BFM Jack 112 - New Cabinet Day

rpsands · #1 03-17-2010, 08:45 PM

Hey folks,

My BFM Jack 112 is in the house. I've done some light playing with it and sounds pretty cool so far

It was built by Leland @ SpeakerHardware - contains a 12 element melded array with a Kappalite 3012HO woofer.

Vitals: Weighs around 45lbs with the kick stand and the heavy woofer, with baltic birch 1/2". Bit heavier than I anticipated but it's an easy heft. I think if you went with a 2512II and a lighter crossover, no kick stand, and arauco you could probably get it down to 35lbs pretty easily.

The big difference between my standard cab is the size - it's down around half the size of my 15/6, which is very convenient.

Long story short: He got all the dimensions right despite me changing my driver to a 3012HO halfway through, and requesting a melded array and a kickback stand as well.

A lot of things about the overall build are excellent; the duratex is amazing, really nice quality application. The trim inside is nice - very light open cell foam, a hefty crossover, a nice jack plate. Some elements of the construction make me go "Oh, well, this isn't a Berg cab I guess," like a few minor imperfections in the back plate's fit and the lack of the various cups being inset so that they rest flush, but overall I give it
"good to very good" in terms of fit and finish.

Preliminarily it sounds pretty nice. Surprisingly, with just some boost to the low mids, it sounds quite fine to my ears. I think I've gotten used to the extra loud mids of the 6nd410 in my 15/6, so the loud top and mids on the cab sound just fine to me.

I'll be posting some updates and more thoughts as I have more time to sit and play it; with bass, it's a little bottom shy compared to the 15/6 but about on par with your typical quality (not top end) 4x10 - maybe a bit beefier in terms of girth (obviously not sensitivity down low).

I've played some Mp3s through it and it sounds really excellent that way with a little eq'ing. The melded array is really worth it on the top end - sounds a lot nicer than your typical tweeter. The highs with the 3012HO alone (array off) sound pretty solid but not as crisp.

There is some hiss up top in the 12 element mode (all horns on), but it's not that noticeable until the treble is way up on the bass.

More thoughts and in-depth analysis / a/bing with my 15/6 to come later.

rpsands · #2 03-17-2010, 08:45 PM

Reserved!

rpsands · #3 03-17-2010, 08:51 PM

This particular post is going to contain random thoughts/comments which I will edit as I have them.

1. One worrisome thing is that it does not really sound as loud as my 15/6 with equivalent volume settings. It "feels" maybe 3db quieter - maybe about as loud as a 12/6.
My theory so far is that the Jack 112 is right about as loud as a 12/6 from 60 to 200hz or so, on paper, and my ear might just be trained to that range.

2. The cabinet is extremely sensitive to the 800hz boost/cut on my bass it seems. Add a little there and it gets peeling loud really fast. Cuts like a knife.

3. Overall it does take eq well, except for the bass - it is clear that the 15/6 destroys the Jack below 150hz. I need to play around with eq a lot more to see if I can get the warm dubby type tones I tend to like through FOH - I suspect it will need to be by cutting particular mids and boosting low mids rather than boosting lows.

4. It looks ridiculously cool with the melded array.

5. Next: I need to sing through it (as soon as my sore throat goes away). Seems like it will be a very nice vocal and acoustic guitar cab.

6. I have read reviews suggesting that the J112 sounds "shrill" or "harsh" - I do not get this at all. The mids are very pleasant and you cannot hear the usual distortion in the midrange, and the transition to the highs is very smooth.

7. Favorite tone: little bit of cut at the high mid knob of the F1, a boost of the low mids, a little bit of Vle, it sounds excellent to me. The F1's frequency points so far seem very well suited to the cab so far.
One thing to note is I have spent a lot of time working on my technique lately, since I practice with a 15/6 flat with no compression - the 6nd410 reveals every single sloppy move you make, and so it makes you a very careful player. That might be part of why the mids do not seem unpleasant to me. I dunno.

8. Wow. I just jammed along with our PA system with the Jack at low/medium volume and there is *something* I can't identify about the tone that is just really cool in the mix. I can't describe it really well but there is just something about the top end of the tone that I can't place that makes it sound really..."good." I am normally not a believer in "tone" but there is something really neat about the way the mids sound in mix.

I am sure I will come up with more comments on this as I try it with the actual band, but I think what I am hearing is the lack of any breakup in the midrange at all. Supposedly a characteristic of horn loading, but whatever it is something sounds /different/ than the mids than the 6nd410. I will sit down and A/B them some more and see if I can figure out what it is.

Billy Low · #4 03-17-2010, 09:51 PM

Question: Since I haven't read the reviews regarding mid-harshness of the J112, was there a distinction made between the 3012HO and the 2512II in those concerns?

rpsands · #5 03-17-2010, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Low

Question: Since I haven't read the reviews regarding mid-harshness of the J112, was there a distinction made between the 3012HO and the 2512II in those concerns?

Not to my knowledge. My expectation is if it's there with the 2512 II it'd be as bad or worse with the 3012HO - the 3012HO gains an extra 2db or so of sensitivity in the mids.

Either way, it does not sound harsh to me at all. It's pretty musical. Kinda feels like a Schroeder to me actually in the mids - really crazy loud up to ~800hz or so.

wave rider · #6 03-17-2010, 11:48 PM

rpsands, thanks much for the report, I'll keep tuning in! The A/B testing will be interesting.

Maybe the low end will come in a bit when the speaker surround/spider break in a bit?

Just a thought...

=wr=

rpsands · #7 03-17-2010, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wave rider

rpsands, thanks much for the report, I'll keep tuning in! The A/B testing will be interesting.

Maybe the low end will come in a bit when the speaker surround/spider break in a bit?

Just a thought...

=wr=

Leland ran it for 24 hours with a 30hz test tone before shipping it out so I think it's done and broken in. My thinking is that the 3015LF is flat out more sensitive down low and that's what I'm hearing in the low end.

Don't get me wrong: The low end is there and very decent. It's just not possible for a 3012HO to outperform a 3015LF in 4cf box below 100hz.

wave rider · #8 03-18-2010, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsands

Leland ran it for 24 hours with a 30hz test tone before shipping it out so I think it's done and broken in. My thinking is that the 3015LF is flat out more sensitive down low and that's what I'm hearing in the low end.

Don't get me wrong: The low end is there and very decent. It's just not possible for a 3012HO to outperform a 3015LF in 4cf box below 100hz.

Wow, very conscientious build!

=wr=

jnewmark · #9 03-18-2010, 06:42 AM

I assume that you have the piezos? I thought they did'nt need a crossover?

tdogg · #10 03-18-2010, 08:57 AM

very cool cab! i just finished building a J112 about a week ago, and i LOVE it. i plan on building more. im very interested to hear your comparisons to the 15/6 (im assuming this is a fEARful 15/6?) since that cab is on my "DIY radar" also. also, do you know what the sonic performance difference is with the 3012HO compared to the deltaliteII 2512? just curious

rpsands · #11 03-18-2010, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jnewmark

I assume that you have the piezos? I thought they did'nt need a crossover?

They do. You want to low pass the woofer at the least so that it doesn't impinge on the piezo frequencies, and by all accounts you get better sound by high passing the piezos or using some kind of filter on them. Leland has it all worked out. The sound is pretty seamless from bottom to top.

I have a 12 piezo melded array yeah, with a switch to 4 or off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdogg

very cool cab! i just finished building a J112 about a week ago, and i LOVE it. i plan on building more. im very interested to hear your comparisons to the 15/6 (im assuming this is a fEARful 15/6?) since that cab is on my "DIY radar" also. also, do you know what the sonic performance difference is with the 3012HO compared to the deltaliteII 2512? just curious

From my experience so far the fEarful 15/6 (IF you add a horn for vocals!) could do anything the J112 can do and lower and with more peak spl, but that's not surprising since it's twice the size and twice the driver cost, and requires a much more costly crossover.

What I would really like is if I had a 12/6 to compare. I think that would be a much more fair comparison in size/weight/output.

I wish i had some info on the 3012HO to the 2512 II - never known of anyone who compared the two jacks for bass. I went with the 3012HO because, through Leland, it was not much more money for a LOT more maximum low end.

MaHei · #12 03-18-2010, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsands

8. Wow. I just jammed along with our PA system with the Jack at low/medium volume and there is *something* I can't identify about the tone that is just really cool in the mix. I can't describe it really well but there is just something about the top end of the tone that I can't place that makes it sound really..."good." I am normally not a believer in "tone" but there is something really neat about the way the mids sound in mix.

I know what you mean about the great mids. Leland built two OmniTops 12 for me about two years ago which are similar to the J12. The bass is there but it is overshadowed by the mids. I scoop the mids a bit with the VLF filter on my F1 and boost the bass. I wouldn't use them for dub, but for a fingerstyle tone that projects well with great attack they are unbeatable. Wonderful for fretless too.

Bottom line, great cabs but you have to be ready to apply corrective EQ.

rpsands · #13 03-18-2010, 10:27 AM

That's an interesting way of putting it. It really does project.

I find myself going between the little bit of high mid cut/low mid boost, and engaging a scoop with my Mxr M80, and liking both sounds so far

5StringPocket · #14 03-18-2010, 11:53 AM

It's good to hear the Jack 112 has landed. Looks like Leland did a nice job on it. Comparing it with a 3015LF loaded 15/6 is like bringing a knife to a gun fight in the low end department, but if you consider the Jack 112 versus a traditional ported box with the 3012HO it would be more revealing of how the BFM design optimizes the 3012HO low end response. From your comments so far it sounds pretty good. I had a fEarful style 12/6/1 built at LDS with a 3012HO in it which was a great PA top but really needed a sub - weak in the lows. I swapped out the 3012HO for a 3012LF in the 12/6/1 box and it sounded much better and balanced.

I then used the 3012HO (plus one more) in a pair of BFM OTop 12 cabs along with a set of 3012LF loaded T39 subs. This is a killer lightweight PA stack! The 3012HO works great in the OTop 12. Paired with the T39 sub crossed at 120Hz, the OTop 12 really shines but the response drops like a rock under 100 Hz. I can't see how any EQ could make the OTop 12 a credible bass cab since you can't adjust what isn't there, but the Jack 112 is made to go down to 50 Hz with the 3012HO. So it sounds like boosting the lows and scooping the mids a bit makes the Jack 112 a pretty decent bass cab? Sweet. Is it too early to tell which cab becomes the drum monitor?

rpsands · #15 03-18-2010, 01:28 PM

I am going to try it out with the electric drums today and will see. Right now I am using the 3080 as my e-drum cab, since it's got a mid and horn, and it sounds fantastic to be honest (and brutally loud, running one side of an RMX850 off of a mixer). I don't think the jack will hang with that though (two 3015LFs is ridiculous). But I think it'll probably be loud enough for practice.

So far, with the 5-string, the Jack sounds pretty good with some low boost and cut mids. The low mids are so powerful that if you don't need the sub lows you should be fine.

I would say the jack 112 with 2512 II or 3012HO would be a good standalone stage monitor for most rock players, but I don't think it's got the lows for scoop metal or reggae type sounds.

For me, I will continue to do what I always do: Send my effected MXR signal to the PA and get a bottom heavy sound out front, with a stage sound coming from the Jack or the 15/6, depending

SpankyPants · #16 03-18-2010, 02:53 PM

I look forward to see more comparison b/t BFM and fEarfuls... It's something I've always kind of wanted to hear.

rpsands · #17 03-18-2010, 02:58 PM

Just to be fair, the O15TB would probably be a better apples to apples comparison

tdogg · #18 03-18-2010, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsands

Just to be fair, the O15TB would probably be a better apples to apples comparison

good point... that sounds like an excuse to build one!

FunkMetalBass · #19 03-18-2010, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpsands

Just to be fair, the O15TB would probably be a better apples to apples comparison

I'm hoping to build one this summer.

I've got an Ampeg 500W head and a 31-band EQ that look terribly lonely without the BFM cab to complete them.

Now I just need $350 for parts and enough time to build it.

rpsands · #20 03-18-2010, 06:33 PM

Here's a couple audio comparisons. Both use my Zoom h2, about 30 degrees off axis. The mic is a smidgen farther away from the fEarful (maybe 2 feet or so farther).

http://63.134.202.170/audio/fearful.mp3
http://63.134.202.170/audio/jack.mp3

Mind the room noise and me not playing quite exactly the same riff both times (LIVE ELEMENTS!).

I think you can get the sense of the difference in bottom and low mid sensitivity. The volume in the room was a bit louder with the fEarful it seemed like but it's hard to say.

EQ settings were bass flat, low mid +3db high mid -3db treble flat VLE 10 o'clock, no VPF. Bass flat, all neck pickup.