Low B - How to get it sound well

[Downunderwonder]

Originally Posted by zrxsteve

xmax
excursion
second harmonic
fundamental
sealed cabinet/non-sealed cabinet...what's the difference?

Thanks loads! xD

xmax is how far the come travels before the coils start to go beyond the magnet. At that point the speaker becomes much less efficient at getting any louder from additional power being applied.

Excursion is cone travel.

2nd harmonic is the tone of the string vibrating with a wavelength of half of the string, ie a zero movement node in the middle of the vibrating length.

fundamental is the tone of the whole string vibrating with maximum movement in the middle.

sealed vs unsealed is a whole book worth. Cooks version: Sealed cabs control the excursion at low frequencies since the internal air progressively works agianst the cones going any further as the cab pressurises and depressurises. This comes at a cost of efficiency vs the unsealed which uses the back wave to reinforce the front wave via the ports. Howver there is significant risk of user error in giving too much power at frequency below the tuning frequency where excursion rises rapidly as the cab doesn't pressurise enough.

[Steveman]

Here's my 2 cents

- When using the Low-B, make sure your right hand is more towards the bridge: the closer to the bridge, the more clear and defined the sound will be.

- I prefer a tapered-B string over a regular string, to me it made all the difference in the world. I use Fodera nickel strings witha .130 gauge B-string (I feel the bigger the gauge, the better, the .125 was good but not as good)

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by zrxsteve

Also some mentioned words which are new to me...what do these mean in the context of bass guitars & amps:
xmax
excursion
second harmonic
fundamental
sealed cabinet/non-sealed cabinet...what's the difference?

My, so many terms to define for you; so many questions to answer all at once!

Since you're so very new here - less than a week now - may I ask, have you checked out the Amps FAQ, stickied at the top of the "Amps" forum? Did you not find any useful information there? Done even a quick search on any of the terms listed above?

It's not that no one will answer your questions (many will), nor that your questions are unwelcome per se. It's just that those of us who've been TalkBass members for a few years now tend to see these same basic questions being asked - over & over & over again, by a non-stop procession of noobs - such that some of us can find it quite wearying.

It's so refreshing when, every once in awhile, one comes along who demonstrates the initiative to find at least some of the answers for himself - instead of simply asking to be spoon-fed. Can you appreciate that?

It's late. I'm tired, and long overdue for bed. Someone's going to come along shortly to accuse me of being cranky, hostile & mean to noobs - which is honestly not my intent at all. But I won't be able to convince him otherwise, no matter how hard I try.

OK, I've made my point. Dig in. There's a wealth of great information to be found here, just for the taking - if you'll only put in a little time & effort to go get it.

Over and out...

MM

[Downunderwonder]

Late much.

[zrxsteve]

@Downunderwonder
Thank you for your reply!

@MysticMichael
Yes I'm one who always searches before asking questions, but I did not find all the terms, or understand all of them, so I decided to ask. You could have ignored the thread, very easy to do, do not click on it.
Also be careful from calling people who don't know technical terms "noobs"... it's quite stupid to do so since there are so many people who can play incredibly but have no idea how their equipment works internally.

[boamedt]

I had the same problem. I tried many different cabs and heads. I finally figured out that "they" don't make cabs that handle the low B very well...it took a lot research but I came to the conclusion that watts don't equal volume, they equal clarity....so I found the most powerful head I could find at the time that I could afford, a carvin bx1500 throwing out 700 watts at 8 ohms...I was ecstatic until I found they don't really make cabs that handle that much.( I don't like the sound of a 6x10 or 8x10) so I researched more and more. I found that no one makes one so I will have to build one myself. I found all kinds of cabs to build, fearfuls hadn't been completed yet, greenboy was still designing them( I would love to try one now their done). So I found bill fitzmaurice. I looked over all his cabs u can make at home.( a very appealing concept to me) and I got the plans to the omni 15. I built it, it took three days. It was my first real wood project of significance. I loaded it with a 15 and 8 " horn loaded drivers, plugged in and never heard a b sound so nice