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AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

How loud your band plays. How loud you play. Who needs to hear what your cab is producing. Size of stage. What's coming through the monitors.

Tough to say. The TC212 handled my outdoor pool party gig with no problem. The 115 would have, too. Pop/dance music with PA. But we were up against a wall, fairly close together with an awning over our heads creating kind of a cavern of a stage open on the front. And we don't try to hurt people.:)

Fair enough, we are not loud and will be playing here in the Rocky Mountains at around 6,500 feet, no P.A. support, on the side of a mountain. I'll give it a shot.
 
My TC115 did great on my outdoor gig but it was not as large a gig as I thought it would be. We did play outdoors but it was in kind of a courtyard area so we did not play that loud. I will say the cab sounded great ! Also I love the handles on the cab which makes it so easy to carry. I ended having to carry my cab some distance and I love the side handles has 4 locations for your hands.
 
The TC115 absolutely killed yesterday! I am amazed at the tone, sound and projection of this cabinet, and I have never sounded better. We played on a cement pad on the back of a huge log lodge with a grassy rise in front of us. I had the TC115 about 18" from the lodge wall next to the drummer, no P.A. support. The last pedal on my board before the LMII was an Fdeck 3. LMII gain was 11 o'clock, master volume at 12 o'clock. Bass at 12 o'clock, low mid at 2 o'clock, high mid and treble at 12 o'clock,

My tone was massive even at a relatively low volume. The drummer said he had never heard me so clearly (even though at practice I have a 102hf vertically set right next to and pointed at him). A bassist in the crowd said my sound completely covered the hill/slope the crowd was sitting on. The lead player was farthest away from me, about 15 feet to the right and 10 feet in front of the TC115, he also runs the P.A. After we packed up and were enjoying a cold one and talking about our performance, he asked me to leave the TC115 in the gig trailer and said I never need to bring another cabinet to a gig!

Duke, I get why you call these Thunderchild, I cannot imagine a better sounding cabinet. There is no hype surrounding this product, my cab journey is OVER (okay, maybe a TC112 but that's just me being greedy). And at 33 lbs, even in the middle of a back episode I was able to handle my own gear. I can't wait to gig indoors with this cab.
 
A question for Duke, or anybody else with an informed opinion: I've been a happily playing a fretless Steinberger through a 112-AF for a couple of years now.

On stage, I've been tipping it back a bit for better monitoring (helps with intonation, in particular), but recently at home I put it on a stand so that it sits about 15" off the ground, and I like that sound a lot. Is this cabinet a good candidate for elevation like this on-stage? I bet it will be, but want to hear other opinions. I don't think losing floor-coupling is (much of) an issue, as I have all the low-end response I need, even up in the air.
 
A question for Duke, or anybody else with an informed opinion: I've been a happily playing a fretless Steinberger through a 112-AF for a couple of years now.

On stage, I've been tipping it back a bit for better monitoring (helps with intonation, in particular), but recently at home I put it on a stand so that it sits about 15" off the ground, and I like that sound a lot. Is this cabinet a good candidate for elevation like this on-stage? I bet it will be, but want to hear other opinions. I don't think losing floor-coupling is (much of) an issue, as I have all the low-end response I need, even up in the air.

Give it a shot! What's the worst that can happen? ;)
 
Nice review! How did you have the FDeck 3 set?

The Fdeck was fully counterclockwise, or as I understand, 35hz.

With my happiness with the TC115 I am finally completely satisfied with all my gear. It's kind of bittersweet, I don't really know how to use Talkbass since for 14 years it's been to research or lust after gear. I cruise the forums but it feels kind of empty, its hard to explain.
 
A question for Duke, or anybody else with an informed opinion: I've been a happily playing a fretless Steinberger through a 112-AF for a couple of years now.

On stage, I've been tipping it back a bit for better monitoring (helps with intonation, in particular), but recently at home I put it on a stand so that it sits about 15" off the ground, and I like that sound a lot. Is this cabinet a good candidate for elevation like this on-stage? I bet it will be, but want to hear other opinions. I don't think losing floor-coupling is (much of) an issue, as I have all the low-end response I need, even up in the air.

I use mine this way, about 90% of the time.
 
Probably time for me to post an update.

I haven't gotten as far as I'd hoped to in bringing out the Hathor 215, obviously. But today I'm shipping both 4 ohm and 8 ohm versions of the Thunderchild 112v2, with the new wider-in-the-vertical horn, which makes it easier to hear if you're right next to the cab on a tight stage. Both versions weigh less than 30 pounds in regular configuration, and less than 31 pounds in Acoustic Friendly configuration (which adds a rear-firing tweeter at reduced level, in case you're not familiar with).

The 8 ohm version has a switch that, when engaged, puts a bit of grindy into the upper mids. Sounds like crap on program material with the switch set like that, but sounds pretty good on bass guitar, which after all is probably a higher priority for most of you. The 4 ohm woofer starts out smoother so unfortunately we don't really have that grindy option.

Since the 8 ohm version uses the stock 3012LF woofer it goes a bit lower than the more efficient 4 ohm version, which makes it a bit better suited for double-duty as a home audio speaker or home studio monitor, though the cosmetics have "mancave" written all over them.
 
Probably time for me to post an update.

I haven't gotten as far as I'd hoped to in bringing out the Hathor 215, obviously. But today I'm shipping both 4 ohm and 8 ohm versions of the Thunderchild 112v2, with the new wider-in-the-vertical horn, which makes it easier to hear if you're right next to the cab on a tight stage. Both versions weigh less than 30 pounds in regular configuration, and less than 31 pounds in Acoustic Friendly configuration (which adds a rear-firing tweeter at reduced level, in case you're not familiar with).

The 8 ohm version has a switch that, when engaged, puts a bit of grindy into the upper mids. Sounds like crap on program material, but sounds pretty good on bass guitar, which after all is probably a higher priority for most of you. The 4 ohm woofer starts out smoother so unfortunately we don't really have that grindy option.

Since the 8 ohm version uses the stock 3012LF woofer it goes a bit lower than the more efficient 4 ohm version, which makes it a bit better suited for double-duty as a home audio speaker or home studio monitor, though the cosmetics have "mancave" written all over them.

Just to clarify, how many switches do the new versions of all your Thunderchildren (115, 112-8, 112-4, 212) have (& what do they do)?
Seems like I remember the orig 112-4 had two switches - both affecting the HF driver: one for on/off & another for flat/-3db, IIRC.
 
Probably time for me to post an update.

I haven't gotten as far as I'd hoped to in bringing out the Hathor 215, obviously. But today I'm shipping both 4 ohm and 8 ohm versions of the Thunderchild 112v2, with the new wider-in-the-vertical horn, which makes it easier to hear if you're right next to the cab on a tight stage. Both versions weigh less than 30 pounds in regular configuration, and less than 31 pounds in Acoustic Friendly configuration (which adds a rear-firing tweeter at reduced level, in case you're not familiar with).

Does it look pretty much the same or should we wait for new pics to drool over?
 
Just to clarify, how many switches do the new versions of all your Thunderchildren (115, 112-8, 112-4, 212) have (& what do they do)?
Seems like I remember the orig 112-4 had two switches - both affecting the HF driver: one for on/off & another for flat/-3db, IIRC.

Yeah, I guess my switchology is kinda confusicating.

Original TC112: Two switches, top switch rolls off highs, bottom switch kills tweeter(s) entirely. The killswitch didn't make it over to the TC112v2 because I don't think anyone uses it. I think one of my main selling points is decent integration of woofer and horn, and people aren't going to pay the prices I charge and then turn the horn off.

TC115: One switch, rolls off the highs. Nobody has ever complained about the lack of a tweeter killswitch.

TC212: Started out with just the top end rolloff switch, now also has a "smoothy/grindy" switch which primarily affects the region between 1 kHz and 2 kHz.

Hathor 1544: One switch, which has a mild effect on the upper mids; even in the more mid-forward setting, it's not really "grindy".

TC112v2 4 ohm version: Only has the top end rolloff switch.

TC112c2 8 ohm version: Two switches, top-end rolloff and smoothy/grindy.

I think that's it.
 
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Does it look pretty much the same or should we wait for new pics to drool over?

Below you see 4-ohm TC112v2 on the left, and the 8-ohm version is on the right. The only visible difference from the front is the color of the bugscreen on the compression driver (they use different compression drivers). The white spots on the 8-ohm cab's woofer are reflections off the glue around the perimeter of the dustcap.

Technically that's called a "Bi-Radial horn", which is a fancy term for "butt cheeks horn". In this case, "baby" butt cheeks.

The actual pooch-outage of the horn is slightly less than the pooch-outage of the woofer grill, so the same covers will still fit.

gi.mpl?u=2112&f=TC112v22C_4_and_8_ohms-001.jpg


gi.mpl?u=2112&f=4_ohm_left2C_8_ohm_AF_right-001.jpg


The 4-ohm version is again on the left, and as you can see, just one switch (top end roll-off). The 8-ohm version on the right has two switches (top end roll-off and smoothy/grindy)and in this case it also has the Acoustic Friendly rear-firing tweeter.

That's a different rear-firing tweeter from what I have been using. It's less expensive than the original, so I won't charge you quite as much, but it works just as well.

I widened the cut-outs around the switchdish and the input dish (those are combination Speakon/quarter inch jacks), as I got a few complaints about the original cut-outs not being fat-finger-friendly.

If you look real close, you'll see that the feet on the 8-ohm cab are a little bit taller than the feet on the 4 ohm cab. This is because the owner ordered his 8-ohm cab (actually his matching pair of 8 ohm cabs) with the spring-loaded tiltback handle, and I have to use taller feet when using the spring-loaded handle.

This particular 8-ohm cab also has a tophat for pole mounting. The crossover board is on the side of the cab, leaving room on the bottom for an optional tophat if people want one.
 
Man, you just keep coming up with perfect solutions!

Is there any chance of a composite option? I know Mike A. has retired from that but he still has the knowledge - could/would he be willing to pass that along to an intern or another builder? Sorry, I realize I'm posing the question to the wrong person but assume you're still in contact.