Replacement Drivers

[Marcus]

Guys,

I suppose many bass cabs are built to a budget

Price no object, what bass drivers would basschatters recommend ?

Eminence seem to have a good reputation for bass drivers

what experiences have you had in replacing stock drivers in well known manufacturers cabs ?

Cheers

Mark

[bass_ferret]

Its not really a question of buying the most expensive drivers you can get but buying drivers that are the best match for the cab. When I was a lad and the only decision bass players had to make was whether to use one or two 15 inch drivers Electrovoice were the dogs danglies.

[Marcus]

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='235273' date='Jul 8 2008, 09:10 PM']Its not really a question of buying the most expensive drivers you can get but buying drivers that are the best match for the cab. When I was a lad and the only decision bass players had to make was whether to use one or two 15 inch drivers Electrovoice were the dogs danglies.[/quote]

Fair comment I guess..... but how does one go about matching cabs to drivers without massive expense on trial & error ?

I guess that's what the manufacturers / R&D depts are there to do

It'd be really interesting to hear (for example) about someone transforming an Ashdown cab by inserting Celestians

[thinman]

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='235273' date='Jul 8 2008, 09:10 PM']Its not really a question of buying the most expensive drivers you can get but buying drivers that are the best match for the cab. When I was a lad and the only decision bass players had to make was whether to use one or two 15 inch drivers Electrovoice were the dogs danglies.[/quote]
+ 1

The cab and driver can't be considered in isolation. Take Bill Fitzmaurice's designs for example - he doesn't necessarily specify the most expensive drivers - in fact some are quite low-end - but they are matched to the enclosures and give good results.

Unless you have access to the original driver's specs or can model the cabinet in one of the bits of software about it will be difficult to know what to use. Don't buy an expensive driver and hope it will give good results - it might be awful.

[Balcro]

What do you have in mind? What cabinets & what duff speakers? Were the previous drivers Ok?

It could be cheaper then you think, but sometimes manufacturers - well, the more expensive ones - have custom made versions of standard speakers. If you want to replace the originals OK , but it's a bit like buying car-parts for an Audi. The big money is made on the spare parts.
Thinman's comments are just as apt. It's not simply the cost, it's the matching.

Tell us more. Balcro


[i]Guys,
I suppose many bass cabs are built to a budget
Price no object, what bass drivers would basschatters recommend ?
Eminence seem to have a good reputation for bass drivers
what experiences have you had in replacing stock drivers in well known manufacturers cabs ?
Cheers

Mark
[/quote][/i]

[Prosebass]

When I used to buy and sell antiques and collectibles I once bought a pair of Tannoy triangular shaped hi-fi speakers with Tannoy 12" dual concentric speakers in them.The cabs were huge more like items of furniture.
I plugged them into my HH100 head and they sounded absolutely divine, and I have not heard anything as good since.They actually made my bass sound so much more lively and clear. They would be no use for gigging as they were only 30 watt each.
It shows the quality of the speakers as I sold them to a guy for £300 in 1993.... class.....
Maybe we all go down the wrong route with basses, should we be spending a higher proportion on our speakers for a better sound ?

Here we go just found 2 x 15" ones on ebay...[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15-Tannoy-Monitor-Gold-Duel-Concentric-Speakers_W0QQitemZ380044702851QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item380044702851&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318"]Tannoy[/url]
mind you only for a practice amp

Edited July 9, 2008 by Prosebass

[KennysFord]

ive swapped out the hartkes in one of my TP 4x10s for celestions and its a vast improvement.
its warmed up the cab a treat.

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='thinman' post='235281' date='Jul 8 2008, 09:18 PM']+ 1

The cab and driver can't be considered in isolation. Take Bill Fitzmaurice's designs for example - he doesn't necessarily specify the most expensive drivers - in fact some are quite low-end - but they are matched to the enclosures and give good results.

Unless you have access to the original driver's specs or can model the cabinet in one of the bits of software about it will be difficult to know what to use. Don't buy an expensive driver and hope it will give good results - it might be awful.[/quote]

i recently had a noodle around on one of the websites selling speakers, and they do sometimes tell you the volume of enclosure required to use them correctly, and in doing so allow you to match to either the enclosure you have or intend to build.

so if you could measure the internal dimentions of your cab you could then work out the internal volume and match to and appropriate driver.

alex or bill though would be better suited to giving a detailed idea of what to do.

[thinman]

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='235838' date='Jul 9 2008, 04:18 PM']i recently had a noodle around on one of the websites selling speakers, and they do sometimes tell you the volume of enclosure required to use them correctly, and in doing so allow you to match to either the enclosure you have or intend to build.

so if you could measure the internal dimentions of your cab you could then work out the internal volume and match to and appropriate driver.

alex or bill though would be better suited to giving a detailed idea of what to do.[/quote]
It's a bit more complex than just volume though - if you have ports, which many bass cabs do, their diameter and length are part of the cab tuning and that may affect driver choice too.

Hopefully Messrs Claber or Fitzmaurice will be along to give a definitive answer here.

Of course, you might strike lucky with a randomly or inexactly chosen driver but on the other hand you might waste your money!

If you're going to fork out on an expensive driver like an Eminence Deltalite or the like then build a BFM cab around it - it'll probably be better than the cab the drivers were intended for anyway and a butchered "name" cab will probably be devalued.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='thinman' post='236082' date='Jul 9 2008, 04:23 PM']It's a bit more complex than just volume though - if you have ports, which many bass cabs do, their diameter and length are part of the cab tuning and that may affect driver choice too.

Hopefully Messrs Claber or Fitzmaurice will be along to give a definitive answer here.

Of course, you might strike lucky with a randomly or inexactly chosen driver but on the other hand you might waste your money!

If you're going to fork out on an expensive driver like an Eminence Deltalite or the like then build a BFM cab around it - it'll probably be better than the cab the drivers were intended for anyway and a butchered "name" cab will probably be devalued.[/quote]The only way to know whether new drivers will be an improvement is by knowing what's in there now, then comparing the two. Unless the originals are absolute junk you may find there's little, if any, benefit in changing them. OTOH many OEM drivers are junk.

[stingrayfan]

Celestions worth a look.

[KennysFord]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='236254' date='Jul 10 2008, 03:29 AM']The only way to know whether new drivers will be an improvement is by knowing what's in there now, then comparing the two. Unless the originals are absolute junk you may find there's little, if any, benefit in changing them. OTOH many OEM drivers are junk.[/quote]
The ones in the Hartke TP arent quuuuuiiiiiiiite junk but i had no second thoughts about my retro fit.I have 2 TP's and as they're fairly cheap i wasnt worried.I'd off had second thoughts if it was a more expensive cab though.

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='thinman' post='236082' date='Jul 9 2008, 09:23 PM']It's a bit more complex than just volume though - if you have ports, which many bass cabs do, their diameter and length are part of the cab tuning and that may affect driver choice too.

Hopefully Messrs Claber or Fitzmaurice will be along to give a definitive answer here.

Of course, you might strike lucky with a randomly or inexactly chosen driver but on the other hand you might waste your money!

If you're going to fork out on an expensive driver like an Eminence Deltalite or the like then build a BFM cab around it - it'll probably be better than the cab the drivers were intended for anyway and a butchered "name" cab will probably be devalued.[/quote]


yeah, ooops forgot about the ports.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='236254' date='Jul 10 2008, 03:29 AM']The only way to know whether new drivers will be an improvement is by knowing what's in there now, then comparing the two. Unless the originals are absolute junk you may find there's little, if any, benefit in changing them. OTOH many OEM drivers are junk.[/quote]

so how can you tell what the drivers are? say for example you take the drivers out of my ashdown, they have their own drivers in there but it says very little on the back of the magnet casing. all i know is the ohms and watts and size

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='236402' date='Jul 10 2008, 07:05 AM']so how can you tell what the drivers are? say for example you take the drivers out of my ashdown, they have their own drivers in there but it says very little on the back of the magnet casing. all i know is the ohms and watts and size[/quote]
Aye, there's the rub...which is why replacing drivers is best left to experts. Catch 22: Anyone expert enough to do so would not be using a store bought cab to begin with. So all things considered, if you don't care for how your cab sounds the most logical route is to find one that you do like. Or roll the dice and hope for the best.