AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

[nutdog]

But 1855 has such panache.

 

[Snaxster]

It's pretty hard to compare to a memory, especially one so old. We (humans) tend to severely distort our memories. But, I feel the Hathor would be your best bet for modern cabs if you're going to compare something new to that old memory.

Hello. Seemingly true, as stated. However, in my life experience (and related work), I find that there is more to it. Though I am not a cognitive scientist or memory specialist, I think that adult humans normally do not retain memories as isolated events. Rather their memories contribute to an experience model.

That model is not static, and in turn it does not exist isolated from the human's past, present, or sense of future. Either the model is the ultimate comparison calculator or it is the resource for such a cognitive organ. Either way, as the human's experiences are added to the model, it grows not only in additive density, but (most important) in complexity; of relational data in many dimensions, and of utility.

If true, then my "memory" of my old V4B can be nearly as vivid now as my firsthand experience of it was back then... when my current experiential context demands it.

Years ago, as a budding perfume collector, I coined the term for myself "the direct sense" of the human olfactory capacity. Our sense of smell enables us to be instantly transported to the immediate moment of some prior personal experience, however distant (similar to déjà vu). I think that though it is distinguished among the main human senses, the olfactory sense is not unique; that all of human cognition, whether triggered by sensory perception, recall, intuition, or whatever, is wired for vivid recollection.

 

[Snaxster]

That's how it felt to play bass guitar at a CBGB gig 25 to 30 years ago, standing near the big*ss, vertical side fill: your sound (bass, etc., amp) magnified to affect complete immersion for the player.

Sometimes I quip that if a band couldn't sound good in the house at CBGB, then they couldn't sound good anywhere. But the same was true on stage at CBGB, for the rhythm section anyway.

Several years apart, I met two of my main bass guitar teachers opening for them at "CB's". The second I noticed pacing the edge of the stage from the audience, studying me and smiling broadly. After my set, someone told me "Hey, [name withheld] said he really dug your sound." That night I was playing my first Tobias, a fretted 5-string Basic, maybe through my former tweaked V4B stack.

That V4B stack remains a bass amp benchmark for me. I recall that I had high headroom EV drivers swapped into it. Better than my blackface SVT, or anything else I happened to own, record or gig with, that V4B was so interactive, harmonically nuanced, and beautifully, brutally, and usefully loud. Would I like it as much now, more than 20 years on, after years of back problems, and in light of the subsequent major advancements in bass guitar amplification? I don't know.

Though I will be comparing it to an old memory, my upcoming 3-way Hathor 1855 is meant to help replace that V4B as my all-around favorite large bass amp. I plan to use it with subtractive synthesizers, too.

How cool. That sounds like a peak life experience for sure.

Something tells me that your new Hathor will be "all that"...and more; something that will exceed even the rosy memory of your V4B cab. But now the all-important question: Which amp head do you have in mind? One that can truly do justice to the H1855?

Methinks there's probably only a handful of them that can do justice to the H1855 100%...although the Hathor will probably make most amp heads sound better than they usually do, so there's that as well.

So do you still live in the NYC metro area? And if so, where the heck would you be able to crank up an H1855...and let it run wild 'til it tires itself out?

MM

Hello Michael. If by "truly do justice" you mean an amp with the output specs to match, then currently I don't own such an amp. Related to your question and my answer, of course, is that I have no need for such a high SPL bass amp now.

I do own an old Acoustic Image Focus 1 Series III, whose 800 watts at 4 ohms (RMS? does it matter in my case?) will at least let me test the Hathor somewhat respectably. But after that one test, I will be content to use a fraction of the Hathor's capacity. I assume that the Hathor's dual strengths are quantity and quality. It is the quality I am after; in general and especially now, when I can use the Hathor only at low volumes. High headroom should contribute to the quality, which certainly will not be an issue for my low volume scenario.

For that use case (which the TalkBass community derisively would call my bedroom sound), I will use one channel of a QSC PLX1104, whose 550 watts at 4 ohms should give me enough headroom for dynamic playing at low speaker volumes, while driving the Hathor hard enough to let is sound good. If that proves untrue, then I will either store or sell the Hathor. For a main preamp, I switch between a Jule Amps Monique and a Kern IP-777, both loaded with vintage tubes from my collection (which my ears tell me does make an important difference... to me).

I live in the USA continental area. But no, for now I will not get to hear my Hathor fully do its thing.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Sadly, the days of my AK being on stage behind me may be limited.
Both of my bands are edging to IEMs for all gigs. It'll take awhile, but until we get there, the AK will be used. Once we're there though, nada. It'll still be used at rehearsals and while practicing at home, but it almost feels overkill for that, so I may downsize to one of Duke's smaller offerings.
Sigh.

I can swear by the Hathor 1203's. I've only used mine a few times but it is phenomenal for the size, weight, and price. I'm in line for a second H1203 and should get it later this month. Something you might consider before going totally IEM is that it's nice to have a little bit of vibration on stage for yourself. Maybe the H1203's would give you that little bit of presence you might miss if you were totally IEM.

Never say never. As soon as you take that direction before you know it you might be invited to a gig that's pretty upscale and important to your career and you'll have to bring your own gear, with no monitoring except through stage monitors. Having a couple small H1203's behind you will give you that little authoritative oomph that may help your performance. Besides the cabs are small and hardly take any room at all. I can load two in my back seat or trunk of my Toyota Corolla! My 2 cents.

 

[Selta]

Oh, I won't be cabless at all. We won't run the IEM setup at rehearsal, and I definitely won't at home, either. I've done enough IEM-only gigs to know that I like it a lot more than any other setup out there, and it's the direction we're taking. I'll probably keep the TC118 just so I don't have to sell/buy a new cab at all.

I don't do call gigs or anything like that. I'm happy with the two bands I'm in now - if they both fizzle out, I'll just be going to a solo type career and doing recording only. It would take a lot to make me go play a call gig - and even then, I'd still just take along my IEM setup (which can be split from the full band IEM setup very easily). I don't do cover bands, party bands, corporate bands or anything like that at all. Just not my thing. I can't see a gig at all where I couldn't take my own IEM setup and totally ignore anything any venue has.

 

[DukeLeJeune]

that looks cool. i get it, but as long as duke was designing a cab for the people on the stage to hear, i was suggesting that he not leave out one person... i know a small cab like this would be great with upright bass, and the size gigs i play. generally, i dont care what the people in the audience think of the group. im playing for the people on the stage. criticize that all you want, but its becoming a reality in the modern jazz scene, and this seems like a perfect use for what duke has in mind for the birdhaus. something small, for the tiny stages where the amp is practically between your legs and the ride cymbal is hitting your elbow and if you're not careful the violin corner on your bass will start playing the high notes on the piano. i think the hathor would be too big for this, based on my experience with the thunderchild.

How much space would you need for the amp? An up-firing driver takes up more real estate than the Hathor-style mid-chamber vents, so there may be a tradeoff between keeping the cab's footprint small enough for a tight stage and having enough space for the amp.

 

[loopee]

Well, I find myself in a difficult spot right now......I turned 65 and have a really bad back, arthritis, etc. I haven't gigged in quite a few years since my band broke up and I never really found another. Even though I had 2 Thundertots 112 custom made for me 6 years ago and loved them completely and had Duke custom build them (without horn)so they are light (25 lbs) but they've been sitting in my den for over 4 years doing nothing, it's not fair, they should be played. Every once in a while I plug into them because they sound so good. The band I was in broke up soon after I got my Tots and in the house I usually use headphones thru my amp head (neighbours). I've used the Tots for 6 gigs in the last 6 years. I've been playing at jams and they have a bass amp there so I don't need to carry anything other than my bass. There's no point keeping them. The speakers have barely been broken in (maybe 30/40 hrs all told). I really don't want to sell them and I thought maybe I could just sell one and keep the other and exchange the 8 ohm speaker for a 4 ohm that way I could still use my 500w head and at least have a rig in case I need one. Thinking of putting them in the classifieds but don't want to ship them (pretty expensive, Post Office keeps raising their rates) and would prefer a local sale. So just testing the waters to see if anyone would be interested.....I'm in BC.

In case you don't know about ThunderTots.....they are 112 ThunderChild cabs without the horn. So they are shorter than the TC and weigh 25 lbs each. They were perfect for me and still would be but they need to get played and not be den art.

I'm trying to decide whether I should put then in the classified....

 

[shwashwa]

How much space would you need for the amp? An up-firing driver takes up more real estate than the Hathor-style mid-chamber vents, so there may be a tradeoff between keeping the cab's footprint small enough for a tight stage and having enough space for the amp.

Hey duke thanks for the reply. Well my amp is pretty small, it's a Walter Woods. But amp heads don't necessarily have to go on top of speaker cabinets

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Well, I find myself in a difficult spot right now......I turned 65 and have a really bad back, arthritis, etc. I haven't gigged in quite a few years since my band broke up and I never really found another. Even though I had 2 Thundertots 112 custom made for me 6 years ago and loved them completely and had Duke custom build them (without horn)so they are light (25 lbs) but they've been sitting in my den for over 4 years doing nothing, it's not fair, they should be played. Every once in a while I plug into them because they sound so good. The band I was in broke up soon after I got my Tots and in the house I usually use headphones thru my amp head (neighbours). I've used the Tots for 6 gigs in the last 6 years. I've been playing at jams and they have a bass amp there so I don't need to carry anything other than my bass. There's no point keeping them. The speakers have barely been broken in (maybe 30/40 hrs all told). I really don't want to sell them and I thought maybe I could just sell one and keep the other and exchange the 8 ohm speaker for a 4 ohm that way I could still use my 500w head and at least have a rig in case I need one. Thinking of putting them in the classifieds but don't want to ship them (pretty expensive, Post Office keeps raising their rates) and would prefer a local sale. So just testing the waters to see if anyone would be interested.....I'm in BC.

In case you don't know about ThunderTots.....they are 112 ThunderChild cabs without the horn. So they are shorter than the TC and weigh 25 lbs each. They were perfect for me and still would be but they need to get played and not be den art.

I'm trying to decide whether I should put then in the classified....

I'm very curious. Would you mind posting a picture of your cabs, @loopee ? I'm always interested in anything Duke creates.. Thanks

 

[emjazz]

Sounds like an amazing small gig cab!

 

[El Spearo]

Looks like I'm going to start saving for a couple of Hator 1203s, sounds like a perfect modular solution that would cover pretty much all my needs...

 

[JimmyM]

Well, I find myself in a difficult spot right now......I turned 65 and have a really bad back, arthritis, etc. I haven't gigged in quite a few years since my band broke up and I never really found another. Even though I had 2 Thundertots 112 custom made for me 6 years ago and loved them completely and had Duke custom build them (without horn)so they are light (25 lbs) but they've been sitting in my den for over 4 years doing nothing, it's not fair, they should be played. Every once in a while I plug into them because they sound so good. The band I was in broke up soon after I got my Tots and in the house I usually use headphones thru my amp head (neighbours). I've used the Tots for 6 gigs in the last 6 years. I've been playing at jams and they have a bass amp there so I don't need to carry anything other than my bass. There's no point keeping them. The speakers have barely been broken in (maybe 30/40 hrs all told). I really don't want to sell them and I thought maybe I could just sell one and keep the other and exchange the 8 ohm speaker for a 4 ohm that way I could still use my 500w head and at least have a rig in case I need one. Thinking of putting them in the classifieds but don't want to ship them (pretty expensive, Post Office keeps raising their rates) and would prefer a local sale. So just testing the waters to see if anyone would be interested.....I'm in BC.

In case you don't know about ThunderTots.....they are 112 ThunderChild cabs without the horn. So they are shorter than the TC and weigh 25 lbs each. They were perfect for me and still would be but they need to get played and not be den art.

I'm trying to decide whether I should put then in the classified....

We can all use a few bucks, I'm sure, but your cabs don't mind sitting there till you need them I am so glad you're still hanging in there and playing some, though. I know you've been through a lot over the years pain-wise, but it sure is inspiring that you're still playing through it all.

 

[loopee]

We can all use a few bucks, I'm sure, but your cabs don't mind sitting there till you need them I am so glad you're still hanging in there and playing some, though. I know you've been through a lot over the years pain-wise, but it sure is inspiring that you're still playing through it all.

Thank you JimmyM......yes, you are right....I didn't give up and if I were in a band now I'd still do it (though I'd give in and get the guys to carry the cabs but I can still deal with the bass and pedalboard)......I always carried my weight and my rig and paid my share equally with my bandmates

 

[loopee]

I'm very curious. Would you mind posting a picture of your cabs, @loopee ? I'm always interested in anything Duke creates.. Thanks

sure.....I have to find my camera....lol....really....lol.....I'll have some up within a few hours.....thanks for asking.....by the way, I also have covers for them......

 

[loopee]

Sounds like an amazing small gig cab!

Are you referring to the ThunderTots? Small and medium gigs.....with PA you can do big gigs too......They both are rated at 450w....I use a 500watt head but you can use a 900w head too.......you can take them anywhere.....

 

[emjazz]

Are you referring to the ThunderTots? Small and medium gigs.....with PA you can do big gigs too......They both are rated at 450w....I use a 500watt head but you can use a 900w head too.......you can take them anywhere.....

I was indeed referring to your cabs. Wish I had some extra money. I would LOVE one of those cabs. Could you PM a price just in case? I have a newer TC112V3 and it's incredible. Yours would be even better for rehearsals and carrying to gigs in the city.

 

[loopee]

Here's a pic with my GK MB Fusion 500

 

[loopee]

We can all use a few bucks, I'm sure, but your cabs don't mind sitting there till you need them I am so glad you're still hanging in there and playing some, though. I know you've been through a lot over the years pain-wise, but it sure is inspiring that you're still playing through it all.

A few bucks? You're telling me.....I just put $919 on repairing my car today......thank the Almighty for credit cards (or maybe not?)

They've been sitting there for a few years already.....but I am reluctant to let them go frankly

I have a Marshall JCM900 that's been in the corner of my den since 1998, and a few other amps and guitars and basses and pedals so it wouldn't take much to keep those too but comes a time when the den will have to get cleaned up......maybe I'll let go of all my guitar stuff first.....lol....hmmmm....now I'm having 2nd thoughts.....

 

[staccatogrowl]

Yeah, Marshalls come and go. . and that firebreather has been sitting in a den corner for close to 20 years? Eeeeegads, loopee.

Duke's cabs, however, are definitely worth keeping, especially if you found the formula needed to achieve "your tone." Keep the tots together and use just one if cartage is an issue. Plus, the opportunity to use both together might be just around the corner, and maybe it's the best opportunity yet.

 

[steubig]

I was indeed referring to your cabs. Wish I had some extra money. I would LOVE one of those cabs. Could you PM a price just in case? I have a newer TC112V3 and it's incredible. Yours would be even better for rehearsals and carrying to gigs in the city.

it would be interesting to know the dimensions on the thunder tots. i wonder if they're that much smaller than the hathor 1203 (which is a great travel be my metro cabinet for l.a.).