ShergoldSnickers

[quote name='thatgrantboy' post='1307937' date='Jul 18 2011, 03:12 PM']I've since been applying Danish oil to give it a warmer look and feel.[/quote] Enough layers and you get a crunchy Mars Bar. Deeelish.

Patent awarded to Graham Holliman for the 'Velocity Coupled' infra bass cabinet design is [url="http://www.fear-of-bicycles.co.uk/BC/pdfs/GB2037534A.pdf"]available here[/url], as a 650k pdf. I'll let the experts draw any conclusions from the numerous diagrams and technical description.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='1306489' date='Jul 17 2011, 11:02 AM']Stevei, tsn't a reflex cab a Helmholtz resonator?[/quote] Isn't a Helmholz resonator just a name that identifies a high Q? Tentative question as I'm still learning about all this stuff. Fascinating though isn't it? Hooked.

[quote name='guildbass' post='1306372' date='Jul 17 2011, 02:22 AM']You CAN make a cab work at 41Hz or whatever, First you have to use a really big driver that can move enough air at those lowrer frequencies, a 15" or an 18" unit.[/quote] The diameter of a speaker won't tell you much about the lowest frequencies it can produce. It may tell you something about how high the SPL will go when reproducing those frequencies though, but even this is not certain. The eight inch drivers in my hi-fi speakers cut off rapidly only below 36Hz, so have no problem reproducing the 42Hz E fundamental. Getting them loud enough to be useful as a bass rig however... well that's simply not on as they don't have the efficiency required. If I could get enough cabinets together though, then I'd be able to shift enough air to get loud enough, though it would probably sound awful higher up the range with multiple cabinets causing all sorts of phase cancellation mayhem off axis. The 'larger speakers go lower' myth may be in part due to smaller diameter speakers having a higher useful frequency range generally, and thereby fooling the brain into hearing less bottom end by comparison. Rather than larger diameters, one or two manufacturers have gone the route of increasing excursion limits and increased power handling for their designs, both in terms of watts outright, and also in terms of thermal capacity to handle those watts. In essence they have increased the stroke of the piston driving the air, negating a larger diameter. It's the volume of air encompassed by the 'piston stroke' that matters. More SPL from the same diameter speaker. There comes a point when decreasing the diameter of a bass speaker is going to make it non-viable for gigging, so we commonly see 10" 12" and 15" designs used for bass cabinets. The notable exception is the 5" unit used in the Phil Jones range of cabinets. These units are usually ganged up with 24 being used in one design. I'm sure the bottom end is equally as deep as other designs using larger speakers. They claim a 'flat' response down to 25Hz. Whilst I'm slightly skeptical, 42Hz would seem well within that range. [url="http://www.philjonespuresound.com/about/reviews/394.pdf"]The Phil Jones 24B - review as pdf link[/url] To get the required gig level SPL you may need to multiply drivers when using smaller diameters, but the lowest frequency produced within a defined dB drop limit is not a direct function of their diameter.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1305554' date='Jul 16 2011, 10:34 AM']Nah I'm more of a Snickers man.[/quote] Hello big boy.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1305924' date='Jul 16 2011, 04:07 PM']The size of the hole is part of the tuning mechanism. The size of the hole has far less to do with the driver excursion than the volume of the chamber. The THD of this box would be similar to a standard bass reflex with similar specs. BTW, the tapering of the ducts would seem to be an attempt at adding some horn loading, but duct length and exit area preclude that, both being far too small. As my colleague George Augsperger would say [i]"There are many ways to build a bass reflex. This is one of them."[/i][/quote] Thanks Bill, very interesting. Apparently the designer got a patent for the design, but I've not bothered to verify that. Just goes to show there's nothing much really new in cabinet design.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1305759' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:42 PM']It's a bass reflex cab, nothing special or unusual except for the external driver mounting, and that serves no purpose, it could be inside with the same result. In current parlance it would be called an LLT, for Long (duct length) Low Tuning. The designer was totally in error with regard to the rounding of corners. Ten to forty foot wavelengths aren't the least bit hindered by hard corners.[/quote] Does the constriction of the hole immediately in front of the speaker on the top shell - and not shown properly in my rough from memory illustration - serve any purpose other than to speed up air 'squirted' into the resonant chamber in order to excite it? Surely this constriction would radically alter the behaviour of the cone as it is now impeded more by having to move air through a constricted hole? Edit: Also wondering about how much distortion this set-up would introduce to any otherwise pure signal. [url="http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachments/subwoofers-tactile-transducers/237169d1303471020-graham-holliman-infrasonic-generator-graham-holliman.pdf"]Link to original plans for this cabinet[/url]

[quote name='Spike Vincent' post='1304103' date='Jul 14 2011, 10:32 PM']No neck dive? Mine thumps the floor as soon as I look at it. Also as previously mentioned, the flat radius fingerboard is an aquired taste.[/quote] There is a suggestion of radius on mine – not much but it's there. Might be a difference between fretted and unfretted necks - mine's fretless. And genuinely no neck dive. Might be the wide strap I've always used with it though.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1305423' date='Jul 16 2011, 03:02 AM']Not as much of shock as it is to have a speaker putting out 15Hz at 100dB and you can't hear it, nor would you even be aware of it if not for a meter telling you it's there. And that's why even for home theater LFE I don't even think about going below 20Hz.[/quote] This reminds me of a velocity coupled 'infra-bass' cabinet design originally published in H-Fi Answers in the early 80s I think. Going from memory, the design was something like the quickly knocked up diagram below. The lowest reproducible frequency was in single figure Hertz values again if memory serves. Quite what use this was at the time - as CD hadn't yet come out, and having that amount of surplus low frequency energy near a record deck - even a floating sub-chassis one - would be asking for trouble, even if you could get LPs with suitable low frequency information on them. Some keyboards and mega multi-string wideband basses may benefit I suppose if the design is efficient enough. The original design(s) catered for a 10", 12" or 15" speaker and were adjusted accordingly. A difficult construction job though, and attention had to be paid to rounding off any sharp angles in the horn path and chamfering the holes cut in the shells according to the original author Graham Holliman. If I had the time, money and skills it could be an interesting way to disturb people's digestion I suppose. [url="http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachments/subwoofers-tactile-transducers/237169d1303471020-graham-holliman-infrasonic-generator-graham-holliman.pdf"]Just found this link to a pdf giving all the details[/url]. The memory wasn't too bad after all, but some details I'd not remembered – for example the hole on top of which the speaker sits needs to be much smaller in diameter than my diagram.

Due to the temporary locking of the Affiliates Market,, I'll post the photos Robbie would have put up on that forum. The controls layout on the body front. Really like the string anchor section cuts and routing. The preamp bay blanking plate in place The Glockenklang preamp revealed

Manufacturers should really define the limits within which the frequency response is measured – and also provide an honest plot with a full explanation. Two speakers cabs may still be outputting at 40Hz, but unless you know by how much the output has dropped at this frequency for each cab, then a simple statement like 'Frequency response 38Hz to 5kHz' for example, is meaningless. The following is better, but you'd still want a plot with an explanation of how that plot was derived: Frequency response 38Hz to 5kHz ± 6dB Which SPL is that measured at? How far away from the speaker was the mic? Was the mic a properly calibrated Brüel & Kjær or an SM58? Even having the precise figures and a plot will only be a rough guide as to how the cab actually sounds when put to the intended use, but it is a guide nontheless. Your ears are the final judge.

[quote name='icastle' post='1301777' date='Jul 13 2011, 12:12 AM']There should be a small 'woosh' any second now and ShergoldSnickers will appear... [/quote] Sorry I'm late – the bed broke down again. As others have mentioned the shergold.co.uk website is the place to go. The good – great necks, just the usual examination required for warping or twisting that you'd look for in any bass neck of that age. Good sound that cuts through. Balances well on a decent strap with no neck dive. Decent construction. Durable – mines fallen over, been dropped down a flight of stairs, been used to stir the porridge etc, and has withstood the lot. I like the look of them too, a bit like a poor man's Wal. The not so good – the pickup can be a bit weak in output. The 'stereo' output is of dubious value. The wood – Obeche – used in the body construction is not nice to work with if you want to put an extra pickup in for example. The finish crackles after a few years as already mentioned. In short, a great workhorse bass. Whilst not the same sound as a Precision for example, being a bit more ringing in tone, I'd say it does a similar job, but feels better built.

[quote name='Jase' post='1298005' date='Jul 9 2011, 09:56 AM']Very cool Ian! [/quote] You may change your mind if you saw the stuff I left out. Pete the guitarist, and Graham the keyboard player are both vastly more experienced than I am. I only took the bass back up in a band situation about four or five years ago after a long gap. They're very patient.

[quote name='Jase' post='1301875' date='Jul 13 2011, 06:48 AM']Thought I'd post what I've been up to lately, trying to incorporate video with my music or other forms of sound. I've been using a mixture of original and found footage. Huge learning curve. [url="http://vimeo.com/26150487"]Vid[/url] password for this is: POJC#1[/quote] Disturbing.... but in a way that encourages you to press the reset button and throw away any preconceptions. The sound track is well crafted and knits with the video. I'll take a look at the others you've done on the same page.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1302339' date='Jul 13 2011, 01:56 PM'][/quote] A life's worth of bass playing destroyed in 250kb.

[quote name='silddx' post='1302742' date='Jul 13 2011, 07:08 PM']Does anyone think Patrick O'Hearn sounds like Jaco? Rubber Shirt is the one you'll all have heard. [/quote] DING! your avatar is Frank Zappa's evil twin. You can't have enough Zappa. Even Jazz from Hell.

Did this without the drummer Martin, so most of the improvisation was atmospheric in nature. But not all. The first section was played during the PA set-up, hence the noises off. And spot the weakest link in the band...

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1295828' date='Jul 7 2011, 12:04 PM']Me too. [i]"Garcon! More f***ing balloons, I'm hungry."[/i][/quote] Good analogy for slapping. Just a little too much and it suddenly makes you sick.

[quote name='Marvin' post='1295893' date='Jul 7 2011, 12:58 PM']What is the OP thinking of? It'd be less shameful to say you went to a Gary Glitter concert. [/quote] (Whispering very, very quietly) I once did. Even worse, I've seen Cliff Richard, admittedly with the Shadows. My big sisters made me.

[quote name='RichF' post='1295467' date='Jul 6 2011, 11:58 PM']thanks I was only kidding![/quote] Oh well, it gave me a chance to air what I thought was a decent analogy. Any excuse.

[quote name='RichF' post='1293865' date='Jul 5 2011, 08:13 PM']why?[/quote] Oh go on then, I'll have a go. I heard this one a few years ago. Imagine blowing a balloon up. One that doesn't instantly burst when a hole is put in it. As you are blowing it up, someone comes along and puts a decent hole in it. Air is now escaping and you have to do more work to keep the balloon inflated. This is an analogy to the amp delivering current to a speaker cabinet. The amp has to work to move the speaker cones. OK, so the nice person that put the first hole in, now puts a second in. You now have to work even harder to keep the balloon inflated. There is less resistance to you blowing into the balloon as more air escapes. Likewise, add a second cab, there is less resistance to the current passing from the amp, as it now has twice as many places to flow. This halves the impedance from 8 ohms to 4 in your case. Make the hole in the balloon big enough and you will run out of breath and become hot and sweaty trying to keep the balloon inflated. Add too many cabs to an amp and the current flies out, overheating the amp. All amps will have a minimum impedance value that shouldn't be broken by adding too many cabs. Most amps are happy working to 4 ohms impedance, and some down to 2 ohms.

Some interesting comment [url="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/04/japan_discovers_rare_earths_under_pacific/"]here[/url] on attempting to make use of sea floor deposits.

Gig from a few weeks back. No drummer... no problem. He was otherwise disposed but we did it anyway.

Great collection of basses. Stunning. And the amp/cab collection has rapidly caught up.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1274961' date='Jun 19 2011, 05:15 PM'][/quote] More grunt than a truck full of annoyed teenagers.