stevie

Generally speaking, polypropylene capacitors are higher quality than polyesters, although they do tend to be bigger. There's no reason for polyesters to be more expensive - unless you're buying into the vintage component myth.

Thanks, guys. I've ordered a socket. Fingers crossed.

I'm going to try to get over to this. It looks like it's going to be busy. I'll bring some LFSys cabs, including a brand new model, together with a Veyron amp and Squier CV Precision. I'm looking forward to meeting all the familiar names I've read over the years but never met.

The flatpacks were a limited run, @Squitti. Since then, the cost of CNC woodwork has almost doubled. So they'd be quite pricey now. I am still supplying the occasional crossover on a nice fibreglass PCB. That seems to be the area that most builders struggle with.

For the purposes of acoustic gigs and home practice, a good quality ten-inch cab would certainly do the job - and be more convenient than a twelve. Of the three cabs mentioned, the Orange offers the best value for money IMO, as it's fitted with a good quality neodymium driver with decent power handling. On the other hand, it doesn't have a tweeter - so that might rule it out for the OP. The Ampeg costs considerably more than the others and is only rated at 200 watts - so not a very high spec. Depending on your needs, It could be enough - especially if you're a fan of the brand name. The Ashdown doesn't have neo drivers either but does have a tweeter and seems to offer good value - like most Ashdown products. The above is based purely on what the manufacturers say (and don't say) about their products. I don't think I've heard any of them personally.

Yes, it's an active bass - one of the premium models. I've always assumed that inserting the jack switches the preamp, but I haven't taken the jack out yet. There is a separate active/passive switch - so maybe not. If I do need a new jack socket, I'd rather have one to hand before I start.

The jack socket on my Ibanez bass occasionally makes a loud cracking noise through the amp when slight pressure is applied to the jack. I believe this is a common problem. Before I open her up I'd like to know if I'm going to need a replacement barrel socket or is this likely to be a simple soldering job?

Here's the frequency response of a 2x12 +horn bass cab from a respected US manufacturer. The red line looks fairly good, almost FRFR in fact, but you'll only ever hear that if your head is right in front of the cab. Move to the side or above and what you hear is shown in the off-axis curves - huge suckouts in the upper midrange! This is the main reason players complain they can't hear their bass clearly when playing live. You can see the tweeter coming in at around 5kHz to provide the boom-tizz sound we know and love. 😀 It's hardly surprising so many players switch them off. The solution (in a two-way system), as @Bill Fitzmaurice has pointed out, is a proper compression driver crossing over at about 2kHz or lower. With a carefully designed crossover, you can get a nice, smooth frequency respose that slopes gently towards the higher frequencies as you move off axis and counteracts the bass driver's tendency to die above 1kHz. The result a much more natural sound. Bassists playing through PA cabs already know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of dedicated bass guitar cabs using this approach.

You're right - that's a great bass line - and I've definitely struggled with the triplets.

When they work, T-nuts are definitely a superior fixing, but they do demand a certain amount of Fingerspitzengefühl, as @Phil Starr has mentioned. I've fitted hundreds if not thousands of the things, and I still make the first couple of turns by hand - just to make sure. And I watch out for any unwanted resistance when I'm screwing them in. Because woodscrews are a lot more forgiving, I think i would probably recommend woodscrews with lock washers nowadays for self-builds. They can (and will) work loose, however, if you don't use lock washers. On my LFSys cabs, I use socket head machine screws and T-nuts. Although not absolutely necessary, I fit lock washers and also secure the T-nuts with staples from behind for extra security.

I'd use an angle grinder to do this, but I think it depends on what kind you have. The small, battery-powered ones with three-inch discs are quite controllable, and thin discs are available specifically for cutting (rather than grinding). The bigger grinders might be more unwieldy. The main thing is to wear eye protection. That's really important.

My sincere thank to @scrumpymike and his clan for organising another wonderful Bash. Everything went so smoothly, it's easy to overlook the amount of organisation that goes into staging this kind of event. The food was a highlight, of course, and the weather meant we could all eat lunch outside in the sunshine. Lovely! What a fantastic selection of basses to admire and try out! The early afternoon shootout seems to have become a regular event, and @Phil Starr's insightful comparison of a wide range of bass amps didn't disappoint. Hats off to @neepheid, who drove down from Aberdeen and - amazingly - completed the 550-mile return journey in one go in a car full of gear. It was also gratifying to see a fair number of Basschat DIY cab builds on display.

I've got a Rane graphic equaliser I don't need, a set of black bass tuners, and a compressor pedal.

Thanks for the plug, Dave. If you're going to the SW Bash again this year, you'll be able to try the LFSys Monza, which is basically a scaled-down version of the Monaco with a near-identical sound. I'll also be bringing the first of a new range of lightweight cabs, which were designed for bass guitar but could also be of interest to double bass players, as they're full range with a very smooth frequency response.

@Dan Dare's right. High-powered subs need to be crossed over actively. You can do it passively in theory, but the components needed to cross over at low frequencies are big, heavy and expensive - which is why active is the preferred solution.

1. Follow the colour coding for the tweeter wires. They're usually red and black. If you wire them the other way, you'll put the tweeter out of phase. 2. There shouldn't be a problem making a couple of holes in the baffle for the connection tabs. Nobody will see the holes you've drilled when it's covered by the tweeter. The main thing is that you don't introduce any leaks in the baffle. Stick a strip of adhesive foam around the tweeter to make sure it's sealed. 3. Ashdown normally use adhesive foam strip under their grilles. As @BassmanPaul says, you should be able to simply replace the grille on the old foam strip. If you'd like to replace the foam, you can get it in the width you need from Ebay or Blue Aran. 2mm thickness is usually right.

Where do we send the money?

May be interesting for some. https://www.proavl-asia.com/details/73643-b-c-speakers-acquires-eminence-speaker

Agreed. Having carried out a/b comparisons of plastic vs wooden cabs, I think the difference (when reproducing solo bass guitar) is bigger than most people suspect.

I sold Mike a pair of Kappalite drivers a couple of years ago and forgot to mention it here. I'm putting that right now. Everything that's been said so far is true. Great guy to deal with.

The FRFR concept comes from the world of electric guitar. Among other things, it gives you the benefit of having a proper monitor on stage rather than a guitar cab. However, you definitely need a modeller of some kind to simulate the sound of a guitar speaker, which is an inherent part of the electric guitar sound. You absolutely don't need to use a modeller when you're using an FRFR cab designed with bass guitar in mind. A standard bass amp will do the job just fine. Our guitarist turned up last night with a Headrush cab and a small Line 6 modeller. "It's 2000 watts," he proclaimed. It looked like it had an 8-inch speaker in it. It didn't sound bad, but he tried the modeller in my FRFR cab with a neutral bass amp and there was a world of difference.

Sorry for the delay in replying to this. If you want to disconnect the tweeter you must bypass the crossover. Do not simply disconnect the tweeter. The easiest solution is to leave the crossover where it is, remove all the wires going to it, and then connect one black and one red wire from your Speakons to your two bass drivers - as per the diagram above. If you leave the crossover in circuit with the tweeter disconnected, you are likely to damage your amp.

That's what it looks like, yes.

The ground is common. They're both connected to the negative input.