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AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

#2,081
N. Kentucky Bass said:
Very interesting! I really liked the Crazy88. Still have three Crazy8s -- two are the mains in my home studio PA and one is the floor monitor. I use the latter for acoustic bass at smaller gigs. The Crazy88 started getting into the volume range of a 210 but wasn't robust enough for electric bass ... or maybe I should say was too "polite" when I wanted some girth. I did like the tweeter in the Crazy88 - especially for acoustic bass. Overall a very clean, clear tone.

Your concept here might have more value with a tweeter, at least for some players who like having the full range option.
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Thanks for posting your thoughts! You may very well be right about the tweeter... actually that would be three tweeters, so it would complicate the build, and introduce the need for a crossover. I want to get some feedback on the basic format first.

Also, arguably my Thunderchild cabs are already doing much of what the Birdhaus w/Tweets would do, just not over as wide an area.

My thinking was, for bass players who want a woofer-only cab, the Birdhaus format would offer the thing they've been missing: Dispersion of their upper mids. So I think the biggest step up would be for those guys, and then for bass players who are already into cabs with mids and/or tweets, any improvement would probably be a much smaller increment.

I do have a small fullrange (woofer + tweet) unusually-wide-dispersion cab in the works, but it will be aimed more at double bass players, and will be closer to a 110 in output capability.

N. Kentucky Bass said:
Regarding that 4x8 Birdhaus, how does it perform sonically outdoors as compared to inside a room? Any particular benefits/drawbacks in either setting? Also, can you suggest where this one might go volume wise compared to other cabs (traditional 210, 410, or your TC cabs)? Thanks.
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That's a good question, about how it would work outdoors. My guess is that out front it would be about the same SPL as a Crazy 88 except that it won't have the highs, but then down low where the output of the side-firing woofers wraps around and reinforces, it would be 3-6 dB louder than a Crazy 88 in the same outdoor setting.

On paper, it looks like the Birdhaus will be about 2 dB less efficient than the Faital 15PR400, but will handle twice the power, so it will theoretically go 1 dB louder (pretty much negligible), a bit higher, and over a wider angle. I think it may also have more impact, if the higher BL from the four powerful little motors does what I'm hoping.
 
#2,082
gmarcus said:
Hey Duke

Glad to see you are building the Birdhaus! Sounds like the idea that you bounced off of me last year. I like the form factor with the 8' speakers. I checked the link in your sig to your experimental speakers. That 18" 26hz monster is a trip! That could be the ultimate Dub cab. I bet the electronic music kids would love it, but then again they usually just use a massive PA system.
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Yes, some ideas are finally turning into cabs, or at least prototype cabs.

The experimental monster needs EQ to deliver at 26 Hz, but on paper, it looks feasible. Actually I think it's even a 20 Hz cab if one so chooses, theoretically delivering 119 dB at that frequency with EQ. I don't think it's really been tested out yet though. I think it's more of a "sub contra bass" cab than a "bass cab", as its targets are an octave or more lower than normal. And nothing about that additional octave is cheap to deliver.
 
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#2,083
shrigg said:
Amp shopping time... Puma 500 or TH500 with my Hathor 1203?
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Depends on what you are looking for. If you're looking for transparent, both of these are not the right choice then.

If transparency doesn't matter then it's just a matter of preference. Eq's on both do quite a bit. I had both and I preferred the Puma. Again a matter of preference.

The Puma seemed a bit dark to me but definitely can get old school and a bit hifi.

The Th500 had more of that vintage vibe going and does have that mid growl (puma does as well). I just didn't prefer the th500 live.

For me, the better choice was the puma for a few reasons. Obvious tonality that fit my needs. But I liked the bass frequency centered I believe at 30hz too. It was helpful for those stages where you wanted to roll off that low end rumble. The taste knob is the magic sauce for me. A lot of spice in there for various tones. Also the aux input, headphone circuit is great for quiet practice with an MP3 player. The DI sounds fantastic. And another cool feature was that I was able to plug my keys into the fx return, and not lose my bass signal plugged into the preamp. I wanted to avoid the eq of the Puma for my keys and I was able to do that. Pretty neat.

My two cents anyway. :)
And for the record the 1203's have sounded fantastic with any amp I have thrown at it. Absolutely killer cabs!
 
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#2,085
Next week marks four happy years with my TC112AF, but no such stability holds on the amp side. If it ain't broke, fix it anyway!

HalfrackstackTC112AF.jpg


Those are just placeholder front panels, the real ones will be a little larger and hopefully a lot prettier. The new 650 watt ICE module seems like a really nice match with the AK cab so far -- clean headroom, yay! Wonder how it'd sound into four 8s? Link Removed
 
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#2,086
Passinwind said:
Next week marks four happy years with my TC112AF, but no such stability holds on the amp side. If it ain't broke, fix it anyway!

HalfrackstackTC112AF.jpg


Those are just placeholder front panels, the real ones will be a little larger and hopefully a lot prettier. The new 650 watt ICE module seems like a really nice match with the AK cab so far -- clean headroom, yay! Wonder how it'd sound into four 8s? Link Removed
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The mark of a true mad scientist is putting the Neutrik Speakon connector on the front panel. Or putting speakers on the side of the cab.
 
#2,087
N. Kentucky Bass said:
The mark of a true mad scientist is putting the Neutrik Speakon connector on the front panel. Or putting speakers on the side of the cab.
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Haha, if the shoe fits...! The alternative is spinning the power amp 90 degrees and calling it a side panel:

Halfrackstack_splayed.jpg


This is all because I was married to a certain case style before this particular power amp module popped up, and the module was very painstakingly designed to keep the power and speaker ports as far away from each other as possible. Form follows function, chapter 42.
 
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#2,088
Passinwind said:
Haha, if the shoe fits...! The alternative is spinning the power amp 90 degrees and calling it a side panel:

Halfrackstack_splayed.jpg


This is all because I was married to a certain case style before this particular power amp module popped up, and the module was very painstakingly designed to keep the power and speaker ports as far away from each other as possible. Form follows function, chapter 42.
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I have to admit that is quite sexy looking!
 
#2,089
Auditioned a new-to-me G-K MBFusion head with the TC112 AF today.

I love the way this cab makes every amp sound good, while faithfully revealing the subtle details...

I have tried a lot of signal chains to date: Focusrite ISA One, Steinberg UR44, Genz Streamliner 600/900 and Shuttle 9.0, TC BG250, G-K MB 200/500/800, Demeter 800 power amp with Monique pre, SWR headlite, and Mesa scout.

I still need some quality gig time with it, but I think the Fusion may supplant my previous favourite, the MB800.
 
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#2,090
steve_rolfeca said:
Auditioned a new-to-me G-K MBFusion head with thI e TC112 AF today.

I love the way this cab makes every amp sound good, while faithfully revealing the subtle details...

I have tried a lot of signal chains to date: Focusrite ISA One, Steinberg UR44, Genz Streamliner 600/900 and Shuttle 9.0, TC BG250, G-K MB 200/500/800, Demeter 800 power amp with Monique pre, SWR headlite, and Mesa scout.

I still need some quality gig time with it, but I think the Fusion may supplant my previous favourite, the MB800.
Click to expand...

My experience last night provided another perspective on this same amp/cab combo - the MB Fusion 500 has been my go-to gig amp for about 4 years now. I recently picked up a TC 115 AF (thanks, GMarcus!) with very few miles on the clock, and I gigged it full-out for the first time last night. Now, I know the MBF-500 very well and in truth have yet to find a cab that it doesn't sound good with - and this cab was no exception. At the start of the night, I thought the E & A strings sounded a little too meaty vs the D & G, but adding the 2 plugs to the 4 ports evened that balance out amazingly - I've never before had the opportunity to try such a thing on a gig, but it's a great feature!

I have to say, this cab is one og the best fits yet I've gigged for the MBF head ...on a par with my MVW 12" sub cab - solid from top to bottom, articulate and clear as well. I had the the cab's mid-cut switch off (all the way up) - the native voice of this cab unfiltered is full-range without the harshness of tweeterism. I was a little worried whether the horn would fill out the upper mids in a nice way, but I was truly pleased. Yes, I'm sure the back-firing tweeter was in the mix somewhere, but this gig was way too loud for that subtlety to come though - I guess that would be a quieter gig; this was rock!

It's impressive that any 1-15" was able to handle that gig by itself without PA support, and with ease. I was very impressed! ....I will be selling off other cabs! Tom
 
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#2,091
shrigg said:
Amp shopping time... Puma 500 or TH500 with my Hathor 1203?
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I haven't tried the Puma. Just a personal observation: I love the TH500 with the 1203 pair. The Tone Hammer is just fun. I use it for all rehearsals and small "party" type gigs. To me, it is so easy to get a good tone with my P basses and 1203s. It also sounds good with my Aggie GS cabs.

I believe nostatic was using his Puma on the last audio files he posted.
 
#2,095
Type-55 said:
Curious why the Puma didn't work out?
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I picked up a GK 800RB as a second rig and the 800RB blew away the Puma in terms of tone and raw, feel it in your pants power. Just the way it was voiced "seemed" louder and made my basses speak better, so I sold the Puma and rocked the lead sled. Even went to more traditional cabs just to try the old school flavor for a while. I'm over that now though... Moving that gear was NO FUN. Plus there was a significant white noise floor when the 800RB was powered on which eventually drove me nuts playing in the studio. So I'm back full circle with my svelte Hathors and looking at micros. :cool:
 
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#2,097
#2,099
Kxb500 arrived yesterday but I don't have cabs to try it out. Hathors due next month. I also gave heavy tube amp, cab consideration but then I remembered how lazy I am. If I like the kustom, great, if not I'll have an inexpensive backup for whatever is next.
 
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