redstriper

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='413649' date='Feb 18 2009, 09:47 PM']How many 2x8 or 2x6 cabs with vertically aligned drivers and high-pass filtering were you able to test matched up with a 2x15 with low pass filtering?[/quote] Why would I try a 2 x 15 when I'm looking for lightweight cabs?

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='413431' date='Feb 18 2009, 05:53 PM']Your reply is the proof of the proverbial pudding. Cab manufacturers build what sells, what sells is what the consumer thinks 'looks right', and what 'looks right' is what they're used to. Since virtually every manufacturer turns out the same cookies using the same cookie cutter the opportunity for the average player to hear a superior product simply does not exist. And no manufacturer, save a small entity like Alex with his barefacedBass cabs, is going to invest in the R&D and tooling for a superior product that won't sell because it doesn't 'look right', especially when same old same old continues to go out the shop doors.[/quote] Your proverbial pudding tastes like sour grapes to me and I beg to differ. People often use their ears as well as their eyes when choosing gear and I did not choose my rig because it looks right. I tried a lot of cabs and combinations regardless of looks and found the single 15 and 2 x 10 cabs work well together and make a sound that I'm very happy with, although two 15s are my preference. I'm not alone in this choice and it's not because we are all blindly following fashion. I made my choice of cabs based on personal preferences of sound, size, weight and price, with looks at the bottom of the list. I don't think Alex's cabs are so far removed from other designs that they won't sell because they don't look right. More likely, most people will choose mass produced cabs because they are less expensive, sound great and have the back up of an established company.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='413353' date='Feb 18 2009, 05:10 PM']Hmmm..... Strange. My Trace 1x15 farts at lower volumes than my Aggie. And the Aggie seems to go much deeper.[/quote] The driver in my trace cab is a 1985 200 watt Fane studio B and it goes much deeper than the Aggie. Put an Eminence kappalite 3015LF in any half decent cab and it will go way lower than the aggie IMO.

[quote name='Linus27' post='413041' date='Feb 18 2009, 01:44 PM']The fact that I have the treble dial turned to full on my MAG 300H head, makes me think the 2 x 10 might be a good idea. My only worry is I don't want to thin the sound out to much. Plus it will be sitting on top of the 1 x 15 and will be at ear level and might sound too thin or trebly.[/quote] Don't worry about thinning the sound out, that's unlikely to happen and if it does you can turn the treble down on the amp. Have you tried reducing the bass eq rather than increasing the treble? Cutting instead of boosting eq can be very effective and more natural sounding - just a thought. Another thought - it's a good idea to listen to cabs from a distance of at least 15 feet as well as close up as the sound can be very different and more like what the crowd hears when there's no PA.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='413074' date='Feb 18 2009, 02:10 PM']I am surprised you didn't get on with the Aguilar... I am finding my GS112 (No tweeter) to be 'bassier' than my Trace 1x15.[/quote] I suppose these things are subjective and it depends how low you wanna go. I found my old trace 15" combo much 'bassier' than the Aguilar, which I thought was middly with no real depth. The Aguilar GS112 is the favourite cab of a friend of mine, but when I tried it I nearly blew it up! My sound is very deep and the driver was popping and trying to jump out of the cab above moderate volume levels. I really wanted it to work for me as it obviously does for you and lots of other people, but it wasn't to be. The upside is that the Ashdown mag115 is much cheaper, not much heavier and goes a lot deeper.

[quote name='Linus27' post='407525' date='Feb 12 2009, 12:47 PM']I have an Ashdown 300H MAG amp and an Ashdown 1 x 15 speaker. I am going to add an Ashdown 2 x 10 to it. What sort of difference will adding this 2 x 10 make to my overall sound? Fatter or more treble or punchier or not much difference? Thanks[/quote] I have an Ashdown mag115 deep cab which I use with a compact Hartke 2 x 10 loaded with Ashdown drivers. The combined sound is not radically different to either cab on it's own, just louder. The 2 x 10 is almost as deep as the 15 and sinilar in volume level, they work nicely together if you like a smooth deep sound. The Ashdown 2 x 10 you are looking at probably has a tweeter which mine doesn't, so you could expect more top end. I have the 15 underneath the 2 x 10, with the 2 x 10 placed vertically for maximum dispertion.

I use two 15s in separate cabs for ease, flexibility and sound. One is a compact Flite cab loaded with an Eminence 3015LF and it must be the lightest 15 cab in the world at an incredible 10 kilos - that's f......lite! I use this on it's own for practises and small gigs and it's surprisingly deep and punchy for it's size, thogh obviously not as deep as a larger cab. The other cab is an Ashdown mag115 deep which adds extra depth and volume for bigger gigs and is still not mad heavy at about 20 kilos. I tried many other cabs before arriving at this set up in my search for lightweight deep bass and the two 15s work best for me, although I also have a compact Hartke 2 x 10 loaded with Ashdown drivers which sounds very deep and smooth and also weighs about 20 k. I haven't liked any of the many single 12" cabs I tried, much as I wanted to. None of them were happy with my deep dub tone. It's taken a year of trying different combinations of cabs to get 'my' sound from a lightweight rig and I bought all 3 cabs on this forum, where I have also had excellent help and advice from people who know a lot more than me about such matters, (they know who they are). The main lesson I learned is that everyone has a different view of the perfect sound and the only way to find yours is to tust your own ears.

Thanks for all the positive comments, I'm feeling quite the groovy dubmeister now ! It's all simple stuff, a lot easier than other styles and probably boring to more technical players. It's all about feel and the interplay with the other musicians and when it works and the crowd is digging it too, there's no better buzz. I always put our gig dates on myspace and if anyone from this forum wants to attend, let me know and I'll put you on the guest list if I can. Also, we're always looking for gigs if anyone fancies a reggae party.............

[quote name='molan' post='409248' date='Feb 14 2009, 09:12 AM']Listening to you right now - Welsh dub, good stuff here, liking it a lot [/quote] Thanks man - all tracks recorded live in my front room so ruff & ready (just like me).

I've been playing nothing but reggae for 30 years - it's a spiritual thing and a direct route to the soul. It's a music you feel with your heart rather than hear with your head and who feels it knows it. To all those bassists who wish they were in a reggae band I say - form one now, today's dream is tomorrow's reality. The sheer quantity of incredible Jamaican music over the past 40 years is unbelievable for a small 3rd world island and the message has spread all over the world with great new roots bands in every country. It's influence is heard in most poular music from punk to rap and while never mainstream, it appeals to a wide range of people, unlike most other genres. It's positive and uplifting with a message of one love and unity - what's not to like? [url="http://myspace.com/redstriper"]You can check my band here.[/url] One Love.

[url="http://www.dv247.com/invt/61700/"]this should do the job[/url]

Mine was in a combo, so it might not be the same, but this is how I did it - The front panel should pull out when you've unscrewed the 4 rack screws. This is the pre-amp which connects to the power amp via some cables which are connected to a simple plug. Unplug this and you will have the pre-amp isolated. To remove the power amp unscrew the 3 screws in the top and 2 screws at the back of the case and push the power amp out through the front. . [url="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/betterdays/poweramptop1.jpg"]http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/betterdays/poweramptop1.jpg[/url]

I wish it was a 22" scale, then I really would be interested, even a 30" short scale would be nice. My main bass is an 18" scale Ashbory.

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='372249' date='Jan 6 2009, 05:56 PM']Alex's cabs sound (on paper) amazing, this idea is a way of putting together a poor man's Compact without woodworking skills[/quote] That was exactly my idea - I got the mag 115 cab for £60 and replaced the driver for the 3015 LF for a total cost of £170 with a spare blueline driver and weight under 20kg. It has the magic 3 Ls - Loud, Light and Low with a bonus 4th - Less (dosh). I intend to replace the cab with one of Alex's when funds allow.

I put a kappalite 3015 LF into a Trace combo and it worked fine with more volume and deeper bass response than the Fane original and it is also much lighter. It wasn't completely straightforward though, the old driver used bolts and the holes didn't line up with the new one, so I had to make new screw holes. Also the Eminence driver is deeper on the front so the grill wouldn't fit back on without using some thick washers to raise it up, which made it stand proud of the cab front. I have since put the Fane back in and put the Kappalite into an Ashdown mag 115 cab, which also required modification, but sounds great. I don't know anything about tuning cabs, but I'm happy with the sound so who cares!

[quote name='~tl' post='368508' date='Jan 2 2009, 02:54 PM']I would guess it'd be something around 17" since it's a half size instrument...[/quote] What ! I didn't realise it was actually 1/2 size - can you buy strings that short ?

[quote name='Linus27' post='368184' date='Jan 2 2009, 12:57 AM']This also would be competition, [url="http://www.themusicking.co.uk/westfield-1-2-size-bass-guitar-in-red"]http://www.themusicking.co.uk/westfield-1-...s-guitar-in-red[/url] This is what I am looking at for my son.[/quote] That's my kinda price - have you tried one? Do you know the scale length?

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='367646' date='Jan 1 2009, 12:30 PM']I made my son (7) a mini P-bass from bits left over from other projects, its zebrano with gold hardware, sapele back and a p-bass clone pickup. He loves showing it to his friends but is not yet that interested in learning it. Sorry but it's right handed, not a big job to swap the nut over for left-handed stringing. [/quote] Put me down for one of those too - you could go into business building them. There's a demand for small basses from grown ups for portability, playability, weight and sound as noted [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35587"]here[/url] Price could be an issue though with [url="http://www.bem-music.com/list.pl?id=105467"]this[/url] as competition.

I'm tempted to go for one of these, how's it holding up now you've had more time with it? I need lightweight and I like a very deep tone with no treble so I'd be using fat flatwound strings. Do you think this bass would do the job?

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='367787' date='Jan 1 2009, 02:59 PM']is this the Tanglewood model? EB18 [url="http://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/products/default.asp?cID=26463253&sID=26465218"]http://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/product...mp;sID=26465218[/url] they don't seem to have an EF18 on the website...[/quote] I've seen 1/2 and 3/4 size Tanglewood EB18s advertised but it's not clear what the actual scale lengths are. Are they standard short scale or ultra short - 20" sounds very short and I don't know where you'd get strings. Has anyone else had any experience with them?

[quote name='BigRedX' post='367125' date='Dec 31 2008, 02:55 PM']My fretless Gus G3 came with Rotosound flats fitted (Simon has some arrangement with Rotosound so that's what you get unless you specifically ask for something different.) I had to slacken the truss rod off over half a turn to compensate when I replaced them with Pedulla Nickel Roundwounds (my favourite fretless strings). This is on a bass with with carbon-fibre exoskeleton body and neck. The TI flats are even lower tension...[/quote] I'll have your rotosound tru bass flats if you've still got them - I could swap them for a new set of rotosound custom light gauge roundwounds if you're interested (although they remind me of chicken wire).

[quote name='evilLordJuju' post='367082' date='Dec 31 2008, 02:01 PM']Yes, that's right. These basses are for people that actually like 'bass', rather than a weedy trebly clank [/quote] Good point Juju - well made BTW - The '64 EB-O I saw for 2k was on the Kings Road and the same colour as yours - they offered me £800 in PX for my 1963 Fender Jazz - well the rents are high on the Kings Road!

I also made the same comparison with the LH1000 and LM2 but found the LH1000 to be less warm. Definately a great amp, just too bright and not smooth or deep enough for me.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='366394' date='Dec 30 2008, 04:54 PM']Be aware that both the Rotosounds and the TI flats will require you to make some fairly major truss rod adjustments. The Rotos are very high tension (personally I hate them - they feel like fence wire) and the TIs are very low. For reference a standard set of 45-95 roundwounds are roughly in the middle.[/quote] I couldn't disagree more - I have not adjusted the truss rod since fitting the rotosounds and don't see any difference in neck relief from the standard strings. I find them to be quite low tension and smooth to play, (nothing like fence wire) pretty much the opposite of your opinion. I'd be interested to hear how HP gets on with the rotos.