I received the cab not too long ago from Leland at speakerhardware.com, an authorized BFM builder. It's seems very solidly built even if it doesn't exactly have the polish of some of the higher end commercial cabs. I haven't had the chance to use it in a band situation as practice has been put off for two weeks now.
Compared side by side with my Acme Low B2 at bedroom levels with the same amp settings, there is a stark difference in tone and initial volume. The Jack 10 is quieter, and has a dry papery honk where the Acme has a full, deep sound that seemed louder. Now this may be because it's an apples to oranges comparison as the Jack 10 is 8 ohms while the Acme is a 4 ohm and has 2x10 inch drivers.
Some say the direct radiators has it's own pleasant coloration and a horn loaded cab doesn't have this coloration. That may be true but I believe horns have their own brand of coloration as well which some may find not so pleasant. The Jack 10 also has a sensitivity hump going up from 250 hz to about 1K or so according to the SPL graphs and this may explain the honk. This is where the tone controls of the amp really come into play. An enhance or countour type tone control really shines with the Jack 10 at lower volumes and dials out the unpleasant honk and ups the bass, leaving only the slight dry papery tone. Maybe the driver needs more break in. Funny thing was the enhance control on my Thunderfunk does not have too much effect with the Acme cab so the Jack 10 is sensitive to tone controls. Switching back to the Acmes, I am suprised at how much clearer the Jack 10 sounds.
All this cork sniffing tone descriptions don’t amount to a hill of beans when things get cranked up and the Jack 10 turns into a different beast. At our practice space at a band member's garage, we got things in the garage to rattle pretty good pushing the Jack 10. At that volume the enhance tone control doesn't seem to do much, maybe due to the way the ear responds to higher volume frequencies (equal loudness contours). I did not push the cab into farting but it seems more than loud enough for what we're doing. It's hard for me to describe the quality of the tone at those higher volmes except it is clear and wasn't bad and because a lot of it also depends on the amp. It also wasn't in a band setting and we had a bunch of stuff rattling in the garage distracting my evaluation. I wished I had a roadie and a larger car just so I could have brought the Acme over too for a comparison. I'm a wimp when it comes to weight as I've tweaked my neck muscles too many times.
So far the Jack 10 has met the criteria of being loud enough (probably), one hand luggable at 35 lbs vs carrying a 50lb weight up and down my 2nd floor apartment and can fit into the passenger seat of my Miata. I'll update once I get my other bandmates impressions after we get some practice in.
