stevie

It's true you can build the cab without the horn, but that's missing the point of the design, which was to reproduce the midrange frequencies that other cabs neglect - even cabs with a tweeter. You're right that the main driver does extend quite high but unless you're directly on axis, you - and your audience - won't hear those frequencies. This is because the cone drivers used in bass guitar cabs start to beam at around 1kHz. Stand off axis - like in front of your cab - and you won't hear the frequencies between 1kHz and 3kHz that are responsible for a lot of the bass's tone, as well as for pitch definition. To make matters worse, driver beaming means that the further you are from the sound source, the less of the direct sound you hear. You don't have to go very far before most of what you hear is what is bouncing off the walls and ceiling. Because cone drivers in most bass guitar cabs don't have adequate dispersion much above 1kHz, the indirect sound lacks those frequencies. As a result, what your audience hears is the muffled, indistinct boom boom boom we've all heard when we've listened to bass players reliant on their backline to get their sound to an audience. The midrange simply doesn't carry. This shouldn't happen if the bass is fed through a decent PA, because (good) PA's are designed to reproduce the entire frequency range and to disperse it efficiently to an audience. The technical term for all this is power response. Off the soapbox now. I appreciate that the design that was the subject of this thread is a bit too complex for most people to tackle from scratch - which is why I made the kits and ready-built crossovers available. I've been chatting to some of the usual suspects recently about designing a compact, very cheap but capable two-way ten inch cab based on the excellent "build-it-in 20-minutes" box that Phil demonstrated in the video posted on Basschat. The idea would be to keep complexity and cost to a minimum so that virtually anyone who is minded to can produce a bass cab during this awful lockdown. It will be big enough to gig with but also compact enough to use for home practice. Cost ('cos I know you're going to ask) would be well under £100 plus your wood - for a 200W 10 with a compression driver and horn. If you have a spare sheet of plywood or chipboard in your garage, so much the better. What do you think?

Allow me to summarise how I see this, as the OP seems to be getting conflicting advice (this is Basschat, after all). First, it's true as others have said that you'll struggle to achieve volume from 15W with a 6" driver in a small cab. I'm not saying it's impossible, but this is what you need to do to make the most of what you've got. 1. Port the cab. A reflex cabinet is by definition more efficient than a sealed cab because it uses the energy from the back of the cone that is absorbed in a sealed system. This will allow you to use a more sensitive (i.e. louder) driver that would be too bass light in a sealed box. 2. Choose a 4-ohm driver. This will make the most of your limited amp power and give you another 3dB for free, at least in theory. 3. Always place your cab close to a wall, possibly even in a corner. This will give you another few dB at low frequencies, where you'll need it most. If you do all these, you have a fighting chance. To help you choose your new driver and calculate the port, please measure the internal dimensions of your cab and perhaps post some photos. There are people in this thread who can help you with porting. I'd also suggest you listen to Phil, as he has some recent experience of using a 6" driver and he knows what he's doing.

Just dipping into this, but if the OP is trying to get the most out of a 6-inch driver and a low powered amp, sealed isn't the way to go.

Exactly.

I'd like to say that writing "all thoughts welcome" and then accusing people of having an agenda when they offer their thoughts is a bit f***ing cheeky.

If you know how to read the specs, it's pretty obvious which 12" cabinet is the better performer. I'd just add that lots of manufacturers lie about their specs - so you need to read between the lines a bit. In this case, the answer is obvious, although it all depends on what the OP is looking for.

I can't answer the OP's question, I'm afraid, but I'd like to respond to Steve's question. In many ways the Trickfish is a better designed cabinet. It's made of 15mm Baltic birch, with "dado and rabbet joint construction" (well, they are American), which is the gold standard of cabinet construction. Barefaced cabs are made of 9mm poplar ply. 9mm stock is available in 3, 5 and 7 plies as far as I know and Barefaced use the cheapest 3-ply option. 9mm is too thin to rebate (with dados and rabbets), so my guess is that they're butt jointed. The above is gleaned from information supplied by the manufacturers.

Nice. Much appreciated!

Everything was flat and the volume was about the same. It wasn't about loudness. We tried a slew of different amps. The other one that had the same 'hit you in the chest' sound was a 150W Trace Elliot. Go figure (as they say). Otherwise, all the amps we tried sounded fairly similar.

I did a direct comparison between the Retroglide and the RM500 at the last SW Bass Bash. No idea why it should be, but the RM500 had noticeably more punch or kick to it.

The threshold has indeed been scrapped for commercial transactions, although it may not apply to gifts, as you say. It was known as the Low-value consigment relief (LVCR) and meant that goods valued at £15 or under weren't subject to VAT. No more. https://www.ecommerceaccountants.co.uk/post/ecommerce-vat-changes-2021. I bought some items valued at under £15 from Ali Express last week and was surprised to see that they now charge UK VAT. On the other hand, I sold some small-value stuff to Italy yesterday on Ebay and the question of VAT didn't even come up. Maybe the VAT will be levied in Italy. No wonder everyone's confused.

Not only that, but you don't even get the theoretical 6dB at all frequencies.

Here's an excellent video comparing the Mesa cabs, including a couple of the oldies. I really like the sound of the 15.

The matter was raised at PMQs today.

Agreed. The black fascia looks the business.

It does sound like the sub harmoniser thingie might be on.

You have my sympathies: there's not much point having lightweight gear if you have to carry a brick round with you to stop it going walkies. But I don't think you can blame the amp for vibrating "itself off the top of the cab". It's the cab that's vibrating. Other cabs which don't do this are available.

Here's an online tone generator: https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/. If you can locate the frequency and play it continuously through your speaker, it'll be easier to pinpoint the source of the problem. The most likely culprit is a duff glued connection - so look for locations where the cone, surround, centre dome and suspension are glued, or else faulty glue joints in the cabinet itself. Don't rule out things rattling inside the cab, like speaker lead-out wires or internal wiring. It could be anything, but I did see a couple of these drivers where the domes were not properly glued to the cone. So I would check that area closely. I may have misunderstood the OP earlier. Did you replace the horn flare but not the compression driver? If that's the case, you still need to consider the possibility of a faulty compression driver.

And while you're at it, get a refund for the horn he sold you.

There are three places this could be coming from. The tweeter - which you've now eliminated as a source of the problem by fitting a new one - the bass driver and the cabinet. To locate the exact source of the noise, it would help if you can record and play back the notes so that you are not playing the bass while you are troubleshooting.

Must have been dropped from a ten-storey building.

Because of competition rules within the EU, companies cannot be prevented from shipping to other EU countries. Now that we're out, Fender can legally prevent Thomann from shipping to the UK in order to increase the amount of business that goes through Fender UK. Is my guess.

Last I heard Gibson had just been saved from bankruptcy with 500 million dollars worth of debt and were considering going into ukeleles (seriously). Funny old world.

I would imagine that anyone working in Europe gets paid in euros.

Although a drop in the value of sterling could well compensate for the extra administrative overhead.