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anybody else hate tweeters?

#82
I have mixed feelings about tweeters. I have one built into my cab (a GK Neo 212), but I rarely use it.

Dial up a little bit, and I agree it can be pretty useful sometimes. But for me, I prefer not to extend my range of treble most of the time - I have enough coming out of my two 12" speakers already. :D
 
#83
Everybody hears things differently. A lot does depend on what kind of strings, bass, pickups, cord, head, and so on- the entire signal chain.

There's a lot to be said for a very nice, warm, straight woofer tone for bass.

OTOH, I just got finished replacing the horn in my Dr.Bass BL1260. The original one had gone out, and I was just playing through the 12 and 6.5. Marc sent me an APT-50 replacement. Man.. I could not get over the way the cab sounded with the new horn. Very clean, crisp, precise and detailed. Not hissy or annoying - just sweet.

Those upper frequencies give a lot of definition and clarity to your sound. Woofer only, or woofer and midrange only, doesn't give you all the sound of your instrument if you are playing with roundwounds and a quality head, like my GB Neo-Pak.
 
#84
Rhythm5 said:
Not true in all cases. I'm using a Berg mini stack, and still turn the tweeter off. Everyone raves about those tweeters and crossovers, but it just sounds like a tweeter to me (altough a very good one). That stack has tons of high end without the tweeter on.
It's personal preference of course. I'm sure someone could come out with speakers mounted in a shoe box, and it would soon have it's own megathread here with a loyal following.
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Well the Bergantino single 12's are focused more in the upper frequencies so a tweeter would be excessive.
 
#86
I really love a good MF and HF driver.

However, most of the ones I've seen in bass and MI cabs are $10 POS, not quality components, well integrated with the rest of the system. Do it right, and it sounds great: no harshness, no holes in the response, no shriekiness and good even dispersion with frequency.
 
#87
I'm sure there are some out there that work well or at least better than the ones I've tried, but....I personally have never had one that didn't have to be turned way down or had to be removed altogether. The hiss and brittle highs were the problem. Just my 2 cents.

George
 
#88
jim primate said:
i really do.

hissy and feedback quick with any real kind of gain.
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Cheaper ones are more trouble than help. I don't care for the cheaper piezzo ones that SWR used in the Workingman series for instance and I turn those off in my Workingman 10 amp and extention speaker.
But you get what you pay for and good quality tweaters with a good quality crossover sound outstanding IMHO.
 
#89
Let's just say that I have never gone to a show and heard a bass player with an Ampeg 8x10 and thought there wasn't enough high end. To me the sizzle that horns produce quickly gets lost in the cymbal wash. I think that when it comes to making your bass sit right in the mix, it is far more important to get the low end and midrange right. The natural high end roll off you get with a tweeterless cabinet seems to be just right to my ears. If I track my bass in the studio straight to tape (disc) and then try to match that sound with my amp, I find it much closer by turning the horn off and the amp's treble up.
 
#90
KJung said:
Tweeters don't hiss or feedback, they just replicate what is going on in the upper treble range of your amp and/or bass.

If you don't like high treble extension, that's perfectly reasonable. However, if you don't like tweeters because they 'hiss', your problem is earlier in your signal chain IMO and IME.
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This is true sans the Ampeg BA-115. That thing hisses with every treble setting all the way off. Mine also breaks up at higher volumes... as soon as I figure out how to disconnect.. I plan to.
 
#92
bobyoung53 said:
No they work fine in my stereo, I'm a bass player so never felt the need in any bass cab if that's what you mean. :D
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:rolleyes:

five'll get you ten there are other bass players posting on this site.

KJung said:
+1 all the way to the above. Different strokes for different folks!

As an aside that will get me into no end of trouble, while I love Jamerson's playing, I always hated that tone... pure mud to my ears. Listen to Nathan East play those parts on the Michael McDonald Motown CD's. Jamerson obviously is the king of those parts, but man, does the bass SOUND better to my ears with Nathan playing with a more full range tone. I'm not talking about the over the top Marcus sizzle, just a tone that spans a nice broad range. It still sits in the mix beautifully.
Click to expand...

agreed.
 
#93
didn't tweeters start showing up in cabs when slapping on the electric bass became popular? I've always thought the tweeters were there to catch the snap in the slap. That said I find myself putting the tweeter on if I'm doing 'funky stuff' and want to hear the intial attack of the note. It also helps when I'm playing my upright and doing slap style. I actually wish the knob to turn it up or down was in the front of the cab. Most my gigs want an old school tone so it's usually down. I'd prefer having a small driver with a high crossover to the tweeter.
 
#94
I'm not a big fun of tweeters and horns, but I found that the agree/disagree grade is heavily influenced by the original sound to amplify. I've got a Markbass rig composed by a SA450 head and a 104HF cabinet and I play active and passive basses. with active sounds, my horn is almost completely turned down because of too much coldness, fret and finger noises when you pass over the strings. the horn is surely high-end stuff in these cabs but produce a sort of metallic, percussive tone that maybe is right for slap & pop, modern bass, but is not my thing. totally different opinion with passive-old school instruments, like Gibsons or even Fender jazz, that I play with the horn maxed out or sligtly reduced. this adds a ringing edge to roundwounds and an extra bite to a traditional and naturally warm sound, allowing fast bass lines to be more detailed and intelligible thanks to the evident attack.:bassist:
 
#95
I have no use for tweeters. I just find them raspy and nasty sounding
on the highs in general. I've played through other folks' tweeter loaded cabs
and I'm usually going for the attenuator to shut the tweeter off in about
two seconds of playing. Yet other players love them and sound great using them.
 
#96
This post is just cus I like posting.. Ken already said the final line imo.. different strokes for different folks....
Or should it have been different strokes for different cabs? :eyebrow: :smug:

My last cabs, 2 Sunn 410's was tweeter loaded and they sounded harsh and made alot of scrathing noises.. :hmm:

The tweeter in my new DB810 is the best sounding tweeter ive ever heard.. it makes ALL the difference in the world in that cab.. without it the tone is real vintage and cool.. whit it its really modern and clear.. Just love the way it sounds.. even rolled on to just 9 to 10"o"clock :hyper:
 
#97
I generally don't like the horn in my Hartke cabinet. I actually took the box apart to see if I could disconnect it for a test. I was really curious to hear how overdrive and slap would sound without it. Unfortunately it was soldered and I didn't feel like desoldering it, so it will stay til I get another cab someday. However, it's nothing a little EQ'ing can't fix. Next cab will either have no horn or adjustable. Seems simple enough.
 
#98
I'm building this, but without the compression driver/horn flare: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5326546&postcount=725

Not because I dislike tweeters - the one I've spec'd out is very good indeed when properly intergrated with a midrnage cone - but because the 18 Sound 6ND410 is a killer 6" midrange that would probably satisfy even 90% of slappers out there, and roasts guitar players when it comes to overdrive and distortion, and also sounds marvelously heavenly when doing enhanced Old School or ultra-sheen.
 

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