly because I would love the Ampeg original. Can't afford one of those so the next best thing would be the Portaflex reissue. I would assume the Ashdown is going to have be cheaper than the Ampeg (not that hard!) to be attractive - can't afford the reissue either but think I might be disappointed laying out a wad (as surely it will be) on a copy without the little, illuminated glass plate. It looks really nice though. Does it come with a dolly too?

Just a little note on my experience with the weak G. The sparkle from the treble knob turned up can make the G overcoming. However, the G did seem a tad weak after I got used to my '79 'Ray and, of course I had the pickup as close as possible to the string. It does 'choke' when too close, the magnets are very strong and they affect the string and it gives a weak phasey sort of sound. I learnt to move the pickup away from the G string, balancing across by moving the E end away further, which solved the issue. Be careful not to go too close with the G, move the E side away. There is loads of output so you wont lose power. My G is nice and strong, just don't have the pickup as close as on other guitars. No doubt the volume might be set slightly higher than before, not enough to notice.

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1012497' date='Nov 4 2010, 07:55 PM']Bi-amping with a crossover will allow you to send more bass to the Monster without worrying about the 10"s (plus it's theoretically a bit louder for the amount of watts under certain circumstances). Whether it's worth it or not will depend on the 10"s - I'd imagine if you're driving them hard you'll get a cleaner, tighter mid-range while still getting a big fat bass from the Monster. It's probably not worth using a passive crossover. I suppose you could try a simple high-pass cap to protect the 10"s if you want to send ridiculous amounts of low-end to the monster. EDIT: Just noticed Stevie's post and realised I hadn't spotted you were driving the amp below 4ohm! In which case, what he said. Crossover or bi-amp.[/quote] Yep, realise its running at an average 3 Ohm but, to be honest, the Monster will be out on occasional use (more's the shame).

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1012256' date='Nov 4 2010, 04:20 PM']No. There isn't enough difference in the response of the two cabs to justify it. All bass cabs are full range, quite different from better PA cabs that are designed to operate within distinct bandwidths.[/quote] Fair enough, I was trying to make life easier for the top cab as it would no longer be required to reproduce low frequencies. Even with bi-amps there's no crossover so the same goes to both (sets of) speakers.

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1012299' date='Nov 4 2010, 05:03 PM']I think a good 10" now might beat a bad 18" from back in the day, but not a good one - not by that much at least. Highest excursion specs I've seen on any PA 10" woofer are about 5mm xmax (though this depends on measuring method). Plus a modern 18" will have all the same technological advantages as the 10". If we assume Bill's conservative estimate of 4mm for the Monster, you're looking at 13mm! I'd be amazed if any 10" drivers could do that with anything like a reasonable sensitivity - and thermal power handling of 10" PA drivers seems to be capped around 250-300 watts. A set of four 10"s, though and you're laughing[/quote] Difficult to do an A/B for 18" vs four 10"s as they are usually designed to do different jobs. I have a wonderful Trace 4x10, which has a very deep cabinet but it doesn't seem to go as deep in bass as the Hartke 2x10, nor anything like the Monster. (I had a Trace 1518 (15") years ago and that did. It was wonderful, I long for the days when I used to gig with that lot!) I'm sure the A/B could be set up and show a favourable comparison with suitably designed speakers and cabinets but I can't help think that the 10s will be trying hard to do what a speaker like the Monster does with ease. Lastly, where does the 13mm you mention come from?