AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

[PawleeP]

lmao... nice

 

[Dee-man]

I'm hoping that "sound coming from everywhere" characteristic takes us into new territory. That's sort of like what I hear from a good open-back guitar cab, and I'm hoping the Changeling cabs will be a bass-cab-equivalent, or pretty close anyway, but without the drawbacks that an open-back guitar cab has: poor low-end definition, and sometimes too much stage volume.

OMG, I can't keep up! Before I only had port envy (having only 1 instead of 3). Now I've got rear vents and chamber envy too!

For those looking for that "sound coming from everywhere" characteristic, I just got a Birdhaus 46 (4 6" drivers - 2 in front and 1 on each side) that does that very well, especially if you elevate the cab. Very clear and articulate but not sterile, and not lacking in the low end on a 4 string. Duke very kindly made me a "cheater switch" so I could turn on/off the "cheater circuit" that adds a little top end. Works great and is a nice feature (sorry, Duke, if that was supposed to be a secret). Surprisingly, Duke's cabs work very well to put the B46 on , and the H1203 gave it plenty of nice booty, as you would expect. I only played at living room volumes, so I'm not sure how they'll do together at louder volumes (the B46 is 300w, while the H1203 is 500w), but I'm looking forward to finding out! Also can't wait to hear out it sounds with my ABG, which is what I got it for. So far, looks like yet another great cab from a great guy to deal with (anyone know what he likes to drink, btw?).

Thanks! DM

 

[steubig]

Duke, I've got a TC115 v.1 narrow cab. I've always thought that it was a 4 ohm cab. Looking at steubig's chart he's got it listed as 8 ohms. Which it am kind sir?

sorry. must have made a boo-boo somewhere. i'll fix it.

 

[ahc]

It's a 4 ohm cab. The woofer is a custom Kappalite with excursion and parameters about halfway in between the 3015 and 3015LF, but with a cone more like the 3015 so the top end is likewise more like the 3015.

Sorry if my cabinet generations were unclear! I may have been inconsistent, and probably was.

Thanks Duke! That's what I thought. And the description of the woofer is what I sort of remember too.

sorry. must have made a boo-boo somewhere. i'll fix it.

No prob steubig. Just wanted to see if my CRS had gotten any worse.

 

[PawleeP]

what size speaker is the one on back?

 

[Om Flyer]

what size speaker is the one on back?

When is a Hathor 1203 not a Hathor 1203? Ans: when the cab has been upgraded with a rear firing 3 and still has all the features of the H1203.

 

[Passinwind]

what size speaker is the one on back?

When is a Hathor 1203 not a Hathor 1203? Ans: when the cab has been upgraded with a rear firing 3 and still has all the features of the H1203.

 

[tallboybass]

View attachment 1142422 View attachment 1142423 View attachment 1142424 View attachment 1142425
Here's a riddle. Give me some slack. I'm on vaycay.

When is a Hathor 1203 not a Hathor 1203? Ans: when the cab has been upgraded with a rear firing 3 and still has all the features of the H1203.

@DukeLeJeune can supply details. This "Changeling 112" arrived today. I'm pumped. A while back I mentioned to Duke that some gigs I can't hear myself well when my cab is next to me instead of behind me. With this switch-controlled rear firing speaker it sounds like the sound is coming from everywhere.

First gig with it on Thursday in a jazz quartet. Can't wait for all of us to hear the bass better.

Thanks Duke.
Some pics attached.

Oh my oh my oh my!! I would have opted for this cab while waiting for the 3-port improvement had I known! That looks to be amazing!!

Let us know what you think, post-gig.

I meant to give a little review of my 3-holer 1203 after finally gigging it with an acoustic duo. Using a P-Bass w/flats>GK MBF800>1203, it gave me plenty of low-end (2-holes open) and definition to play comfortably with acoustic guitar/singer thru PA (I was not in PA). We weren't playing loudly but it sounded phenomenal!!

For the future, I'm going to be using a mini-stack with a GB Shuttle 10T speaker on the 1203. It is shallow enough to keep the top vents unobstructed, and sounds very nice indeed! (there will likely be another AK cab added soonish)

 

[DukeLeJeune]

Oh my oh my oh my!! I would have opted for this cab while waiting for the 3-port improvement had I known!

I apologize for not telling you about it. I was behind on your cab and at the time the Changeling 112 was still some unknown distance down the road.

Anyone else who has a Hathor 1203 on order, feel free to contact me if you'd like to change it. And the 112 won't be the only cab in the Changeling line, so anyone who has something else on order, you can ask about whether/when there might be a Changeling equivalent.

 

[steubig]

the "new and improved" pseudo spread sheet of some of the different ak cabs. the numbers are based on the ak site, some stuff duke posted in this thread and then some pm back and forth i had with duke. you can also see some blank spots.

***these were up to date in december 2016 (and maybe may 2017?)

***

 

[slagheap]

So the cat is now officially out of the bag!!

My thanks to Ken and to all the rest of you who took an oath of secrecy and didn't spill any beans before the new cab - the Changeling 112 - became a reality.

If you look close at Ken's excellent photo of the back panel, you'll see a switch marked "0" and "-7". That's the shelving switch for the rear-firing mid, which is in its own little open-format chamber, identical to the one on the Hathor 1203. In the "0" position, the output of the rear-firing mid is actually about 3 dB down in level relative to the front-firing mid over most of its spectrum. At the bottom end of its spectrum, it is actually a little bit louder than the front-firing mid and rolls off a bit slower, as this gives a better blend with the woofer from its back-of-the-cab location. With the switch in the "-7" position, the rear-firing mid is shelved down by another 7 dB or so, for a total of -10 dB relative to the front-firing mid. This puts it in the same general ballpark as the rear-firing tweeter on the "acoustic friendly" versions of my Thunderchild cabs. And since I've never had anyone say that the rear-firing tweeter is too loud on those cabs, I think that the "-7" position should be sufficient attenuation for situations where stage volume is an issue.

Of course virtually everything in the world of speakers is a tradeoff, and in this case, one of the tradeoffs is portability. The rear-firing mid + associated crossover circuitry adds three pounds relative to the Hathor 1203. So I don't expect the Changeling 112 to replace the Hathor 1203.



I'm hoping that "sound coming from everywhere" characteristic takes us into new territory. That's sort of like what I hear from a good open-back guitar cab, and I'm hoping the Changeling cabs will be a bass-cab-equivalent, or pretty close anyway, but without the drawbacks that an open-back guitar cab has: poor low-end definition, and sometimes too much stage volume.



Very interested in hearing your impressions and your bandmates' as well My theory is, everyone in the band benefits from hearing the bass player, and so in turn everyone in the house benefits.



Thank you!! And we can thank Mike Arnopol for raising the dispersion bar pretty darn high.

what the hell? WOW.

 

[MarkA]

I was unloading my car and took the opportunity to snap a couple of pics of the Hathor 1203 + MAS 110 sub combo that I mentioned awhile back. I've been goofing around with it periodically, since.

I initially stacked the cabs vertically, with the 1203 (port plugged) on top and it seemed to work well. Then I tried them in a "T" with the sub on the floor. Nice, but kind of heavy in a certain region of the upper bass. Then, I got the idea to put the Ampwedge in between the cabs. Bingo -- just right. You can even tune the response of the system by angling the Hathor up more or less -- seems to influence the degree to which the cabs couple and reinforce each other (less = thicker, with more of a bump in the upper bass, more = more even and more clear). Yields a very punchy, thick-but-clear sound -- sounds good with the Hathor sideways or upright.

I have yet to try it with a band -- not sure when I'll get to do that, but not too long, I hope -- so I still can't say how they'll hold together and balance in a live mix as the volume goes up, but the response feels good; I think the tone will work well and, so far, they seem to integrate well with each other.

Playing this combo back-and-forth with my 18 Sound MAS 112, the 112 still kicks harder at the bottom of its register and, with its tweeter, is a bit more clear up top, but the Hathor+sub has more chest-hit and a rounder, more bouncy-feeling envelope. Soloed bridge pickup is thicker. I told Mike that the combo strikes me, in some ways, as a "Flex Lite" -- not a bad thing.

The 110 sub with the 46 [EDIT: referring to the MAS 46] needs to be elevated to sound its best, at least indoors (too much bass reinforcement from the floor, otherwise). The Hathor elevated (at least with the port plugged), thins out more than I like. With the sub on the floor and the wedge between the cabs, though, the balance through the registers is good. Played the combo with a Glockenklang Heart Rock 2, EQ disengaged, and liked it. Also tried engaging the EQ and cutting a very little bass and low mid and liked that (for comparison, I boosted a bit of low mid with the MAS 112). I tend to use more lows and a thicker sound with a band than I do at home, though, so we'll have to see how that plays out live.

The cabs also sounded good and responded well to EQ changes with the Eich T-900, but I confess that I prefer the big Glock.

Will report again when I've tested the combo more meaningfully, but thought I'd share, meanwhile.

 

[nostatic]

Interesting. Been a long time since I had the 1-10 sub. Steubig and I did a bunch of A/B/C testing with H1203, TC112 and the MAS109. Very different cabs. The MAS was more focused and had some very interesting resonances with sustained harmonics. I ended up downsizing and the MAS was the odd man out. The H1203 remains my favorite cab of all time - the damn thing just sounds exactly how I want my basses to sound. The edge of the upper range of the 12" and the 3" add just enough grind to make me grin.

I think the Changeling will be the addition to the family. I have the same challenge (sitting right next to or on top of my rig at some gigs). The slotted 3" on the H1203 helps a lot, but more better has to be more better

 

[nostatic]

H1203 in action yesterday. Outdoor gig, second gig for the "Brazilian trio" lineup/sets. This is the Fodera 6'er, Mesa D800 head, just a bit of crunch in the tone.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Aroneng]

I was unloading my car and took the opportunity to snap a couple of pics of the Hathor 1203 + MAS 110 sub combo that I mentioned awhile back. I've been goofing around with it periodically, since.

I initially stacked the cabs vertically, with the 1203 (port plugged) on top and it seemed to work well. Then I tried them in a "T" with the sub on the floor. Nice, but kind of heavy in a certain region of the upper bass. Then, I got the idea to put the Ampwedge in between the cabs. Bingo -- just right. You can even tune the response of the system by angling the Hathor up more or less -- seems to influence the degree to which the cabs couple and reinforce each other (less = thicker, with more of a bump in the upper bass, more = more even and more clear). Yields a very punchy, thick-but-clear sound -- sounds good with the Hathor sideways or upright.

I have yet to try it with a band -- not sure when I'll get to do that, but not too long, I hope -- so I still can't say how they'll hold together and balance in a live mix as the volume goes up, but the response feels good; I think the tone will work well and, so far, they seem to integrate well with each other.

Playing this combo back-and-forth with my 18 Sound MAS 112, the 112 still kicks harder at the bottom of its register and, with its tweeter, is a bit more clear up top, but the Hathor+sub has more chest-hit and a rounder, more bouncy-feeling envelope. Soloed bridge pickup is thicker. I told Mike that the combo strikes me, in some ways, as a "Flex Lite" -- not a bad thing.

The 110 sub with the 46 [EDIT: referring to the MAS 46] needs to be elevated to sound its best, at least indoors (too much bass reinforcement from the floor, otherwise). The Hathor elevated (at least with the port plugged), thins out more than I like. With the sub on the floor and the wedge between the cabs, though, the balance through the registers is good. Played the combo with a Glockenklang Heart Rock 2, EQ disengaged, and liked it. Also tried engaging the EQ and cutting a very little bass and low mid and liked that (for comparison, I boosted a bit of low mid with the MAS 112). I tend to use more lows and a thicker sound with a band than I do at home, though, so we'll have to see how that plays out live.

The cabs also sounded good and responded well to EQ changes with the Eich T-900, but I confess that I prefer the big Glock.

Will report again when I've tested the combo more meaningfully, but thought I'd share, meanwhile.

I also have a AK1203 although it is paired up with Mike's Flex 110.

A nice pairing indeed!

 

[Ken Lloyd]

First impressions of the Changeling 112 (serial number 1)

I dig it. Some things feel right and some things seem to miss expectations.
I like this cab. I like the sound. The tonal options are way cool too. I probably have more options to configure different tones in the cab than I do in my amp. The cab is easy to carry around; the handle feels good in my hand. See pic to show the size diff between the AudioKinesis C112 and the Greenboy F112.

So a couple of first impressions, after these caveats.
Played it only two hours in two different living rooms on a holiday weekend; not on a gig yet.
Also played only my Godin A4 fretless through the cab so far; that's what I had with me on vacation this weekend. It's not my main player though I do enjoy playing fretless on jazz standards. My main player is an eight pound Lakland 55-02 and two other Lakie fivers run close second so there's lot of experimenting to do.
And last, lots of players have real world gig experience with AudioKinesis cabs and anything they say should get more weight than my first thoughts.

I came home today and thought I'd create a couple of sound files to compare the AK C112 to my GreenBoy F112. One of my expectations is that these two will pair nicely on outdoor gigs and large room gigs.

Using an iPad mini with iReal Pro as the backing track generator on All the Things You Are, Godin A4 fretless, Acoustic Image Focus 2R (fretless bass in channel one and iPad output left and right combined into channel two). These things as input into first the C112 (all switches up) and then the F112 (treble pot maxed). No changes to settings on the fretless, the iPad, the amp or anything between takes. The only change was moving the amp output Neutrik connector from one cab to the other. The recordings are on my dinky iPhone placed about four feet in front of each cab about four inches off the floor. There's noise and other amateur stuff you can hear in these rough one take recordings.

I noticed a big difference in volume between the two cabs when the switch for the rear firing 3" mid speaker was off. The diff was big enough that I had to set the switch to on to get close to even volume for the cabs, and that's how I recorded. So this brings up a question for Duke. When the rear mid is off (mostly off as you've described) does all the rest of the power go to the two front firing speakers?

And another question is this: since the C112 sounds so good with the rear 3 mid ON, would it be useful to some players to get a C112 without the switch? that is, leave all 3 speakers firing all the time; leave the other two switches and port options in place, of course. Would that give even a small bump in cab efficiency or weight change?

First file is the signal chain as described into the AKC112; second is the GBF112

*** TB wouldn't let me upload my sound files as .m4a file types.
Hope I did the conversion to mp3 correctly. ***

 

[DukeLeJeune]

First impressions of the Changeling 112 (serial number 1) I dig it. Some things feel right and some things seem to miss expectations.

Let me know where it misses! I learn more from my misses than from my hits. If it's something I can tweak, I'll do so at no charge (I cover the shipping). If not, we can undo the deal, full refund.

I noticed a big difference in volume between the two cabs when the switch for the rear firing 3" mid speaker was off. The diff was big enough that I had to set the switch to on to get close to even volume for the cabs, and that's how I recorded.

The Fearless 112 has a much louder midrange driver, and its enclosure is also about 50% bigger, which gives it a bigger low end. And since it does what it does very well, as do all of Greenboy's cabs, I've intentionally gone in a somewhat different direction. (Note that the approximate size/weight equivalent of the Changeling 112 would be the Fearless 110, which is still a much more expensive cab.)

I do have a Changeling 112T in the pipeline, the "T" being for "tall". It's 22 inches tall (same height as the Thunderchild 112). Not enough of a difference to put the low end into Greenboy territory, but still a little bit bigger low end than the 18" tall regular version.

So this brings up a question for Duke. When the rear mid is off (mostly off as you've described) does all the rest of the power go to the two front firing speakers?

Well, the front drivers don't get any louder when the rear mid is ("mostly") off, if that's what you mean. With the rear mid off, the front drivers are basically doing almost exactly what a Hathor 1203 would do. There is a very slight difference, but it's because of the attention I had to pay to the impedance curve. If the impedance drops too low, it's no longer legitimately an "8 ohm" cab.

And another question is this: since the C112 sounds so good with the rear 3 mid ON, would it be useful to some players to get a C112 without the switch? that is, leave all 3 speakers firing all the time; leave the other two switches and port options in place, of course. Would that give even a small bump in cab efficiency or weight change?

The limiting factors as far as efficiency goes really don't change if we eliminate the switch. I still need to pay attention to how much power those little mids can handle, and to the impedance curve. In my opinion the best use of the rear-firing mid comes from tailoring its output to take into account where it's located. I could reduce the crossover parts count by about 1/3 if I fed the front and rear mids the exact same signal, but we'd lose the option of having the level of the rear-firing mid switch-adjustable, because engaging the switch would change the effects of the crossover on the front-firing mid.

That being said, if experience on gigs consistently shows the switch to be superfluous, I'll rethink it.

 

[Marial]

Duke, here's a (thoroughly non-professional) example of your TC112v3 in action. SM58 on the 12, Sennheiser 421 on the horn. TH500 head. I put both my Fender Mustang PJ and Squier Strat through the rig. The 'drums' are a floor tom with a pillow on it for the kick, a snare, and a rain drum for the 'tom'. Oh, and a brass candlestick for a hi hat. Three stereo tracks of guitar, one stereo track of bass. Everything but the drums went through the amp and cab. I'm also a big fan of the Montreal Assembly Count to 5, though I think it might have been better to have the signal mixed more to the dry side of the street.

Keep in mind I'm not a drummer or a guitarist and, at this point, barely qualify as a bass player.

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[nostatic]

Cool. The Count to 5 is a pedal I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

 

[Marial]

Cool. The Count to 5 is a pedal I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

I certainly haven't found it to be particularly intuitive, but it's worth spending time with. I've lucked into a few fun settings with it (finding them again is the trick....).