What can BFM designed cabs NOT do?

Luckie · #1 08-02-2011, 12:12 AM

I may have an opportunity to build an entirely new rig from scratch.
Check my profile for the current/ may be phased out setup.
Ive admired Bill's designs for some time, but Im unsure if anything can replace the tone of my obnoxiously large rig.
So my question is, what are the tonal limitations of BFM designs? Does the behavior of old drivers significantly impact the tone? Or is the amp the key factor?
Thanks folks!

JimmyM · #2 08-02-2011, 12:52 AM

Boy, how do you answer that one? Bill's cabs don't have tonal limitations, only different voicings, but there's every chance you might like one or the other better. Bill makes the case that his cabs have much better hi/mid dispersion, get a lot louder with fewer speakers due to horn loading, and can be EQ'd to sound like anything you want. People who like the more familiar bass cab designs make the case that cabs like Bill's are too "perfect" and they don't have the idiosyncracies of the old style bass cabs we're all familiar with. As for me, I definitely like and appreciate cabs like Bill's or the fEarful or Audiokinesis or whatever, but they'll pry that B-15 out of my cold dead hands.

Downunderwonder · #3 08-02-2011, 01:02 AM

If you like a lot of distortion you're out of luck with tweeters in many of them. Compression driver high frequency alternatives may fare better.

WingKL · #4 08-02-2011, 01:18 AM

The nice thing is you or your cab builder can add a switch to turn the tweeters full on, half of them on, or totally off. For bass guitar applications some people build Jacks, for example, without the tweeter array.

billfitzmaurice · #5 08-02-2011, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Downunderwonder

If you like a lot of distortion you're out of luck with tweeters in many of them. Compression driver high frequency alternatives may fare better.

If you like a lot of distortion you should not have any tweeters, compression or otherwise. The beauty of DIY is that you can build with or without, or switchable.

MNAirHead · #6 08-02-2011, 07:09 AM

I'll give you one --- if your friends are impressed by big bulky and inefficient boxes, they will not be impressive to your friends.

Before designing my 2x10 cabinet (with tons of help from sound engineers) I wish I would have known about BFM designs.

Tim

Gord_oh · #7 08-02-2011, 07:10 AM

in case of emergency your cab should not be used as a flotation device.

craig.p · #8 08-02-2011, 08:33 AM

You infer that you want to duplicate the tone of your current rig. But your profile doesn't really describe it in full. All you provide is a driver count for eighteens. I think your first step should be to understand fully what your current rig is doing in terms of performance, plot it out the best you can, and then see what BFM kit lines up closest. Lots more info on Bill's web site, and there's a forums section there, too.

Luckie · #9 08-02-2011, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

If you like a lot of distortion you should not have any tweeters, compression or otherwise. The beauty of DIY is that you can build with or without, or switchable.

I don't use a ton of distortion, but part of my "tone" does come from light speaker breakup. How does horn-loading take that abuse tonally?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

I'll give you one --- if your friends are impressed by big bulky and inefficient boxes, they will not be impressive to your friends.

I'll take you up on that for sure.
Oh they are, they are...

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig.p

You infer that you want to duplicate the tone of your current rig. But your profile doesn't really describe it in full. All you provide is a driver count for eighteens. I think your first step should be to understand fully what your current rig is doing in terms of performance, plot it out the best you can, and then see what BFM kit lines up closest. Lots more info on Bill's web site, and there's a forums section there, too.

I creep over there a good bit, but I havent found anything that would help me analyze my current setup, just waterfall plots of Bill's designs.
How would I analyze what I have and turn the tone I like into numbers?

JimmyM · #10 08-02-2011, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckie

How would I analyze what I have and turn the tone I like into numbers?

Through experience with knowing what happens with the different numbers. The way I learned it was to record a bass track through a DI, then use an EQ plugin and just move the sliders up and down to see what they do.

will33 · #11 08-02-2011, 12:45 PM

A lot of horn designs will filter out some or all of the cone distortion you hear in regular speakers. They'll basically reproduce what's put into them louder and cleaner so use pedals and/or amp overdrive if you have pre and post input gains to get the distortion sound, then send it to the speaker.