Boutique 3-way 115 and 215 on a budget: Part III

FIRST POST!!!!!!!!! Dont have the 3-way, but my BR115 is still rocking strong. Im still thinking about a kappalite.

that's what i thought,,, most of the problems are being experienced by the guys running these full range with a regular bass head

well i only have a bass head,, & don't plan on going the pre/amp/crossover route

NorCal Dog said:

that's what i thought,,, most of the problems are being experienced by the guys running these full range with a regular bass head

well i only have a bass head,, & don't plan on going the pre/amp/crossover route

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I've been running mine full range with a regular bass head for several months now. I play it at full volume a few times a week practicing by myself. I rehearse with it hard at least once a week with a very loud drummer in a very loud room at very low tunings. I've also gigged with it many times already, from medium sized bars to some of NYC's bigger venues. I haven't had even the slightest problem with mine.

I tried like hell to make the 15" at least fart out a bit and I finally did, but the only way I was able to do that was to crank the bass on my OBP-3 and really go to town on an open G#0. I just wanted to learn it's limitations, as well as give myself a reference point for comparing the stock woofer to the Kappalite 3015LF that should be in it by next week.

I'm considering beefing up the crossover at some point, just for peace of mind, but to this point it hasn't been an issue.

It's a shame that several people have had issues and this cab is getting a black eye. It's by far the best sounding cab I've ever heard. I can't wait to hear a Quake through it again, because when I had Skip's Knuckle Quake going through this cab, it was like a whole new instrument that hasn't even been invented yet... pure powerful clear low end, I mean crystal clear. Articulation and tone like I never knew was possible.

Thanks Bass Below, for the positive post. I'm eagerly anticipating my 3015LF, and I think I'm gonna use blue thread locker on the mounting screws, which works well in high vibration situations, but you can still back out the screws later if need be.

Bass Below said:

I've been running mine full range with a regular bass head for several months now. I play it at full volume a few times a week practicing by myself. I rehearse with it hard at least once a week with a very loud drummer in a very loud room at very low tunings. I've also gigged with it many times already, from medium sized bars to some of NYC's bigger venues. I haven't had even the slightest problem with mine.

I tried like hell to make the 15" at least fart out a bit and I finally did, but the only way I was able to do that was to crank the bass on my OBP-3 and really go to town on an open G#0. I just wanted to learn it's limitations, as well as give myself a reference point for comparing the stock woofer to the Kappalite 3015LF that should be in it by next week.

I'm considering beefing up the crossover at some point, just for peace of mind, but to this point it hasn't been an issue.

It's a shame that several people have had issues and this cab is getting a black eye. It's by far the best sounding cab I've ever heard. I can't wait to hear a Quake through it again, because when I had Skip's Knuckle Quake going through this cab, it was like a whole new instrument that hasn't even been invented yet... pure powerful clear low end, I mean crystal clear. Articulation and tone like I never knew was possible.

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glad to hear that there are some of these out there, un-modded, that are doing what their supposed to do.

i've only played mine very little, at very low volume, ( apartment ) but will be taking them to rehearsal on saturday, & see how they preform. I'm sure they'll sound great.

I run mine full range except when debugging/troubleshooting. Usually with a Carvin BX1200 - either stereo (275W each) or bridged mono (800W into one, 1200W into two). Lately I've been using a GenzBenz Neopak (225 into one).

I only did the 3015LF upgrade for weight savings - the original woofers were fine for me as far as tone and low end. I don't think I ever had them fart out.

Carvin was quick this time - I have my new tweeter (it's a different model than the originals) and will install it on Saturday and give it a good checkout as I'll be playing an outdoor gig with no PA reinforcement (so a bridged BX1200 will be giving each 1503 600W in full range mode). I'll report back on Sunday or Monday what I find.

I'm claiming 1 faulty tweeter (to be confirmed this weekend) and possibly 1 faulty crossover between a pair of 1503s. I think most of what I hear noise-wise is just the lightweight cabinet resonating at high volumes - something I notice when playing it alone but others don't and it definitely doesn't get heard in a band context.

I had a problem with a bad midrange driver in my cabinet right out of the box, but since it has been replaced I've been using it regularly without problems, mostly at medium-volume band rehearsals. I will probably do the 3015LF upgrade for the same reason as craigb -- weight savings. If, at the same time, I can go in and beef up the crossover components, I will probably do that too just to put my mind at ease, since I always run mine full-range using the internal crossover.

Asad

well, the good thing about my situation is,,,

went to the Sac store, where they just opened the boxes the day before, & put them on the floor. so i had them plug them in & play some techno-dance music, & got to listen to all the components, & everything sounded fine.

looking forward to tomorrow,, in a band context,, to see what they got.

I just book our first outdoor gig for this year.

I may need that 2nd cab sooner than later...

just got back from rehearsal, & i'm TOTALLY IMPRESSED with the tone, volume, & versatility of these cabs.

i'm so glad i dumped my LMII, & picked up a 1001RBII right before picking up the LS1503's, this pairing of head/cab REALLY works together.

it's been awhile since i've really played thru 15's, that i've just about forgotten how deep they go, so today, i was enlightened.

the guys kinda looked at me funny when i was wheeling them in, & asked, " what are those, mains ? " & they gave me a funny look so i plug one cab in & take it for a spin, for a couple songs,, the guys were still giving me funny looks,, but it was a different kind of funny then i plugged in the 2nd cab, & played a couple of more songs,, & the guys were just shaking their heads, grinning from ear to ear our keyboard player told me that it is the best live tone that he's heard in many years, ( can't wait till i really get em eq'd & dialed in right )

so,, all in all,, with all the pro's & con's going on with these cabs, i'm glad i took the drive up to Sac & picked em up.

the sad thing tho,, i'll probably wind up dumping my Avatar B410 Neo now,,, i mean, after todays experience, why would i wanna take like three steps back ?

NorCal Dog said:

the sad thing tho,, i'll probably wind up dumping my Avatar B410 Neo now,,,

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It's not a sad thing.

The 1503's murder ANY 4x10.

You don't need it anymore...

NorCal Dog said:

just got back from rehearsal, & i'm TOTALLY IMPRESSED with the tone, volume, & versatility of these cabs.

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Glad to hear it Dog. I got the 3015LF in mine yesterday, but since my son is only 4 days old, I haven't tried it out yet. Maybe within the next few days.... he might as well get used to it sooner rather than later!

So I'm a questionable bastid for taking some time off to deal with other issues? Haven't I given enough yet? I think so.

Your duties aren't fulfilled until you've actually personally built a fEarful for each member of talkbass and hand delivered it to each of our homes.

greenboy said:

Haven't I given enough yet? I think so.

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I think we need some bone marrow.

Deliver the marrow and we'll think about it...

Buzz update: I got the new tweeter from Carvin in record time - called on Monday, had it in hand on Thursday. Nice. So Saturday afternoon before the gig I swapped it out. Great! No more buzz from the tweeter. But the 3015LF seems to be buzzing. Unscrew, rotate, screw. Hmmm . . . still buzzing. I can see the wires through the port. Jam my hand in there and grab hold . . . Yep, the wires are vibrating against something. Unscrew, rotate, rescrew. That did it. No more buzzing. Slap the grill back on, load up the car and head out.

Now with both cabs I can still hear something if I crank them up loud enough. But then again they also start walking across the hardwood floor when I get them that loud. So I'm thinking that they still have resonant frequencies and are lightweight - if you crank it loud enough and hit those resonances things are gonna vibrate. Right now there's no more "buzzing" and the only time I notice things are when I'm playing solo and crank it up way louder than I'm willing to stand near without hearing protection. So I think I'm good.

I did a gig Saturday with the pair outdoors driven by a Carvin BX1200 in bridged mono (1200W into the pair). Nice. More bottom than I know what to do with, I love doing octave slides and fills with the sweet midrange. I think I'm good now. Although I am thinking Acme Low B1 for really small/quiet things.

I took some pictures of the replacement and original tweeter as they were different models but they are on a camera that's somewhere at home. So here's one of the full rig Saturday:

Nice L 2K also! So when I put the 3015 LF in, you would recommend taking the slack out of the wires?

mntngrown said:

Nice L 2K also! So when I put the 3015 LF in, you would recommend taking the slack out of the wires?

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Thanks, that one has rounds and gets used for the rock band.

I installed 3015LFs in both and oriented the wires in a way that made sense to me at the time (probably lined up the terminals/wires to provide the shortest, easiest path to the crossover). That worked just find on one of them and not on the other. On this second one I ended up with the driver oriented 180 degrees different from where I started. So I've got no advice other than to try it out and be ready to stick a hand in to check the wires if it starts vibrating (don't cross any terminals).

craigb said:

So here's one of the full rig Saturday:

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That's a good look for you.

Congratulations!