Fearful Part 14: one better than 13!

[monsterthompson]

Overall best thing about this cab is that it is portable by me, which means I'm mobile and able to gig again after 20 months of paralysis. Now I just need to find a band and work on some songs.

[dukeorock]

Here's hoping you find what you're looking for!

[monsterthompson]

i feel i need to publicly send many thanks to greenboy for the design, and to Mike Arnopol for the execution. it is a little strange to paypal a big chunk of change to someone you have never met to build a product you have never seen/heard, then wait a month for it to arrive. the strength of the community helped ease the nerves. speaking with Mike on the phone, he clearly knew his stuff, and was available and willing to share.

thanks, again.

[monsterthompson]

... also, ken nailed it with the high frequency controller. tweaking that changes the hiss level, so it seems the likely culprit.

also, placing my hand on the woofer grille when playing my problematic A seems to make the buzz go away. i tried pressing in a few different areas around the border with varying amounts of pressure. pressing in the center with light pressure seems to fix the buzz. too little pressure doesn't do the trick, so just muting/damping the grille vibrations doesn't seem like the issue. i'll tweak the bolts slightly after some more play time to break in.

[Foz]

...or instrument cable, or speaker cable... 5,000 Quatloos sez it aint the cab.

quatloos - YouTube

[barryaudio]

Originally Posted by monsterthompson

... tweaking that changes the hiss level, so it seems the likely culprit.

It's good to hear the hiss now, rather than live. If you hear hiss through your fEARful, you will hear it through the house PA as well.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by barryaudio

It's good to hear the hiss now, rather than live. If you hear hiss through your fEARful, you will hear it through the house PA as well.

Most probably not. With a pre EQ DI, not at all. With a post EQ DI, maybe, depending on the primary source of the hiss in the individual amp.

Again, you will typically hear no more hiss out of a fEARful than you would out of a typical 2 way cab with the tweeter boosted a bit above the typical 'flat' setting.

[barryaudio]

Originally Posted by KJung

With a post EQ DI, maybe, depending on the primary source of the hiss in the individual amp.

From what I understand in his amp, yes.

[monsterthompson]

Ken, with your time with Tecamp gear, how was the noise level of the Puma?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by monsterthompson

Ken, with your time with Tecamp gear, how was the noise level of the Puma?

On the low end of things.... no issue there. The Puma sounds GREAT with the fEARful build.... fat low end, the low mid control is in the EXACT right place to dial in some burp and punch if you need it, the upper mid control is int he right place to soften that 1K region or so if you so choose, and the 900 puts out what seems like a totally honest, impressive 500 watts or so at 8ohms.

Highly recommended if you are looking for clean, clean, clean but not sterile in your tone. Kind of like a more powerful LMII/III with less midrange distortion, and the capabilith of punching much more in the low mids/upper bass.

IMO!

[KJung]

Originally Posted by barryaudio

From what I understand in his amp, yes.

+1... forgot again about the M6. I don't think there is a pre EQ DI, and the goosed top end of that amp does push the noise floor a bit at the preamp stage. +1

[KJung]

PS I would think that when the GK MBFusion800 is released, that would be an amazing match-up with a 15/6, and would IMO give those who like the M6/M9 tone a reasonable option with a micro amp that can pump at 8ohms and provide that 'big down low and aggressive top end' of those particular Mesa amps.

[monsterthompson]

Originally Posted by KJung

On the low end of things.... no issue there. The Puma sounds GREAT with the fEARful build.... fat low end, the low mid control is in the EXACT right place to dial in some burp and punch if you need it, the upper mid control is int he right place to soften that 1K region or so if you so choose, and the 900 puts out what seems like a totally honest, impressive 500 watts or so at 8ohms.

Highly recommended if you are looking for clean, clean, clean but not sterile in your tone. Kind of like a more powerful LMII/III with less midrange distortion, and the capabilith of punching much more in the low mids/upper bass.

IMO!

That is what I thought you might say. I had been thinking of going the Markbass route but read about the issues this cab would reveal with those heads. The Puma comparison got me thinking of going that route instead, as an alternative to the Mesa sound. Of course I'm a bit distracted by the Black Jag now, mainly because of the "Rock" tone feature. I need to remind myself that the quest is about a micro, but a 6.5 lb 1-space is pretty close to micro. Fortunately, the price tag is slowing my roll. I'm not sure the added bells and whistles are worth the extra $1,000 IMHO.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by monsterthompson

That is what I thought you might say. I had been thinking of going the Markbass route but read about the issues this cab would reveal with those heads. The Puma comparison got me thinking of going that route instead, as an alternative to the Mesa sound. Of course I'm a bit distracted by the Black Jag now, mainly because of the "Rock" tone feature. I need to remind myself that the quest is about a micro, but a 6.5 lb 1-space is pretty close to micro. Fortunately, the price tag is slowing my roll. I'm not sure the added bells and whistles are worth the extra $1,000 IMHO.

Regarding the Markbass, IMO I believe what Burningskies was hearing with his LMII was a relatively low powered head, running at 300 watts at 8ohms (again, the 300 M6 watts is like 800 Markbass or GK or whatever watts for some reason... freak of nature, that one!), pushing a bit of bottom at high volumes, and running into the power amp limiting. Again, IMO it has little to do with the 'mythic clarity above all other cabs' that is sometimes stated. My LMII sounds AMAZING with my Thunderchild running at 4ohms.

I wouldn't suggest any micro of that power rating to optimally power a 15/6, much less two of them.

A Markbass S1200 or LM800 (NOT the tube model... strange voicing in that one) would be a good option for you also IMO.

[wcriley]

Originally Posted by KJung

PS I would think that when the GK MBFusion800 is released, that would be an amazing match-up with a 15/6, and would IMO give those who like the M6/M9 tone a reasonable option with a micro amp that can pump at 8ohms and provide that 'big down low and aggressive top end' of those particular Mesa amps.

No experience with the Mesa, but if the G-K MB Fusion800 has the EQ voiced like my 1001RB II, it pairs very well with a fEARful cab. The Low Mid (centered around 200, I believe) works well for adding an upper bass/low mid hump. The High Mid (centered around 1K) will remove the "gank" if you want.

I just wish G-K amps could do more than just cut at 500-600. I'd like the ability to add some "burb" in that are when I want it.

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by KJung

Regarding the Markbass, IMO I believe what Burningskies was hearing with his LMII was a relatively low powered head, running at 300 watts at 8ohms (again, the 300 M6 watts is like 800 Markbass or GK or whatever watts for some reason... freak of nature, that one!), pushing a bit of bottom at high volumes, and running into the power amp limiting. Again, IMO it has little to do with the 'mythic clarity above all other cabs' that is sometimes stated. My LMII sounds AMAZING with my Thunderchild running at 4ohms.

I wouldn't suggest any micro of that power rating to optimally power a 15/6, much less two of them.

A Markbass S1200 or LM800 (NOT the tube model... strange voicing in that one) would be a good option for you also IMO.

2 fEARfuls for a full 4ohm load with little to no extra bass boost, Mids close to noon, no filters, etc. Master usually right about noon for the loudest stuff. The low end limiting definitely was clearly audible as was distortion in the mids.

For that amp, its probably close to at full capacity with the Master's throw at noon, but it didn't hit max all that gracefully, and while my Berg HT115/Schroeder 1212 cabs didn't express that distortion in the mids with a similar (tweaked for the speakers) tone and volume, it was pretty plain to me on the fEARfuls.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by monsterthompson

That is what I thought you might say. I had been thinking of going the Markbass route but read about the issues this cab would reveal with those heads. The Puma comparison got me thinking of going that route instead, as an alternative to the Mesa sound. Of course I'm a bit distracted by the Black Jag now, mainly because of the "Rock" tone feature. I need to remind myself that the quest is about a micro, but a 6.5 lb 1-space is pretty close to micro. Fortunately, the price tag is slowing my roll. I'm not sure the added bells and whistles are worth the extra $1,000 IMHO.

Not sure why that head is SO expensive. Yes, the cost is brutal. There are SO many great 'tube emulation/distortion' pedals out there, that you should be able to get to where you want to go with a relatively neutral, powerful Micro and a VT pedal or something.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by BurningSkies

2 fEARfuls for a full 4ohm load with little to no extra bass boost, Mids close to noon, no filters, etc. Master usually right about noon for the loudest stuff. The low end limiting definitely was clearly audible as was distortion in the mids.

For that amp, its probably close to at full capacity with the Master's throw at noon, but it didn't hit max all that gracefully, and while my Berg HT115/Schroeder 1212 cabs didn't express that distortion in the mids with a similar (tweaked for the speakers) tone and volume, it was pretty plain to me on the fEARfuls.

+1 in that 250 watts each into those cabs would not be a pleasant thing at even moderate volumes. The master volume taper on the LMII pretty much maxes out shortly after noon with the input gain set optimally. Not surprising that you hit the limiter.

And yes, the Berg and Schroeder you had were much more efficient in the mid-midrange (the 'Scrho more tha the Berg, of course), resulting in you not having to turn that head up as much to reach volume, and also not stressing the head as much given the impedance curve of the fEARful which results in more power being used down low.

Definitely not a good match-up, even though both pieces of gear are great in their own way.

+1 that hitting the limiting of the LMII will result in all sorts of moderately nasty stuff, regardless of cab voicing. If you don't hit the limiter (which I rarely do given my relatively high efficiency 4ohm, relatively large cabs) it is a magnificent sounding head to me.

[monsterthompson]

man, that GK MBFusion800 has much going on with lights and push-button knobs. i'd almost pay the premium of the Puma to have fewer knobs.

any thoughts on a Walkabout with a 15/6? seems a bit low in the watts department, but it is a respected head otherwise. i ran a google search for "fearful walkabout bass" and got nothing useful in my top results (TB threads did pop up). the Mesa shop is just down the road, so i could pop by for a try.

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by monsterthompson

man, that GK MBFusion800 has much going on with lights and push-button knobs. i'd almost pay the premium of the Puma to have fewer knobs.

To each their own, but personally I love what GK did with their lights and push-button knobs. They really add a lot of functionality, IMHO.