stevie

Software suggestions, Woody? And is latency a problem?

My rule of thumb is to match the amp output with the AES power rating of the speaker. That usually gives a good match in my experience and should be relatively safe as long as you're careful. Many of the popular 500W amps produce about 300W at 8 ohms, which makes a 300W speaker a good match. The driver manufacturers test their products to AES standard and publish the results, but some bass cab manufacturers use their own figures, which can be much higher. Look for an AES rating, sometimes stated as rms. Anything else is likely to be 'music power', or twice the AES rating. Having said that, there's a lot more to it than power ratings. Ideally, you want your amplification to be cruising. So if in doubt, use speakers with a much higher power handling spec than the amp you're using - if you can.

I suggested that to him. He's already got a Roland 61-key midi keyboard. I thought he could hook that up to a laptop to get his sounds, but he didn't seem all that keen. Could that be a way to go, I wonder?

It hadn't occurred to me to try a shop, but Absolute Music isn't a million miles away. So that's a good option. I checked out some YouTube videos on the DS61 and it looks ideal. Unfortunately, it's a bit outside the budget at the moment, and used ones are hardly any cheaper than new. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Good advice, thanks all. The keyboard's for my son, who is Grade 7 piano but has never played a synth. So I really think he'll want something that he can get usable sounds from without too much messing. I wondered what was happening with the prices. A used DS doesn't seem to be much cheaper than a new one. I also found the used Juno D £250 D on Ebay. I'll keep looking now that I have a shortlist.

£100 sounds good. The Roland DS loooks ideal but it more expensive. Thanks for the tip about the buttons.

Thanks - I'll take a look. I know absolutely nothing about portable keyboards.

Some good, usable sounds including piano without the need to programme is the idea. I'll check the Rolands out.

What's a decent and cheap piano/keyboard that's band-capable? Preferably used and not requiring a degree in electronics. Thanks!

They're both fine components. You could spend a lot more and do a lot worse.

I've never been a great fan of plastic speaker cabinets. They've always had a certain sound signature - like they're playing in a bucket. I'm aware that the technology has improved somewhat recently but I'm not impressed by the fact that the top-of-the-range RCFs still need a wooden side-to-side brace to keep them quiet. We did a direct comparison recently of the Basschat MkIII DIY cab with one of the 12" active plastic boxes mentioned above (no names, but there was a Q on the front of the box), and the difference in the quality of the bass at volume was marked. On the other hand, the midrange of the active cab was excellent with voice - which is what you'd expect from a PA cab. The other thing is that the drivers in these cabs are nowhere near what you find in a Barefaced or Vandkerkley unless you're prepared to spend well over a grand. And even with the superb top-of-the-range RCFS, you're spending your money unnecessarily on large-diameter compression drivers - which are great for voice but total overkill for bass guitar. Apologies to anyone using these as their backline. Even though I'm a huge fan of full range, flat response bass cabs, I'm sticking with cabs specifically designed for bass guitar, thank you.

That's a shame. His reviews are outstanding.

These have a very good reputation on the German-speaking musicians' forums. They look well made and offer the widest choice of cabinet options I've seen anywhere.

It's easy to become confused when trying to compare speaker power handling - and the manufacturers don't do much to help. Allow me to clarify. The Eminence Eminence Beta 10 that Bill says is used in the Orange cab is rated by Eminence at 250W. That's the thermal power handling of the coil. Barefaced also rates their 10" driver at 250W. So there's no difference there. The 40W Bill mentions is the calculated power handling of the driver in a cabinet based on its xmax. The published xmax of the Beta 10 is 3mm. If we accept the Barefaced 7.5mm figure, the equivalent power handling of the Barefaced driver would be 100W. I'd be very wary of treating xmax as a reliable yardstick unless you have more detailed information than just a single figure. A bit like car fuel consumption.

During a previous discussion about flats on here some years ago, there was mention of Status flatwould strings, which are sold direct and are half the price of the usual brands. I've used TI flats before, but the price is a bit eye-watering nowadays. So I thought I might try the Status ones. Any recent experience?

A 4-ohm speaker load is only useful when your amplification is struggling for power. Your amp has plenty of power on tap - so go with an 8-ohm driver.

I don't really have a lot to add to what Phil said. I'm not a big fan of doubling up on cabs. I appreciate that people like a "wall of sound" behind them, but it tends to emphasise the low end at the expense of everything else. I would definitely advise against doubling up on the tweeter in the BCIII system, however, as two widely spaced tweeters is a sure-fire recipe for comb filtering and won't add anything useful. As Phil said, this is a really loud system. I can't see many situations where a second would be needed. Also, the compression driver configuration means that you don't need to raise the cabinet off the ground to hear it. The full range of the bass reaches your ears standing from about 1 metre in front of the cab. It's nice to see another one of these coming together.

I replaced the (thin-sounding) rear Jazz pickup on a Yamaha P/J bass with a Stingray-type humbucker and was really happy with it. I also replaced the tuners with lightweight Hipshots, which made for a much better balanced instrument. On the other hand, I put lighter tuners on my current Ibby and I don't notice any difference in comfort or balance - which is odd, but there you go.

Phil Starr, Chienmortbb and I had one of our irregular meet-ups over the weekend. After an hour or two measuring and auditioning high-end bass cabs and drivers, including a well-known active PA cab favoured by a number of Basschatters (very interesting!), we plugged this little critter in. I'd briefly heard it before, but not seriously auditioned it. This time, we turned the volume up as loud as we could dare without annoying the neighbours - and the sound was impressive. It needed a bit of bass boost, although not a huge amount it has to be said, but we certainly didn't come away with the impression that this was a cheap cab. It's tiny size means that it's ideal for home use, because you can easily stash it away in a cupboard or behind the sofa. It'll go louder than you'll ever need at home and it sounds really sweet toboot. We were unable to drive it to its max, but I can see this tiny box handling acoustic and not-too-loud gigs with ease. You'll be surprised This is by far the simplest Basschat DIY cab project so far. If you've considered building your own cab but haven't done so yet, this is a great starter project. Once you've finished, you'll have something that's very usable.

Looks fine to me. It's very close to what I ended up with on the BC MKIII, which works well.

I must have missed this thread first time round, but am surprised to read that someone thinks there's only one way of bracing a box. It's not true, of course, and the bracing you choose depends to a large extent on the cabinet you're working with. Side-to-side bracing works well with tall, narrow cabinets like hi-fi cabinets, for example. For a typical bass guitar cabinet (as well as others), my approach is to start with a figure-8 brace near the centre of the cab. That braces both side panels as well as the front and back panels and ties them all into each other. Not only does it brace the largest panels precisely where they need it most - near the centre and just above the driver cutout - but it also substantially strengthens the overall structure of the box. The second area I look at is the baffle. This is usually ignored, but it is the weakest panel because of the cutouts and because the bass driver is clamped directly to it. I notice it's been included in the Barefaced drawing, which is interesting. After that, the improvements from additional bracing are not as great, but still useful. The key is to strike the right balance between an undamped cabinet that sounds dreadful and a Matrix arrangement that you can't carry.

Yes, great job - well done! I like the tilt and roll design. (Have you thought of using Speakons?)

Did someone mention Northern Ireland?🙂

Interesting question, and the answer is simple. With the MkIII specifically, the front baffle size and shape was dictated by the parts I wanted to use. I was toying at the time with using an RCF H100 horn and made sure the cab would be tall enough for it to fit. It was then just a matter of calculating the front-to-back dimension based on the total volume I wanted. And then making sure the vent would fit without coming too close to the back of the cab or needing a bend. It worked out well and resulted in a relatively slim cabinet that is easy to carry with a single handle. There are some theoretical differences between a tall, slim cab and a squat, deep one, but the taller one scores IMO by having the tweeter further from the ground and nearer to your ears.