The Highly Coveted Acoustic Folded Horn Stack Is Available

[Gibenbackerbass]

Anyone try out this beast yet?

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend....ack?sku=484906

[hdracer]

Is that the right link?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Gibenbackerbass

Anyone try out this beast yet?

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend....ack?sku=484906

That's not a folded horn, nor would I call it a beast.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

A TalkBass friend with a better ear than mine has played through one and said that its output is mainly "fake" bass i.e. lots in the 80 Hz region but not much below.

[Bassamatic]

This is just styled to look like the old folded horn cab. In those cabs, the speaker faced backwards, BTW, into the horn. However, due to the size of this cab and that it has a single 10", it could have some good sound.

[grifff]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

That's not a folded horn, nor would I call it a beast.

+1

[MEKer]

OP---what made you think it was a folded horn? It's not, as Bill quickly pointed out.

BTW, Bill F---I have read a few times that folded horns have long been considered obsolete and inefficient. Why exactly is that?

I VERY fondly remember my pair of large GK folded horn cabs (each driven by a Crown 500w amp) in the late 70's and they WERE beasts. Man, I wish I still had them although they might break my back now.

[Jaco who?]

The big enormous smiley suggests humor.

[Mr. Foxen]

Originally Posted by MEKer

OP---what made you think it was a folded horn? It's not, as Bill quickly pointed out.

BTW, Bill F---I have read a few times that folded horns have long been considered obsolete and inefficient. Why exactly is that?

I VERY fondly remember my pair of large GK folded horn cabs (each driven by a Crown 500w amp) in the late 70's and they WERE beasts. Man, I wish I still had them although they might break my back now.

Bill sells plans for folded horns, and they are madly efficient, just not above 150hz or so, so they are pretty bad for playing bass through. More for PA applications.

[Munjibunga]

I like the way the picture makes it look as big as an 810. The thing's about a foot wide and two feet high.

[seamonkey]

Dime store amp.

I wouldn't mind seeing some new folded horn subwoofers made but MDF will never be light.
Still need a decent top for mids.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by MEKer

BTW, Bill F---I have read a few times that folded horns have long been considered obsolete and inefficient.
.

You're reading the wrong sources.

they are madly efficient, just not above 150hz or so, so they are pretty bad for playing bass through. More for PA applications.

Both the DR250 and DR280 run lower than the average commercial bass cabs, and they're tops, not subs.

[SurferJoe46]

I played that one at GC with my SR500 - and although it was OK - just barely OK - it was what it is - a mini of sorts and I don't really like mini-anything. I don't think it's the flea-weight Wattage - just a single 10 in a 2.125' tall cab that makes it hurt for the Lows, as it can really pin your ears in the Highs - but it ain't thump-y enough or me.

I'd call it a mid/tweeter-in-a-taller-than-normal-box if I was pressed to quantify it.

My opinion, of course - but I'm the guy who added a .1uF cap over the OE cap on my S/P too. I LIKE DEEP.

.

[rbonner]

There should be a special section under TB/amps for reviewing garbage.

BOB

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by rbonner

There should be a special section under TB/amps for reviewing garbage.

BOB

I call that a cheap shot. The unit is what it is, and it will appeal to bedroom and cellar players, and might even find it's way into a small, very small gig.

But to paint with that big brush is unfair and not called for.

It's small and not very low-down, but it is an entry level unit that has some merit, even if it's not a refrigerator or $20K tied up in things that aren't necessary for two guys in their garage on a Sunday morning - when they SHOULD be in church.

[Bassmec]

These old Jaco Pastorious 408's were the best cab they made, the old 301 Cab/vega 18's where ok but they never had the real low end or thud of the quasi Isobaric 4 X 15 design:

My hybrid active rig is a Mesa Studio pre into Jbl 260 dsc into carver
PM600 power amp for the JBL 2380/2445 horns (in at 1.2 Khz)
and then a Carlesbro Pro 3000H split 1 channel to the 4 ohm 2X12 (JBL 2206 drivers) and then channel 2 a full 1500 watts RMS into the 2 ohm 408 cab crossed in at 23Hz and out at 125hz.
Now thats a real Acoustic 408 beast Rig! albeit with a bit of driver help now from 4 Jbl 2226 drivers.
Don't ask how much it weighs, you can easily hear just how heavy it is.

[hdracer]

Oh come on, I was only 3 sips into my morning coffee. My sense of humor doesn't kick in on Saturday mornings until after at least my second cup.

[vinxbass]

It's mid afternoon and my sense of humor hasn't even kicked in yet.

[craig.p]

> I have read a few times that folded horns have long been considered
> obsolete and inefficient

They're obsolete only on jobs where your bass is running through the mains. In situations like that, a FH on stage is actually counterproductive and asking for trouble. On mid-sized jobs where your bass is NOT running through the mains but the room is still large enough to accommodate (or justify) a FH's throw, there's nothing sweeter because you don't have to hammer the stage with volume to reach the back of the room with clarity and definition.

As for efficiency, there are two parts to this. The first part is cab efficiency. I know of no other cab architecture with a higher efficiency, everything else being equal. Bill F will correct me if I'm wrong there. The second part is what I'll call "implementation efficiency" which I'll define as the amount of equipment needed per hundred paying customers: there's less haul-in required with FH cabs than with non-FH cabs. Haul-in concerns show up on the mid-sized jobs where you don't run through the mains; the smaller jobs don't require FH-class reach and the larger jobs require (or rather demand) minimal if any, because the mains are doing the work for you.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by craig.p

> I have read a few times that folded horns have long been considered
> obsolete and inefficient

They're obsolete only on jobs where your bass is running through the mains.

What's obsolete are folded horns of the Acoustic 360/Ampeg V4B mold. They're obsolete because they were huge, they were huge because they used eighteens or dual fifteens, they used those drivers because the driver technology of the 1960s-1970s made it a necessity. And they're obsolete because they had poor response into the mids, the result of their folding geometry.

Modern midbass folded horns are half the size of those old behemoths, because modern driver technology allows them to use single tens or twelves, and with the right geometry they have no problems in the mids. But no manufacturer makes modern configuration folded horns for bass, because the labor cost to build them is at least four times that of simple boxes. Even though a 1x10 folded horn can outperform a traditional 4x10 of the same size it's still cheaper for a manufacturer to build the 4x10.