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TKS Engineering cabs - new to the UK


wateroftyne
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Innit?

They weigh nowt, but they're solid as a rock.

incidentally, there IS a steel grille under the cloth - hence the screws.

I'm recording tonight, so I'm going to use one. Common sense tells me I shouldn't until I've broken it in, but common sense has deserted me. :lol:

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[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1373998879' post='2144117']
I'd be interested to know how you compare them to the BF prototype :)

(Still bugging Alex to send that one to me in exchange for a few hundred coins.....)
[/quote]

Well, here's the immediately obvious stuff...

Alex's prototype is / was 4ohm - these are 8ohm. At house volume, Alex's prototype seems to have inherently bigger lows - it was a slightly bigger box, and then there was whatever magic dust Alex put in there. That said, the TKS's have plenty, and the drivers aren't anywhere near broken in yet and the bottom end may well open up a little more after a bit of use. I doubt they'll match the BFB, but I can't imagine any other cab that size & weight will.

Weight-wise, the TKS's are significantly lighter. This is nothing short of a miracle given that they're ceramic drivers. Mind you, the BFB was hardly a slog to carry in the first place.The build quality is impeccable. They have a real 'hewn from granite' feel about them.

I've just been plunking away in the house there, and they sound marvellous... lovely and vintagey with responsive mids when you dig in. I can see that some people would want the optional tweeter in there (an extra £70 or so), but for my needs 4.8kHz or so is perfect.

Of course, I can't judge them until I've gigged 'em, but so far so good :)

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[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1374003445' post='2144186']


Well, here's the immediately obvious stuff...

Alex's prototype is / was 4ohm - these are 8ohm. At house volume, Alex's prototype seems to have inherently bigger lows - it was a slightly bigger box, and then there was whatever magic dust Alex put in there. That said, the TKS's have plenty, and the drivers aren't anywhere near broken in yet and the bottom end may well open up a little more after a bit of use. I doubt they'll match the BFB, but I can't imagine any other cab that size & weight will.

Weight-wise, the TKS's are significantly lighter. This is nothing short of a miracle given that they're ceramic drivers. Mind you, the BFB was hardly a slog to carry in the first place.The build quality is impeccable. They have a real 'hewn from granite' feel about them.

I've just been plunking away in the house there, and they sound marvellous... lovely and vintagey with responsive mids when you dig in. I can see that some people would want the optional tweeter in there (an extra £70 or so), but for my needs 4.8kHz or so is perfect.

Of course, I can't judge them until I've gigged 'em, but so far so good :)
[/quote]

Nice one, ta!

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OH MY GOODNESS. These cabs are SO good! And bearing in mind how much they cost, my mind is blown.

Saturday's gig was at a city centre bar, in a long room with a narrow stage:



The house PA was terrible so there was no chance for me to take a DI - the backline had to do all the work.

It was so much fun. The notes were so big, fat, punchy and rich, and the cabs responded perfectly to changes in attack, hand position, etc. It sounded effortless.

The sound I get with the TKS's pretty much the sound I've heard in my head for years - a round, focussed bottom, rich, smooth mids with an inherent 'woody growl', which can be easily mellowed if needed by rolling the tone back on my Precision. The highs are clear and responsive, without being 'spitty'. It's a classic fat sound you can find on those great 70s recordings from Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Van Morrision... Bob Glaub, Duck Dunn, Willie Weeks... 'proper' bass.

Here's a recording from about halfway to the back of the room on a Zoom recorder. The tweeters were blown on the PA so the vocals aren't very clear, but it'll give you an idea...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-muByhxoXsM[/media]

These are the PERFECT cabs for flatwound strings. They just seem to bring the best out of flats - the woody mids, where it all happens - that other cabs (including the Bergantinos) don't manage to do.

The Bergs are astonishing cabs, but in my opinion the tweeter is an integral part of the sound. I also think that tweeters and flatwounds don't really mix, which was part of the reason for the change.

Lots more gigs coming up to try them, with a variety of bands in a variety of venues. This is going to be fun. :-)

[size=5]About the order...[/size]

As this is turning into a review thread, and they're a relatively unknown manufacturer in the UK, I think it's worth giving a bit of info about how Tommy at TKS handled the order. In a nutshell, It was one of the best transactions I've had in my bass-playing career.

As the website is in Swedish, I dropped him an email on the off-chance he spoke English - which he does, fluently. There then followed an involved email trail where he asked what sound was looking for, patiently answering my questions at length, and making suggestions as to what would be the best cab(s) to meet my needs. In my case it was the 112s, the cheapest in the range. He then gave me an opportunity to customise the cab with different vinyl and speaker cloth. Once I'd decided, I have him the go-ahead and he sent me an invoice.

Payment was simple - I did it online via my bank. Tommy started work on the cabs in the meantime, and sent me some photos as they got closer to completion. He sent me a tracking number, and within two weeks of giving the go-ahead, they arrived safe and sound, protected by in excellent packaging.

To top it all off, there was a ONE DAY delay in the shipping, because he didn't have the correct colour screws in stock to match the cloth - he usually uses black. To make amends, knowing my amp doesn't have speakon connectors, he included a high-quality jack > speakon cable to make up for the inconvenience. Incredible.

This is an absolute hidden gem of a cab builder, and based on my experience so far, the range of cabs they have available (ceramic and neo) and their prices, TKS deserve to make a big impact in the UK. Here's the website - have a look: [url="http://tks.se/"]http://tks.se/[/url]

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[quote name='Thunderpaws' timestamp='1374693192' post='2152042']
hello there,

Sounds all good. Custom aesthetics are cool too. Straight to the point...how much (roughly) for a 112, how many watts can it handle, and how did it work out with import duties etc..?
Cheers, g
[/quote]

List price of the 112 is about £260. If you want a tweeter, it's about £70. Shipping is about £40 per cab. No import tax etc. as Sweden is in the EU.

Handling is 250w, I think. If you want something that goes lower and can handle more volume there's the D112, which is a bigger box and has a Neo driver. There are other combinations, too... The 1126 which seems to be configured a bit like the Baer, for example, and some 2x12s.

A bit of detective work with Google translate will get opinions on them...

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Oh, here's a demo of the 1126 on YouTube.

My Swedish is non-existent so I have idea what's being said...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJUmAUtCiU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJUmAUtCiU[/url]

Forgot to mention - the whole range is about to be revised... both physically, and the prices.

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Jonny is demoing the D1126 (the D for tweeter). He says it has incredible bottom end for being so leightweight.
He says the good things with the TKS D1126 are: the small size, the low weight, the bottom end sound and the clarity of the sound. I'd add that the price is great too.

Having actually heard AB testing of the full range of the TKS speakers this spring I can comfortably say that no video give true justice to the sound. Here is a picture of the testing with Tommy in the middle.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8706305337/][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8706305337/]TKS testing at Glanshammar 2013[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr

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A couple more gigs with a single cab over the weekend... lovely.

I've just had a bit of time to myself for a change, so I filled it in by making the obligatory [i]very[/i] unscientific noodling video. Remember, no tweeter in the cab...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSoKZXr4iy8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSoKZXr4iy8[/url]

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[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1375336038' post='2159842']
Wonder how you recorded the sound, did you mic the cab up or was it just ambient sound to the camera?
[/quote]

It's recorded on a Zoom H2 a couple of feet from the cab. The drum track is being played on my Promethean combo off to the side.

(I know nowt about mic placement, etc. Can you tell?)

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