stevie

Question for you: would you be happy to let one of the open night punters play through that rig?

Very nice review, I had the opportunity to hear @Merton's Trace at the SE Bass Bash. It was very impressive from a sound quality point of view. It's difficult to be categorical about these things when there are so may variables in play, but I would definitely be looking more closely at this amp - if it weren't for the price. As the TE1200 is basically a Peavey in Trace Elliot livery (or am I being unfair?), @Chienmortbb's question is an interesting one, because similar bass amps with a Peavey badge on the front are are available for half the price.

Yes, that's a nice bit of lateral thinking. It assumes that @warwickhunt is familiar with the software. If not, I'm sure someone from the forum would be happy to do the conversion.

Don't overthink this, @warwickhunt A proper, scientifically acceptable comparison requires a much more stringent approach than anything suggested so far. Unless you have a degree in acoustics and an in-depth knowledge of statistics, just make recordings that are as close to what you would expect to hear as a player. Otherwise, there will always be some smart Alec quick to point out the failings in your procedure. If I were doing this, I'd record each cab in the same position in the room - not too far from the back wall. I'd raise the mic to ear level, i.e. not directly in front of the speakers. I wouldn't bother with close mic'ing at all (but that's up to you), as it's not going to tell you anything useful. If you're using a recording as your source, a hi-fi amp, if you have one, would likely be a better choice than a bass amp. Probably a step too far, but a high quality full-range recording makes it much easier to discern differences/shortcomings in speakers than bass guitar on its own. Ignore the complications of multiple drivers and different impedances. Just provide the information with each recording at let us, the listeners, deal with it. Keep it simple. Remember what Voltaire said about getting your knickers in a twist.

Nearfield recording isn't a great idea because you won't fully capture the contribution of the port and the tweeter. I'd suggest putting the mic about two metres away. Bill's suggestion of placing the test object in the same place in the room is sensible. Recording at ear height could be interesting, as could recording with the cabs turned facing 45 degrees from the mic - but let's not overcomplicated what sounds like a fun project. In a perfect testing scenario, amplifier power would be adjusted to account for the different cab impedances. But there again, a 2x12 is going to sound louder than a 1x12 even if the impedance is the same. I'm looking forward to this. It's just a shame you don'f have an LFSys cab in the line up. 😁

Outdoors in the North East in January? Good luck with that. However, I don't think @warwickhuntsaid anything about measuring - only recording.

I just replaced the barrel jack on my Ibanez with a new one from Ebay UK. They say it's Neutrik but there's no branding on it, although it works fine. However, the connections are not physically identical to the original and it's not obvious how it should be wired. So make sure you have a cheap meter to test for continuity. Look for item no. 190816570970. They cost £3.69 plus postage. The Switchcraft 151 is mono and you need a stereo jack for battery switching.

There's no mention of Neutrik anywhere, which means the sockets are probably Chinese replicas. So YMMV, as they say.

So what's the difference? The Warmans are surprisingly inexpensive.

Nice review, by the way. As @stewblack suspected, the noise is unusual. I checked out a few detailed reviews of the amp on German websites (where they are more likely to call a spade a spade) and they specifically say the background noise is very low. This was most likely an outlier.

@Merton is one of the few people on here with one of these. No doubt he'll be along to advise soon.

As it happens, I have a pair of 8-ohm Celestion BN10-300X drivers here, with measurements saved on my PC. Having run these through a crossover simulation program, I'd recommend that you do not use a low pass filter because the driver rolls off naturally quite early anyway and you don't want to run the risk of dropping the impedance too much below 4 ohms. Just run the driver full range. I see you've already bought the components - so try it with and without and see which you prefer.

There will be more LFSys models next year - both bigger and smaller. A 2x10 is certainly a possibility, but there may be an even better way of skinning the cat. You can always build a 2x10 from two Monzas. The corners interlock to aid stacking - and you get the option of using one or two cabs depending on the size of venue.

The cheapest high-power head available at the moment is the Bugera Veyron. Despite its modest price, it's every bit as good IMO as the more expensive offerings from Markbass, Aguilar, Ashdown, etc., all of which I've owned at one time. It's the head I was using most of the time at the SE Bash Bash, if you recall (because you were right next to me). The only amp that's impressed me more on first listening is the new £1000+ Trace Elliot. However, the Veyron is available for under £300 new with a warranty or under £200 secondhand. It weighs 3kg - so slighly heavier than some, but still very lightweight.

Excellent!

Can you close up the holes on the back panel with matchsticks or similar? Just to eliminate those as a possible cause.

I can't hear the sound files on my PC. However, if pressure on the back panel reduces the unwanted noise, it might be worth checking out the input panel. See if pressing on it helps. It might be that the input panel hasn't been tightened up properly or hasn't been sealed with foam strip. As far as I can tell from the photo, the screws are socket screws - so you'll need an allen key that fits. The upholstery job on the back looks like it was done on a Friday.

The fact that Thomann don't mention that this amp is suitable for bass should ring warning bells. I did some searching, and found a discussion by some German bass players with actual experience of the unit. One person carried out and published measurements. Unsurprisingly (to @warwickhunt at least), the tone controls are an octave higher than one would like for bass. The Bass control is centred at 160Hz, for example, and Mid at 1.2kHz. Also interesting to know, the unit contains high and low pass filters that alter the frequency response according to output level. Bass is reduced as output is increased. I can see how that would work for guitar. According to the measurements, the unit does produce 200W into 4 ohms and 100W into 8 ohms with 1% distortion. However, at maximimum output, the high pass filter starts at about 150Hz and is 12dB down at 40Hz. The frequency response looks OK up until 25W. The consensus was that it's OK for home practice for bass, but the variable filters make it unusable for anything else.

How many bass guitarists reviewed the product?

I love this song! Your transcription looks pretty accurate to me.

I took a few photos but they seem to highlight my lack of photographic skills.

Try to find @Phil Starr's cab assembly video on here. It's inspirational.

More here: https://www.katyhurt.com/video Great singer.

I like Suzuka. That'd work. Let's see.....