Phil Starr

That would be asking a lot The 112 has state of the art drivers and one of the best crossovers you'll ever see in a bass cab and it costs maybe 6x the price of the little 8". You should however get quite a 'grown up' bass for such a small cab and a nice musical sound but nothing like FRFR. Anyway I hope you like it

you can use vane bracing on the back panel; ribs of whatever material you have,maybe plywood offcuts. This creates a T beam structure so 25mm added to a 15mm gives you 40mm of stiffening along that part of the panel. You'll get less stiffening for a given weight of brace though but its very easy to apply. You don't need to glue everything in you can add a coupleof pieces of ply to your cross brace and then screw through the baffle into the bits you've added, or glue one end of the brace and use screws on the other end.

I confess I always use woodscrews on my prototypes with the intention of replacing them with T-nuts and rarely get round to doing it. After dozens of gigs with some of the prototypes none so far have ever had a problem, it just feels a bit shoddy I suppose

I've always used a simple strap handle on my smaller cabs, up to and including the BC110T, I have a Monza too as my 'posh' cab and like the look of the handle, which is great but it's a much more awkward carry than a simple strap, not least because the strap is on the side panel so the speakers don't bang on your lower leg. It's also along the COG line so the balance is good. Anything bigger and I put two handles, one on either side.

I'm not clear whether by "smaller tops" you mean using the DBR12's with subs or replacing the DBR's with something else and buying a sub. Using the DBR's with a sub would give you some extra headroom and a solid bass but the yamaha's are decent speakers so I'm not sure a 12" Alto will give you that much more. I'm curious as to what you think the shortcomings of your DBR's are in a small venue. I think you are basically asking whether a couple of 12's + sub or a couple of RCF 715's would be 'best'. Honestly I don't think the difference in sound quality or volume would be that great in practice, both solutions would have pro's and con's. properly placed and set up subs can add a lot to small speakers. In practice when you only have 45mins to set up for a gig I wonder how often they will be set up well. A second RCF715 might well give you what you want and if it is the simple and cheaper option there is no reason not to go that route. No reason why they shouldn't sound great and equally no reason why the DBR's with a sub would't sound great either. Perhaps if you tell us what exacly you are trying to fix with the current set up or what you hope to achieve we could give a clearer steer

At least they will be reliable

So many ways to go with this. 60's R&B, guitar riffs, the Stones blues roots. Will you have a harp player?

What a great problem to have It's made my morning just listening to my favourite version; the Phoebe Snow one. I haven't heard it for years but it was a favourite of mine as a mobile DJ back in the 70's I guess my approach would be to learn a very basic version probably like the first one then take that to rehearsal and listen to what the singer does with the song and just let it grow. I want to see the rest of your set list now

One thing that RCF get right in a commercial sense is that each step in price gets you a small improvement in sound.The steps are small so they can always tempt you to spend a little more. On the other hand they don’t make a bad speaker at the moment. The 910 has a better mid/bass driver with a bigger magnet than the 310 so it has slightly better bass and goes a tiny fraction louder. It also has a better horn driver so expect the midrange to be improved. I’m really happy with the sound of my duo with the 310’s so don’t worry if that is what you can afford. The 910’s will be better at the cost of more weight and extra expense. FWIW I’m currently looking to upgrade my 310’s to 910’s and one of the reasons is that I’m contemplating using them with a sub in venues that would need it instead of my biggest speakers which are overkill for most small pubs.

I do sing, or should that read 'sing' That's why I think I prefer the IE100's as they have a much nicer/more accurate vocal sound. Yes they did use a bite block, and I've seen arguments for them and against them for singers, which is usually a sign that no-one has done any proper research.

I've had no problems, I'll have a look tomorrow for the contact details I used

Sorry, I live in Somerset so I went into their offices for the impressions and they tried my IE100’s in something they already had, perfect fit so we went ahead. They took about a month to turn around the moulds but over Christmas so I guess you’d be without the IE400’s for three weeks. It’s a small family business on a farm. Really helpful but also a bit laid back. Try ringing them and see if you can talk to Michele who was very helpful.

I know a lot of the Sennheiser IE range use the same shell so Snugs shouldn’t have any problems with your IE400’s. I spent a long time experimenting with off the shelf tips and was happy enough in the end but nothing has come close to the moulded tips for comfort, isolation and stability.

The human part of this is the bit you need to address first. What are your clients expectations and are they willing to pay for it? if they are paying your usual fee then they should expect no more than your usual service. If they want a bigger PA then they need to pay the hire fee plus something for your trouble in setting things up even if that is just booking a hire company for them. The strife comes when you have different expectations. The problem with events like this is that they are often organised by people with no experience of what’s involved. Ask what the budget is and be clear about what they should expect for that. Technically it’s fairly straightforward. Your high frequencies are relatively unaffected and will go as loud as indoors. your bass will be lost without reflective surfaces so you’ll need that extra 6db Bill mentioned. Probably a couple of 15” subs to go with your tops. You might need to go even louder though because you will be trying to get the sound out over a bigger area outdoors and you will need to factor in the wind and extraneous noise. The simplest thing would be to get in a hire company. They should have the expertise to accurately assess your needs and if they get it wrong they take the blame. Also you don’t want to set up an unfamiliar system for a one off gig.

As promised some pics. The first one shows the ZX10 Pros fully fitted to the tips. The second shows the bit that is moulded to my ear, hopefully you can see the bit that actually goes down my ear canal with the hole in the middle the other knobbly bit fits neatly into the folds in my ears and almost all of that surface is in contact with my ear achieving a better seal than non moulded tips. The third shot shows the mould of the ZX10's and the fourth the hedphone fitted. These tips are made from a moderately soft silicone which if you look carefully attracts the dust wonderfully well The zx10's are fairly bulky and the tips hold them a little further away from the ear so they do protrude 2-3mm clear of the ear and are not as discreet as proper fitted IEM's, I can't say it's much of an issue as they sit nice and comfortably. The Sennheisers being smaller sit very nicely in the ear and I don't think a punter would realise they weren't expensive fitted IEM's.

Dry assembly is something I'd recommend for inexperienced builders and something I still do from time to time with my prototypes. I still get a little enjoyment from seeing it look like a cab early on and it's far better than finding a problem after you've let the glue set The battens are often a problem with a nominally inch square batten measuring anything from 25mm to 19mm. For those who have never built a cab you need the screw to go at least 5mm into the plywood and probably a bit more but it mustn't reach the outer ply so It can't be too long either. 25mm+12mm+37mm so a 35mm screw is probably right so long as you don't over tighten, 19+12 is 31mm so a 30mm screw is pushing up too tight and riscs coming out the other side of the ply or distorting the outer veneer. I use an electric driver but start off with it set to the lowest torque then finish off by hand except the last few screws that are inside the cab and difficlt to access. and lead to bruised knuckles with a hand driver It's coming along nicely though

It's a function of your ears and brain not the technology so that's absolutely right The only bit I'd mention is for safety's sake. The volume at your ears from in-ears can reach the same level as huge speakers much futher away and can do the same damage so keep the levels reasonable.

It's probably not a practical proposition, technically you'd have to re-tune the cab and you might have a problem with the horn and crossover too which will be matching the horn to the 10's. It's all do-able but you might need to do some carpentry to the cab. Then there's cost, neo speakers are pricey and four of them will easily be in the region of £500. Add that to the cost of the cab and you'd have a lot of money sunk in the cab and you might get better by selling the cab adding in the cost of the neo's and starting again. Finally changing the drivers mean it wont be your Rumble any more, the sound will have changed and it'll be a new system in a Fender box. Changing the speakers even for an upgrade will reduce the re-sale value of your cab so it would be wise to make any changes reversible when the time comes to sell it on. Technically feasible and I'm happy to advise on re-tuning if you pm but practically there will be a lot for you to think about.

Good Luck with this, it soonds like fun but just a bit too far away for me. I joined a band like this a few years back and learned their set only for them to all fall out with each other before my first gig with them. Family row as the drummer was the guitarist/bandleader's son. For me it's an itch I'd like to scratch but for me 25miles is far enough to travel for rehearsals. Hope you find someone

This but one thing that might help is the Behringer MA400 micromon, It allows you to give a little 'more me' for any vocalists They insert it into their mic line and then they get the band mix in their monitor they can then mix the two so their vocals are a bit louder than the main mix which is what most people prefer. You could do this for instruments as well though it might take a little juggling. People would have to buy and run their own so it's less for you to worry about. They are on offer at the moment https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-ma400-headphone-amplifier/ That's a crazy low price

I ran a PA with a couple of Titans and some JBL subs which had no crossovers for a while. this was for an open mic/jam session which didn't really merit my taking my 'big' PA which at the time wouldn't fit in my car anyway. The way I set up was to roll the bass off from the Titans which have a tone control, I notice the bass is actually boosted on yours but that may not be your gig setting. That gave a fairly thin sound from the tops but a 6db cut below 100Hz (bass control at 3 o'clock will give roughly that. I then brought in the subs gradually until I got a balanced sound from a bass and the kick drum without making the bass overblown. Tuning by ear like this isn't ideal but you can make it work, none of the bands noticed anything 'wrong' with the PA and the overall band sound was great. Rolling off the bass from the tops will reduce the cone excursion which is one of the advantages using subs gives you. -6db is 1/4 the power going to your tops freeing them to go louder and less distorted for the rest of the frequency range. Buying a crossover before the signal reaches the amps would be better but it might be more cost effective to sell your subs and amp and save the cost of a crossover to buy a sub. A single wharfedale 15" sub would probably match your two Peaveys and has a stereo crossover built in so you can run the PA in mono or stereo with a single sub. The Wharfedale EVP15 sub weighs a ton but is relatively cheap on the used market and will be good with your Titans. I've used that exact set up in the past and still have two EVP15 subs. Other makes would probably work well as well. The Wharfedale T-sub AX is the same speaker as the EVP but has a plywood box and class D amplification reducing the weight from 43kg to 27kg so if you see one of those used then go for it

So back in Dec I had moulds made of my ears and today I received two sets of custom IEM tips back from Snugs. For those of you who haven't followed this these are custom made moulds that are made to fit your ears one side and to fit your own headphones the other side with the idea that you get all the benefits of custom IEM's and a proper seal but at a fraction of the price. In my case I've been using in-ears for monitoring with my band and no back line for a couple of years successfully and had the usual journey towards them that so many people have experienced. I now have custom tips for my KZ ZS10 Pros which is probably the most popular choice for bassists here and also my Sennheiser IE100's another popular choice. OK they have arrived today and this is an initial impression, I'll do something with a proper write up after I've gigged them, all I've done today is try them out in my studio playing bass and singing along to recorded music. Let me say I'm blown away by how good they are and for £160 for two lumps of plastic they are absolutely worth it. The sound through both headphones is improved but one now just blows me away. More later about that. So I started with my Sennheiser IE100's They have to be mounted in the tips before putting the tips in your ears, a bit fiddly but get everything lined up and the buds just snap into place. Conveniently the right tip was marked in red as is the right bud from Sennheiser. The next thing is to push the tips into your ears, that wasn't easy they are a perfect fit when in place which means nothing fits until you get them there and they feel too bulky to fit. Eventually I wiggled them into place and they felt comfortable, really comfortable, like 'I could wear these all day' comfortable. Sound isolation was good but no better than the triple flange tips I'd been using whch are great but feel like a surgeon is enthusiatically probing up to my eardrum with a metal probe. The thing was that ten minutes later (looking for something that has a headphone socket) the isolation hadn't changed and didn't change until I took the plugs out. The sound when I finally found an adaptor and connected to my mixer was just stunning, bass was full and deep but just there not artificially enhanced, vocals were gorgeous and cymbals lovely and clean but with no jarring from over-presentation. I was hearing things I only get from my £200 open backed Sennheier over ears. Having that perfect fit to my ears meant all frequencies were there in the correct balance and it sounded lovely. Singing along with the music gave me a painfully honest reflection of my voice with a little bit of a peak from my old EV microphone, bass just sits in the mix where you put it. The volume goes to painful without distortion. The real glory though is that the IEM's stay put so the bass doesn't change and outside noises never intruded because whatever i did the seal remained intact. When the time came to remove them you need a real tug and a wiggle to get the plugs out. I replaced the Sennheisers with the ZS10's, this time I read the instructions and found Snugs had provided some 'IEM Balm' to apply to the tips which made fitting a little easier. IEM balm looks ly KY-Jelly to me I didn't like the ZS10's as much Having a perfect seal underlined the exagerrated frequency resonse of the KZ's Bass was a little overpowering as was the top end and the mids have a couple of resonances which make my voice slightly more unpleasant than it actually is (honest) . I'd bought the Sennheisers to get a better vocal sound which I've never got on with from the KZ's I suppose I'd hoped that the customs would cure the midrange issues but they didn't. Nothing bad happened, the KZ's just sounded like KZ's not exagerrated or toned down. So initial conclusions, custom tips will get the best out of your off the shelf IEM's I can't see them ever coming out during a performance and you don't lose the bass as happens when the seal is imperfect. I'd hoped for exceptionl isolation and maybe expected too much, these are as good as the better ear plugs but there is some ambient noise coming through, You wont hear normal speech if any music is coming through but a loud drummer would be audible. The big difference is that it doesn't make a difference what you are doing these customs just sit there. Custom tips v's custom IEM's? I can't tell you how close the custom tips get to the real thing but Custom IEM's seem to go up from £500 plus fitting. On a special offer I paid £125 for the tips and the Sennheisers cost me £85 so that's £210 overall. On top of that I've seen people unhappy with the quality of the built in speakers in £500-1,000 IEM's, that's a lot to pay for something you might not get on with. I'll get some picsup next week

We're (noisy duo) regularly using RCF 310's for FOH and a second pair as floor monitors. Guitar, Bass and Vox plus programmed drums. You'll need to roll off the bass from the floor monitors as putting them on the floor gives you a 6db bass boost compared to having them on poles but they make great monitors. We've run the 310's pretty hard for FOH and so far so good we were playing in a big village hall on NYE and to maybe 100 people last Sat with plenty in reserve. I'm still impressed when I wander out to listen how good the equipment sounds for what is a fairly modest layout. With my four piece band we'd normally use our 15" RCF cabs but I've done gigs with just the 10's when space is limited and no problems so far. Thats with both bass and edrums going through the PA with no backline

I suspect you already knew this but it's a spot on observation, though I think you meant to say increase the mids

Fair comment, ought to know was a bit blanket. No-one needs all the details but it's really useful to bear in mind at gigs that its the mids that really determine how loud you are and that it's not just about adding watts and speaker cabs.