Gottastopbuyinggear

If you can post the cab model you may find that someone already knows something about the cab and could suggest a suitable replacement. Alternatively if you are able to take measurements to confirm the overall dimensions of the cab, and importantly the exact dimensions (including length) of the ports, then someone will probably model it for you. In fact, seeing as I have another thread on the go here where I’m hoping for some relatively expert comment, I’m happy to put something back into the community and model the cab myself, though being relatively inexperienced I might ask for someone else to mark my homework!

...which might be that I should stop messing around and build something from the Simplexx designs I bought from him a couple of years ago!

I've been following the 12" Cab Diary Continued thread with interest, but rather than derail that thread I thought I'd start a separate one with my, possibly crazy, thoughts/plans. I built two of the Mk1 cabs and have been happily gigging with them for well over a year now. Took a while to get used to the relatively flat response and oodles of low end when used in a pair, but I have no issues at all with the tone. I've seen discussions about dispersion from cabs quite often, but only really started thinking about it as a result of the thread above. You could read that as "I now think I have a problem that I've always had but didn't know I had until it was pointed out to me" ! Actually, I don't really have a problem at all, but I'm interested in the promise of an improved experience from the Mk2 cab when standing very close to it. It occurred to me that because I've not glued the baffle in on my cabs (they're screwed on, sealed with gasket tape) I could make a new baffle and could squeeze the 127mm diameter manrose pipe based port and the P-Audio tweeter in. It then occurred to me that I could actually probably squeeze a 5" mid-range driver in, instead of a tweeter, and that seems like quite an attractive idea. Why a mid-range? Because I'm not interested in more highs, but I am interested in better dispersion. I'm assuming that if I crossed over to a mid-range driver at something like 1KHz then more of my sound would be better dispersed, if that makes sense. This is as opposed to using the tweeter, which I think is crossed over about 2.5KHz, and seeing as most of my playing is with a P bass with flats I think there's quite a lot of the bulk of the sound that's below that point. Quite early on in the 12" Cab Diary Continued thread someone had mentioned the Faital M5N8-80 mid-range driver, and more recently the new 12PR320 woofer. From a look at the manufacturer's graphs they look like they would be pretty good match if crossed over at a little over 1Khz. I know it would not be optimal, but I think I could calculate and build a (for example) 2nd order L-R crossover to achieve this. I realise it would be in no way tuned to the specific components. I could actually start with the existing Beyma woofer and attenuate the signal to the mid-range down to match it, just to see what sort of results I get without springing £130 for the 12PR320. To be clear I'm well aware that this might not end up with a nice flat response, but I think there's a reasonable chance of getting something that sounds pleasing enough. There's a couple of other things I know I need to consider - for example the mid-range driver will have to be in a chamber which will reduce the volume of the cab, so I'll have to take that into account when calculating the port length, and actually squeezing the chamber sides onto the baffle might also be a bit of a challenge. I'm interested in people's views on this - is it a mad idea doomed to failure? I'm well aware that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and a copy of WinISD and a URL for a site with a crossover calculator don't make me a cab designer - but I'm up for a bit of experimentation.

Weird - I’m sure it came up as the most recent post yesterday! If anyone with too much money and not enough to spend it on is interested in those things they should shop around - if you try hard enough you can pay $199 for them: https://www.moon-audio.com/jh-audio-iem-stand.html

Either I’m losing my mind or there was a post about a stand to display your in ears on, which has now disappeared? https://www.jhaudio.com/p/iem-display I thought it was you that had posted it. It could very well be me losing my mind. Perhaps I shouldn’t have stopped taking the tablets...

A snip at just $150! Good grief...

I guess the next step is to try it hooked up to a speaker to see whether it's something affecting the preamp, or just something affecting the headphone amp - the latter would be a pain but at least the amp would be usable.

It’s only valve amps that must have a speaker connected - you haven’t damaged it by using it without one. Did you buy the amp new or secondhand?

It would actually be complete overkill - I'm using an Ampeg PF500 at the moment and it's more than ample - rarely above midday on the master volume. The problem is I keep hearing people talking about more traditional type amps (i.e. not Class D) and using words like "authority" and "heft" (I'm sure you're one of the culprits, Lozz!) and I think, hmmm... I want to find out for myself what that's all about. The reason I have two Precisions is that having switched to flats on my first Precision I decided I needed another one to have rounds on. Trouble is, after getting the second I realised I'd gone off the sound of rounds on a P so I now have flats on both! However, I've been swapping between flats and rounds on the Jazz a lot recently and I really like both - you know where this is going, don't you! Oddly enough I always feel that the Jazz has more real bass, and I guess a more even spread overall. But the P has that ooomph in the upper bass and lower mids which you really feel.

I have my GAS under control at the moment. Well, almost. I have just the two Precisions and one Jazz, a couple of class D heads, a 1x15 and two 12s. The username comes more from my former 6 string exploits, and everything that comes with that. Now, however, I've seen the light! But, I do fancy an Ashdown ABM 600. And I'm quite keen on a Barefaced Two 10. That Thunderbird you have for sale at the moment is quite nice too. Oh, and I'm pretty sure there's a Sterling Ray 34 somewhere with my name on it, or maybe even a second hand Stingray if one comes up at the right price...

Shall we start a sweepstake on how long before this is up for sale? I thoroughly approve of the colour combination, as my profile picture will confirm. Mine is a 2007 MIM - I stuck the Fender '62 custom shop pickups in as I felt the originals were a bit lacking in clarity, but I think the MIM pickups have changed since then so hopefully you'll be happy with them stock.

Regardless of the fact that the extension cab is second hand you appear to have bought a combo with an output for an extension speaker, and the matching extension speaker, so it's entirely reasonable to expect that they will work together. In this instance, unless the combo was sold with a clear disclaimer that the extension output could never be used then I think it would be reasonable to ask Ashdown to give you a replacement 8 ohm driver for the combo. They seem to have a great reputation on here for customer service, and having seen itsmedunc's post just pop up it seems this is their error which they've rectified in previous cases, so I think it's well worth going back to them.

Saw this lady playing with Ben Poole a couple of years ago, and liked her playing: http://www.pepelemokomusic.co.uk/

Gorillaz winning Best British Group - can’t we do better than that? Even he obviously didn't expect to win, or he might have prepared something coherent to say and not got so smashed.

I think there’s probably something psychological about it but I’m having second thoughts about my Gator Pro Go as it does feel really heavy with two sub nine pound basses in it! They are good bags though - plenty of protection, and much more convenient than laying a hard case on the floor to get your bass out if space is at a premium. £135 from Amazon a few months ago, but I noticed the price goes up and down a bit.

Stevie, is your no-compromise design going to be using the Mk 2 cab as currently designed or will you be making adjustments (more than bracing arrangement) to it? Reason for asking is that I may have an excuse to get over to Bristol in the week at some point in February, so I'm thinking about placing an order with Avon Ply - I used them last time and they did a great job of cutting the panels to size. Unfortunately they're not open at weekends, and I live in Cardiff and work in Swansea so I'm a bit scuppered most of the time. So far I've not found anyone local that can source the Poplar ply and cut it to size.

Sounds good! Yes, I was thinking I could try this on top of a single cab. I wasn't thinking of this as a long term solution, and if I did it I'm sure the box would be functional rather than pretty... On the other hand, I'm currently carrying 2 cabs, amp, pedal board, big bag of leads, mixer, and a powered monitor to every gig, and 2 bags of lights to some, so a small box isn't going to make much difference. I even remember my bass most of the time! Are you also thinking of building a 12/6 then, and if so would that be with the Beyma woofer? You said I'd turn in to gottastopbuildinggear - well, it does seem to be turning into another form of GAS! I did the Mk I cabs in 2016, a bitsa Precision last year, and it seems I'm casting around for something to make this year.

Thought I'd give this thread a bump as it's gone a bit quiet in the last few months, and I'm getting the itch to do another cab build - not sure why as I don't need one, but hey... I'm assuming from the number of responses in the thread that there wasn't enough interest in CNC'd flat pack kits to make that a possibility? Any news on the new Faital driver that you mentioned, Stevie? And any more feedback on the Mk II with Celestion horn driver Chienmortbb? Also, I don't want to derail this thread, but do I recall one of you saying you were thinking of doing a 12/6 build? I keep finding myself idly eyeing up the Fearful 12/6 plans, though I think I've talked myself out of that for a number of reasons, but I'd be interested in a similar idea with a more efficient (and lower cost) woofer, that didn't necessarily have to go quite as low. Finally, and this may be a daft question but I'll throw it out there anyway - who knows, it might give you a laugh... I'm currently gigging with two of the Mk I Basschat 1x12 cabs, and wondering whether one of the Mk IIs will be enough for me (where "enough" is obviously very subjective). Is there any reason why I wouldn't get a similar sonic result from building a small box to house the HF driver and horn, and the crossover, and running that on top of one of the Mk I cabs, just to see whether it's "enough" for whatever subjective criteria my mind cooks up?

I have a middle of the range Tokai 335 copy. Guitarist in my band has a Gibson 335. I daren't let him try my Tokai as I think it’ll just depress him.

I really can’t imagine the brand ceasing to exist, but on the other hand you never know, so I’m glad I bought my Les Paul when I did. It's an iconic instrument - plays and sounds fantastic, though the binding is an absolute dogs dinner in places, and I’d be shocked to see something like that come from any of the other big names. I wonder how much of their trouble is caused by questionable business strategy and how much by good old fashioned lack of attention to quality.

Erm... https://www.thomann.de/gb/marcus_miller_v3_5_awh.htm

In that case then a cheapish photographic backdrop as Steve Browning suggested could well be the way to go. When I was looking (not that hard, admittedly) for a printed backdrop it seemed that apart from the pop up style then everything was fairly heavyweight vinyl, which then requires a relatively sturdy set of stands. Photographic backdrops can be a lot lighter and hence the stands don’t need to be so heavy and bulky. There are loads on eBay.

We bought one of these, 2m x 2m: https://www.rollerbannersuk.com/wide-premium-roller-banner/, thinking that 2m x 2m sounded quite big... A 2m long aluminium cassette seems quite big when you’re trying to get it into the venue without smashing lightbulbs, knocking drinks out of punters' hands and so on, and 2m high seems quite big when you’re trying to put it up in places with low ceilings, lights, etc., but to be honest it looks possibly a little underwhelming when your drummer's sat in front of it. However it is quick and simple to set up and take down, and I think the only viable and bigger alternative is a vinyl banner which will need to be attached to a frame that you have to assemble each time, and I can see that becoming old very quickly! As an aside, that photo reminds me perfectly of the gig - the hi hat stand was missing the bolt that locks the legs in place, so I spent the whole gig with my foot on one of the legs so the whole thing didn’t fall over!