lowlandtrees Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I have a Roland 100 cube. I have developed a style of playing some songs using a small rubber mallet. Sounds very rocky funky. My concern is that I have knackered the driver/speaker. Could loading the speaker at high volumes with an aggressive strike cause damage? I am looking for a new rig anyway...one that will take my DB and ebass....something like a Euphonic Audio doubler....while I can afford to wreck my Roland (got it cheap) I dont want to invest in EA stuff and have the same problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floFC Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I can't answer the question, but I would imagine that yes it is possible to damage the speaker in this way. My amp has a VU meter and I stay clear of the red zone. Anyway reminded me of seeing a guy play the guitar with a spanner once. A good old metal spanner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 Timmy - is that you? https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ocaui51g6l5367/timmyandpinky.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 Not Timmy but Jimmy.....quite close....what about putting a VU meter before the amp...maybe a pedal ? Does EA stuff include VU meters as standard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I think you need a compressor that is able to do peak limiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 18, 2014 Author Share Posted May 18, 2014 There is an on board compressor on the Roland. I assume that this is pretty basic. Will have to address this when I get a better amp/speaker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 I'm curious about this technique now, I once saw Van Halen playing his guitar with an electric drill, I don't think his back line was damaged although it was squealing like a stuck pig ! Doesn't Mr Levin play his bass with sticks on his fingers ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 I think Tony Levin plays with very light sticks attached to his fingers. I use a marimba hammer. It has a light rubber ball at the end of a round stick. You get a powerful sound but it loads the speaker. Takes a bit of practice to get accurate and not break strings. It isn t suitable for everything but I like it for funky rock stuff. I like to use heavy strings. I am sure more skilled players could get a similar sound with slap but I came into bass playing at a late age and never learned that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I think this might be a good application for the SFX Thumpinator. It's a steep high-pass filter set at a low frequency, intended to stop those percussive low frequency transients from stressing your speakers without changing the sound too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I'm guessing you had the gain and eq set too high, did it ever sound like it was distorting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Edwards69 Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I second the use of a limiter. It could be set so that it doesn't affect regular playing, but anything over a certain volume will be clamped right down. A thumpinator or other high pass filter (HPF Deck) could work as long as the loud attack part of the note is in the sub bass region. If you have a smartphone, try using an RTA anyalyser app to see which frequencies are offending the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTypeV4 Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 +1 on a limiter.. One with variable attack and release times too so you make sure the compressor 'grabs' the transient by setting a border-line zero attack time and probably a quick release time so once the transient is under control the compressor 'lets go' and doesn't kill the note. A highpass filter may help also as suggested depending on the frequency content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 with the roland being as technically High end as it is I would think it would be hard to damage it in this way without the DSP and limiting kicking in.... does it sound like you've knackered it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Do you do audience requests? If so "If I had a Hammer " would be good..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 The speaker is cracklin like f--- sorry billio......was Ok until I cranked it up. Had all knobs (including gain) at 12 oclock. I am looking at EA doubler with an EA speaker and don t want to risk it. Will def go for a limiter. I assume that you can have a pedal to switch on and off when I use the DB? Is the SFX Thumpinator the way to go or will it change the sound too much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 [quote name='lowlandtrees' timestamp='1400654227' post='2455747'] Is the SFX Thumpinator the way to go or will it change the sound too much? [/quote] It is supposed to remove the very low frequencies that we don't really hear anyway - so no, it shouldn't change the sound too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 [quote name='lowlandtrees' timestamp='1400654227' post='2455747'] The speaker is cracklin like f--- sorry billio......was Ok until I cranked it up. Had all knobs (including gain) at 12 oclock. I am looking at EA doubler with an EA speaker and don t want to risk it. Will def go for a limiter. I assume that you can have a pedal to switch on and off when I use the DB? Is the SFX Thumpinator the way to go or will it change the sound too much? [/quote] go for the highest spec cab you can with a high end driver that can deal with the sort of punishment you're going to put it through... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 22, 2014 Author Share Posted May 22, 2014 Thanks for all the advice. Am on to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted May 22, 2014 Author Share Posted May 22, 2014 Just missed a thumpinator ....bugger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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