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Phil Starr

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Everything posted by Phil Starr

  1. Phil Starr
    All cabs are 'designed' in that the cab is matched to a particular driver and if you swap that driver then it will be in a sub-optimal cab. In extreme cases you can seriously reduce the power handling of the driver and any sub optimal cab will have the bass response compromised. Fortunately most bass drivers of a given size and made for bass or PA use will cluster around a similar set of specs and work (sort of) in the 'wrong' cab. The crazy 8 has a tweeter and is a flat response design. The BassChat 8 has a single driver and hopefully is a 'musical' design. I did look at a wide range of other speakers for the BC8 and the Fane 225 is the best option for this design. That's not just the Thiele Small numbers but frequency response sensitivity, excursion and even price. The other thing is to be wary of shopping by spec. Partly because adverts lie. Also you probably don't want any output below (arguably) 50Hz or so, particularly if it is in a domestic environment where room dimensions are probably smaller than the 30Hz wavelength. The BC8 has -10db @ 45Hz which is pretty good, more importantly it is fairly flat though the whole of the bass range giving good rendition of the crucial second harmonics of the bass. Rather than thinking about the specs think more in terms of wht you are trying to achieve musically and practically.
  2. Phil Starr
    Still the recommended driver. Here's the 8" cab
  3. Phil Starr
    Sorry I haven't found time to model the two speakers but @David Morisonhas modelled the bass response and it is just as you would expect from the changes they've made. I'd say that for bass guitar the 12CMV2 is the better speaker of the two for bass. It's also increased in price by 60% since I recommended it and is now in a price bracket where there are quite a few rivals. https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=LAVWSN12250AF is a lightweight Neo speaker at a surprisingly low price https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=FANSOV12300_2 currently looks a beter bet than the 12CMV3 and there are a few more speakers which are possibilitiesThe Celeston Pulse 12 looks promising. I note that you ay this is for home use mainly. The advantage of the 12CMV is that it is a high excursion speaker and will threfore go louder than some of it's rivals. The spec of this design was to build a single driver cab capable of live work with a loud drummer on it's own. For home use it is overkill. The 8" design would be better sounding and have a deeper bass at the expense of a lower but still good maximum volume The 110T would give you a really clean sound and isn't far short of the 12 in volume. I've a wide range of cabs here and it is the 110T that I gig with most frequently. It's full range flat response, really compact and portable and loud enough for 60% of gigs and pretty much any rehearsal
  4. Phil Starr
    PS this probably belongs in the Amps and Cabs section rather than PA Welcome to Bass Chat btw.
  5. Phil Starr
    I've had a brief look, they've changed the cone a little lightening it by 10g there's a corresponding increase in sensitivity and they've changed the suspension as well a little. the coil and magnet remain the same so power handling and excursion limits remain unchanged. The HF response of the speaker has changed with more noticable HF breakup in the older version. That's to be expected with a different/less stiff cone and a smoother response might have been what they were aiming for, though it may be a cost saving thing and they may just be rationalising so they can stock fewer cone types by sharing across different models. I'd probably go for the Mk2 if you are building without a tweeter as the cone breakup gives you a boost in the high mids which will help you cut through a bit more in the mix. The differences aren't huge though. I'll have a look later and re-model the system in WinISD to see if there is anything unexpected going on Thanks for the heads up, this is still a good value for money driver so I'll check it is still suitable. Are you planning on building the 50l or the 30l cab?
  6. Phil Starr
    I think you'll find that settings are saved to the mixer so you will need to be connected. The tablet is just a control surface and that makes sense, otherwise you would lose everything if you used a different tablet.
  7. Phil Starr
    If you are using an x32 then this looks like a great way to go. Never having used one (and apologies if this is a false steer) the behringer offers a digital snake/ultranet system with loads of add ons to send individual channels to a DAW or their personal monitoring system and I'd be looking to see if that might be utilised too. If you can send 32 channels to a DAW you ought to be able to send them to FOH. I almost always find provided PA's a problem. It's usually at an event where there are multiple bands and only the headline act gets much co-operation from underskilled techs who are reluctant to change a system they don't fully understand because it has been hired in and set up by the hire company. You may of course find that the better ones already have split the feed between FOH and the stage monitors. I suspect whatever you do will involve some negotiation but most should cope with the simple 2x8 splitters you propose and the loom gives and extra option. I'd love to see their little faces when you suggest unplugging 5 mics and 6 instrument feeds, some of them stereo and relying on someone elses snake for the FOH sound
  8. Phil Starr
    It’s good to see/hear that it is still being debated and that minds are still open in the team. If we are honest they often aren’t kept open by some in the ‘political’ threads. It’s a shame that sometimes people forget their manners in political debates and it’s that behaviour that needs to be kept out of BC not the debate itself. I love the early discussions of the big issues in BC. It’s rare to get the chance to talk politics with people who come from a different background to ourselves. We all live in bubbles where we are rarely challenged. If our friends disagree with us they are often too polite to disagree. The only thing we all share is music and bass. For the rest we are strangers and we should expect to be challenged. i can understand why the mods don’t want to referee the political debates. They often start well but end up with a couple of the usual suspects trying to score points off each other on page after page. Moderating this must become tedious. I’m of the opinion that the earlier debate is worthwhile and would love to see more of it. Maybe allow free debate but shut it up after it gets repetitive and or rudeness starts to creep in.
  9. Phil Starr
    I’m absolutely finding that bookings for the duo are a lot easier than for the band at the moment. We’ve turned the set around but I’m sure price is just as important. As you know a lot of pubs in the SW are pretty small and I’ve often wondered whether a band ever made financial or practical sense for the smaller venues. I think the combination of Covid and austerity has made a lot of places re-evaluate their entertainment budgets also. I feel bad about it but we’ve looked hard at what we offer as a duo and upped our game. We’ve programmed drum tracks and added a few rhythm guitar backings which has opened up a lot of the cover band repertoire to the duo so we are effectively undercutting the market for the full band. Everything is easier with a smaller outfit; fewer egos, easier to get together for rehearsals, quicker set ups, everyone pulling their weight and of course more money with fewer mouths to feed. Fortunately money is not that important for me. The band is more fun and more challenging so despite the lower pay and extra stress it’s where I want to be. When the band really gels and the room is responding there’s no experience quite like it.
  10. 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
  11. Phil Starr
    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.
  12. Phil Starr
    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
  13. Phil Starr
    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.
  14. Phil Starr
    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
  15. Phil Starr
    At least they will be reliable
  16. Phil Starr
    So many ways to go with this. 60's R&B, guitar riffs, the Stones blues roots. Will you have a harp player?
  17. Phil Starr
    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
  18. Phil Starr
    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.
  19. Phil Starr
    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.
  20. Phil Starr
    I've had no problems, I'll have a look tomorrow for the contact details I used
  21. Phil Starr
    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.
  22. Phil Starr
    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.
  23. Phil Starr
    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.
  24. Phil Starr
    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.
  25. Phil Starr
    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
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