Mr. Foxen

[quote name='squire5' timestamp='1339350785' post='1687276'] Whats the worst that can happen if you do use instrument cable?As in a stop-gap measure? [/quote] Insulation melts, shorts, catches fire, sets other stuff on fire and burns down your house, the short kills your output devices, shorting them putting full rail voltage into your speakers, melting them and setting them on fire too. That's probably the worst directly.

Look out in Ebay links, I just spent all my gear stash money on a Hiwatt, but won't resist browsing for deals, the BIN ones won't last.

Bad company. Also use oversized jacks that knacker up sockets.

Don't get sold Monster cable.

Basically, if you unscrew the jack and see two equal cables in different colored sleeves, thats a speaker cable, if its a middle one in a sleeve and a bunched up one that spreads to surround the one going into the cable proper, that's an instrument one.

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/Hiwatt/hiwatt007.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/Hiwatt/hiwatt001.jpg[/IMG]

Basically have to do batches of them to make the price not crazy for doing metal ones (it is CNC cutting then I do/have done whatever finishes individually, need to do about a dozen blanks at a time). For one off plastic ones, Bass Doc is your man as far as I recall.

If neo is the key word, then it doesn't matter. Neo has no effect on sound.

[quote name='Bass-Thing' timestamp='1339264759' post='1686141'] Basiclly I'm after one the same size as my SUB/Stingray neckplate. It's more an aesthetic thing than a practical necessity, especially as the original Stingrays came with 3 and then 4 hole plates until they introduced the 6 hole plates in the 90s I think. When you say 'not cheap' I appreciate obviously that this will be a hand crafted plate, but how much are we talking about? [/quote] If you can scan or photo it next to a ruler and give an idea of thickness, I can get a quote.

Can make one if you provide measurements. Won't be cheap like an ebay 4 bolt though.

The black of the burst in the sculpting says its not solid wood. I think there were a few grades of Antoria.

Don't know of anyone handwiring SS amps on turrets motivated mostly by pride in their work, so the difference shows in the upper end.

Think that sounds a lot like solder joints loose, especially the jack touching part, which is easy if you can solder, but the randomer pot noise might be a leaking capacitors putting dc across them, which you have to poke about with a meter to find and replace, spray and solder first to make sure it isn't easy things.

The 8 ohm 2x12 might be enough, and you have the option of adding more, although adding a 4x10 is kind of not the way, if you like the sound but want louder, add another the same. If you find the 4ohm 4x10 isn't enough, you are stuck.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1338910017' post='1680916'] Thanks a lot gents, however i have more dumb questions. Just say an amp (solid state) is 500w into 4 ohms then you buy two cabs one 4 ohms one 8 ohms, according to icastles calculator thing that would be 2.67 ohms. Would that damage the amp? Is the 500w into 4 ohms its minimum? It may not seem like it but this is helping loads even if i don't fully grasp it. i'm getting the basic message. I think! [/quote] It will say minimum load 4ohm, which is the important bit. some do down to 2ohm (peavey mostly). The watts part is a separate thing, but since the biggest number will always be the watts at minimum impedance, you can usually assume, but best to know the right thing to look for.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1338903062' post='1680818'] +1. Most tube amps use a closed circuit switching output jack that shorts the output[b] if there's no speaker plugged in[/b]. That's to prevent damage from what really does bother tubes, which is no load. They're not happy with a load higher than the tap rating either, but a load lower than the tap rating is to a tube as water is to a duck. [/quote] Would more specifically say if there's no lead plugged in, it will be open if a lead is plugged in with no speaker on the end, and that is the trouble place.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1338896056' post='1680664'] Oxblood posted an informative post ages ago. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/5427-valve-amp-heat/page__view__findpost__p__57345"]http://basschat.co.u...dpost__p__57345[/url] He knows his stuff as well - he virtually rebuilt a VA350. [/quote] That says a short causes no harm at all, which is as I said, low impedance is not an issue for damage concerns.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1338893562' post='1680570'] Which is why people with 15" complain they can't hear the bass ...so have to feel it across the stage..which is NOT what you want, IMO. Of course, you hear the bass, but it can be too droney. So then, they raise it upto ear level or add another cab...when the 115 only scores from being compact anyway. It is one of the reasons why I have always said it is NOT a one cab solution but there you go. It might suit some. So, couple this with a bass emphasis from the cab you are starting too far down the hill to get anywhere. The bass lacks focus from a positional sense and it degrades even further. You might rescue it to a degree by playing with an aggressive pick style but probably not. Adding a 210 might sharpen things up a bit... but a 2x210 would do the whole job better, IMO/IME. Which is why the standard tends to 410. [/quote] 4x10 in standard format is more direction than a 1x15 because it has a broader cone area, so it makes the inaudibility issue worse.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338893027' post='1680552'] If you run a valve amp at anything other than its correct impedance you will damage the valves, and the biasing circuitry. You will probably blow fuses so the amp will stop dead in its tracks. That will be an expensive repair job. [/quote] Can you explain why? Especially for low impedance loads.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1338878986' post='1680296'] I understood that too low an impedance would run the valves hotter, shortening their life. Though not disastrous, blowing a valve is never a good thing. [/quote] With no reason to do so, probably better not doing it, but I've never heard any decent explanation of why that should be so that wasn't actually a misplaced description of the output of solid state amps, between that and the shorting jacks, have been inclined to think there isn't much trouble from it aside from sounding a bit wrong.

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1338851716' post='1680166'] The total thermal power handling of your speakers will be 500w plus the wattage of your extra cab, with the power being shared equally between them. [/quote] In that scenario its double the power handling of the weakest cab, since power is shared equally, it doesn't go to the higher one once the weaker one is 'full' [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1338851716' post='1680166'] Valve amps work differently in that they always have the maximum stated wattage available, but must be switched to the correct impedance (they'll either have a switch or separate speaker outputs marked with the appropriate impedance). Using a valve amp at too high an impedance (or without any speakers connected) will leave you with an expensive repair bill - too low and you'll shorten the life of the valves. [/quote] Too low is apparently OK, the output jacks are shorting to stop death in case of no load, its plugged in to amp with nothing on the lead that is the killer, since that opens the short. Basically, a full circuit on the secondary means the transformer still works as a transformer due to current being able to pass through the completed coil giving it an inductance value, instead of an electromagnet, where the field collapses and puts a voltage spike back through the valves. This is bit on the limits of my understanding, but that is how I currently picture it.

1x15s aren't uncommonly in the exact same sized box as a 2x10.

Heading toward tempted, looks like my new Compact will be leaving as soon as it arrives.

Using mixed stuff is unpredictable, so you have to specifically try out each combination to know what they sound like, and the dispersion of sound round the room is less predictable than when using identical cabs, so you have to move about a bunch to check how they do combine (part of the predictability thing is in how your brain compensates for room sound due to awareness of walls and such). Ideal place to listen is where a mic would be when your rig is miced, and when you have to different sounding speakers, that shows the problem with mixing speakers.

Important thing to remember about power handling figures is that it is thermal power handling, and the likely cause of damage to speakers from overpowering playing bass guitar is not thermal but mechanical, so the mechanical damage limit is the important one, known as maximum excursion, and farting is the warning that you are approaching it. The actual amount of power it takes to reach the limit varies with frequency by a pretty massive amount, so it can't be expressed in a single number.