Bill Fitzmaurice

A-G getting caught with their pants down over the Accu-Switch was the tip of the iceberg. It brought to light that, while better engineered than the average bass cab, they aren't what they're cracked up to be, and certainly not worth the price of admission. On you side of the pond Alex's offerings are a far better option for a lot less Sterling.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='552604' date='Jul 27 2009, 08:36 AM']I had that annoying ‘buzzing’ whenever I took my hands off the string etc.[/quote]That's normal. With high impedance pickups you must be touching either the bridge or the strings for high frequency noise to be shunted.

[quote name='bassmansky' post='551169' date='Jul 25 2009, 10:31 AM']cheers could try that,although the tape isnt doing a bad job![/quote] Eventually the adhesive will dry out and fail. Use the tissue PVA trick, applied on both the inside and outside of the cone. Silkscreen fabric also works well.

[quote name='coully' post='549148' date='Jul 23 2009, 11:51 AM']Are there pre-amps or amps which support this kind of approach?[/quote]There are, but there aren't any speakers from electric bass cab manufacturers that support this approach, so your options are to use PA gear or build your own.

[quote name='Changles' post='548673' date='Jul 23 2009, 06:02 AM']so i've got a hartke lh 500 going through the errr hydrive 115, great half stack, really love the sound i'm getting out of it, but there is a hiss, and i want to get rid of it in time for recording, which is this saturday[/quote]Most studios will take a DI only if they have a lack of available channels, using the amp only as a monitor. If they've got the channels they may mic the cab onto a spare. Don't count on your 'signature tone' ending up in the final mix. Even The Ox couldn't get his tone onto the wax.

[quote name='SS73' post='548355' date='Jul 22 2009, 05:38 PM']I did use an Ampeg 810 from about 72, it had all the original Jenson drivers and was superb for a couple of years then i had to replace a few and opted for the trace 32 ohm 80w, it just never sounded the same after. Now i see the original Jensons fetch serious money, ironically i have an 810 trace cab now, loved that SVT 810.[/quote] SVTs never used Jensens. The first models were loaded with CTS. In the early 70's an engineer from CTS started Eminence, and one of his first projects was to clone the CTS driver and get the Ampeg contract. Over the decades the Eminence driver has gone through a number of changes, morphing from what was originally a guitar driver to one designed for bass, which explains the changes in tone over the last 40 years. There are a few sources for replacements, including Ampeg, Weber, Jensen and Electro-Harmonix. The problem lies in knowing which will come closest to the tone of any particular vintage SVT, so most owners choose to do a recone rather than replacement.

[quote name='ray_6ao7' post='547467' date='Jul 22 2009, 07:26 AM']looking at the warwick site it says they're celestion?[/quote] Insufficient data. You need to know the exact driver model, and have all the T/S specs for it, to know whether changing drivers would be of any benefit. It wouldn't be the least bit surprising if Warwick is unaware of the specs on the drivers they use, and if they are aware chances are they won't tell you. Your best bet is to take the bad driver out of the cab, identify it, and have whomever did manufacture it provide the specs. As far as what I'd use it would be the Eminence Basslite S2010, which is one of the least expensive neo tens but has low frequency output capability equal to anything in the Celestion line. It only has a 150 watt thermal rating, but with eight of them that's of no consequence.

[quote name='ray_6ao7' post='546783' date='Jul 21 2009, 12:50 PM']Hey bill, what would would you recommend?[/quote]That depends on what's in there now.

[quote name='ray_6ao7' post='546626' date='Jul 21 2009, 10:54 AM']Hey Alex one speaker's blown recently so i need to replace that anyway and i've been toying around with the idea of trying to get something that has a really nice clear,punchy but deep tone aswell...just thinking it'll probably be cheaper than buying a new cab [/quote] Changing drivers might be of benefit if the new ones are better than the originals, but that requires knowing what the specs on the originals are. FWIW IMO the BL10-200x is poorly suited for electric bass, the BN10-300S totally unsuitable. Neither is capable of delivering deep tone.

[quote name='Protium' post='540590' date='Jul 14 2009, 01:47 PM']Bit harsh. I suppose all your cabs were perfect first time?[/quote] Of course not. But before building my first cab I spent a month in my college library researching how speakers work, and the first few cabs I built were pre-existing designs from acknowledged experts in the field. So, while not perfect by any means, they still worked better than off the shelf. The questions being posed by the OP may seem innocuous enough to the average reader, but they're akin to going to a DIY aircraft forum and asking 'why do I need a wing?'.

[quote name='Boneless' post='540513' date='Jul 14 2009, 12:28 PM']I actually don't know WHY vertical alignment is better[/quote]Which goes to why everyone who does know how speakers work in this and other forums have told you that you should not be trying to design your own cab.

The simple physics of bass reproduction demand that if you're going to keep up with guitars driven to full volume you need four times the speaker complement that they have. So the options are they turn down or you get a bigger rig.

[quote name='Boneless' post='540430' date='Jul 14 2009, 11:12 AM']Many boxes have a similar alignment, so I guess it can't be too bad[/quote] Yes, it can be too bad. The basic design parameters of most commercial cabs are set forth by marketing departments, based upon what they think will sell, and that's almost always a matter of looking 'right'. But what's most pleasing to the eye is not what's most pleasing to the ear. The number one reason for building one's own cab is the ability to not have to settle for what some marketing department head who probably doesn't even play bass thinks will sell based on looks. Your reasoning for not doing vertical drivers is the same as theirs, and is intrinsically flawed. [quote]I'd actually rely on the woofers for true midrange (and, according to the charts, I should have plenty of it)[/quote]The charts aren't worth squat, because they show axial response. whereas 30 degree and 45 degree off-axis is what counts.

[quote]what does this mean?[/quote]That you haven't read the manual?

[quote name='Musky' post='532898' date='Jul 5 2009, 07:24 AM']Unless you're playing dub you don't want the LF version of the 3015 as it doesn't provide any decent output in the upper mids.[/quote] The 3015 and 3015LF have the same useful off-axis high frequency limit, so the axial midrange response isn't why you'd choose the one over the other. The 3015 is the better choice with a small amp, less than 250 watts, for its higher sensitivity. The 3015LF will put out more low end, but only if you have a large enough amp driving it. As is the case with all fifteens you can only get a good off-axis midrange response by crossing to a midrange driver at 1kHz or less.

[quote name='Merton' post='532753' date='Jul 5 2009, 03:32 AM']Good work Stevie! Like the investigative journalism Very interesting reading, makes me glad I didn't get the Mini15s I was looking at earlier this year [/quote] Don't be hard on Ashdown, most lower priced, and more than a few higher priced, combos and separates employ drivers with similar specs. As for a midbass bump, and corresponding lack of low end, that same response characteristic can be found in more than a few high end cabs, Schroeder and Eden among them. Not because they use cheap drivers, but because it makes the cab seem louder. Look at an Equal Loudness Curve to see why.

[quote name='Pookus' post='532674' date='Jul 4 2009, 05:29 PM']I am about to sell my Ashdown ABM900 head and 810 cab as I have left the band and want to do other things musically and don't need such a massive rig.[/quote] Dump the speaker, keep the head. Get a 2x10 for now, if you ever get back into it, and you will, add more speakerage.

[quote name='bumnote' post='532651' date='Jul 4 2009, 04:40 PM']I understand that a company might fit the cheapest speaker it can get away with, but why not port it properly, surely that costs nothing[/quote]Heard the one about a silk purse and a sow's ear? You can't use a sub-standard driver with a good result no matter what the box tuning. For that matter a driver with a Qts of .62 has no business being in a small ported enclosure in the fist place. It would work reasonably well in a sealed cab of some 15 cubic feet.

[quote name='Bassman Rich' post='532426' date='Jul 4 2009, 08:38 AM']Or is the cab too small to handle that type of speaker.[/quote] It's not too small to handle any fifteen. However, the smaller the cab the less low end it's capable of producing. [quote]at 8 ohms that should cut down the power from the amp (500 watt at 4 ohms) to under what the speaker can handle.[/quote] That's immaterial. Bottom line, if you want high output at low frequencies you won't get it from too small a cab. Before making an investment in a driver that probably won't cure your problems consider buying a well engineered cab that will.

[quote name='Bero' post='528955' date='Jun 30 2009, 01:38 PM']Whats the difference between a cabinet giving output power as ??? watts rms then ??? watts program. The RMS is always lower than the program, which should i take as the output power so that i dont get the wrong cab for my amp[/quote] RMS is what engineering departments use, for the purpose of technical accuracy. Peak, program, peak program, music power, peak music power and all that rot is what marketing departments use, for the purpose of generating sales.

Everything about that cabs says that whoever built it knows next to nothing about how to design a speaker. Pass.

[quote name='fatgoogle' post='526610' date='Jun 28 2009, 06:52 AM']Bill were should i cross if i want to add a tweeter to a 15" cab. I believe the speaker says it can go to 4khz. Sorry for the hijack.[/quote] No higher than 1.5kHz. The axial response of the 15 may well go to 4kHz, though if it does go that high I'd be concerned about its low end, that's very much in the realm of a guitar driver. But irrespective of how high the axial response is any fifteen's response drops like a stone off-axis above 1.5kHz at best.

[quote name='Protium' post='526297' date='Jun 27 2009, 04:39 PM']How do If I want to wire up an 8ohm tweeter with an 8ohm woofer do I need a full crossover or can I get away with just using a high pass filter @ 4kHz on the tweeter? Cheers[/quote] You can get away with it, but you shouldn't. High frequency output from the woofer will have a different phase response than the tweeter, causing destructive interference, and the impedance of the cab above the HF corner frequency will be 4 ohms, not 8. Many cab manufacturers do use a high-pass only, not because it's the right way, but because it's the cheaper way. BTW, if you're adding a tweeter it should cross no higher than 2kHz with 12s, 2.5 Khz with 10s. Manufacturers usually go much higher, it's true, but as for why they do, see above.

[quote name='small_lump_of_green_putty' post='524346' date='Jun 25 2009, 07:09 PM']I still don't understand why a seal is important around the edges. As for the lubrication, there's something called teflon these days, isn't there? [/quote][url="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker5.htm"]http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/speaker5.htm[/url]

[quote name='BarnacleBob' post='523413' date='Jun 25 2009, 05:58 AM']So 450-500 is an ok price but possibly swap the spkrs (if still origina)l out of the cab? BB[/quote] -1. The cab isn't worth putting new drivers into. Basically it's landfill.