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AudioKinesis 1x12 Cab Part Two

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#801
theoretically causing cone rock---Duke had issues with the original port position. Duke didn't say don't do it---he said proceed with caution. He and I have talked at length about it. I'll be doing it again in a few hours. Others have used one port plugged with no problems. I was CRANKING it last night and listening carefully---no issues.
 
#802
Mike Arnopol said:
theoretically causing cone rock---Duke had issues with the original port position. Duke didn't say don't do it---he said proceed with caution. He and I have talked at length about it. I'll be doing it again in a few hours. Others have used one port plugged with no problems. I was CRANKING it last night and listening carefully---no issues.
Click to expand...

Cool. I remember the very early discussion on this, but I guess things changed a bit with his opinion. Luckily, I've not been motivated to mess with port blocking at all. For my particular basses and heads, the low end is voiced perfectly, and I have enough EQ power to add or subtract a touch of low end at the preamp if needed for the room.
 
#803
When calculating my 15' cab I found a good reason not to plan to do it as a "practical operating mode":

Full port: No problem. It is supposed to be properly calculated. In order to avoid a lot of volume lost in port, port section should not be much larger than required (large section results in longer port length, voulme increases a lot). But it should be large enough to avoid wind noises in the port (Normally ports are designed to limit vent air velocity to a fraction of sound speed, I cannot remember if the standard factor is 1/10).

Port closed: No problem with vent air velocity. No vent!

Port half open: With 1/2 the section air velocity can be much higher and cause noises. It will happen whenever the full port is not overdesigned (resulting in a smaller effective volume at a given box size).

So at least in my case it is not valid to close one of the 3 openings if I want to get a good sound at full power.
 
#804
KJung said:
... Luckily, I've not been motivated to mess with port blocking at all. For my particular basses and heads, the low end is voiced perfectly, and I have enough EQ power to add or subtract a touch of low end at the preamp if needed for the room.
Click to expand...

I just was listening to your interesting YouTube clips and wondering if the plugs were in or out?

I asked Duke once about the switches, but lost my "note to self" on one of those flyaway 3x5 cards.

Anybody help me there?

I gigged with my TC outside at an art walk Saturday evening; it was great to know there was more if I needed it.

One thing you can say about outside, it's just, well, so big!
 
#805
Lee Barker said:
I just was listening to your interesting YouTube clips and wondering if the plugs were in or out?

I asked Duke once about the switches, but lost my "note to self" on one of those flyaway 3x5 cards.

Anybody help me there?

I gigged with my TC outside at an art walk Saturday evening; it was great to know there was more if I needed it.

One thing you can say about outside, it's just, well, so big!
Click to expand...

Plugs out. Never had the motivation to use them. I guess in a difficult room with DB, there might be occasions to really roll off that low end by using both port plugs.

On one of the clips, I have the top end roll-off switch engaged (the 'jazz' clip with the green Alleva-Coppolo LG). All the others are full range.

If you are asking what the switches do, the 'on/off' switch is just that.... turns the horn completely off. Not sure if anyone would ever use that. The top switch is the treble roll-off. Up is full range. Down rolls of the top end starting around 3.5K, which gives the cab a kind of 'one way with no tweeter' type vibe. If you turn the horn all the way off, you don't get the woofer performing at full range, due to the relatively low crossover point.
 
#806
KJung said:
Cool. I remember the very early discussion on this, but I guess things changed a bit with his opinion.
Click to expand...

Yes Ken, until reports like Mike's started coming in, I was advising people to use either both plugs or none. But it now sounds like my caution was in over-abundance.

parapentep70 said:
....Full port: Port half open: With 1/2 the section air velocity can be much higher and cause noises. It will happen whenever the full port is not overdesigned (resulting in a smaller effective volume at a given box size).
Click to expand...

The increased likelihood of insufficient port area for undistorted full power operation is one of the drawbacks to plugging one port. The lowered tuning frequency, in and of itself, can also present problems as now the reduction in cone motion from the port's backpressure drops down in frequency, and we could get fartout from overexcursion in the first overtone region. I'll have to see if I get reports of chuffing or fartout, as now the cone motion up around the first overtone of the lowest notes will be greater.

Now there is something that works in our favor as far as the chuffing threshold goes: The fundamentals of bass guitar notes, down around our 37 Hz one-port tuning frequency, are not at full power. As a ballpark guess, I estimate that no more than 1/3 of the wattage is going into the fundamental. If such is the case, we might not get chuffing from a low-B on a 500-watt amp, especially since the flared ports I use theoretically raise the chuffing threshold by a couple of dB.

That being said, keeping the port area plenty large enough to stay well away from port compression (pre-chuffing) results in better impact. The one-port-plugged mode is certainly not ideal, but in some cases might be a lesser of evils in a boomy room.
 
#807
Duke advises that his supplier/contractor issues have finally been resolved, he's working on another batch of Thunderchild cabs, and mine will likely ship early next week.

I am PUMPED! The last time I was this excited about the arrival of a new toy, was when I was putting the final touches on the 5-string in my sig, back in 1994...
 
#810
I have a gig coming up that is a perfect example of why I love this cab SO much. I'm gigging at a large hotel in downtown St. Louis, right next to the ballpark. On game night, you literally have to park blocks away from the venue, and the hotel will not let you bring 'big gear' in through the lobby (making load in a mess, and especially load out at the end of the gig).

With the Thunderchild on my small Kart-a-bag Concorde III cart (which has bunjee cords and 'curb walkers' built in), my Markbass F500, a small bass stand strapped/sitting on top of the cab, and my bass on my back (in this case, my Sadowsky J bass, which sounds scary good through this rig), I can walk many blocks from my parking spot with very little effort, walk in the front door of the venue (since the entire rig is about the size of a carry on bag), AND (here is the key) sound GREAT on even a relatively large gig (i.e., full, loud tone with real bottom at surprising volume).

Very few other small cabs, and IMO NO other small cab the same size as the Thunderchild can even come close to this combination of portability, efficiency, and full performance with real low end at moderate/high volumes.

Thank you Duke!:bassist:
 
#811
^I gotta get one of those carts. After a good amount of time with the TCAF, my only real complaint is the handle. TC is by no means a "heavy" cab, but it is pretty uncomfortable to carry any more than, say, a block... My wrist cramps, my forearm/elbow kinda strains and it's just... slightly awkward to carry for some reason. Maybe it's just me...? I definitely prefer the side "scoop" handles on the other cabs I've owned, but I can understand that it wasn't a good option for this cab as it would cut into cab volume and the cab would need to be slightly larger to compensate (correct me if I'm wrong on this thought). This issue is such a big deal for me that I have to drop my otherwise 10/10 rating of the cab down a full point to 9/10. Otherwise I love pretty much everything about it.
 
#812
Wait...let me see if I got this right:
You don't like the handle as is, but, you like the cab's size, and admit that the handles you do like wouldn't work out for this application, and therefore want to take away points?

I'm not with you there!

I'd say you probably need a hand cart anyway, and ought to go with ''love the cab, and i'm getting a cart for when I need to carry it block and blocks at a time, cause carrying anything blocks and blocks at a time sucks"
 
#813
thudfromafar said:
^I gotta get one of those carts. After a good amount of time with the TCAF, my only real complaint is the handle. TC is by no means a "heavy" cab, but it is pretty uncomfortable to carry any more than, say, a block... My wrist cramps, my forearm/elbow kinda strains and it's just... slightly awkward to carry for some reason. Maybe it's just me...? I definitely prefer the side "scoop" handles on the other cabs I've owned, but I can understand that it wasn't a good option for this cab as it would cut into cab volume and the cab would need to be slightly larger to compensate (correct me if I'm wrong on this thought). This issue is such a big deal for me that I have to drop my otherwise 10/10 rating of the cab down a full point to 9/10. Otherwise I love pretty much everything about it.
Click to expand...

+1... get a cart! The beauty of the Kart-a-bag carts (the Concorde III (edit: had the name wrong... fixed it) is the one that is optimal for this cab and a small head) is that with the super high end quality/durability, the built in bunjees, and most importantly, the very good stair walkers that let you easily go over curbs and up a few stairs without unloading, is that it makes the schlep a dream.

I wouldn't want to carry any cab more than a block. I love the handle design myself, but even at a relatively lightweight 34 pounds, that would be too much weight. For a quick trip into a club from a parking lot, it works quite well, and the fact that micro heads don't bobble around on the top makes me VERY happy with that handle design.
 
#815
I list these carts along with the Sonic Turbo Tuner as almost 'life changing' pieces of gear, so far above the competition as to be almost a different category of product.

Just for illustration, here is a picture of my 'large gig rig' (the Bergantino AE212, the F500, and a full Hercules hanging type stand) on the larger Kart-a-bag Super 600, ready to schlep. The Concorde III looks exactly the same, but is much smaller and lighter. You can see the little Concorde III cart folded in the background next to the Thunderchild.

You can see the metal stair walkers on the back of the cart, and the bunjee system on the top

AE212Schlepp.gif
 
#816
thudfromafar said:
^I gotta get one of those carts. After a good amount of time with the TCAF, my only real complaint is the handle. TC is by no means a "heavy" cab, but it is pretty uncomfortable to carry any more than, say, a block...
Click to expand...

I almost never have occasion to do that. The top handle works great for me, carrying a two space rack case (@ ~12 lbs.) in one hand and the cab in the other. I can never really quite get to a convenient one trip load like Ken does anyway -- but I still own a cart and one day I'm sure I'll use it again.;)

In any case, side handles are an option if a two handed carry seems better for whatever reason.
 
#818
KJung said:
I wouldn't want to carry any cab more than a block. I love the handle design myself, but even at a relatively lightweight 34 pounds, that would be too much weight. For a quick trip into a club from a parking lot, it works quite well, and the fact that micro heads don't bobble around on the top makes me VERY happy with that handle design.
Click to expand...

The handle design is great, but sometimes I wish there was a strap handle on the side as well...but that's because I have two flights of narrow stairs when I get home at night, when I have to provide some lift to clear the steps. Otherwise, a cart is NBD, when required, for any cabinet.
 
#819
Joebone said:
The handle design is great, but sometimes I wish there was a strap handle on the side as well...but that's because I have two flights of narrow stairs when I get home at night, when I have to provide some lift to clear the steps. Otherwise, a cart is NBD, when required, for any cabinet.
Click to expand...

Narrow stairs can be a drag. That handle that Chef posted would work great... just woodscrew in one on each side. Andy uses that handle as his 'top handle' on the Acme12's, and while not as comfortable as Duke's, it works fine. High quality handles, and they won't mess with the interior of the cab.
 
#820
I had Duke add a screw-on bottom handle on mine to double as a tilt-back device and a second carry point... however, he had to modify that handle dramatically to work. I need to get a Concorde III at some point, as it'd make the overall haul easier.
 
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