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Acme Full Range Series III 112

#41
rpsands said:
Yeah, I definitely see the niche. I just think it might be a little narrower than you. :) Any neck-pup-playing 5-stringer has a strong case for the Acme (or a pair of them) for sure.
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I'm very interested in seeing how this cab performs with my 5 string P on the gig. That is a very 'meaty' sounding instrument, and I'm really digging it with the Acme in the house at the moment (with a bit of top end rolled off by the VLE on the Markbass head).

We shall see. The Thunderchild is literally perfect with my J's for small and moderate gigs. It sounds good with the P also, but that extra low end extension, and the bit more roughness in the upper mids of the Acme has me smiling with the P!

Fun discussion!
 
#43
pbass888 said:
great review... im sold... i think ill take one down. thank you Ken.

Best
Sri
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Just remember... it is a bit of a different beast. If you know you are only going to be using one, and are using a typical 300 watt into 8ohm and 500 watt into 4ohm type head, get the 4ohm.

In that configuration, it will put out the volume of a very good 'typical' 8ohm 210 cab, with a lot more low end.

If that matches the volume of what you need, and the power you are putting out at 4ohms, this is a very impressive box, and with the right EQ, it can also get burpy and punchy.
 
#44
Thank you for that. I will remember, as I will be using my lm II head for it. Seems ideal and wanted a good 12 with deep bottom and the 4 ohm sounds ideal.
Best
SV

KJung said:
Just remember... it is a bit of a different beast. If you know you are only going to be using one, and are using a typical 300 watt into 8ohm and 500 watt into 4ohm type head, get the 4ohm.

In that configuration, it will put out the volume of a very good 'typical' 8ohm 210 cab, with a lot more low end.

If that matches the volume of what you need, and the power you are putting out at 4ohms, this is a very impressive box, and with the right EQ, it can also get burpy and punchy.
Click to expand...
 
#45
pbass888 said:
Thank you for that. I will remember, as I will be using my lm II head for it. Seems ideal and wanted a good 12 with deep bottom and the 4 ohm sounds ideal.
Best
SV
Click to expand...

That should sound very good... very fat, and the LMII has that VLE control to sculpt the top end (since the Acme does not have an attenuator for the tweeter. That should be nice, and again will give you volume somewhat between a 210 and a 212.
 
#46
Got my second one today. Will gig with both on Saturday with my AI Focus. Don't need to/can't compare it to a Thunderchild. This is one thundering combination. Like you could play chords with B strings. I don't like or want a lot of high end, but there is all I need here. These are magical enclosures. Far more "open" than the previous generation Acme cabs. But with massive low end.
 
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#48
bassinstincts said:
Got my second one today. Will gig with both on Saturday with my AI Focus. Don't need to/can't compare it to a Thunderchild. This is one thundering combination. Like you could play chords with B strings. I don't like or want a lot of high end, but there is all I need here. These are magical enclosures. Far more "open" than the previous generation Acme cabs. But with massive low end.
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I played an outdoor gig two weeks ago with two Flatwounds driven by a G-K MB500. Neither power nor volume was EVER a problem.

Ken, thanks for posting your review. And thanks for using your ears, not just your assumptions based on the published specs which have been available for some time.
 
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#49
Bluesy Soul said:
Uh....that would be me, Ken. And you are absolutely correct, of course.

Thanks for confirming what I've been trying to say about the Flatwound's upper end with Acme's proprietary driver.
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While I haven't played the Flatwound, with the Markbass VLE control, which is a variable lo pass filter, I can pretty much eliminate the tweeter from my FullRange. I believe the driver is just a smidge different in the FullRange than the Flatwound (if I'm readng Andy's documentation correctly), but it should sound relatively close.

It kills with my P with the tweeter softened up... .plenty of upper mid grind, huge low end, and the low growl that I never really heard with my B210's back in the day. As you have posted, even if the upper mid response isn't 'flat' or whatever, it is musical, useful, and very good sounding!

Very impressive cab. I'll put some more hours on it to make sure it is fully broken in, and then put up a clip or two in a week or so.
 
#51
They do sound similiar after you get done adjusting the eq. Did you mention where you have the master set at for both ? The Acme seems to sound a little more warm and burpy to me, at least through my cheap laptop speakers.
 
#52
jnewmark said:
They do sound similiar after you get done adjusting the eq. Did you mention where you have the master set at for both ? The Acme seems to sound a little more warm and burpy to me, at least through my cheap laptop speakers.
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The quality of the sound is actually quite amazing. If you can get a good pair of headphones, the recording does really pick up the differences, even in the deep low end. That little Q3 recorder is quite amazing. Just 'point and play'!

Per a previous post, you need to crank the master up a bit more to match the gain between the Acme and the higher sensitivity Thunderchild. For this clip, which was recorded at 'gig level volume', I had the master of the F500 on about 10 o'clock, and to equate the Acme at the end of the clip, increased it to around 11 o'clock. For context, the master on the F500 reaches full output at around 1 o'clock with the pregain set just below clip, so that is pretty cranked.
 
#55
Both cabs do sound really nice. I grabbed my studio cans and gave that clip a good listen. Thanks for taking the time Ken. The big bottom end on the Acme is really impressive. But the clear and even sound up and down the spectrum is more impressive to me. I do love the sound of the Thunderchild though. Hard to tell which I might favor. I think that an 8 ohm FullRange/8 ohm Flatwound stack would be killer though.
 
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#56
lookiel said:
The question is which one sounds better in a mix?
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That is the question. I KNOW the Thunderchild works great in just about every context I've put it in. That additional extension of the low end might be a positive, might not.

I'm pretty convinced that with a mid meaty bass like a P Bass, the Acme will totally kill. With a wider, more modern sounding instrument, it MIGHT be too much of a good thing for some.

I'll get it out there with my J bass (the one in the clip) and see how it does.
 
#57
lookiel said:
From your clip I find the Acme sounds closer to the AE212 than the Thunderchild.
It seems to have the upper mid clarity and a bit more low extension, definitely sounds good to me!
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I would agree with this 100%. Not sure if it is so much upper mid clarity versus the more similar design of a full range woofer with high crossed over tweeter, like the AE212. Both those cabs have a big low end, no 'upper bass bump', and to my ear, similar 'top of the driver' type upper mids. The Acme is a bit more extended way up top, but the tonality is in the same ballpark to my ear.
 
#58
However from looking at the graphs presented on Acme's page there seems to be a good drop the upper mids once you get a bit of axis, without having seen similar graphs from Duke I would expect the Thunderchild to perform noticeably better off axis than the Acme, especially the AF rear tweetered version.
Also, I find that a little low mid/upper bass push usually sounds better in a full mix, it brings out a little ''punch in the chest'' factor that I don't require when playing by myself at home.
 
#59
lookiel said:
However from looking at the graphs presented on Acme's page there seems to be a good drop the upper mids once you get a bit of axis, without having seen similar graphs from Duke I would expect the Thunderchild to perform noticeably better off axis than the Acme, especially the AF rear tweetered version.
Also, I find that a little low mid/upper bass push usually sounds better in a full mix, it brings out a little ''punch in the chest'' factor that I don't require when playing by myself at home.
Click to expand...


I think that is probably true, although the dispersion of the upper mids seems like a relatively minor deal to me. I've never heard that much difference in sound off axis among most cabs, and actually make a point to record my clips relatively off axis.

There isn't a ton of bass guitar energy IMO in that slice between the top of the driver and the start of the tweeter.

However, if for some reason you are very sensitive to this, or have a tone that has a LOT of 1K-3K in it, I would think the Thunderchild or one of the 12/6 cabs would be a better choice.

Pure IMO there.
 

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