stevie

What would the 4-string equivalent be, Woody?

Having lots of clamps is obviously the best way to go, but I'm conscious that quite a few people have bought them specifically for this project - and might not use them again. Four long clamps should do it, but screws can always come to the rescue if needed. And a couple of tins of paint on top of a panel is as good as anything. A brad nailer isn't a tool that everyone has in their workshop, but I reckon that clamping each panel and then holding it firm with staples from a brad nailer would free up your clamps immediately for the next panel. You should be able to assemble a cab fairly quickly using that method, and staple holes are easy to fill and sand because they are small. I've been down to the local Screwfix and got myself a brad nailer and will be trying it out soon on my next box.

Looking good, Aidan. Thanks for chiming in. There are still a few more kits under construction out there that we haven't seen here yet. Yes, sorry about the handle holes. We made the not unreasonable assumption that the holes were evenly spaced around the handle. They look evenly spaced but they're not quite - they've use some weird spacing that's not obvious. I contacted the distributor, Adam Hall, but they were unable to supply any drawings showing the hole spacings - and the only dimension shown in the drawings they do publish (the handle hole) is the wrong size, as we discovered on the prototype. A few people have used black machine screws with T-nuts on the handle. I'm sure someone will be along to say which ones they used.

I upgraded from an SR500 last year to an SR1200 Vintage Natural Flat with the Big Single pickups. I don't know why, but I expected the SR1200 to be a lightweight bass like the SR500. Instead, it's about one kg heavier, which was a disappointment. It's actually about an average weight. Loving the sound of the SR1200 but I'd just like to know if I can get the same sound from a lighter bass. Are there any lightweight Premiums?

Excellent! If you have a look at what other companies are charging for similar items on Ebay, that's pretty good value.

Yes. 1.5 mm Aluminium Perforated 10 mm Holes 384 x 567 mm. You have to contact them and specify the size you'd like them to cut. They charged me £15 incl. delivery, which is what I'd expect them to charge you. They put a special Ebay ad up for me for that specific size, but have now taken it down.

Rick Beato's channel is one of the finest on Youtube.

Yes, the frame looks fine. I was just thinking of ways of saving weight, and the grille support frame probably weighs 3 to 400g.

We may eventually see a vinyl-covered version then, Stew? That would be cool.

I wish I'd thought of it earlier, chaps. However, even with the full grille support, you should still comfortably hit the 13kg mark if you use the aluminium grille.

I just had a thought that might interest builders using the aluminium grille. Because it's 1.5mm thick and relatively stiff, it doesn't actually need the full picture frame used to support the expanded metal grille. Six individual support points should be ample, with one in the centre if you want. Use wood or maybe even rubber feet as standoffs. EBS use pieces of hosepipe cut to size as standoffs. As my assembled cab already has the picture-frame grille support fitted, you'll have to experiment a bit with this idea on your own. Please post your results for everyone to see. The good news is that removing the full grille support and fitting the aluminium grille will bring the weight of the cab down to well under 13kg.

The black and red combination looks very tasty.

Good work, Tony. That sounds like a good deal to me.

Thanks Stew. Not the easiest of transcriptions I'd say.

Don't worry about it. The similar fluffy material that chienmorbb and I used for the prototype cabs was actually a bit more effective at damping resonances than the needled felt. It's just that the needled version is a lot easier to work with.

That's the wrong fluff, Luke. They did that on me once. I complained and they sent me the right type. If you've already glued it in, it will doubtless work OK. Check what you ordered to see if it's their mistake. You want the needled felt. The material you have is similar, but it's not as firm, which makes it more awkward to use.

Has anyone mentioned how having a couple of pints magically has a positive effect on the sound of your gear?

I think you have to differentiate between bass and guitar when it comes to FRFR. The speaker is an integral part of the sound of the electric guitar. It's never flat and contains desirable distortion and resonances that wouldn't be acceptable in any other type of transducer. If you've ever plugged an electric guitar directly into a mixing desk or into a stage monitor, you'll know that it sounds dull and really bland. It really needs speaker colouration to come alive. Or some kind of modeller, of course. Bass guitar is different. You can plug your bass into a mixing desk via a DI and get a great sound right away. That's flat response. By the same token, plug a bass into a flat response bass cab and it'll sound good. How you tailor that sound afterwards is up to you. But if you play through a cab that has a strong, baked-in signature, as most players do, that's your sound and you're stuck with it. As far as I can see from my limited vantage point, the FRFR cabs currently on the market are designed for and aimed at guitarists. And "full range" for the guitar isn't by any means full range for the bass. BC forum members choosing the FRFR route seem to prefer PA cabs to do the job, which is probably not a bad choice.

They also make a 1,000W rms system with an eight inch driver. There was a thread on Basschat about it recently, and nobody mentioned the impossibility of being able to make such a thing, never mind sell it for £170. Marketing BS sells, I'm afraid.

That's not quite right, @itu. When you cut peaks with a passive crossover, you do just that: you cut peaks. By definition, peaks do not define the sensitivity of a speaker. So cutting peaks doesn't reduce the sensitivity of a speaker. Passive crossovers do have insertion loss which can reduce sensitivity slightly, but that's a different matter.

That was a very useful post.

Drill two or perhaps three screw holes in suitable places on the board and screw directly to the back panel using 15-18mm screws. The tie wraps space the board away from the back panel and the board rests on those. Ideally, use non-magnetic screws like stainless steel of brass, but if you can't, use what you have to hand.

Now get painting!😀

Yes, you can glue a small piece on the l.h.s of the top panel. That should be it.

It's always been possible to make a flat-response cab using passive rather than active crossovers. Many people believe that this approach can produce a better result than taking inferior drivers and "fixing" their weaknesses by tweaking the frequency response digitally. It's a bit like adding monosodium glutamate to cheap food IMO. Better to start with the proper ingredients. There is some discussion in professional circles about what DSP does to high frequencies. Quite a few pros a prefer a passive solution. Any speaker designer will tell you that it's quite possible to build a flat-response speaker that sounds awful. There are a lot more factors that go into making a good speaker. Which is why @Dave bass that flat-response cabs can sound very different, although I have my doubts about whether some of the products that claim to be FRFR are actually flat response at all. As EBS-freak says, there's a lot of jumping on the bandwagon going on. It's a bit like stacking one driver on top of another and calling it a line array. It sells product.