Singing the praises of my modified Avatar SB112 with midrange driver

daveman50 · #1 10-21-2012, 08:47 PM

I posted about this recently - yanking the tweeter from an older Avatar 1x12 cabinet with a Delta 12LF driver, and installing an Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" sealed back midrange speaker and an Eminence PXB:1K6 high pass board.
Need help wiring replacement high-pass filter for Avatar cabinet mod
This is an idea that's been kicking around TB for years. It was an easy mod (once I got good advice here on wiring up the board).

I've been gigging and rehearsing with this baby, and it's a champ. My amplifiers' tone controls work in a way that's new to me - real tone-shaping in the upper midrange. It's very flexible in bringing out good tones with different basses. (It does what I always expected a tweeter to do but they never did.) It weighs 50 lbs. I am just digging the tone options. If you can find one of these older (non-neo) Avatar cabs for a good price, go for it and do the mod.

two fingers · #2 10-21-2012, 10:38 PM

Nice! I have one of those babies I rarely use for the very reasons you mentioned pre mod. Thanks for the info. When I get time (who knows when that will be) I'll have to give that a try.

shoot-r · #3 10-22-2012, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveman50

I posted about this recently - yanking the tweeter from an older Avatar 1x12 cabinet with a Delta 12LF driver, and installing an Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" sealed back midrange speaker and an Eminence PXB:1K6 high pass board.
Need help wiring replacement high-pass filter for Avatar cabinet mod
This is an idea that's been kicking around TB for years. It was an easy mod (once I got good advice here on wiring up the board).

I've been gigging and rehearsing with this baby, and it's a champ. My amplifiers' tone controls work in a way that's new to me - real tone-shaping in the upper midrange. It's very flexible in bringing out good tones with different basses. (It does what I always expected a tweeter to do but they never did.) It weighs 50 lbs. I am just digging the tone options. If you can find one of these older (non-neo) Avatar cabs for a good price, go for it and do the mod.

Oh Dave of Avatar, This is a GREAT idea for those of us that don't want to transport a TB153!!!

Maybe offer this mod as a option to the standard Foster horn.

I'd like to try this mod with one of my Avatar Neo 210 cabinets just to see what it might do...

Gradyoactive · #4 02-09-2013, 08:26 PM

How many ohms is your SB112?

I have a 4 ohm Delta cab that I want to try this mod on. The Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" has a 8 ohm impedance. What would the resulting impedance of the modified cab be? My amp head can handle down to 2 ohms, but I want to add another identical SB112 cab that I also want to mod. Are the two speakers connected in series or parallel?

Blues Bass 2 · #5 02-10-2013, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradyoactive

How many ohms is your SB112?

I have a 4 ohm Delta cab that I want to try this mod on. The Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" has a 8 ohm impedance. What would the resulting impedance of the modified cab be? My amp head can handle down to 2 ohms, but I want to add another identical SB112 cab that I also want to mod. Are the two speakers connected in series or parallel?

You can add the same high pass filter the OP used .
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=290-600

Your impedance will stay close enough to the same . A two-way crossover would be a different story but with the high pass it will work . You can bypass the attenuator too like the OP did with his cab and it should sound OK .

Here is a mod I did to a couple of my SB112s . I put waveguides in them and a Econowave crossover . We use these at practice for our vocals and they work awesome .

mixamatchi · #6 02-10-2013, 12:20 PM

Just did a similar mod to a SWR cab. It's a great idea. The tweets are just not implemented well. Mine was hi-passed @ 5khz. The 15 was full range. End result was a big hole in the mids. Got a 2way crossover, and a 5" mid driver, and the cab sounds so much better.

Gradyoactive · #7 02-17-2013, 10:44 PM

I'm worried that the 150 watt midrange driver will get blown when I turn up the volume on the 500 watt SB112 cab. I want to be able to crank my amp to 250 watts at least. Should I just return these 150 watt speakers and look for more powerful replacements?

Passinwind · #8 02-17-2013, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradyoactive

I'm worried that the 150 watt midrange driver will get blown when I turn up the volume on the 500 watt SB112 cab. I want to be able to crank my amp to 250 watts at least. Should I just return these 150 watt speakers and look for more powerful replacements?

What crossover frequency and what order filter will you be using?

Gradyoactive · #9 02-18-2013, 02:40 AM

I was going to use the same setup as the OP: Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" sealed back midrange speaker and an Eminence PXB:1K6 high pass crossover board, so 1600 Hz. I'm not sure what the order of the filter is.

Passinwind · #10 02-18-2013, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradyoactive

I was going to use the same setup as the OP: Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" sealed back midrange speaker and an Eminence PXB:1K6 high pass crossover board, so 1600 Hz. I'm not sure what the order of the filter is.

18dB/octave = 3rd order. There's not much inherent energy in typical bass signal that high to begin with, and then that fairly steep filter removes a ton more. A genuine 150 watt rating should be plenty.

All of the common higher power replacement candidates I know of are open-backed (and only marginally rated higher), you would need a sub-chamber with them. I've never heard the sealed one, but a lot of people diss them pretty hard, and many others seem to like them just fine.

topcat2069 · #11 03-11-2013, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoot-r

Oh Dave of Avatar, This is a GREAT idea for those of us that don't want to transport a TB153!!!

Maybe offer this mod as a option to the standard Foster horn.

I'd like to try this mod with one of my Avatar Neo 210 cabinets just to see what it might do...

I just asked Dave and he said "Nada" it's an owner mod..... that I'm willing to take on..

$668.00 2 SB112 s shipped $170.00 for 2 Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" Sealed Back Mids & 2 Eminence PXB:1K6 High Pass Crossover Boards
Total: $838.00 or $419.00 each... That's do-able

Gradyoactive · #12 03-11-2013, 01:55 PM

My new amp puts out 600 Watts. I don't plan on cranking it too close to the max, but I am kind of worried that if it somehow ends up clipping, it will blow my Eminence LA6-CBMR 6-1/2" speaker, if I bypass the attenuator like the OP did. Should I just buy a better attenuator, or will I be fine without one?