Crossover for cabs?

[Ben Jamin]

I recently got myself an SWR Big Ben (lovely 18" subwoofer cab) to compliment my Barefaced Compact because a lot of the stuff my band's doing at the moment requires bass synth/lots of sub which is a bit much for the poor Compact by itself at volume. I'm currently running them both from my little Ampeg, but I'm thinking it be much more efficient to split my signal and send the subs to the SWR and the rest to the Compact, so it's literally like a 18" sub with a 15" top.

My PF-500 took a nasty tumble last week (never let singers carry your gear) which caused some severe aesthetic damage and snapped parts etc so I'm taking that as an excuse to 'explore the possibility' of a new amp set-up

I'd really like to be able to send everything below around 100-150hz to the Big Ben and everything over that to the Compact and control the volume of each.

I'm guessing I could do this with an active crossover and two power-amps but is there a simpler/more affordable method?

[Guest bassman7755]

Id get a PA amp such as newish model crown or qsc which are stereo with a built in sub xover i.e. get something that is specifically designed to do the exact job your doing. As a bonus they are both fantastic bass power amps. Low frequency passive crossovers are to be avoided - they mess with your phase response, your damping factor, your efficiency, they will be big, expensive and wont work properly without being very closely matched to your speakers, and give you no ability to adjust the relative power to both speakers.

Edited June 22, 2014 by bassman7755

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1403476933' post='2483147']
I'm thinking it be much more efficient to split my signal and send the subs to the SWR and the rest to the Compact,
[/quote]Probably not. I doubt that the Big Ben goes much lower, if at all, than the compact, and doing this might end up giving you less low end.

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1403489918' post='2483182']
Probably not. I doubt that the Big Ben goes much lower, if at all, than the compact, and doing this might end up giving you less low end.
[/quote]

I was thinking that myself but it seems people often get upset when you question their assumed solution parameters. But since youve got the ball rolling - 2 compacts would be the way to go if your scared youd be pushing one too hard.

[Roland Rock]

If it helps, here are some specs for the Big Ben:


23"W x 30.5"H x 18.5"D
73 lbs.
400 Watts RMS 8 Ohms Response Suggested Amplifiers
-6dB @ 25Hz and 3kHz

[chris_b]

While your SWR cab has a good sound I wouldn't expect it to match up to what a second Compact could achieve for you.

IMO, a 2 Compact rig would go louder, go lower, have more definition, punch through the mix better and wouldn't need complicated crossovers to get a great full range sound.

[Ben Jamin]

Thanks for responses guys, a second Compact would be ideal, there's just a few things...

a. It'd be a shame to waste the SWR, which I picked up on here recently. It also has a replacement Celestion 18" - FTR18 I think (should've mentioned that earlier, sorry!) which is 1000W RMS/8 ohms.
b. I think the 15" Compacts have been discontinued [url="http://barefacedbass.com/product-range.htm"]http://barefacedbass...oduct-range.htm[/url]
c. I don't really trust my amp since it took a pretty nasty fall and it's never been particularly reliable, I wouldn't sell it on here for that reason, so I'd like to replace that first if anything
d. I don't have a massive budget

I'm totally open to every option, the cabs don't sound inherently bad together I just wondered if I can make it work better - would the best solution be to try and get a better matched cab/sell the SWR/get an affordable amp? Probably looking at 2nd hand price-wise. I don't need EQ etc as I can use my Sansamp for that and XLR out

Thanks loads

Edited June 23, 2014 by Ben Jamin