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NEW - Acoustic Image Doubleshot 2x10" cab


Al Krow
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This thing is tiny !!!!

Handles 600W at 4 ohms through 2x10" plus 1x5" to provide added mid punch. 

Omni directional sound - which I guess will work well as both stage monitor and audience cab, but query whether you're going to end up with 'wasted' sound watts?

Frequency Response: 40 Hz - 16 kHz

Designed for acoustic and electric instruments including bass, guitar and keyboards

It weighs, wait for it...

Image result for acoustic image doubleshot

...just 15 lbs

Oh, and did I mention it's tiny? :) 

It's just 12" high and 11" wide.

Competition for my BF SC? Very possibly.

Edited by Al Krow
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Wow!

I borrowed an Acoustic Image combo once for a gig, I think it was a 2x8" with one of the speakers firing downwards, similar omnidirectional concept and it worked really well, it even kept up with a loud drummist and filled the small/medium room, probably about 100 folks in attendance.

I didn't realise they did stand alone cabs?...

Tell me more.

Eude

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This is the kind of thing that would be great for actor-musician theatre productions. Could be discreetly incorporated into the set and due it’s its somewhat omnidirectional (or at the very least, bidirectional) design, one wouldn’t be nearly as limited in placement options.

I may well be the only member of this forum with such a use case xD

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23 minutes ago, headofire said:

I’m about to order one unheard.. wish me luck... hardly any reviews or videos to support their release online it’s frustrating.

AI make fantastic sounding products.. could this be the game changer for double bass amps?

Ah amazing - looks like you're going to be the first BC'er to get one!

I just took delivery of a Fearless 112 yesterday which has been a few months in the coming and I'm currently also using a BF SC, which I'm loving for its combination of light weight and general overall quality, so looks like I'm going to be fully sorted in terms of cabs for a while. But really looking forward to getting your thoughts on this - which supplier are you getting yours from?

In case you've not come across - here's a link to the TB thread I've also been following: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/acoustic-image-unveils-the-doubleshot-lightweight-2x10-cabinet.1407014/

One negative post on that thread which I thought was actually quite interesting: "The spec (at least the performance spec) is...really unspecified. The one thing you can be certain of is it doesn't have a lot of low frequency sensitivity - that tiny cabinet size simply won't allow that. It might work fine for reinforcing an upright, but if you're playing electric with a drummer, I'd say look elsewhere."

Don't know how true that is going to be - I'd love to get some of our resident cab experts views on that particular point.

This is the one decent comparison video I've come across - which will be on point for you as it's been done on double bass. The A.I. seems to hold its own very well!

 

Edited by Al Krow
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31 minutes ago, headofire said:

In the end upright players generally want the smallest thing that does the job that they can hear clearly...

Hah, that's not a wish limited to upright players believe me! 😁

If you do find that this takes the place of 2 BF one10s then that does suggest to me it should also stack up well against single BF SC.

I'm very much looking forward to your review! 

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The AI speakers and combos that I've encountered seem to be designed around sounding natural in relatively low volume jazz or acoustic gig settings, where sensitivity and overall loudness aren't the main considerations.  I'd say that the downfiring 1x10" combos they were making a few years ago run out of steam noticeably earlier than more conventional ported 1x10 cabs I've used.  It's probably a nice cab for jazz double bassists, but I'd be surprised if it could replace a typical 2x10 for electric bass use.

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I’m intrigued.  Do you think the 10s are wired out of phase, so when one cone is going out, the other is going in?  That way they’d be working in unison pushing at the air around the cab?  If they were wired in phase, they’d both push out at the same time, but that couldn’t be as efficient as the cones would be fighting each other air pressure wise inside the cab?

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On 24/06/2019 at 14:45, headofire said:

Well, we’ll see on Friday when it turns up I suppose. I’m realistic about useable volume from something that size. I think the power handling isn’t especially realistic. I’m hoping for a little deeper bass response and a more open sound than my cmd121p gives me. The Barefaced 10s were great for that but I needed two compared to the combo. 

Hey, it weighs 6.8 kilograms and goes in a Tom case. Also has a mid/monitor speaker pointing right at you. One speaker for the drummer, one for the crowd, one for you. 

If it does give a warm, natural, wide-open sound in a small/medium sized venue it’s well worth £675 

Did it arrive safely yesterday? If so, definitely looking forward to getting your first impressions on this cab.

Edited by Al Krow
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Good review, thanks! 

In terms of HPF, you could potentially sort that with a dedicated HPF pedal such as the Thumpinator or on a multifx i.e. you don't specifically need it in your amp head?

Be interesting to see if, with HPF, it gets you the electric bass sound you want. I personally don't have any issues with an uncoloured cab, provided it has excellent clarity and articulation and, of course,  gets you heard!  

Going a little off-topic, there are plenty of options for 'colouring' tone in your signal chain. Which leads me to start wondering whether a Tech 21 Q\Strip may in fact be just the ticket for you? It has both HPF and a much admired pre-amp. Here's a review of said pedal from our very own Dood...

 

Edited by Al Krow
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37 minutes ago, headofire said:

You really should only use one Pre amp to keep things clear...

Not sure I've come across too many BCers pushing that line? Surely lots of bass players use pedal preamps without bypassing the preamps on their amps?

And an active bass EQ is also an additional preamp... 

Edited by Al Krow
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Hah! I'm not arguing with you at all when it comes to upright basses - given the closest I have to any 'experience' on that front is playing a Stagg EUB at home :) 

14 minutes ago, headofire said:

... try doing the tone shaping on one preamp and leave the others neutral or bypass. It’s not a strict rule or anything but it definitely gives me a more upfront, fundamental sound that I hear more clearly onstage.

Now that's a principle I can totally agree with! Although I'd qualify that by saying set your 'core' stage tone on either pedal or amp pre, but then it's nice to be able tweak 'on the fly' on a bass preamp if only to cut / reset treble when moving from vintage Motown to more modern rock mid set! :) 

And 'less is more' gets my vote too! I've spent most of the past 4 years gigging with just bass-->lead-->amp & cab and it doesn't seem to have caused too many band melt-downs or audience riots 😂

I have, however, become a massive believer in the importance of a great cab being the key aural 'connection' between my fingers & bass and our audiences, hence being very interested in this new offering from AI**

 

 

(**see what I did there to flip the discussion back on track? 😁 )

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14 minutes ago, headofire said:

I’m just gonna say it straight.. it’s probably best to use something a bit bigger for electric bass. This isn’t going to do modern rock dude. It’s not what it’s for. 

Sounds like my BF Super Compact can rest easy for a while yet then! 

You've just saved me £675, what do I owe ya?! 😁

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  • 1 month later...
On 21/06/2019 at 09:58, Al Krow said:

One negative post on that thread which I thought was actually quite interesting: "The spec (at least the performance spec) is...really unspecified. The one thing you can be certain of is it doesn't have a lot of low frequency sensitivity - that tiny cabinet size simply won't allow that. It might work fine for reinforcing an upright, but if you're playing electric with a drummer, I'd say look elsewhere."

I understand this concern, but I don't think that is necessarily true. Phil Jones Bass for example use get very good bass sensitivity from 5 inch drivers in very small cabinets. This is essentially line array acoustics... the wave fields from each driver combine with constructive interference - moving more air. I suspect AI are doing the same thing here, just using a bigger angle between the cones. Additionally, AI have been using cylindrical enclosures for many many years, this has the effect of an infinite baffle, or at least a much larger baffle. The lack of specs does worry me, as it did with the upshot, which doesn't have a big bass response, but I have been using a series III coda from AI for about ten years, that combo is not much bigger than the double shot, it has an amp on board, and it has never really struggled to give me enough volume on upright or five string bass guitar. I've put my name on the waiting list, but then, I am a gear junkie.

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On 21/06/2019 at 19:39, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

I wouldn't say it's technically all wrong, but like all speakers it cannot get around Hoffman's Iron Law.

I'm not certain, in fact I am building a cabinet to check this, but I think it kind of does get around Hoffman's law. In a cubic speaker cabinet there are numerous opportunities for standing waves, this affects the cabinet's resonant frequency, which is whee it will give the most volume. With a cylindrical cabinet (and we see this in all the portable phone speakers that have become so popular) there is far less opportunity for a standing wave, essentially the cabinet behaves as if it were very much larger. 

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4 hours ago, Peter Williams said:

I understand this concern, but I don't think that is necessarily true. Phil Jones Bass for example use get very good bass sensitivity from 5 inch drivers in very small cabinets. This is essentially line array acoustics... the wave fields from each driver combine with constructive interference - moving more air. I suspect AI are doing the same thing here, just using a bigger angle between the cones. Additionally, AI have been using cylindrical enclosures for many many years, this has the effect of an infinite baffle, or at least a much larger baffle. The lack of specs does worry me, as it did with the upshot, which doesn't have a big bass response, but I have been using a series III coda from AI for about ten years, that combo is not much bigger than the double shot, it has an amp on board, and it has never really struggled to give me enough volume on upright or five string bass guitar. I've put my name on the waiting list, but then, I am a gear junkie.

 

4 hours ago, Peter Williams said:

I understand this concern, but I don't think that is necessarily true. Phil Jones Bass for example use get very good bass sensitivity from 5 inch drivers in very small cabinets. This is essentially line array acoustics... the wave fields from each driver combine with constructive interference - moving more air. I suspect AI are doing the same thing here, just using a bigger angle between the cones. Additionally, AI have been using cylindrical enclosures for many many years, this has the effect of an infinite baffle, or at least a much larger baffle. The lack of specs does worry me, as it did with the upshot, which doesn't have a big bass response, but I have been using a series III coda from AI for about ten years, that combo is not much bigger than the double shot, it has an amp on board, and it has never really struggled to give me enough volume on upright or five string bass guitar. I've put my name on the waiting list, but then, I am a gear junkie.

Phil Jones puts drivers in two columns, to my mind that is not a line array. As I understand it, the point of a line array  is that it focuses the sound. With the focus being more defined as more vertical* drivers are added. Put drivers side by side and the focussing effect of a line array is lost. 

 

Putting multiple 5” drivers together will help the low end but 

* Assumes the aim is to restrict the sound in a vertical direction. 

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6 hours ago, Peter Williams said:

I'm not certain, in fact I am building a cabinet to check this, but I think it kind of does get around Hoffman's law. In a cubic speaker cabinet there are numerous opportunities for standing waves

Hoffman's Iron Law and the presence of standing waves are not related.

Phil Jones Bass for example use get very good bass sensitivity from 5 inch drivers in very small cabinets. This is essentially line array acoustics..

Phil Jones cabs are not line arrays.

 

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