How loud should the mid and tweeter be on a accugroove and epifani?

bkchang79 · #1 10-18-2011, 11:06 PM

For some reason I can barely hear my Accugroove Tri 110 tweeters and mid speaker. I know they work because I disconnected the 10 inch and listened. I had to crank my pre amp all the way to hear minimal amount of sound from those speakers. I also tried to increase and decrease the gains from the cabinet as well and could not hear a difference in sound levels. My epifani T212 does the same thing, the compression horn is barely audible and increasing the gains from the cab doesn't do much. Is there a problem with my cabs or that's the nature of these cabs?

Jim Carr · #2 10-19-2011, 10:21 AM

I don't know the answer, but I have questions, if that helps.

What signal are you sending, i.e., are you EQing, playing lows, using a passive bass, slapping, finger-style, etc.? What pre-amp is it, and have you switched to a different one to eliminate the pre as a factor?

bkchang79 · #3 10-19-2011, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Carr

I don't know the answer, but I have questions, if that helps.

What signal are you sending, i.e., are you EQing, playing lows, using a passive bass, slapping, finger-style, etc.? What pre-amp is it, and have you switched to a different one to eliminate the pre as a factor?

I recently started practicing and just noticed that my speakers are doing this, I play all styles. I have 3 active and 1 passive bass. I haven't played my passive bass in awhile, I'll try that one out.

The pre-amp that I'm using is a Aguilar db659 using a stewart world 2.1 amp with no effects or additional EQ. I'm usually bridging the amp and using one cab at a time. I've never changed my tubes on my Aguilar which might be my next step, but it doesn't make sense that I can't control the gains for the tweeters and mid on the cabinets control panel.

KJung · #4 10-19-2011, 11:58 AM

Since it is happening on two different cabs, my guess is you just don't have much 'information' getting to that part of the cab.

The Epi tweeter is crossed over very high, and at that time, I'm pretty sure Nick was using a simple low pass filter up there. So, the driver is working full range, and only very high treble would be coming out of the tweeter... probably above 4K. If you don't have a relatively full range bass and relatively new roundwounds, you probably would never put anything into the rig up at that level.

With that particular Accugroove, that is also quite mid oriented in the driver, kind of the same thing... my guess is the little mid driver in there is crossed over quite high (maybe 2K or higher), and the tweeter VERY high.... 5K?... just kind of guessing). However, again, unless you are playing as ash/maple 70's J with roundwounds or whatever, there isn't a tone of information getting into the system that would be amplified by that part of the system.

The way to kind of hear what is going on is to unplug your bass from your preamp/power amp, crank up the mids and treble control and master, and then put your ear close to each driver. You will kind of hear the range of freqs that each driver is reproducing. It is also a nice way to test the attenuators on the cabs.

will33 · #5 10-19-2011, 12:24 PM

It is odd it's happening in 2 cabs but for experimentations sake, grab the bass with the freshest strings and dial in a healthy amount of uppermids and treble on your eq. Should be a pretty noticable difference in attenuators full on and turned down with that type of eq setting.

bkchang79 · #6 10-19-2011, 02:30 PM

I'll try that out, my strings are pretty old. It's just strange that a manufacture would put extra speakers that put out very minimal amount of sound

KJung · #7 10-19-2011, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkchang79

I'll try that out, my strings are pretty old. It's just strange that a manufacture would put extra speakers that put out very minimal amount of sound

You statement is not correct. A good tweeter or mid driver puts out a LOT of 'sound' (i.e., volume), but over a very limited, high frequency range.

If you are using, for example, a P Bass with old strings, you are correct, you will hear virtually nothing from a tweeter, and not that much from a mid driver (especially the small, relatively high crossed over mid driver in that particular Accugroove cab). That is why there are still one way cabs being sold, since that configuration of that type of instrument has a limited top end that pretty much ends before the particular mid driver you have, or virtually any tweeter, starts to produce 'sound'.

If you have brand new stainless steel roundwounds on a J Bass, the tweeter and/or mid driver will have a huge impact.

It's a case of the right tool for the right job.