AudioKinesis 1x12 Cab Part Two

[steve_rolfeca]

...my guess is that the TC will work very well as a small PA cab, sidefill, or vertically-oriented stage monitor.

Can you tell I'm still jonesing for a pair of TCAFs (plus small subs) as a small hi-fi PA rig?

I'm on pins and needles waiting for my TCAF to arrive. I was the sole bassist at a music camp last week, and I suspect that it would have been perfect for what we were doing.

If it works as well as I'm anticipating, I'm hoping to do exactly what you suggest- sell my Bose L1 system to fund a second TCAF and a power amp, so that I can use my TC's as everything from my main bass rig, to an impromptu PA and music playback system for coffee-house dates.

 

[loopee]

At one point today I had the Low mid, high mid and highs all at around 9-10 and that sounded pretty good.....I've also replaced my DHA with my BDDI once again (that really surprised me) but with the LMII and this cab I ended up setting the DHA the same as the amp so with the BDDI I'll have a different tube sound, I'll have to tweak the knobs on the BDDI to get rid of the "blanket" but somehow it sounded better than the DHA and I also ended up putting the plugs back in the cab (I was only using one cab today), it might make a difference if I'm using both cabs, I'll find that out when my neighbours leave the house again in the next day or two...lol...wish I could just plug in any old time but must be nice to the neighbours.....I also found out that my short scale Landing with Dark Stars really shines with this cab and LMII.........though my other basses do too but those Dark Star pups are "very" nice........

So I'm happy and I might have found a new band.....all's well that end's well.......

I was looking at page 16 of the LMII owner's manual, which you can find Invalid Link Removed

I now think dialing the "high" knob back would be more in line with what you're looking for. The specs sheet gives the impression the effect might be up in a range not even produced by most passive basses, but the graphs tell a different story. The ability to take out over 10 dB at 3 kHz might get you really far. I wouldn't be afraid to dial it all the way back if it sounds good!

 

[John D Harris]

Care to elaborate on that second part? What's bad about a lot of sound coming out of it? That's what happens with PA speakers right?

It's just a personal preference to be able to clearly hear myself.
If the two instruments are sharing similar frequencies (if your keys person has a heavy/busy left hand) it can cause the notes to muddy-up the local mix.

I think the ThunderChild will do a better job of handling the job at least as good if not better than a lot of monitors.

 

[Derek Kiernan]

At one point today I had the Low mid, high mid and highs all at around 9-10 and that sounded pretty good.....

Putting the plugs in probably changes your preferences with EQ substantially. I wonder if the reason you like it more now is the higher tuning? You might try simply leaving all the other knobs "flat" and boosting the lows a bit when you have the plugs in to get more content between 100-250 like you would with a sealed cabinet and a classic tone stack. It seems to me you might also have a really similar response with the VLE instead of tuning all those knobs back (or maybe not!). It'd be convenient if this works as well for you, so you have the rest of the EQ to work with if you find you'd like some flexibility.

 

[loopee]

with the plugs I ended up with
Bass: 1pm
low mid: noon
hi mid: 10
treble: noon
filters: off (I usually kept the VLE at around 10 and the VPF at 8)

which are the same settings I used with the MB so I think putting the plugs and making it a sealed cab did the trick.....it's warmer now but clearer than the MB.....in any case now I have even more EQ ability with these little cabs than I ever had with the MB cab's (one sound is what you get so you better like it or else).........I'm a happy camper now.....thanks for all your suggestions all you wise and knowledgable TBers......

 

[DukeLeJeune]

My thanks to all you who know so much more about this than I do for helping Loopee with dialing in her Tots. I'm a bit surprised that the cabs sounded better with the plugs in place, but that goes to show that hands-on beats theoretical.

 

[loopee]

Actually, the cabs don't sound better with the plugs.....only different......they sound great either way....but who knows what will happen in a band mix.......so far I've only played in my staircase or my den, thinking of trying the kitchen and the bathroom next.....lol

 

[Derek Kiernan]

My thanks to all you who know so much more about this than I do for helping Loopee with dialing in her Tots. I'm a bit surprised that the cabs sounded better with the plugs in place, but that goes to show that hands-on beats theoretical.

I think a lot of folks still like the wide-range upper bass/low mid bump in part to help give stronger weight to the first 2-3 harmonics (especially on the top two strings) till you work your way up the fretboard and get mostly stronger fundamental. I'd assume the focus within the bottom three harmonics helps reinforce a voice in the mix. Much better to have the gradual "sealed" response with a little EQ than to stuff drivers in a small ported box for a bump in a similar area but with no low end!

Loopee, do you like the sealed response in the lows better than what the MB speakers were doing? I'm glad the clarity is working out for you!

 

[tombowlus]

My thanks to all you who know so much more about this than I do for helping Loopee with dialing in her Tots.

Always willing to help a girl dial in her Tots.

 

[loopee]

I won't have an answer for you for at least a few days Derek......as soon as I can plug in I will continue my "tweakage" and finally dial in my Tots....lol....but I've just ordered a Diamond Bass Comp so looks like I'll be doing more tweaking when it arrives.....heck, new cabs and now it's a board full of new pedals, it just doesn't stop does it?

 

[thudfromafar]

Trying something different for my gig tomorrow. The keyboardist was complaining about his roland amp at rehearsal, and the horn player complained about his heavy/crappy amp at the last gig, so I said I could bring my mixer and run everything thru my cab. That would be bass, keyboard, sax, and trumpet. We'll see how it goes. I got 500 watts and a hpf set to 24db/octave @ 35hz.

Well, gig report.

It was a small backyard and we didn't need to mic any horns. The keyboard guy brought his own amp, but he ran a line out to me and I ran it thru my cab. I just put a little bit of keyboard thru my mixer and could adjust levels from my position.

This REALLY helped the band get a good balance out front, and in my position. We were on opposite sides and I usually have a little trouble hearing him in this situation, but it was perfect now. What I did was run my bass thru the genz benz shuttle 3.0's preamp, then send that out the effects send into my mixer. Then the mixed keys/bass signal went out the mixer to the effects return in my GB shuttle. This way I could EQ my bass without it affecting the keys.

From now on, I'm going to recommend to any jazz group I play with that we use my cab as a monitor. My little mixer has 4 inputs so I could run bass, keys, guitar, and a mic for horns if needed. If the gig requires any more volume than a small backyard party I will bring my small rack setup so that I can put out 500 watts and have an adjustable DSP.

 

[kittyboy]

Well, gig report.

It was a small backyard and we didn't need to mic any horns. The keyboard guy brought his own amp, but he ran a line out to me and I ran it thru my cab. I just put a little bit of keyboard thru my mixer and could adjust levels from my position.

This REALLY helped the band get a good balance out front, and in my position. We were on opposite sides and I usually have a little trouble hearing him in this situation, but it was perfect now. What I did was run my bass thru the genz benz shuttle 3.0's preamp, then send that out the effects send into my mixer. Then the mixed keys/bass signal went out the mixer to the effects return in my GB shuttle. This way I could EQ my bass without it affecting the keys.

From now on, I'm going to recommend to any jazz group I play with that we use my cab as a monitor. My little mixer has 4 inputs so I could run bass, keys, guitar, and a mic for horns if needed. If the gig requires any more volume than a small backyard party I will bring my small rack setup so that I can put out 500 watts and have an adjustable DSP.

What are you using as mixer and power?

 

[thudfromafar]

What are you using as mixer and power?

my GB shuttle 3.0 was the poweramp (300 watts @ 4ohms)

mixer was this mackie
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Derek Kiernan]

I promised a quick and dirty mix of my friend playing guitar through the TC acoustic-friendly about a week ago, so I'm a little on the late side, but here it is:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Duke helped me calculate lowend EQ to compensate getting the cabinet off the ground for recording, but it's admittedly recessed anyways for this track. This is a Les Paul with a neck pickup something like a jazzmaster/p90 hybrid (Bill Lawrence L609 3.6H), used with a low capacitance cable, resulting in a resonance almost at 8 kHz but with the tone pot turned to minimize its accentuation. That will give you some impression of what electric guitar highs through the TC sound like with the highend rolloff engaged, but keep in mind, I'm getting an unusual amount of highend from the guitar electronics. It's worth noting we can get into the sweet highs range while decreasing the harshness/brittleness found with many electric guitar sounds.

Mics were a stereo pair of Audio Technica AT4051s and a Rode NTK (large diaphragm tube condenser), all placed about 20 inches back from the cabinet's midpoint between woofer and waveguide on the baffle. All tracks were recorded to tape and transfered over to 96/24 after the session.

Amp is a Fender Hotrod Deville, treble about 4-5, mids maxed, bass at 2-3. The reverb was on some ridiculously high setting


I've attached the master EQ used, and there's very little processing otherwise involved besides a tiny bit of mastering reverb and very mild dynamics processing.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I promised a quick and dirty mix of my friend playing guitar through the TC acoustic-friendly about a week ago, so I'm a little on the late side, but here it is:

Invalid Link Removed

Duke helped me calculate lowend EQ to compensate getting the cabinet off the ground for recording, but it's admittedly recessed anyways for this track. This is a Les Paul with a neck pickup something like a jazzmaster/p90 hybrid (Bill Lawrence L609 3.6H), used with a low capacitance cable, resulting in a resonance almost at 8 kHz but with the tone pot turned to minimize its accentuation. That will give you some impression of what electric guitar highs through the TC sound like with the highend rolloff engaged, but keep in mind, I'm getting an unusual amount of highend from the guitar electronics. It's worth noting we can get into the sweet highs range while decreasing the harshness/brittleness found with many electric guitar sounds.

Mics were a stereo pair of Audio Technica AT4051s and a Rode NTK (large diaphragm tube condenser), all placed about 20 inches back from the cabinet's midpoint between woofer and waveguide on the baffle. All tracks were recorded to tape and transfered over to 96/24 after the session.

Amp is a Fender Hotrod Deville, treble about 4-5, mids maxed, bass at 2-3. The reverb was on some ridiculously high setting


I've attached the master EQ used, and there's very little processing otherwise involved besides a tiny bit of mastering reverb and very mild dynamics processing.

Link doesn't allow access

 

[Derek Kiernan]

Thanks! [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] and in the original post.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Thanks for the recording.

Was the Eb drone incipient feedback, or something the guitarist was doing deliberately?

 

[Derek Kiernan]

I believe it was partially the "tape feedback" used on the delay pedal, partially performance, and intentional as far as I know.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Aside from that one anomaly, I didn't hear anything bad at all. Perhaps with a different source, like an acoustic piano, or classical guitar, it'd be easier to assess the sound quality.

If you're a doubler, I'd be eager to hear about your experiences; the closest I've come to a do-it-all cab is the Euphonic Audio VL208. I'm hoping the TCAF will be all that and a bag of chips.

 

[Derek Kiernan]

Jazzdog - I haven't played double bass through it (I'd look for Charlie's comments in that direction) but I have used it for cello, electric guitar, electric bass and recorded music, and it's done extremely well with all the different content.



I'd like to again note the majority of the reverb isn't from the production, but mainly from the amp's reverb and the room. We set up the studio with reflective panels behind the speaker directed to get the sense of space that came through really nicely with the stereo mics.

I'm really content that I only needed to roll off the highs to the degree I accentuated them for the performance (to get a bit more in the upper mids). In the future, I'll probably use a cap on the tone pot for the upper mid coloration and have the live sound closer, but otherwise, this turned out pretty much as well for what we were doing as it could.