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AudioKinesis 1x12 Cab Part Two

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#564
Huge difference. Fixed Q means that you have no control to notch something or to give a gentle wide boost.You're stuck with the width of boost/cut that the manufacturer designs. Semi parametric is way better than fixed eq, but lacks the flexibilty that I want.
 
#567
peterpalmieri said:
Sure.

The rig that was there had a tone hammer 500. I should have used my own head (EA doubler) but so much was going on. My rig is a Alleva LM5 with a EA NL210.

Personally I like the voicing of a traditional bass cab with over emphasized mids. It gives me the perception of additional clarity in a mix. That seemed to be missing for me. I can see how it works as a studio monitor type sound and that lack of overly pronounced mids would likely work great for DB like my VL208 cabinet. Lows were a bit flabby for my liking, although that may be more a function of the amp.

I didn't want to come in like Debbie downer or a out of nowhere negative review. I really wanted to play my DB through the cab but we had a miserable day of constant down poor and if I knew the acoustic friendly version was going to be there I would have made it happen.

I am really solidifying my own opinion that the characteristics I like in an electric bass cabinet are very different then what I look for in a DB cab and there probably isn't something out there that will satisfy me for both.

Still looking to try an AF version with my DB if there are any guys on long island with one I can try out some time.
Click to expand...

If you are digging the NL-210 (which has much in common with my beloved Bergantino AE210... very tight low end and a good dose of upper mids screaming out of the top of the driver (very bright cabs, even with the tweeter totally attenuated), then the Thunderchild is probably not for you (at least for your EB).

Even though dialing in a good dose of upper mids around 1K-2K does result in bit of that presence and voicing, it isn't just an EQ thing. There is a difference between the sound of those frequencies coming out of the horn versus coming off the top of the driver (IMO and IME), and if you really like that upper mid grind (I do for my J basses), then this would most likely not be the cab for you. It is much more than EQ IMO.

Put in 'EA' terminology, this cab is more like a louder, wider, lighter and more even VL cab than anything to do with the NL voicing.
 
#568
A mild overdrive will (in my experience) get you 90-95% of the way there. FEA's Dual Band Distortion is ridiculously good for copping this feel. Just my take of course, and people are free to disagree :)

Haven't tried that with Duke's horn of course, but it works for the fEarful.
 
#571
with DB it's the shizizzle! Highs done right! It was weird, I was bottoming out the NL at medium volumes. A buddy of mine, Charlie Hunter was having the same problem with bottoming out the NL on his 8 string guitar/bass. The CXL worked way better---but now I'm probably selling mine.
 
#572
A pic of my #1 and my rig at the GTG this past weekend: (Thanks to Michael Jewels for the great photography!)

_IGP2694.jpg


Pete, you might also not have liked the voicing on the Aguilar. I had it set for a very grindy, Ampeg-y, wooly old-school-ish sound for most of the day. It'll do "tight and punchy" like an F500, but you gotta turn the drive control down somewhat and be careful with the Gain knob, as both controls are very interactive and vary the sound significantly.
 
#573
Mike Arnopol said:
with DB it's the shizizzle! Highs done right! It was weird, I was bottoming out the NL at medium volumes. A buddy of mine, Charlie Hunter was having the same problem with bottoming out the NL on his 8 string guitar/bass. The CXL worked way better---but now I'm probably selling mine.
Click to expand...

I've done about 300 electric bass gigs with the NL never had a problem.
 
#574
IntrepidCellist said:
A pic of my #1 and my rig at the GTG this past weekend: (Thanks to Michael Jewels for the great photography!)

Pete, you might also not have liked the voicing on the Aguilar. I had it set for a very grindy, Ampeg-y, wooly old-school-ish sound for most of the day. It'll do "tight and punchy" like an F500, but you gotta turn the drive control down somewhat and be careful with the Gain knob, as both controls are very interactive and vary the sound significantly.
Click to expand...

I should have made more time to chat about the cab with you. After a while it got so loud it was hard to get a sense of anything.
 
#576
IntrepidCellist said:
A pic of my #1 and my rig at the GTG this past weekend: (Thanks to Michael Jewels for the great photography!)

_IGP2694.jpg


Pete, you might also not have liked the voicing on the Aguilar. I had it set for a very grindy, Ampeg-y, wooly old-school-ish sound for most of the day. It'll do "tight and punchy" like an F500, but you gotta turn the drive control down somewhat and be careful with the Gain knob, as both controls are very interactive and vary the sound significantly.
Click to expand...



NICE!
 
#577
Ok, call me slow, but does this cab sound like a bass cab or a loudspeaker? It has that loudspeaker look. I can care less about how loud it is, but does it have that bottom for a 5 string?
 
#578
diglo said:
Ok, call me slow, but does this cab sound like a bass cab or a loudspeaker? It has that loudspeaker look. I can care less about how loud it is, but does it have that bottom for a 5 string?
Click to expand...

:D It does not sound like a PA speaker, but rather more like a studio monitor optimized for bass IMO. The low end is not over-extended, but very full and deep, and generates the second harmonic of the B string lower notes (where all the meat is) better than 90% of the other cabs I've tried (and that is a lot of cabs). The main thing with this cab is the very smooth transition between the top of the driver and the horn. It is very smooth and even, which can sound a bit 'polite' for some players.

Genz Benz Streamliner 900, Audiokinesis Thunderchild 112, Alleva-Coppolo LM - YouTube

If you have a high quality playback system, this clip will give you a pretty good feel for the low end of this cab.

Edit: Another great thing about this cab is that it won't compress when slapped like most 210's and 112's. A few 112's actually sound deeper than this cab at moderate volumes, but when you start to dig in at volume, the drivers reach their mechanical limits and it feels like you have a compressor set too high. Not an issue with the 'super 12' driver used in this box. I achieve volume and tone (wide, smooth and open) similar to my old Epifani 310UL with this little box.
 
#579
KJung said:
:D It does not sound like a PA speaker, but rather more like a studio monitor optimized for bass IMO. The low end is not over-extended, but very full and deep, and generates the second harmonic of the B string lower notes (where all the meat is) better than 90% of the other cabs I've tried (and that is a lot of cabs). The main thing with this cab is the very smooth transition between the top of the driver and the horn. It is very smooth and even, which can sound a bit 'polite' for some players.

Genz Benz Streamliner 900, Audiokinesis Thunderchild 112, Alleva-Coppolo LM - YouTube

If you have a high quality playback system, this clip will give you a pretty good feel for the low end of this cab.

Edit: Another great thing about this cab is that it won't compress when slapped like most 210's and 112's. A few 112's actually sound deeper than this cab at moderate volumes, but when you start to dig in at volume, the drivers reach their mechanical limits and it feels like you have a compressor set too high. Not an issue with the 'super 12' driver used in this box. I achieve volume and tone (wide, smooth and open) similar to my old Epifani 310UL with this little box.
Click to expand...

Best short description of this cabinet that I've yet seen. If you're relying on your cab to color your sound, this is not the one. If you're getting color from your bass itself (natural growl and inherent timbre), your string choices or from your technique, you'll be well-served. And while I've not had to do it in the jazz/latin/folkie stuff I do, I expect I could get more of that cut-through-the-mix "presence" by boosting my mids via the amp, or on a bass with 3-band eq. But I'm in love with that sweet high end and and a bottom end that is clean, full and tight, particularly at the low-to-moderate volume levels I usually need.
 
#580
So a 1-12" suffices for most of what I do, and my Thunderchild is quite satisfying, even doing well in situations where I previously might have brought a pair of 12's.

But I do envision situations in which I'd need more volume/oomph, and I do have a Thunderfunk 750 that can go to 2 ohms. I've held on to an Aguilar GS112NT and recently fired it up, with the T-child on top, just to see what would happen. I couldn't really push it in my living room without rattling windows and cages, but it sounded quite good, and I'd be pretty confident in taking it out in the event I had a gig that required that kind of presence. I've always understood mix-match could create phasing issues, along with issues relating to mixing a 4 ohm and 8-ohm cabinet, but these two seemed pretty complimentary to each other.

Do any of you Thunderchild users have any experience or comments on mix-match with other 4 or 8-ohm cabinets? And no, I'm not gonna spend $$ on just getting a second T-child, insofar as needing two cabs is pretty rare for me, plus I like the idea of subjecting the T-funk to a 2.67 ohm-load rather than taking it all the way down to 2-ohms with a pair of 4-ohm cabinets.

Thoughts?
 
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