alexclaber

The Terror Bass is quite a dark/dirty sounding amp so the brightness must be coming from the cab, either from a tweeter or from the break-up peak on the 10" woofers. Try backing off your gain so the amp is running cleaner and see if that helps.

The Super Compact actually pairs better with the old Compact than the old Midget does and better with the old Midget than the old Compact does (it's kind of halfway between the two in quite a lot of the characteristics). It's easier to hear when on the floor too because it has much better dispersion.

[quote name='dudi8' timestamp='1448473420' post='2915753'] will it sound as good as with an amp? I've never tried that setup.. will it sound good also for electric bass? [/quote] The Basswitch is a great clean preamp - on a par with my Avalon U5. And it has really well voiced EQ. Plug it into a power amp and cab or an active cab and you've got an awesome complete rig. If you then need dirt you can add other pedals into the FX loop on the Basswitch.

[quote name='dudi8' timestamp='1448447021' post='2915432'] Thanks! I'm using a Lehle basswitch [/quote] That's a really great preamp - we have one here! You could run one into an FR800 if you wanted a one box solution for everything.

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1447328059' post='2906691']Forgive my ignorance but is it the case that some light weight class d bass amps/heads use common power amp modules, and I suppose, their corresponding power supplies? e.g. the B&O modules mentioned. So debate about the relative virtues of amps x,y, and z are in fact only really comparing the preamp stage, which itself is only really about the overdrive/compression, 'baked-in' eq contouring, and eq control elements?[/quote] Class D modules can't be driven into clipping so they have to have some kind of system to prevent that from happening. Generally the modules are designed to be run clean and the clipping protection is just there to stop the amp clamping and killing both your speaker and itself - so when you use a class D module in a bass amp you usually have to design something to work as a compressor/limiter/soft-clipping circuit before the amp hits its limits, so it sounds musical when pushed as hard as many bass amps are.

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1448095752' post='2912966']Ah, music college. Maybe I've got music all wrong but part of me thinks that if you have to learn it, you can't do it.[/quote] I think you've got everything all wrong! Did you know how to walk as soon as you were born? Or talk?

I'd stack two and just stand a bit further from them! The off-axis response is quite a lot better than any of the SVT cabs so you don't need to be so much in the line of fire.

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1447754450' post='2909961']Is that not just going to be a road to disaster? I know watt ratings are dubious when used to estimate loudness, but is it not rather sensible to ensure that the speaker-cab you're running is at least able to match (and preferably exceed) the watts that the amp will be putting out?[/quote] Both power amp ratings and speaker ratings are rather inconsistent - they're complex things. It's possible to blow speakers with much less than their rated power and it's possible to power them with an amp with much more than their rated power. For guitar use, which often involves overdrive, I'd generally go for a speaker with twice the power rating of the amp. For PA use, where the amp will always be running clean, I'd generally for an amp with twice the power rating of the speaker. Bass guitar use could be anywhere between the two - and if using piles of FX pedals and dirt and pushing amps into clipping it could be even harder on speakers than guitar use.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1447323814' post='2906645'] I play with the cleanest tone I can get, but it seems to me that if you're relying on the sound of the cab and amp for the "dirt", your sound will change by the room, stage and how you feel like playing on any particular day. Even when you don't want it to change. Pedals will get you your sound more consistently and will be more flexible.[/quote] If it's the preamp half of the amp that's doing the dirt, as in the OB-1, then that'll be just as consistent as using a pedal. The power amp side of things in that amp runs clean (until it runs out of power). Deliberately overdriving cabs will be much more complicated as you say, because the amount of dirt you get will vary with how hard you're pushing them, and that'll vary with venues, how the band is playing, how angry you're feeling etc etc.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1447236500' post='2905931']Why do they do that? Are the recruited with sub standard hearing?[/quote] No but I bet a lot of them have hearing damage!

The room does make a huge difference - but a cab with good dispersion and a smooth low frequency roll-off curve will be much more resistant to bad room acoustics than a cab with poor dispersion and uneven bass response.

A better way to look at it is to ask why amps don't put out twice as much power into 4 ohms at they do into 8 ohms. An amp is primarily a voltage amplifier, so halve the impedance whilst keeping the voltage the same and twice as much current will flow, hence double the power. So what we're seeing happen with most bass amps is that they don't double their output power when going into 4 vs 8 ohms, because they don't have enough current capacity. We've been looking at some amplifier modules and by changing the power supply they're running on we can change the maximum power into different loads, so with a higher voltage supply lower current they produce more power into 8 and 4 ohms but less into 2 ohms whilst with lower voltage but higher current we can keep the 8 and 4 ohm power output a bit lower and the 2 ohm output higher (for when you're running lots of cabs).

You're only in Kent - come down and try/borrow some demo cabs!

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1446646588' post='2901086']Is this important perceptually? I.e. although it is measurable with some device is it measurable by the average ear, or given that the ear in question has an above average concern with acoustics, an above average ear?[/quote] It's only important if it bothers you! But it does explain why some bassists find lightweight amps frustrating. This article that I read years ago was what first got me thinking about it: http://www.meyersound.com/support/papers/amp_power.htm

Skyhooks?

It's extremely rare to blow a woofer with bass guitar without it sounding pretty distorted first. If something does go pop without any warning overdrive, especially something fairly new, then it's most likely to be a manufacturing fault. Phil, I'd say you've got things the wrong way around in terms of excursion for most half-decent modern bass guitar woofers. Older designs which don't have vented motors do indeed rely on the magnetic gap removing heat from the coil via radiation but most modern drivers have vented motors so getting the woofer pumping back and forth, even if the coil is moving out of the gap, will remove more heat via convection. Also, most decent modern MI/PA drivers use the suspension to limit excursion to reduce the chance of bottoming out or jumping out of the gap and have a decent margin between Xmax (where distortion tends to rise significantly) and Xlim or Xmech (where permanent damage occurs). Bass boost does tend to cause problems though, because most cabs are quite a lot less sensitive at 50Hz than at 100Hz, so you can put a lot more power in without getting a lot more sound out. Also, most cabs are tuned to the 40-60Hz region, which means the impedance is low so much more power actually flows in that region that at 80-120Hz, so you have a double whammy of it taking more volts to create the sound and more current flowing for the volts, so more true power hitting the voice coil. And at that low impedance region the woofer is moving much less because it's operating against the high pressure load of the tuned port, and the port is creating most of the acoustic output, so there's less voice coil movement to pump the hot air out of the motor.

There are basically two different issues, perceived loudness and actual power - frequency response and distortion will affect your perception of loudness. There are real differences in power output for a given rating, because there's a lot of variance in how amps are rated nowadays. The biggest variance is how long amps can sustain their full 'rms' power for. That's why for a given power rating, heavyweight amps will tend to have more oomph than similarly priced lightweight amps, so you get full power for a whole big bass note rather than just the start of it.

I think if you're used to running two different amps you'll find a single amp/cab rig somewhat limiting, unless you get two different preamps and mix their outputs into a power amp and single cab. But the obvious solution seems to be two separate cabs and keeping your current heads.

I'd never equate loud to good on the drums. But also I would not equate loud to NOT good on the drums. I'd rather have a good drummer who's a bit louder than ideal than a more controlled but less good drummer!

[quote name='ChunkyMunky' timestamp='1445610437' post='2892834'] Personally, I've never been a fan of the MarkBass stuff. What works for some, I guess! [/quote] It wasn't an observation regarding SWR amps, it was the Bass 350 and 750 specifically vs other SWR heads. If you haven't gigged it, bear in mind it's quite a lot less powerful in practice than an SM400 despite the similar power rating. I gigged an SWR Grand Prix for years, it was a great sounding preamp.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1445612268' post='2892853']My fear would be maxing out my credit card should I ever visit BF HQ.[/quote] You're perfectly safe, we don't have a card machine!

I've always felt the SWR 350 and 750 were rather disappointing - surprisingly lacking in oomph.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1445270085' post='2890111']OT here: I understand your point and you're right in a way. Hitting hard and playing (too) loud aren't exactly the same thing. You can play with a drummer who has a strong beat and not get your ears ringing in the end of the gig. There are more factors involved in a drum kit's percieved volume, not just the drummer's attack. But a good drummer knows when to hit hard and when to quiet down, and actually does it! [/quote] John Bonham was fired from every band he was in, until Led Zeppelin, for being too loud. And he was quite good...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1444936467' post='2887555'] Both Bergs and Barefaced (don't know about TKS) use custom versions of standard speakers[/quote] Our 10CR250 isn't a custom version of any standard speaker - obviously we don't get a frame stamped or cast for us, we just use an off-the-shelf frame that fits our needs. But everything else is unique, motor, voicecoil, soft parts etc. There's literally nothing else even vaguely similar on the market. At the size of manageable bass rigs, everything is too small to be efficient at dealing with the lower frequencies from a low B, so the size of the cab is a moot point, be it a 1x8" or 2x15" or anything in between. What matters is the volume displacement (cone area x cone excursion), enclosure design and tuning frequencies.

I was going to say that you should definitely run it full-range but as the drivers in the 10CR cabs overdrive at high levels you can experiment with running one cab taking all the lows and overdriving when you're LOUD and the cab with the mids and highs staying clean.