Chienmortbb

Thanks you, I was about to jump in there.

There are others out there probably better qualified than me but: I think your HPF is set a little high. 50Hz would be my turnover point. Are you using your subs under the Tops at the side? That causes cancellations multiple subs should be grouped together, preferably in the centre. This YouTube video is very informative.

That is true, the TH350 use the 125ASX2 module that will give well over 400 watts into 4 ohms but they rate it as 350. My main pouint strill holds though that the TH500 should reaally be loud enough for anything. Let's take an example: Speaket cab with a sensitivity of 95dB/W/M (low by today's standards) that will give an SPL of about 121dB at 500W. More than enough to keep up with a loud drummer I would have thought. At 250W it is still about 118-119dB.

I should perhaps add that very few bass cabs are properly crossed over and use low cost tweeters. The result is often that fizz/tizz sound that so many hate. Just look at how many posts there are on here and The Other Place about removing the tweeters on Markbass Combos. That is not an intended slight on Markbass as many cabinets have similar rudimentary filters. Also don't be fooled by the rotary control for the tweeter level, it usually allows just the fizz/tizz level to be adjusted. One look at the FRFR threads will show the popularity of some high end PA cabs from RCF, QSC, Yamaha and the like. where good quality drivers are used. The RCf ART 945 https://www.rcf.it/en/products/product-detail/art-945-a has a crossover frequency of 650Hz allowing the 15" driver to work well where it can and a combination of the horn and compression driver to handle everything else. The performance is immense BUT it is well over £1300. A large part of that would be the 4" voice coil compression driver. However compare that to a decent head and decent cab.

Unless Aguilar are really screwing with the signal, that is wrong. ON this Video at just past 2 minutes you will here the Aguilar man say they use the ICEPower 250ASX2. That is rated at 500 watts into either 4 or 8 ohms. Now I have heard that you either love, or hate the sound of the TH500 but it certainly does not lack power. 500 watts into 8 ohms is immense so long as your speaker sensitivity is not exceptionally low. I fact, many 1000W amps will only do 500W into 8 ohms.

When I was a young engineer, I worked for 6 months in EMI Research Labs. We were designing mixing consoles for Abbey Road. The head of that department told me to always listen with both ears and an open mind.

The real power off a Veyron is over 700 watts and the difference between that and the 1000W of the Hartke is inconsequential. Even if the Hatrtke IS 1000W the difference is irrelevant and in fact only 500W into a single cabinet. So then you have to then look at the other issues. The choice is yours.

You retiring or having a re-GAS Mike?

I might have missed the pint of this debate but apart from a rare optical pickup, there is no such thing as an active pickup. There are low impedance pickups with amplifiers built into the pick-up housing, by the pickups are not active. One of the early issues with “active” preamps was that the designers thought, “I have fain and I am going to use it”. So tho output of these basses was overly hot for bass amps. So bass amps were fitted with a pad, an attenuator to stop active bass overloading the amp. Nowadays, active basses usually have a similar output to a passive bass. The Sire Marcus Miller pre-amp has an active/passive switch and with the active controls flat, the two modes are almost indistinguishable.

I saw a band last week where the bassist was using one of the TE Combos with that exact Warwick cab. Was more than loud enough but lacked bit of low end. Not half bad though.

It's all about dispersion. All speakers have a falloff at 45 degrees off axis. The bigger the driver the lower the frequency of the roll off. You will not notice the difference if you are in front of the speaker. Your audience will if they stand at the side. For example below is the response curve of a faital pro 12 PR300, used in several bass cabs. You will see that at 3KHz the output is about -18dB down at 45 degrees off axis. A good tweeter, well crossed over, will restore that so that those people at the side hear you as you hear yourself. That includes your band members. The Eminence Kappalite 3012, on which the 12" Barefaced Gen 3 cab drivers are based looks like this: There is no off axis plot but being the same diameter as the Faital pro 12PR300, you can expect a similar roll-off. Even at 2 KHz ON axis, the Eminence driver is 2.5-3dB down. I will probably get hammered for this but this driver is close to unusable without a tweeter except for use as a subwoofer. I will get my coat...

This is true and it's why @stevieof this parish has done so much work on dispersion on the BC112 MK3 and other designs. It is not just about having an FRFR response rather than a "voiced" cabinet. The issue is that bass drivers beam the mids, and you do need a compression driver and horn that work well together to ensure those vital mids are heard by everyone.

I think you need a new drummer. Seriously though the TH500 uses the 250ASX2 power module that from memory gives close to full output at 8 ohms. This is a line from the ICEPower datasheet. "500W @ 1% THD+N, 20Hz – 20kHz, 8ohms, BTL". Clearly the preamp in the amp has its own baked in sound, according to a friend, and many on-line reports. However, this would not affect the real output of the amp. You should be able to melt the drummer, even with an 8 ohm speaker. Have you tried a different amp? There may be a problem in the amo.

I agree the styling is a nice blend of functional and classy. Must take some anti-GAS pills.

I love a good build.

Good Idea.

Sending a signal from a Helix or any multi-effects units to PA is like sending your signal to a flat amp/system.

That is the point. The sound of your bass is a combination of the materials used in its construction, the pickups and the electronics. Why would you need a fixed EQ in an amp when you have no idea of the response of your bass. If you have the capability to alter the sound of your bass with variable EQ in your bass head, all well and good but it is good to have a reference. To your point, pick-up response changes with the values of the capacitors and potentiometers attached to and if you have a two pick-up bass each pick-up loads the other. Unless you run with nothing connected between the pick-up and the output Jack, you tone is already baked in. Still I would prefer to be able to listen to the sound of the bass with no external influence THEN adjust the EQ/Shape etc to taste.

On stage I use the tuner in my Zoom. It is very accurate and fast. When I am intonating a bass, I use the Peterson Strobo app on the iPhone or iPad. I did not realise that Peterson did a pedal tuner I feel GAS coming on.

I must admit that when I measured the amps, I was not really concerned about the flatness, that was an afterthought. I was looking at whether the amps had baked in High Pass Filters. They both did.

Your tummy should not rumble if you have got to the crumble.

I measured both my Bugera Veyron (M Version) and Ashdown MiBass 2.0 (now sold to another bass chatter) and both were flat to within +/-1dB to 10KHz when the controls were all at 12 0'clock with no treble or bass boost. Both had baked in HPFs.

Unless there is other built in shaping that is flat. The power section of that amp is likely to be flat within 1-2dB within the bandwidth that we are concerned with. There may well be an HPF at some point too, but IMHO that should be ignored for our puposes.

I was wondering that. No, seriously, it will be the place where the interconnecting cables will terminate. So the multiway connectors from the amps will be terminated there to allow them to be split into 2/3 way connectors to do to the DSP, input/output XLRs and Aux power from the amps. I might put the low voltage regulators on there too, but I do have some separate regulator PCBs that I might use. That is the next job, the layout of that perf board, should not be too difficult. I also need to think whether I need to use the other features such as Shut Down or Mute Out (Mute mode=5V Run mode=-5V) Basically an indication that the amp is in protect mode. Temperature feedback (Maybe use to turn on the fans?) Mute (Pull-Down = Mute, left open or 5V Run). Is this needed on a power amp for PA use? Incidently, as I have to run mains from the back to the front, the perforated aluminium will act as a shield keeping any radiated mains interference away from the audio signal and Aux power lines. I need to place the DSP board. That will attach to the front panel. Of course, the front panel design is still a work in progress.😃