stevie

[quote name='Sean Fairchild' timestamp='1439399391' post='2842512'] The speakers we make and use on our bass cabs are also rated using max power ratings, but here's another industry issue - maximum thermal ratings are generally used in the industry for drivers, which is already a problematic metric, because speakers will perform poorly well before they reach this maximal point. But in an effort to use the same metric that most other manufacturers use or at least specify, the company has decided to use the peak wattage thermal rating of our speakers as well, so you can compare peak wattage across brands/products. Thanks all for the questions, I'll keep endeavoring to assist as I can [/quote] Could point us in the direction of another bass cab manufacturer who uses peak power ratings that are equivalent to yours? What do you mean by peak power, by the way? Could you be specific?

Sean, how does your CEO justify the 2000 watt power rating for the Bugera 1x15" cab? There are industry-wide standards for speakers. Which ones is your company using here?

You're welcome. The Eminence Deltalight is a pretty good driver and is used in a lot of commercial cabs. It's always good to see someone rolling their own. Thanks for posting the photos.

You can get a custom-made grille for about £20, I think, or less if you paint it yourself. Nearly half of that is delivery, unfortunately. It's not going to protect the speaker any better than what you have on already though.

Nice job. You'll get a more pro appearance if you invest in a full punched metal grille. Did you use a template to flush mount the handle and back plate?

It's a matter of taste. Solo bass guitar worked well in Tubular Bells. There are plenty of jazz bass players capable of playing an interesting, occasional solo, but - like drummers - they're never going to sustain interest for very long. However, all bass guitarists trying to show off their flashy w***ing skills..... errr I mean soloing skills..... come across like mediocre classical guitarists - even those who are amazing players. IMO, of course.

Aha - so you admit you're a widdley widdley!

We seem to have a difference of opinion between the bum bum bums and the widdley widdleys.

Shameless commercial, but I'm selling an Eden Nemesis NSP115 for the ridiculously low price of £120 in the For Sale section. It has exactly the same drivers as the D115XLT (15 + horn) but comes in a lightweight cab in 1/2" ply with an impressive amount of internal bracing. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/266909-eden-nemesis-nsp115-lightweight-cab-a-gift-at-l120/

Not that I could, but if I played like that in my band I'd get fired. It's all about the bass, guys.

That's a useful review. A little add-on tweeter box is a nice idea but it really does have to be designed specifically for the cab it will be used with.

[quote name='hitchy64' timestamp='1437162103' post='2824183'] I'll keep an eye out for second hand too. [/quote] Using the Basschat for sale section is a good idea, as others have said. If you buy new and have to re-sell, it can be quite expensive.

The EU distance selling regulations give you a "cooling off" period of 14 days as a legal right. There seem to be quite a few music retailers giving you longer than that, should you need it. Thomann give you 30 days and gear4music between 30 and 90 days. I don't think anyone charges £30 or £40 return shipping.

Luke, we have been using the speaker on its side because the handle is on the long side. I agree with Chien that there will in theory be a minor change to the sound depending on whether the cab is vertical or horizontal, but it's unlikely to be noticeable. It would be different if we were dealing with a cab with more than one driver or one with a tweeter.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1436895227' post='2821846'] When I started building cabs with dedicated mid drivers Audax came up a lot and I would still like to try them. I settled on readily available B&C 6MD38s as used in some EAW PA cabs, and still have a pair of those in my PA tops. [/quote] I'm pretty sure EAW used the Audax as their small midrange driver and switched to the B&C when Audax went out of business. So they are bound to be quite similar. It looks like the Faital m5n12-80 will be my next purchase. Anybody got one going cheap?

The interesting thing about this Beyma driver is that it offers the best of both worlds. It goes as low as the Kappalite LF (in this cabinet) with comparable excursion capability, but its response is well behaved up into the midrange and HF. Despite the fact that it has a much longer coil than the Kappalite HO, its response actually extends higher. I've scoured the spec sheets for a comparable chassis from other manufacturers and I can't find one, even at a higher price. The downside is that its thermal power handling is lower and it's 1.5kg heavier, but that's not much of a price to pay for the huge difference in price - at least on this side of the pond.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1436872480' post='2821499'] On another matter. Stevie is comparing the cab to his own 15/6 cabinet. Can you tell us more about that cab? Is it your own design or based on ages boy plan. What drivers? Size and weight? [/quote] It's my own design - which means it's not necessarily helpful for comparison purposes. It's also a work in progress. The main component is a BMS 15N620 in 4 ohms (I believe Passinwind has a cab with something similar) and I currently have an Eminence 8" midrange in a separate cabinet on top crossed over passively at about 800Hz. I recently started experimenting with an Audax PR170 midrange, as that extends much higher in frequency and allows for a simpler crossover, but my aim is to eventually buy a neo midrange if I can find one as good as the Audax. At the moment it's in a cab that's comparable in size to the 12" we're putting together here - an Ashdown Mini 15, but I've carried out modifications to that with flared ports and other stuff. I also have a slightly larger cab standing by that it will probably end up in - along with my final choice of midrange driver. It's all good, clean fun, but I hate doing the woodwork...... Phil has said he might build me a cab for this design in poplar ply - which could be interesting.

Yes, I agree. With a decent eq, you can generally iron out this kind of problem (although it may turn out not to be a problem at all). I also prefer to have a well-balanced cab that allows me use my eq to fix room problems rather than cabinet problems. I tend to think of mids on bass guitar as anything between 400 and 1600Hz - and I think that the prominence I heard was probably centred at about 800Hz. Ultimately, we're just talking about sound balance. The sound was smooth, crisp and clear and there was nothing nasty or unpleasant there - just that the mids were more forward than I'm used to.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1436707287' post='2820060'] Stevie/Phil Did your measurements show pronounced mids or is this something that has just shown up in real life testing? [/quote] I didn't carry out a full-range measurement, I'm afraid, which would have shown up an imbalance between the bass and midrange. I did a ground plane LF measurement and a gated mid/high measurement but couldn't join them together because the first one was not calibrated. In any case, you need to factor in the changes in frequency response from the cabinet being on the floor, which makes a gated measurement problematical because it relies on filtering out all reflections. I've found that an RTA works well for checking the sound balance of a speaker in situ, but I didn't do one when I had the speakers here. I do know that my own 15" + 8" is ruler- flat on the RTA, which suits me, although others may well prefer a mid-foward balance. I can have a closer look at this when the speaker makes its way over here again.

This is where we need some feedback, Thunder. The mids definitely help the cab cut through, and it's good to know that they are there if you need them. If I were building the cab for myself, I'd probably fit a notch filter to take away some of the mids. If there is a general consensus that the box is too mid-prominent, we could do that to provide the option of a more even sound balance.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1436697862' post='2819967'] The overall impression I'm getting with now three bassists is of a really clean open sound from these speakers. On the minus side they really show up any untidiness in your technique ..... [/quote] I'm happy that I was able to highlight that particular feature for you, Phil.