Should I line this cab

[Hopkins]

I have a Hartke Transporter 210 that I keep in my practice space. It sounds very brittle on the top end and I find that I have to roll the treble way down to get a decent sound out of it

I pulled a driver out of it and noticed there is no sound deadening material in the cab. So If I lined the cab would it help, and if so how should I go about doing it?

Its this cab here
http://www.samsontech.com/products/p....cfm?prodID=42

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by Hopkins

I have a Hartke Transporter 210 that I keep in my practice space. It sounds very brittle on the top end and I find that I have to roll the treble way down to get a decent sound out of it

I pulled a driver out of it and noticed there is no sound deadening material in the cab. So If I lined the cab would it help, and if so how should I go about doing it?

Its this cab here
http://www.samsontech.com/products/p....cfm?prodID=42

Its probably not meant to have material inside it, but stuff some t-shirts in there and see what happens.

[billfitzmaurice]

Do a search, the subject of damping comes up regularly. There will be improvement to the mids, and boom will be tamed, but as for the high end if the brittleness comes from a tweeter damping won't affect that.

Its probably not meant to have material inside it, but stuff some t-shirts in there and see what happens.

[hdracer]

According to the the "Pro's" around here that know a LOT more about these things than I ever will, All cabs need to be insulated. I took Bill Fitzmaurice advice and used Wal-Mart 1 1/2" mattress liner to line my Orange OBC 115 that had no lining at all in it. It made a LOT of difference. Do a search, there are a lot of threads about how to do it.

Bill beat me to it.

[MuzikMan]

Your cab will benefit from adding some material that will redirect and/or absorb some of the midrange reflections. Since it is a sealed cab you can stuff it with pillow stuffing or line it with the mattress topper stuff they sell at places like Walmart. If it was a ported cab then pillow stuffing would not be recommended because some of it would blow out of the port.

[greenboy]

http://greenboy.us/fEARful/variousit...#DampingPorted

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

Your cab will benefit from adding some material that will redirect and/or absorb some of the midrange reflections. Since it is a sealed cab you can stuff it with pillow stuffing or line it with the mattress topper stuff they sell at places like Walmart. If it was a ported cab then pillow stuffing would not be recommended because some of it would blow out of the port.

Wouldnt it be cool though, it would look like a chicken has exploded in your cab...

[craig.p]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Its probably not meant to have material inside it, but stuff some t-shirts in there and see what happens.

I knew that'd fire Bill up, LOL.

[zaubertuba]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Wouldnt it be cool though, it would look like a chicken has exploded in your cab...

We pressed my Keyboardist's lil' Yamaha powered monitor into double-duty amping my bass one rehearsal...

...my low B's and C's had all manner of black fuzzy damping material wafting out of the port by mid-rehearsal.

So, to get this post remotely on-topic...make sure you pick a filler that has some cohesiveness to it.

[bassplayerbob]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Wouldnt it be cool though, it would look like a chicken has exploded in your cab...

Almost spit my coffee out on that one!!!! What a visual!

[Matt Lake]

I usually find it makes the sound smoother and softer, maybe even a little more bass-y.
I've added padding inside several cabinets that didn't come with padding and have allways liked it better with padding.
Not scientific at all, more like hillbilly engineering. Try it. It won't hurt a thing. You can allways take it back out if you don't like it.

[lbwdog]

Originally Posted by craig.p

I knew that'd fire Bill up, LOL.

Me too LOL!!

One of these days we''l find Bill hanging from the ceiling with a farewell note pinned to his shirt!
"Just can't take it anymore"





(is that too morbid?)

[greenboy]

When the coal gets poured on is when it becomes especially obvious that cabs need damping. At lower input levels it's a little more subtle but I can usually hear it. I haven't seen a cab yet that didn't benefit from proper damping. But it's also possible to overdo it, and some of the materials people use are pretty crappy too.

I bought some used PA cabs that sounded great at the levels I got to audition them at, but when I cranked them at the rehearsal place to really check them out they stunk on ice. Turns out they were lined with cheap foam carpet pad. I replaced it with higher density poly batting and they really sounded incredible. Focus was better, things didn't sound stressed...

[Hopkins]

Thanks for the replies, I'm gonna give it a try. Its a sealed cab with no tweeter, I am guessing that the aluminum cone drivers are the reason for the brightness.

As for doing this, would egg crate foam work, and how much of the cab should be lined, like the front where the speaker openings are?

[MuzikMan]

If you mean egg crate foam mattress topper then yes, that will work just fine. If you mean egg cartons then no, they will be nearly useless.

If you line the cab then attach the material to all of the walls EXCEPT the baffle board (where the speaker holes are). As I said earlier, a much simpler solution for a sealed cab would be to stuff if with pillow stuffing.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

As I said earlier, a much simpler solution for a sealed cab would be to stuff if with pillow stuffing.

Stuffing is sometimes used in sealed alignments, specifically when the box is too small and as a result Q is too high. But willy-nilly stuffing a sealed cab just because it's a sealed cab is just as bad an idea as not damping it at all. If you know what you're doing stuff it, if you don't, line it.

[MuzikMan]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Stuffing is sometimes used in sealed alignments, specifically when the box is too small and as a result Q is too high. But willy-nilly stuffing a sealed cab just because it's a sealed cab is just as bad an idea as not damping it at all. If you know what you're doing stuff it, if you don't, line it.

Wouldn't it be good enough to stuff and listen, making adjustments until desired results are achieved? It doesn't seem like rocket science to me. It should be obvious that too little would be ineffective and too much would hinder the performance of the drivers. Is there more to it then that?

[Bassdirty]

Originally Posted by Hopkins

I am guessing that the aluminum cone drivers are the reason for the brightness.

that was my guess too...

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by MuzikMan

Wouldn't it be good enough to stuff and listen, making adjustments until desired results are achieved? It doesn't seem like rocket science to me. It should be obvious that too little would be ineffective and too much would hinder the performance of the drivers. Is there more to it then that?

If you've got plenty of time on your hands by all means go for it. But if the cab has an acceptable Q, in the .6 to .9 range, there's little to nothing to be gained by stuffing versus lining. I wouldn't fool with stuffing unless I modeled or measured the cab to find the Q value.

I am guessing that the aluminum cone drivers are the reason for the brightness.

The cone material has little, if anything, to do with tone.

[MuzikMan]

Thanks Bill, that is some good information.