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Avatar 3 way 15/6/tweet part 2

#461
Blue Bass 2 said:
Advantage of a fEarful 15/6/1 over a TB153
1. Smaller form factor
2. Lighter weight
3. maybe a little better lows and mids .

I have no issues with #'s 1 or 2; #3 would be nice but not really missing it. So looking back I've had no issues at all with this cab. I just did a gig last Saturday with my STL-900, Neox 212T and the P5, just to try it out. It went well but I missed what the TB153 offers me in that club, didn't quite have those real nice, tight lows as I've had before.

And since I installed those 4" rubber casters recently, this cab now glides across the floor very easily. It was abit bulky to move around before. Good thing I put a caster w/brake on one corner, it moves that easily.
 
#462
Just blew the midrange on my TB153, I think. Loud buzzing on all notes played, especially those higher up the fretboard. Tried cutting all highs and at about 800hz which helps but it's still there. Going to contact Avatar on Tuesday. Also, my grill rattles like a can of nailed despite being tightened several times, any suggestions. Otherwise when it works right sounds amazing.

So I've got a 4 ohm Avatar TB153 that I really enjoy although I think it is a bit "mid forward" so I'm often cutting high mids. Last night I played a gig at a large venue and ended up "blowing" the mid range driver on the cab. Everything was set flat on the amp except for a boost at 150hz an half way through the third set when things were just starting to get good I hear a buzzing sound (like a super aggressive fuzz) on every moderately loud note. If I played quiet it wasn't so bad but still present but when I "dug in" it sounded like the speaker might be shredding. I'm going to call Avatar about a replacement Tuesday but am looking at some other options with which I'd like your opinions.

The reason I bought the cab was for th 4ohm 3015LF. I'm not sure I need the mid for my tone, I know I don't want the tweeter and don't care for the cab's form factor. I also dislike the grill an it rattles despite my attempts to tighten and secure it, some of the screws holding the different hardware in don't bite, just spin. That being said the cab sounds great otherwise and I think that's primarily due to the speaker.

Looking at loading this 4ohm speaker into a different cab for a standalone 4ohm 15". I like the looks of the Lopo cabs but how do I know if they are big enough and tuned appropriately? Is there any other unloaded cabs you guys might recommend? This Lopo option seems to be a nice size and low weight which is a bonus. Currently running a Shuttle 9.0. Thanks!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#463
For the grill... a couple ideas...

I have had a number of issues with my 15/6 rattling as well and these are solutions that I found helped. If its a metal grill:

Make sure it is not touching the edge of the cabinet at any place.

Use rubber washers to isolate the grill from the cab.

If you are still having lots of vibration perhaps consider using those round grill covers that go right over the drivers.

If its a cloth over frame grill use silicon around the edge of the frame. Be careful as it may bleed thru.

Hope some of that might help.
 
#464
I used my 4 ohm, TB153 tonite with STM-900, Skyline JoBo 5 jazz bass and Sadowsky (older) pedal preamp. No PA support for me in this band so I was pushing my rig pretty hard towards end of nite.

This upstairs ballroom with stone tile-floors and heavy wooden walls can get very boomy, very quick. I hated my sound on first couple sets. I took the bass knob down to 7:00, I prefer mids @ 600 around 9:00 with this setup. But tointite, I raised the 600 mids to about 1:00 and it helped rid the big boom; bass knob was still about 7:00-8:00 and it cleaned up the sound.

I hate this room thats' huge, ballroom style then they open two sets of french doors onto the outdoor balcony. I finally tweaked it to get a good tone, about 3rd set, sheesh. Too bad about OP's cab. I been pushing my TB153 cab seems like harder n harder each last few gigs and its' hanging in there so far. Hope it stays that way. Good luck with yer cab, doing any kinda new settings or alota lows recently, just wondering?

Keep us posted on the fix. Oh and I only play 5 string basses and get alota use outta the B string. For fun of it tonite, I ran the Gain knob bout 5:00 and got a real fuzzy tone on one "hippy tune", ("Everybody Must Get Stoned") I never do that with this head but I thought it was fun at the time; crowd was into it. Agin, no issues with my cab so far, its trudgin along.
 
#465
I did some testing trying to isolate the mid driver last night and found that when hooked direct to a little 20watt amp I have for mp3's in the garage it sounded fine but really quiet. When running sound to it through the cab, whether mp3's or bass there was barely any audible sound coming out, even with the amp dimed. Then, hooking the 3015lf back up to the cab and testing at volume showed two things, first it's as if the mid driver isn't receiving mug if any signal at all, especially when compared to the 3015lf. Second, it is the mid driver that is distorting but only when hitting a note reasonably hard on the bass, even though it produces very little content, it distorts loudly. Using the 3015lf by itself eliminated the distortion issue altogether.
 
#467
I found some black screws and rubber washers, so I'll just spray paint the metal washers black that will go between the rubber and the screw.. Sandwiched as such> baffle>rubber spacer>grill>rubber washer>washer>#12 screw, hopefully this holds her tight without to much noise, it'd be nice if there was a place to put one in the middle of the grill.

in regards to the speaker and crossover I emailed Avatar yesterday and am awaiting their response as to what they think the issue might be and what they think I should do to fix..

This is the grill I'm looking to eventually replace the current one with. I like it more aesthetically and it is hopefully a bit sturdier.

3163_2_final_B.jpg
 
#468
you're aware of some folks X-over issues with their TB153 cab? THough it seems the issues mostly showed up the issue immediately, rendering those cabs unplayable. Avatar said, prolly a few cabs went out with a bad (or bad design?) Xover in em.

After I read about it I contacted Avatar about my cab, no issue just curious of which xover I had. They said I did have the older design xover in my cab but if I was having no issues installing the new xover would not offer any benefit to my cab sound/tone-wise. They just told me to keep an eye on it.

Well I gig this cab w/STM-900 about once a week, since I bought it new around June 2011, still have not had no issues, hoping it stays that way. kaiser, Do you know if you have the older xover in your cab? Pls let us know how it turns out and what Avatar offers for a fix.
 
#470
Exact same story here as others - big time problems with the original crossover. Symptoms sounded just like a blown speaker, as others have noted. On my first replacement, I got sent another one of the original crossovers (which blew right away again) and after that, I finally received one of Avatar's current Eminence crossovers (with the better component specs & fuse protection). This cab has been out of commission most of its life, what with all the crossover troubles it has seen. However, the new Eminence crossover has finally got it back in working order with a couple of gigs on it now. So far - no troubles (knock on wood). Just wanted to relay the experience. I don't hold anything against Avatar - been a user of their cabs for many years, but their first crossover for this cab was not so good, IME. I'm glad they are treating their customers right & getting them the improved Eminence crossover if they experience any problems.

IMG_0322.jpg

IMG_0323.jpg
 
#472
kaiser_sosea said:
Did the replacement crossover cost you anything? How does one know if they have the new or old version?
Click to expand...

No, Avatar is graciously shipping (free) the Eminence crossover at zero cost to customers who are having issues with their current crossover.

Regarding the new Eminence crossover, See post #436, Page 22 in this thread. That is what the current Eminence crossover looks like. The glass fuse on the Eminence crossover is also a dead giveaway. The original crossover Avatar used for the TB-153 does not offer fuse protection. Your pics show that you indeed have the original Avatar crossover in your cab.
 
#476
that's the older one, kaiser. I took pics of mine and sent them to Dave @ Avatar, they confirmed this.

And yet, I've not had any issues with mine to date, bought new in June 2011. At one time I thought I heard some distortion, I narrowed it down to overdriving my GB STM-900. After realizing this, it's not done it since.

I hope mine holds out. I guess if I pushed more, Avatar might send me out a replacement, maybe at lower cost, who knows. I just hate mucking about inside my cabs, esp when still in factory condition and me with no elec knowledge.

Again, my cab is running fine as I see others are as well. I'm wondering what caused some to have issues and others not to: A matter of time and wear, maybe some unintended abuse happening by user or just a bad xover installed to start? I'll keep running mine as is. Wonder if the newer, fuse protected xovers' offer more to this cab?
 
#477
I don't know what exactly "happened" with mine but I am the second owner so as far as I knew everything worked the way it was supposed to from the start as I had nothing to compare to. I did notice it was fairly "hissy" but chalked that up to the tweeter and there was sound coming from the mid when played, so all good. On a gig a few weeks ago I was pushing it harder than I had before but still within reason IMO. Shuttle 9.0 with gain @ noon, volume @ 3oclock, and master @ noon, EQ flat with the treble rolled back, so nothing extreme. Halfway through the third set there is suddenly an audible distortion upon not attack which sounds to me like a speaker farting (so I first assumed mid issues). We finished the set (with the "farting" happening on every note) and since then I've had it apart and confirmed the mid sounds fine in other apparatus but in the cab it there is no sound coming through unless I play unreasonably loud in which case it distorts. Sent a pic of the crossover and details to Avatar so we'll see what they come back with as he previously offered to sell me a replacement crossover for $50 plus shipping but I'm hoping he wasn't realizing mine was of the old, faulty batch...

ErnieD said:
that's the older one, kaiser. I took pics of mine and sent them to Dave @ Avatar, they confirmed this.

And yet, I've not had any issues with mine to date, bought new in June 2011. At one time I thought I heard some distortion, I narrowed it down to overdriving my GB STM-900. After realizing this, it's not done it since.

I hope mine holds out. I guess if I pushed more, Avatar might send me out a replacement, maybe at lower cost, who knows. I just hate mucking about inside my cabs, esp when still in factory condition and me with no elec knowledge.

Again, my cab is running fine as I see others are as well. I'm wondering what caused some to have issues and others not to: A matter of time and wear, maybe some unintended abuse happening by user or just a bad xover installed to start? I'll keep running mine as is. Wonder if the newer, fuse protected xovers' offer more to this cab?
Click to expand...
 
#478
rpsands said:
That glue situation is seriously ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I've seen where you and some others have mentioned this in the past. Is this just a casual observation of possibly sloppy work or could there be some backlash to overuse of the glue?

I ask as I'm supposing if you/others made "just one" of their own they'd be able to take the time to do a neater job as apposed to when making these in mass quantities as companies might need to.

Again, not knowing electronics at all; sloppy work or possibly issue causing overuse of the glue? Thanks for any replies.
 
#479
kaiser_sosea said:
I don't know what exactly "happened" with mine but I am the second owner so as far as I knew everything worked the way it was supposed to from the start as I had nothing to compare to. I did notice it was fairly "hissy" but chalked that up to the tweeter and there was sound coming from the mid when played, so all good. On a gig a few weeks ago I was pushing it harder than I had before but still within reason IMO. Shuttle 9.0 with gain @ noon, volume @ 3oclock, and master @ noon, EQ flat with the treble rolled back, so nothing extreme. Halfway through the third set there is suddenly an audible distortion upon not attack which sounds to me like a speaker farting (so I first assumed mid issues). We finished the set (with the "farting" happening on every note) and since then I've had it apart and confirmed the mid sounds fine in other apparatus but in the cab it there is no sound coming through unless I play unreasonably loud in which case it distorts. Sent a pic of the crossover and details to Avatar so we'll see what they come back with as he previously offered to sell me a replacement crossover for $50 plus shipping but I'm hoping he wasn't realizing mine was of the old, faulty batch...
Click to expand...

Check to make the speaker mounting hardware is tight and all the other hardware is tight. It often sounds like distortion when its not.
 

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