fEarful 12/6/1 Users, Lend Me Your Ears

[jnewmark]

Well, after reading about the fEarfuls for a couple of years now, and lurking around the classifieds waiting for one to pop up, I finally took the plunge and got a 12/6/1/ Fearful. 12 - Eminence 3012LF
6 - Eminence Alphalite 6a
1 - Eminence ASD1001S & Dayton H07E 6" x 6" Elliptical Waveguide
Crossover - Greenboy design with the duke lejuene tweeter addon.
2 x speakon/1/4 combo plugs
Duratex Coating, thick grill(bbq grill cut and painted to match), both protective corners and feet added.
Weight - 40.5 lbs Originally built by fellow TB'er, Mcapote

What I would like is to hear some gig reports, anecdotes, tips, advice, pros and cons of this little giant from those of you who use it as a standalone, or with another cab. What kinds of gigs do you use it for; can it keep up with a loud drummer; what do you power it with; etc. I will use it with a Fender Jazz, a BBE 383 pre and a Crown Drivecore XLS 1000, bridged. I might also use it once in awhile with a 3012LF cab underneath. So, lay it on me: what can I expect from this cab(s) in your experience?

[thudfromafar]

Expect it to sound bigger than it looks with that power amp bridged into it.

Set a steep hi-pass filter at 35 or 40 hz.

Also depending on your preferred tone, don't be scared to use your EQ.

congrats! pics?

[jnewmark]

Pics here: FS/FT Fearful 12/6/1

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by thudfromafar

Expect it to sound bigger than it looks with that power amp bridged into it.

Set a steep hi-pass filter at 35 or 40 hz.

Also depending on your preferred tone, don't be scared to use your EQ.

congrats! pics?

Why the high pass/ And would I do this if using the 3012lf

underneath ?

[thudfromafar]

nice, you scored for that price.

hi-pass because lower than that generally only gives subsonic rumble, and it's about the point where excursion limitations go way up. It will protect your cab from massive wattage.

What do you mean 3012lf underneath, like a sub only cab? But anyways, still yeah.

[rpsands]

Greenboy made a really good case for a 30-40hz butterworth if you've got that option. Otherwise, 30hz LR is good enough.

[mntngrown]

I saw that as a good buy also. Ukiahbass can clue you in on the limits of a 12/6 gigged solo I believe. He was able to push the 3012lf past it's limits. with two cabs you should be good+

[KJung]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

Why the high pass/ And would I do this if using the 3012lf

underneath ?

IME, hi pass is KEY with these IF you are using a PA type amp (most of which have some sort of adjustable hi pass control included in their features). Most bass heads have that pretty well built into the amp, although some (TecAmp, EA IAmp, etc.) have their low end dialed in too low for comfort for me when really cranking.

With 500 watts into that cab, you should get 210 like volume (i.e., quite a bit more than a typical 112) with more real low end. Very nice stuff!

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by rpsands

Greenboy made a really good case for a 30-40hz butterworth if you've got that option. Otherwise, 30hz LR is good enough.

The XLS 1000 allows me to adjust with a high pass. What do you mean by " LR " ?

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by thudfromafar

nice, you scored for that price.

hi-pass because lower than that generally only gives subsonic rumble, and it's about the point where excursion limitations go way up. It will protect your cab from massive wattage.

What do you mean 3012lf underneath, like a sub only cab? But anyways, still yeah.

I have another cab, close to the same size as the fEarful, with a 3012LF in it. It also has a horn, but I was thinking I could turn it off, and just use the 12. Bad idea ?

[dug dog]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

What do you mean by " LR " ?

"LR" refers to Linkwitz Riley which is a type of filter (in this case for your Hi Pass). It has certain advantages over other configurations. Check out Wiki for the nitty gritty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkwitz-Riley_filter

Your amp may or may not let you pick which type of filter you wish to employ for hi pass.

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by dug dog

"LR" refers to Linkwitz Riley which is a type of filter (in this case for your Hi Pass). It has certain advantages over other configurations. Check out Wiki for the nitty gritty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkwitz-Riley_filter

Your amp may or may not let you pick which type of filter you wish to employ for hi pass.

Thanks. As far as I can tell, the XLS just allows you to set the number, not the type. But, 30hz is good for the high pass ?

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by KJung

IME, hi pass is KEY with these IF you are using a PA type amp (most of which have some sort of adjustable hi pass control included in their features). Most bass heads have that pretty well built into the amp, although some (TecAmp, EA IAmp, etc.) have their low end dialed in too low for comfort for me when really cranking.

I haven't seen many bass heads that have a high pass filter for the audio band. Some have slow dropoffs in the low end which seem to be voicing decisions or design performance tradeoffs. But none of them appear to be steep enough to protect anything being driven hard with content anywhere near their region - nor do they offer enough control of their knee frequency to match to specific bass cab types, and since bass cabs are all over the map in bass alignment...

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by dug dog

"LR" refers to Linkwitz Riley which is a type of filter (in this case for your Hi Pass). It has certain advantages over other configurations.

For crossovers, yes. I haven't seen any advantage to LR for woofer high-pass filters. Steep BW makes it easire to protect below the box tuning where the driver wants to unload without intruding into the area above it where useful content is to be had.

The deal is, 1) when using high power and wishing to use a driver's entire potential, proper HP gives protection, and 2) you want not to be robbing energy / amplifier output from the useful area by placing some/much of it in the un-useful area. This just makes the speaker work harder without making as cogent of output.

[lbwdog]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

I have another cab, close to the same size as the fEarful, with a 3012LF in it. It also has a horn, but I was thinking I could turn it off, and just use the 12. Bad idea ?

Congrats on the score Johnny!
This is probably what I would do for bigger, louder gigs. It should shore up your bass response and give you plenty of power handling potential. Might need to do a little eq-ing to get the tone where you want it. If the tweeter control is a variable L-pad, I'd leave it on at least a little, to help reduce heat build up in the pad.

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by rpsands

Greenboy made a really good case for a 30-40hz butterworth if you've got that option. Otherwise, 30hz LR is good enough.

Do take a comparison look in the WinISD filter section using say a 3012LF in 2.2 cubic feet tuned 46 Hz, with LR24 on one project and BW24 on another. Also check out BW30 (5th order) ; }

[KJung]

Originally Posted by greenboy

I haven't seen many bass heads that have a high pass filter for the audio band. Some have slow dropoffs in the low end which seem to be voicing decisions or design performance tradeoffs. But none of them appear to be steep enough to protect anything being driven hard with content anywhere near their region - nor do they offer enough control of their knee frequency to match to specific bass cab types, and since bass cabs are all over the map in bass alignment...

All I know is with the vast majority of at least solid state bass heads, I get a super full, deep, usable, GREAT sounding low end, and the cones hardly move even at very high volumes with any cab I use. With a PA type amp run without any hi pass, the cones seem to want to come right out of the cab, even though the volume is the same, and it happens all over the neck (not just the lowest notes). And ,for most purposes, the low end isn't really that much bigger... just extended to the point of seemingly sucking power and pumping super deep lows into a cab with very little upside, and it seems lots of downside.

With most heads designed for bass, plug in, turn up, play and be happy. Using pre's and amps not designed for bass, you need a bit of extra attention in control that deep low end IMO and IME.

Hi pass, low end roll-off, whatever, the vast majority of heads made for bass seem to be voiced (here's a surprise) to work with cabs designed for bass amplification, and need no special filtering... zero issue. There are, of course, exceptions like the original SWR amps, that behave more like 'non hi passed PA amps'... horrible.

[greenboy]

It would be great if one could look at traces from a lot of heads in say Bass Gear Magazine to see just what's what ; }

There's a lot of difference between inherent default voicings in a preamp which roll off some bass (or start boosting response above the bass, which is much the same), and a true high pass, which allows drivers to move a lot, but only at producing bass only in the useful range above box tuning.

There's nothing wrong with drivers moving a lot when demands are put on them. That's key for BIG BASS. That's what xmax and large displacement figures are all about. But it is foolish to have that happening if much of it is because of content that is below the box's tuning, which is just flabby and leads to driver failure.

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

I have another cab, close to the same size as the fEarful, with a 3012LF in it. It also has a horn, but I was thinking I could turn it off, and just use the 12. Bad idea ?

What's the box? Sure it's 3012LF? I haven't seen too many of this description (horn and woofer) other than Thunderchild. How big is it? What's the approximate tuning?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by greenboy

It would be great if one could look at traces from a lot of heads in say Bass Gear Magazine to see just what's what ; }

There's a lot of difference between inherent default voicings in a preamp which roll off some bass (or start boosting response above the bass, which is much the same), and a true high pass, which allows drivers to move a lot, but only at producing bass only in the useful range above box tuning.

There's nothing wrong with drivers moving a lot when demands are put on them. That's key for BIG BASS. That's what xmax and large displacement figures are all about. But it is foolish to have that happening if much of it is because of content that is below the box's tuning, which is just flabby and leads to driver failure.

+1 on that. There are a few amps (like the Markbass stuff) that seem to get that just right for me... real bass, 'normal' cone movement (at least not 'scary cone movement') when you really dig in down low, and a relatively even response curve down low (to my ear, and I guess also on the scope as others have posted) that doesn't cram a big peak or scoop into your tone unless you start turning the knobs.

I guess my main point is, I can live with a bit of 'too much roll-off' based on what the cab is capable of if it still sounds good to my ear, but I sure don't want to worry about slapping the E string at high volume toward the end of the night and crapping out my drivers!

My TecAmp Puma worries me quite a bit on loud gigs when I'm really cranking... it goes WAY low. Easy to control (they have the EQ voicing set very nice... a very low bass shelving point and a nice wide Q low mid control so that you can roll off a bit of deep bass without trashing your upper bass response, and also dial in that low mid hump that often defines the 'meat' of a bass tone in my contexts (I'm talking a few db here and there). Set flat... a bit scary