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Aluminum cones

T

Tash

Feb 13, 2005
1,907
12
Bel Air Maryland
#1
I know its a very subjective thing, but I really dig the tone fo aluminum cones. I used to play a Hartke 4.5 and 115 XL which I was really happy with, but it got sold years back when I went to college.

Now I'm looking into getting another stack and want to recreate the same sound, but Hartke seems to be quite hit and miss with their quality now (I use a borrwed 410XL in one of my bands, its nasty and a lot of the ones I've played in stores are worse).

I remember a company called Bull Frog made some great aluminum cabs, no idea if they are still around. Apart from that the only other aluminum cone cabs I can think of are the Behringers, which are not real popular here but are at least on my list because they are priced so low. I know you get what you pay for, but I plan on putting most of my money into the head (either an SVT4 or possibly an 1001-II).

Any other cabs I should look into? I'm after the cleanest tone possible with maximum sustain, even with my low B. Go slam the B1 key on a piano as hard as you can, that's pretty much what I want to sound like.
 
#2
Tash said:
Go slam the B1 key on a piano as hard as you can, that's pretty much what I want to sound like.
Click to expand...

Thats the second greatest quote I have seen on TB!!

I'll be honest, yeah I do love the Alu sound as well. I have 2 Hartke 4.5xl's, as per my rants/comments etc on other threads. Tho' I have finally had to give into something lighter and am enjoying the 'HIFI' tone.
I love that crystal clear sparkle.. I thought The Alu's really were the way to go, but I'd say give Accugroove/Acme/Epifani type cabs a go. All have different degrees of the tone I think you are refering to. maybe less coloured, but I have found that I can get the same results from my li'l Accugroove.

One tone that I really didn't like in paper cones previously is that 'cardboardy middle' tone.. boxey that swallowed timbre and character and spat it out as mush. That really did put me off paper cones for a lot of years.
 
#3
ah the bullfrog alumabass. i think they went under quite fast. the cabs sounded cool but were so mid shy they didnt cut very well at all. i dug the 4x10 i got to try but you could tell right away that it ws for home use only.
 
#4
IvanMike said:
bullfrog....... i think they went under quite fast.
Click to expand...

I never heard the bass cabs but if they were anything like the PA speakers, I'm not surprised. A while ago the PA speakers were going real cheap here in Australia, so everyone went and bought some, including half of the PA operators in Sydney. That was a bad time for me. None of those Bullfrogs cabs are still around. They either broke or were replaced after PA guys without bullfrog speakers started getting all the work.

The PA cabs weren't aluminium though so I'm not comparing apples with apples.
 
#5
My old band opened for a thrashcore act once that had one of the craziest sounds I've ever heard. They were a 3 pecie with a thrash guitarist (all solid state ADA gear and marshal cabs), a really technical death metal oriented drummer (tons of blast beats and double kick work) and a funk bassist playing these doubled up clean/distorted slap lines, kinda like the way Geezer Butler used to have a clean and overdriven version of his bass track only way thicker and more out there. Almost like if Flea was jamming with Lemmy.

Anyway I cornered him after the gig and asked him how he got his tone. He used a 4003 rick with stereo outputs. One out when into a GK head with Hartkes and was tweaked to sound very punchy and clean. The other went into an old Ampeg all tupe head, driven to the limit on top of a bullfrog 2x15. That channel also had a boss digital delay pedal and a freaking METAL ZONE (possibly the crunchiest distortion stomp box ever). He told me the bullfrog was the only cab that could handle that, he'd blown out mesas, hartkes, ampegs, nothing could handle to insane distortion and feedback he was getting from those two stomboxes.

I can't remember what the band's name was but they were defiantely a trip live. They also had a DJ on a few songs (this was long before rapcore was even a gleam in anyones eye, so it sounded really fresh and out there). The high point was when they did "Higher Ground" and the DJ scratched the intro...

And that is how I discovered Bullfrogs :)
 

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