New Eminence Legends

[TallPaul]

I just blew out a pair of 15" Jensen Mods in my Big Bertha cabinet. I replaced them with a couple Eminence Legend CB158s. The speakers sound fantastic when I'm playing on my own, but when playing with the band I have a harder time getting the high end to punch through like the Jensens did. I'd really like to avoid changing out the speakers again since it was a pain in the a--. I've been adjusting the attenuator in back to get more out of the tweeter and that seems to do the trick. My question is: can it harm the tweeter to routinely send more signal through it? Or should I just cave and swap out the speakers? Any suggestions on how I might adjust the EQ (or a different speaker to use) would also be welcome. thanks!

[will33]

Legends are on the warmer side, compared to the Jensens, with much more power handling in the low end. If you have eq around the 1500-3khz octave, boosting that will catch the topend of the woofer and get some definition without overworking the tweeter too much.

The tweeter shouldn't have a problem running full on unless you use a good dose of overdrive / distortion or just play crazy loud. The L-pads are attenuators, turning it up doesn't send the tweet more power per se, just cuts the power it sees not as much.

It sounds to me like the bandwidth you want more of is right in the sweet spot of a lot of 6 & 8 inch mid cones.

[TallPaul]

Thanks! I'm obviously reluctant to go back to the Jensens since I need something that can handle a little more power. I don't run any distortion and I find I don't need to turn up the tweeter a whole lot in order to get the high end I need. I guess it just puzzles me why I can't get the tone to stay as full when I play at a higher volume.

[Downunderwonder]

Turn down 5k, 10k on the amp to avoid frying the attenuator for the tweeter. Those legends are a real deal if you have only to fill a bar with your rig.

[lelandcrooks]

Originally Posted by Downunderwonder

Turn down 5k, 10k on the amp to avoid frying the attenuator for the tweeter. Those legends are a real deal if you have only to fill a bar with your rig.

+1
Always better to turn down what's burying what you want than turning up what you do want.

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by lelandcrooks

+1
Always better to turn down what's burying what you want than turning up what you do want.

That's quite correct so in order to get his tone goals the OP should concentrate on turning down the frequencies that the Eminence is dominating its upper mid response with, like using a parametric EQ at circa 100Hz-200Hz and cutting by about -3dB and trying to loose the low mid bass boom to let the upper mid cut through.

[AstroSonic]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

That's quite correct so in order to get his tone goals the OP should concentrate on turning down the frequencies that the Eminence is dominating its upper mid response with, like using a parametric EQ at circa 100Hz-200Hz and cutting by about -3dB and trying to loose the low mid bass boom to let the upper mid cut through.

Since the OP is trying to compensate for the lower output of the Legends in the 2kHz+ range (relative to the Jensen Mods) a cut in the frequencies below about 2kHz will bring up the higher frequencies. However, it's much easier to just dial up the tweeter, if that mets his needs. As was said earlier, turning up the tweeter does not boost power in the HF from the amp. Tweeters generally have a several db advantage in sensitivity over the bass drivers, so a boost in HF level is possible with no additional power required from the amp. The optimum sound might result from a little tweeter boost (via the L-pad) and a little cut below 1-2kHz using preamp (or pedal) eq as described above.

[TallPaul]

Thanks everyone! With the Jensens I always had the low frequencies maxed and the highs dialed back. I'm thinking that now I need to reverse my approach. Would it be worth it to examine something like the Celestion BN15 300S (up to 4000khz)? I'm inclined to think the simplest solution is just boosting the highs and dialing up the tweeter a little bit.

[TallPaul]

It might be worth mentioning that I plan on using the cabinet for both bass guitar and (eventually) upright slap bass.