A nEarful experience

[kesslari]

So - one more note the whole nEarful/fEarful thing.

I did a festival gig tonight - we opened for the Ohio Players (which was pretty darn cool). We played well and grooved hard.
As I'm tearing down my rig, a middle-aged African-American man comes on stage and says "where's that bass player?"
(I was wearing a top hat on stage, and had taken it off, so I was not "in persona").
I say that would be me, and he says, with a nice bit of excitement "I run sound for the Ohio players. Man, you were really cutting through out there - you sounded GREAT!" (He also said some nice things about my playing, which was gratifying )

What he didn't say was "that's not a real fEarful".

Greenboy - great design. Even an execution that's "mostly but not 100% accurate" still sounds good enough to get that kind of comment.

[OzzyGreg]

.
Good stuff man!!

[guy n. cognito]

I've gotten a number of positive comments on my LDS 15/6 as well. Waiting to see what can o worms may be opened on this thread tomorrow......

[rpsands]

imho, if you own a nEarful you owe it to yourself to spend 50 bucks and buy a CBG crossover from Leland. It's significantly better.

[lomo]

Originally Posted by rpsands

imho, if you own a nEarful you owe it to yourself to spend 50 bucks and buy a CBG crossover from Leland. It's significantly better.

Although your post may be well-intended, I think you missed the point of this thread......completely

And to the OP-it doesn't surprise me at all. My experience with nEarfuls (LDS and Audiokinesis) has been nothing but aces all the way.

[Ukiah Bass]

See,even professional sound men don't always know what they're talking about. Obviously they should read more TalkBass!

[kesslari]

So yesterday I listened to a recording of the show - we stuck a Zoom H2 back by the soundboard.
There isn't much audience conversation on it, but there is some.
As we get to the "rhythm section time to shine" moment (the drummer and I trading 2 bar phrases) I hear a voice say strongly "that bass sounds BADASS".
Ibanez ATK through a Genz Benz Streamliner 900 and LDS nEarful, baby.

[mntngrown]

Great to hear! Was this outdoors with no PA or what?

[rpsands]

Originally Posted by lomo

Although your post may be well-intended, I think you missed the point of this thread......completely

And to the OP-it doesn't surprise me at all. My experience with nEarfuls (LDS and Audiokinesis) has been nothing but aces all the way.

I got the point, I just think you owe it to yourself to get my point--the CBG crossover is clearly better and costs very little more in the grand scheme of things.

What I don't get is why so many guys have embraced so many aspects of the fEarful design but then won't even give the real deal a chance Just poke little jabs at it and everyone who has.

I've owned both a fEarful and a nEarful and I can tell you the difference is audible.

[bassfreakah]

but really if you would have had an svt head and 810 cab with a p-bass no one would have had to say anything because you would have been the ****....

[SactoBass]

Nice post kesslari.

I too am the very happy owner of nEarfuls. I have a pair of LDS 15/6's (the tall versions) with Ralf's crossover at 800hz, and when I play my US Ampeg SVT-VR through this stack, the sound makes me drool all over the place (which causes drool management issues when on stage). I will never go back to using mass produced cabs again. I know better. And yeah, I know the saying.....no pic, no rig. So here's a pic:

[DONZI97]

Although I have had a fearful 15/6 for a year, I finally hooked with some guys around me that were motivated to play gigs.....first paying bar gig was last Saturday, I had 3 people compliment my bass tone and inquired about my setup.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by rpsands

I got the point, I just think you owe it to yourself to get my point--the CBG crossover is clearly better and costs very little more in the grand scheme of things.

What I don't get is why so many guys have embraced so many aspects of the fEarful design but then won't even give the real deal a chance Just poke little jabs at it and everyone who has.

I've owned both a fEarful and a nEarful and I can tell you the difference is audible.

When one owns a cabinet that fulfills every need they have, why spend more money and time on something else, simply because it might be mariginally better?

I've played through both my LDS 15/6 and a locally-owned fEarful. IMHO, the difference is not audible.

[thudfromafar]

I usually get comments on my "nEarful" cab. Then again, I also usually got compliments on my old avatar cabs.
Except I never got people complaining that they couldn't hear me with the nEarful. I often got asked to turn up with the avatars.

[Joe Smithberger]

Has anyone tried an upgraded crossover in the TB153?

[kesslari]

Originally Posted by rpsands

What I don't get is why so many guys have embraced so many aspects of the fEarful design but then won't even give the real deal a chance Just poke little jabs at it and everyone who has.

Guy N. Cognito hit it - I don't feel the need to experiment with crossovers to see if it sounds better. I'm not GASing for something different here.

And the little jabs are not directed at the fEarful, or at the people who have and enjoy them - but at the many people who say <scottish accent> "if it's not exactly fEarful, it's crrraap!"</accent>

As though it's a given that, even with my shoddy woodworking skills and and limited soldering abilities,if I built something based on the fEarful plans, it would unquestionably be better than what I've gotten from LDS.

Sorry, I'm not buying that.
The differences between my cab and a "to spec" fEarful is the crossover. The internal volume might be a little different - I don't think so, and I don't think it would be any "more" different than it would if I had put it together myself.
If someone handed me a GB crossover and offered to install it, I'd take them up on it, but I'm not up for spending another $100+ to see if it would make a extremely great sounding cabinet sound better.

My ears tell me I've reached "happy with my sound".
And compliments like I got this weekend, from a guy who mixes sound for some seriously big time funk artists, tells me that I'm not completely delusional about it.

[kesslari]

Oh, and Mtngrown - there was PA support.
So it wasn't ALL the cab.
But the enthusiasm that the Ohio Player's sound guy had made it clear that there was something special in the tone. And I'd put that onto my wonderful Zon (which does indeed sound special) but at the moment on tape when he made the "badass" comment, it was a stock ATK.

[Foz]

You can buy a GB designed xover ready to install for a lot less than $100 - or you can buy the parts and make it yourself in about 30 minutes for about $35

greenboy fEARful Designs, fEARful Crossovers | Speaker Hardware

BTW what are the component values in the crossover you have installed?

[BurningSkies]

Originally Posted by kesslari

So - one more note the whole nEarful/fEarful thing.

I did a festival gig tonight - we opened for the Ohio Players (which was pretty darn cool). We played well and grooved hard.
As I'm tearing down my rig, a middle-aged African-American man comes on stage and says "where's that bass player?"
(I was wearing a top hat on stage, and had taken it off, so I was not "in persona").
I say that would be me, and he says, with a nice bit of excitement "I run sound for the Ohio players. Man, you were really cutting through out there - you sounded GREAT!" (He also said some nice things about my playing, which was gratifying )

What he didn't say was "that's not a real fEarful".

Greenboy - great design. Even an execution that's "mostly but not 100% accurate" still sounds good enough to get that kind of comment.

I'm glad you like your cab.

[kesslari]

Originally Posted by Foz

You can buy a GB designed xover ready to install for a lot less than $100 - or you can buy the parts and make it yourself in about 30 minutes for about $35

greenboy fEARful Designs, fEARful Crossovers | Speaker Hardware

BTW what are the component values in the crossover you have installed?

See my comment about soldering skills.
Assembled it comes out at about $105 (I have a 15/6/1).
And again, my cab sounds great. If I was disappointed with the sound, I'd be motivated to try it.