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AudioKinesis Cabs Part VI...

#9,621
basss said:
I'm curious how many of you AK owners carry port plugs to gigs and try out different variations of plug in/out and switch up/down. It seems like extra stuff I wouldn't want to play around with at a gig. Anyone just leaving them out all the time and happy like that?
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Mine's transported with all plugs in, and I usually have a decent idea of what I'll want when I get to the venue based on the size/stage/room etc.
 
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#9,623
The plug is particularly useful on hollow stages and/or in rooms with lots of echo.

Been using the single port, basic 1203 and similarly the basic mesa d800 for 5 years now. In theory, lots of adjustment options were nice, but in practice I never used them. This is the best sounding, most portable, gigable, plug and play setup I could find.
 
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#9,624
nutdog said:
The plug is particularly useful on hollow stages and/or in rooms with lots of echo.

Been using the single port, basic 1203 and similarly the basic mesa d800 for 5 years now. In theory, lots of adjustment options were nice, but in practice I never used them. This is the best sounding, most portable, gigable, plug and play setup I could find.
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Exactly.

I was constantly swapping and tinkering with amps, cabs and drivers for nearly 40 years, and never completely satisfied.

I got pretty close in the mid-late 70's, when I discovered EVM-15B's and L's and Thiele cabs. But that still always seemed to be missing just a little somethin'-somethin' with my '64 P-bass. I wanted hi-fi, but smooth. The harsh tweeters in most "modern" bass cabs never sounded great to me.

I got worse when I picked up my first 5-string in the mid '80's. Now I wanted to hear and feel a solid fundamental on the low B, and nothing did that justice.

I got a pair of Flite 103W's in the late 90's, and they helped a lot for low-volume applications. I continued experimenting with boutique cabs for years, and while they always sounded great, I never found the magic bullet. Ditto with heads.

I tried PA gear for a while, and if I had a enough $$$ and roadies, I think I could have been pretty happy with the big Meyer Sound rig that Anthony Jackson uses.

It wasn't until the Greenboy cabs came out, that I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The final piece to fall into place for me, was Duke's Thunderchild.

After that, I was done. I continued on with a few reflexive amp swaps for a while, and finally settled on the MB Fusion. I could have swapped the G-K for the D800, or maybe a Bergantino, but truth be told, I couldn't be bothered.

There are dozens of great heads that I could use with my TC112 or a pair of 1203's. Once these cabs came out, I was done like dinner.
 
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#9,626
donahue said:
Are these cabs hi-fi sounding? How do they do for rock and hard rock type tones? Fwiw, I always have my tweeters all the way off.
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The Thunderchild cabs, from what I understand (and from the version 1 cab I played briefly, years ago) are pretty hi-fi -- not in the sense of having a baked-in, scooped sound or anything, but in the sense of being more studio-monitor-like and extended (though I understand that the current cabs have more of a "bass cab" voicing than the earliest ones).

The Hathor 1203s, to my ear, do a good job of bridging trad "bass cab" and hi-fi voicings -- the 3" mid driver is better integrated with the woofer and less harsh than the tweets in the vast majority of commercial bass cabs (as much to do with the crossover as the driver) and they sit nicely, without much effort, in most mixes I've played them in. (Duke has mentioned voicing them so they "zig where guitars zag.") There are two switches, too: One rolls the top end off substantially (should more or less mimic your "tweeter off" setting, but with better dispersion) and the other smooths out the mids. Both down is pretty old-school, to my ear.

If you go with the 15" cabs, there's a Hathor 1533 and a Hathor 1506 -- from what you say, you might dig the 1506 more, but I don't know.

I posted a clip, awhile back in this thread, of the different switch settings on my Hathor 1203.

EDIT: @donahue, here is the post with the clip I mentioned.
 
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#9,627
donahue said:
Are these cabs hi-fi sounding? How do they do for rock and hard rock type tones? Fwiw, I always have my tweeters all the way off.
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The Hathor cabs are amazing cabs for rock......they are very tweakable (between the pluggable ports, mid attenuator and variable xover) and can thump 'n' grind gloriously when driven.
 
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#9,628
donahue said:
Are these cabs hi-fi sounding? How do they do for rock and hard rock type tones? Fwiw, I always have my tweeters all the way off.
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You can certainly rock a thunderchild but you'd probably prefer a hathor. Tight bottom, delicious mids, no sparkly tweeter.
 
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#9,630
Gonna opine. Each Thunderchild is clean, with even response across the bass guitar register, including an extended low end - pardon me for saying it again, but that is the "poor man's Meyer Sound."

My Hathor experience is limited to a 1533, but it has more voice, in a way that rocks when playing with guitarists.

Others may be able to provide more detail, but that's the net net, for me.
 
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#9,633
donahue said:
I think you guys have me convinced to try one of these. Not sure which one though. Does Duke chime in here sometimes? I wouldn't mind his opinion.
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He’s had some challenging times lately with family health issues, but is not only helpful (as referenced above), but very approachable. You could reach him through the contact info on his website.
 
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#9,634
donahue said:
Recently I am favoring a 100w tube head that I want to try to get as much volume from as possible; the amp sounds great but its only 100w so I want to maximize its potential . Would two Hathor cabs be a silly idea or a good one?
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None of my 112s are particularly high-efficiency cabs, so I would not recommend a pair of them for your 100 watt tube amp, assuming the target includes "as much volume as [reasonably] possible."
 
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#9,637
donahue said:
Its been suggested that maybe the 15" series may be a better choice. Would you agree?
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My current 15" cabs are pretty big and are 4-ohm cabs, so using two of them would result in a 2-ohm road. Maybe some day I'll do an 8-ohm 115 cab, but I need to get caught up on past-due orders before doing any product development.
 
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