stevie

I'd say it's likely you drove the speaker past its limits, but you'd need a post mortem of the driver itself to know for sure. If you have it reconed (a good idea!), the reconer will be able to tell you. The port provides valuable support for the speaker around the tuning frequency. To tune a bass guitar cab for maximum power handling your tuning frequency should be around 50 Hz. There are times when you might want to tune lower, but I wouldn't ever tune higher. I've lost count of the number of times people on this site have said you can always hear a speaker complaining. I've never bought into that one. Anyway, you're welcome and please let us know what you find.

John, I think you'll find your cabinet is tuned too high. My calculations say you've tuned to around 60Hz. With that tuning, you'll be exceeding xmax at 40Hz with an input of 200 watts. As you have also applied bass boost, this figure could easily drop to 100 watts or less. Tuning to our recommended 50 Hz will give you an extra 3dB at 40Hz, perhaps making bass boost unnecessary. The speaker will then also handle an input of 350 watts without exceeding xmax (at least in theory). You might like to check the tuning frequency using the rice grain test. Use your good driver obviously. This works on the principle that driver movement is greatly reduced at the cabinet tuning frequency, because that's where the port is doing most of the work. Turn your speaker on its back and sprinkle a few grains of rice in the centre of the cone. Then go to this site (or something similar): <http://onlinetonegenerator.com/subwoofer.html>, play the frequencies and you will see the rice dancing up and down along with the movement of the cone. As you approach the tuning frequency, movement will slow down. The point at which the rice moves least is your tuning frequency, and this will be shown on your display. Then get back to us. PS Try this with your good cab with the round ports first. You should get a tuning frequency of 54Hz.

I wasn't suggesting putting the whole bass signal through it, MoonBase. The Phil Jones box has two 2.5-inch drivers in it and that's not going to go very loud without highpassing. In fact it only works from about 1kHz up. The active version of the Titan I linked to has tone controls - so you would just adjust the bass control as needed.

That's true. So when you're ready to have a bash, let me know and I'll send you the capacitor and inductor.

While Bill is perfectly correct about the need to custom design crossovers, have you had a look at what bass speaker manufacturers are actually fitting? The last commercial speaker I measured was an Eden and it looked like the crossover had been designed by the tea boy. There will eventually be a two-way 12" design with a proper crossover in the Cabinet Diary thread, as I'm starting on one at the weekend. Don't hold your breath though. I'd give it a go, BoB. Try a 3.3uF film capacitor and a .35mH inductor in a second order circuit and stick an L-pad on the end. Switch the polarity of the HF unit to taste. It's not going to be optimal, but it will probably work. The P.Audio HF units are unbeatable for the money.

It's a bit Mickey Mouse. IMO. A little active monitor like this would likely do a much better job: https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/TITAN8BLACK/active-pa-speakers/b-stock-wharfedale-titan-8a-powered-pa-speaker-in-black

The Monacor piezos are not bad, with sensitivities of between 94 and 96dB. Thomann stocks them. They all have bad resonances at between 4 and 5kHz though, which should ideally be tamed with a crossover. And if you're going to do that you'd probably be better off with a good, cheap tweeter. Having said that, if the OP can get a couple from Phil for the cost of postage, that would certainly be worth trying.

With such a huge list of positive recommendations, this contribution is probably superfluous. However, I'd just like to thank Mike for the Behringer amp he recently *gave away* because he wasn't able to check if it was working. In fact it seems to be fine - so I'm feeling a bit guilty about having it. Not only did he not want any money for it - he dropped it off at my house as well. What can I say? Thanks Mike!!

I agree with those who have replied already - cutting up an expensive cabinet will reduce its resale value and might not give you the result you're after. Another option would be a box with a small tweeter that would fit on top of your existing cab(s). Google Greenboy Head Case for the general idea. If you use one of these tweeters: <http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=PAUPHT416&browsemode=manufacturer> the whole thing should come in at well under £50 and is likely to sound better than most commercial tweeters. Apart from the box, you'll need a couple of Speakons, some speaker cable, a capacitor, inductor and L-pad.

I had the 15" version. It was not a quality piece of kit in my opinion, but built down to a price. It sounded OK until you turned the volume up a bit. I do have to say that mine was one of those they built in China. I sold it on eBay after only a few days because I didn't want to foist it on a Basschatter. I'd advise caution. Not in the same class as the Markbass, I'm afraid.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1461757254' post='3037341'] Anyone know which popular Class D amps use which modules? Someone posted a list of which cabs use which drivers the other day and it was really interesting to see who uses what. [/quote] Don't take this as gospel, but as far as I can gather, virtually everyone uses the B&O modules except TC Electronics and Markbass, who have their own. Barefaced are using the highly respected Hypex module in their active speaker, which is quite an interesting move.

Thanks, Conan. I'm not saying that you can't judge a piece of new equipment by gigging it (bending over backwards to be diplomatic here ) because if you slot something new into your rig and it works for you on a live gig, then that's fine. I played at a small festival last year where they provided a Markbass rig. An LMIII with a 15" and 2x10"s. It was horrible. Boomy, no definition, difficult to hear, soggy. I am familiar with the amp and did my best, but every other player who used it sounded bad. I certainly wouldn't like to make a judgement on that gear based on my gigging experience of it.

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1461786617' post='3037695'] Stevie, my point is that the poster was listening with his eyes. However, I disagree that five minutes is a sufficient test for a bass cab, at least, it definitely isn't for me. That five minutes is unlikely to be at a gig, with a full band, at high-ish volume, with different amps and in different rooms. [/quote] Yes, I get that, Frank, but I don't get why that disqualifies the opinion. The guy told it as he saw it. People buy gear for all kinds of reasons, not just the sound. If you're main criterion is, say, weight, who is to say that you shouldn't buy your gear based on that factor? Or on appearance, or brand name. It's your money. On the other point, I think it's a myth that you have to gig with a piece of gear to judge it properly. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that, at least for me, a gig isn't a great place to test gear because you're very limited in what you can actually do to test the gear when you have to perform at the same time. On the other hand, in five minutes, I can do a lot to test a cab, including taking the grille off and checking the interior workmanship, how it's wired, whether there are rattles, the quality of the electronic components, whether it's properly damped, whether it's properly braced, how the speakers are mounted, and lots of other little things that tell you whether this is a quality product or whether it's just been thrown together as cheaply as possible. Then I'll try to get an impression of the sound. Does the box go low enough, are the mids and highs there, and do they sound clean? Is there any nasty tonality to the sound, and can I get rid of it with eq? How does the cab respond to eq, especially in the lows? Does the sound change when I turn up the volume? How does the sound change when I'm standing directly in front of the box, and how does it sound from 20 feet away? And so on. I find it difficult to judge these things when the rest of the band is playing at full pelt. And there's only so much fiddling you can do on stage. For me, checking out gear out at a practice is best, because you can play at a good volume, listen from different parts of the room, fiddle with your amp and try different options without getting on everyone's nerves.

Do you have an opinion, Karlfer?

You could try an Advanced Search on eBay. Tick the boxes as required: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/ebayadvsearch

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1461772881' post='3037539'] One poster even posted about Barefaced cabs that he'd tried and didn't like.... [i][b]"No, but to be fair, [u]I didn't like the look of the cab[/u] from the off so 5 mins or less was enough. "[/b][/i] That's neither an open minded trial or a fair trial and certainly doesn't add to a balanced argument on the forum. [/quote] That sounds like a perfectly reasonable comment to me. While it is true that you need to play a cab/amp at volume to see how it performs at full stretch, it's quite feasible to conclude that you don't like the look and/or sound of an amp/cab/microphone/effects unit (or whatever) in five minutes.

I'm familiar with Tuff Cab and I don't think it's very tough at all, although no worse than vinyl. However, it is quite easy to touch up. You can also go over a paint finish with Tuff Cab to make it look like new. The trick is to apply it very thinly, spreading it out with a brush as quickly as possible. As long as you don't overbrush (which makes it matt because it dries so quickly), you'll get a nice, fresh shine over the old finish - and no brush marks.

I had this with my thumb about five years ago. It was painful but not in an advanced stage. My GP gave me a cortisone injection and it cleared up after a few weeks and has stayed away. I'm sure that surgery is often the answer, but (with the usual provisos), if your GP suggests trying an injection, I would take it.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1461701137' post='3036969'] Define 'BF hater'! [/quote] It's interesting how this term gets used in a passive/aggressive way on every BF thread. It doesn't get used anywhere else on Basschat as far as I can tell. So you can draw your own conclusions on that. You'll find it on page one of this thread, in post 13. It seems to be a way of stopping any balanced discussion before it can even start. The following answers warwickhunt's question quite nicely (http://www.theporchvaldosta.com/blog/5-reasons-that-people-who-call-others-haters-are-the-real-haters-and-why-social-media-shaming-is-of-the-devil). [b]So here are 5 Reasons that people who call others ‘haters’ are also doing the hating.[/b][list] [*]When a Passive-Aggressive Hater calls another a ‘hater’ they are implying that the ‘hater’ is narrow-minded, inflexible, ignorant, uninformed, and well, a ‘hater’! This is nothing short of immature name-calling. What is the hoped for outcome in making such declarations? Most likely to discredit or shame the other person so that the PAH will feel as if they have ‘won’ an argument that the other person wasn’t even aware was taking place. [*]When a Passive-Aggressive Hater calls another a ‘hater’ they are saying that the ‘hater’ is unable to have an opinion that varies from their (perceived) more superior opinion. This is the epitome of self-righteousness. [i]How dare someone else think differently than me? I'm practically an expert on this topic. Don’t they know how many blogs and articles I have 'liked' and shared?[/i] [*]When a PAH calls another a ‘hater’ they are unapologetically declaring that the ‘hater’ would change their tune if they were only as enlightened as the PAH, or as privileged, or as experienced, or as motivated, or if they possessed the God-like qualities that the PAH does. This goes hand-in-hand with self-righteousness. But there is more to this… (Read with the best hoity-toity voice you can muster) [i]Oh, if only those ‘haters’ would have read the book I have read, or the online posts…tsk…tsk…they would understand. Poor creatures. I will help by posting pictures and passive-aggressive hashtags. Then they will all see the error of their way, declare my opinion to be superior, and join me on my quest for perfection.[/i] [*]PAH’s that call others ‘haters’ are revealing a huge insecurity in their life and in the decisions that they make. This is little more than projecting a self-hate. Why else would someone want to publicly declare someone a ‘hater’ just because they don’t agree with, support, or ride the same band-wagon that the PAH does? This public shaming that the PAH is trying to accomplish is only shining a big ugly spotlight on their deep-seated insecurities and buried-deep-down questioning of their latest decision (fad or otherwise). [*]PAH’s use social media to say like a kid on the playground with a giant ice cream cone, “nanny-nanny-boo-boo” to anyone they have declared to be a ‘hater’ by posting [i]unsolicited[/i] [i]progress[/i] reports of how [i]awesome and popular[/i] their life/opinion is. [i]I’ll show them! Those ‘haters’ will regret ever questioning my choices, motives, and decisions. I will post every aspect of my mundane life and others will be so jealous![/i] [/list]

[IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/30wp25z.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1461669379' post='3036551'] Yes, but they are all large retailers with huge stocks of products from many manufacturers. It's not quite the same as a [b][i]manufacturer[/i][/b] offering a trial period. Not something I can see Aguilar, GK, Fender, Marshall [i]et al[/i] providing, [/quote] Why should Aguilar, GK, Fender and Marshall offer a trial period? They are not in the mail order business. They sell via a network of retail outlets who provide the services of a specialist retailer, including online mail order. So if you want to try any of those brands you either visit the dealer or order online. What isn't quite the same is that nobody charges £30 or £40 for return delivery.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1461519826' post='3035350'] That's a definite plus point. Just for clarity though it does require you to pay up front and wait for build/delivery and if you don't like it you do need to pay £30-£40 to send it back. To some a small price to pay and to be fair it could get costly if Alex had to take it on the chin for the cost of every return but it isn't a trial without any cost. A small point is that you do need to actually speak to Alex about your needs otherwise the 30 day trial is negated. [/quote] Mail order customers have 14 days (according to the EU Distance Selling Regulations) in which to cancel an order without having to state a reason. I think they have another 14 days to return the goods (but don't quote me). The customer has to pay the cost of return carriage if it's in the seller's terms and conditions, but the seller *cannot charge a restocking fee or administration charge*. While all mail order companies are legally bound to offer 14-day returns, 30-day returns policies are not exactly uncommon. Gear for Music (who will even cover the cost of return carriage if you notify them within 7 days), Thomann, Maplin, Argos, etc. Bax even have a 60-day trial period.

http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=469.0

Learn the ones you like. Otherwise it's a boring academic exercise. Ralph's site has just encouraged me to have a bash at jazz ( ). I'm starting with Georgia on My Mind followed by If I Could Write a Book. Once I get really good, I'll try my hand at Lady is a Tramp.