david_l_perry

[quote name='alexclaber' post='277990' date='Sep 5 2008, 04:23 PM']In my old SWR Grand Prix one side of the 12AX7 valve was use as the input buffer, with a choice of passive or a padded active input. The preamp gain knob came after this, then the EQ, then the output gain. (The other half of the valve was used in the aural enhancer). Turning the preamp gain down would not stop you clipping the input with a loud bass, that's what the padded input was for. This is the same for all SWR designs.[/quote] Cheers alex. I am still confused but no change here. I owned an SWR grand pre and SWR SM900 for many years, certainly cutting back the pre amp input level was needed to obtain an optimal signal level when I used it... And without the adjustability of a gain level control I dont see how you can do otherwise.... edit, just looked at my manual for the SWR. This is straight from the SWR manual and is what I am talking about:- [quote]GAIN CONTROL The Gain control adjusts the volume of the preamp section. Since the Gain control is similar to a “pad,” a small amount of signal will be heard even with the Gain rotated fully counter-clockwise (with the Master Volume up). After all EQ settings and the Aural Enhancer are set, the Gain control should be raised until the preamp clip LED barely flashes upon striking your loudest note. This will insure maximum signal-to-noise ratio and prevent unwanted clipping of the preamp section[/quote] So unless you have an adjustable input gain how can you obtain maximum signal-to-noise ratio ?

[quote name='alexclaber' post='277949' date='Sep 5 2008, 03:53 PM']My Avalon U5 doesn't have a pad/pre-gain control either.[/quote] HI Alex, I thought the input 'boost' level knob was the input gain stage with these ? Is it not. [quote]The U5 high-voltage DI-preamp combines a unique passive tone selector with a variable gain preamp[/quote]

[quote name='redstriper' post='277924' date='Sep 5 2008, 03:31 PM']Why would they produce an amp that couldn't cope with the majority of modern active basses without having to turn the volume down on the instrument? I've used amps with and without pre amp gain and not noticed any difference in tone unless it was too high and induced distortion.[/quote] The amp will no doubt happily work with the vast majority of active basses without clipping the input stage, its just that you may not be getting the most out of it if it pads the input too much, or you [i]could [/i]be getting clipping if it does not pad it enough..... Purely my own experience & preference but I certainly notice a tone change, with valves the more you drive them, the tone change is part of the deal. Dave

[quote]No pre amp gain so that rules it out for me[/quote] [quote name='redstriper' post='277793' date='Sep 5 2008, 01:32 PM']Why ? Is it really necessary and what are the downsides of not having it?[/quote] What they have given instead of a pre amp is two input sockets, active/passive. If your bass is a very high output active bass, then it may still clip the input stage. My status is 18v active (as most actives are these days) and I much prefer to be able to dial in the correct preamp level than rely upon a preset pad level. I would suggest this is all the more important with a valve pre amp, as a little more gain on the pre will change the tone To be honest I have not owned a bass amp without a fully adjustable input level for decades. It would work perfectly well for most applications, just not a perfect fit for me. Hartke started as an expensive 'top of the range manufacturer' that every pretend top dog wanted to use. I bought the pair of Hartke 4.5XL along with my 3500 at the time (then replaced with the ampeg head), great sounding cabs. a world away from the much cheaper transporter range. Dave

No pre amp gain.....that would rule it out for me I had an older rack mounted Harke 3500 about 12-15years ago (before they changed the construction) and it was a great head, the newer ones (that are not real rack heads but just mounted in a wooden box) are a different build quality altogether... But then I had a 'Top of the range flagship Ampeg SVTProII' that must have been built by monkeys on a late Friday afternoon...more problems than I dare to count.... Some companies just carry on trading on the name alone....Ampeg need taking to one side and shooting for poor quality construction...speaker cabs made of chipboard...holy crap...

Forgot to add that unfortunately the Omni 10.5 and Titan 39 combo didn't record well, and to be honest it sounded (to me at least) no bigger/better than the Omni15. Could have been room related, but it didn't do a lot for me. Shame

I met up with Mottlefeeder and another couple of Bf users to try out the BFM cabs. Unfortunately one of the guys (greenmanking) who bought my Omni 10 off me (the one I brought to the lytham basschat meet) could not make it down, which is a shame as it would have been the whole omni shebang. Mottlefeeders Omni 12 on the left, with my Omni15 on the right Omni 15 and Omni 10.5 sat on a Titan 39 (narrow body) The main reason for the meeting was to try out things with Mottleffeders Omni12 as he has never had much bass output from it. He had fortunately sorted out his problem (loose driver and couple of gaps to the chamber that needed sealing) and the cab is now a different beast altogether. It sounded great. These sound clips will be best heard with headphones rather than your PC speakers for obvious reasons. None of this was scientific, and is purely as a guide to the sound differences of the three cabs. The Omni 10.5 sounds amazing for such a small and cheap package. This 10.5 was only loaded with the cheap eminence Beta 10" driver (£35). The Omni 15 has (as expected) more btm end than the Omni 12 but the 12 still kicked it out. All of the soundbites are recoreded with my Mark Bass LMK and Status bass. Soundbites that I recorded on the Zoom H2 at the venue:- [url="http://www.pjltd.plus.com/Omni%2012.mp3"]Omni12[/url] [url="http://www.pjltd.plus.com/Omni15%20.mp3"]Omni15[/url] [url="http://www.pjltd.plus.com/Omni%2010.5.mp3"]Omni 10.5[/url] You tube vids of the same but recorded with the camera mic The Omni 12 Omni 15 Omni 10.5 Hope this is of some benefit to somebody. Dave

[quote name='fretmeister' post='272422' date='Aug 29 2008, 12:04 PM']I have run my Mark Bass 102 HF 2x10 for about a year now. I am in 2 minds whether to get a Mark Bass 15 to go with it - or another 2x10 and have a cab each side of the drums...[/quote] A pair of 2x10's stacked will be far better than splitting them...splitting your bass cabs is not a good idea, placement is everything with low freq's Even better is stacking them vertically , gets the cabs a little higher (nearer your ears) and the drivers will work better alligned that way...of course others may think this is all conjecture..... Is the 2x10 an 8ohm cab, or 4ohm...if its 4ohms you may have problems with a second cab... Dave

That looks [i]superb[/i]...I have just changed my lacquer finished ACG build to oiled on the strength of these photos...very nice indeed. Dave

[quote name='BassBunny' post='267805' date='Aug 22 2008, 01:05 PM']Now that should be some Bass, Son........ Using ACG pre-amp as well?[/quote] Yep Dad, should be very nice. Using the ACG 01 pre amp... Full details here:- [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20572"]ACG headless 5 string[/url]

Got it. (thanks to a guy over on talkbass who had one) My Status is 9-10mm close enough for jazz.... Dave

Alan at ACG is making me a 5 string headless bass but getting hardware is prooving a little awkward as my bridge string spacing is fairly narrow. We have hopefully sorted the bridge assembly out but struggling a little with the headpiece. I wanted to use a Status string retainer headpiece so I keep all the string spacing the same as my long standing main Status bass of 10+ years, but Status are 'out of stock'. Does anybody know the spacing of the standard 5 string ABM headless string retainer, it isn't on the web site and I think ABM are shut down at the moment (holidays). Obviously its the top part. I am after 10mm string to string spacing Cheers, Dave

[quote name='steve-soar' post='261656' date='Aug 13 2008, 03:59 PM']The Stealth-Empathy is a true beauty and the 2000 fiver is a cracker too. I can't imagine playing with 15mm spacing though. [/quote] [i]Completely standard[/i] string spacing for the Status 5 strings with the older tuning system .....I am having a new custom ACG headless bass built and Alan is having all sorts of problems sourcing a custom bridge as I want to keep the [i]same [/i]15mm spacing that I am now so used to....

Not great shots but here are my two Status Basses. These have been my main basses for the last 10+ years. 2000 v string all black graphite covered fretless (de-fretted by Martin Peterson at the gallery), and a one off custom Empathy 5 string Rob made for me 10 years ago (the first headless using the stealth body shape don't you know.....):- When I had the custom Status made I wanted the original solid brass hardware bridge as the string spacing is 15mm on the 5 string. I was lucky as Rob still had some of these units around at the workshop but had moved onto the individual ABM saddles as the standard, with wider string spacing. Dave

[quote name='Bassmonster' post='255541' date='Aug 5 2008, 04:33 PM']Another update, just needs to be polished now, although the colour is different to what i though it would be...[/quote] Thats nothing....when I orderd my custom Status Empathy 10years ago it was ordered as 'Pacific Blue'......and trust me the web site colour [i]was [/i]blue....Cant tell you how suprised I was when I opened the case up....good job I loved its greeny loveliness... My ACG Headless that is currently being made is all natural...... Dave

Looking forward to another Omni build !! I would be more tempted to stay with the widebody to allow a little more wiggle room for the piezo array. Its not a wide cab. Here is a shot of my full width omni 10 (this is the one I brought down to the Basschat meetup in Lytham) sat ontop of my old garage bound Little compact Peavey 2x10TX I built mine to allow trying alternate piezo array options and built it using a seperate sealed piezo box in the top half as you can see here so I could swap the straight array and melded array (for what its worth the melded array is far, far better) (not much spare room either side) Its a [i]great [/i]sounding cab, but for me and my Status Bass I wanted the extra lows of the Omni 15, so built one of those and sold the Omni 10 Dave

Good luck with the venture Alex. Cant get the web site links working. How have you found the painted finish to hold up now ? I got great finish with it but its easily marked even with a fingernal.... Dave

[quote name='kennyrodg' post='240579' date='Jul 16 2008, 08:33 AM']Hi David I Perry, i have the plans for the omni15 "tallboy" is yours that cab per chance ? thanks in advance [/quote] Indeed it is, if you fancy checking it out let me know and come on round sometime as you are very close... Drop me a pm, I pick up my emails daily (if I don't answer it means I am on my hols for a week - but back in August) Dave

Alex, please take this as a purposeful comment:- If you want to start making these cabs to supply them to punters and sell them for a profit, the finish is [i]the most important part of the finished product[/i]. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=9833"]cab photo[/url] I want you to succeed with this, but unless you get the finish looking spot on then they will always look like a 'homemade box' Ditch the top handles, revert to side mounted flip handles or steel bar handles, work on the carpet skills or invest some time and money in a painted finish other than the tuffcab, as it scratches far to easily. Perhaps sending the cabs off to places that do the truck liner stuff (line x coatings for example) Dave

Just a little update:- The camphor burl has arrived that will be facing the front and back wings of this bass....I like it a lot It wont be as dark as it looks in this photo once finished. The panels marked B are to be used for the front facing but reversed so that the central lighter section is in the middle of the body:-

Sounds like its going to be a quality Bass I find the bass acoustics come alive if you fill the plastic box with a couple of sandwiches, the choice of filling is all important. Better yet is to add a chocy biscuit or two and a bag of cheesy Watsits (not the cheap Tesco branded variant, real Watsits....) Luthiers should take note of this thread....

[quote name='kennyrodg' post='230322' date='Jul 1 2008, 09:50 AM']I fancy a go at an Omni 10 but the electronic side of things is a bit daunting. apologies again. [/quote] Good thing about the Omni10/10.5 is that there are no electrics to talk of, no crossover, no filter components...its simple connect the woofers and piezo's directly to the speaker input socket and off you go....Piezo's don't need a crossover. Ok, you have the resistor but that just gets wired in line with the positive lead that feeds the piezo's. Wiring of the piezo's are all clearly marked up in the plans, and Bills forum is a great source of help and advice Having said all that, the other designs of Bills that do need a crossover are fairly well detailed, taking the mystery away... Dave

[quote name='peted' post='229769' date='Jun 30 2008, 03:11 PM']OK. This weekend I've fitted the top and bottom horn flanges, cut out the woofer baffle, filled the screw holes, and given the whole thing a thorough sanding. Another question: Where do people get their 4 Ohm 20 Watt wire-would resisters from? I tried to order one of [url="http://cpc.farnell.com/RE01658/components-spares/product.us0?sku=welwyn-wh10-3r3-ji&_requestid=435615"]these[/url] with the other gear from CPC but it was out of stock and hasn't been in stock since. Any ideas? I'll post up more picks when the woodwork is pretty much finished. Thanks.[/quote] I ended up using a 10w resistor on my Omni 10, Omni 15 and wedgehorn, no problems. Contact John here for all your bits n bobs:- [url="http://www.audio-components.co.uk/store/category.asp?CategoryID=2"]UK Audio components[/url]

[quote name='ste_m3' post='223921' date='Jun 22 2008, 01:13 AM']10.5 in blackpool area hit me up![/quote] I'm clearly not 'down with the kids'...are you saying you have built one Ste...or would like to try one...I must be getting old I don't understand a word of it.... I know you wanted one..... Dave edit...just read your gear tag.......that was quick pal.....how do you find the single 10.5 sounds on its own ?