Question for all you MAS folks. I have a MAS112 with the Faital woofer. I really like the cab but have some serious issues with the low end. I have a very difficult time with too much lows - they seem to overpower the other frequencies a great deal and I cannot get a clear full tone, if I get the boom cut out then it is just too thin and looses warmth. I have used this cab with multiple amps, basses and in practice areas and larger rooms. I always fight the low end to the point that it spends most of its time in storage now - I use a Empress para eq and notch hard down low but it still doesn't really get me there. So my choices are selling it or finding out if I can replace that woofer for another with a tone more in line with my sound - right now it makes me wish I was in a Dub or Reqgae band.
Thanks for any insight,
I usually have the eq pedals and such for every rig, but can get to my needed tone pretty quickly for a particular room or rig and be done. I fiddle all night when using the MAS cab, though oddly I always get compliments on the tone - I do have an Fdeck dual HPF filter as well. It is weird though because when I get enough low end out the whole sound becomes too sterile and bright. This cab is a 5 driver version with 4 mid drivers in addition to the woofer. I may write Mike and see what he thinks. I do appreciate the thoughts and ideas, I am hoping a speaker swap is the simplest way to go about this.
try putting it up a foot or so on a stand?
Emphases above are mine.
My understanding of the various MAS 112 cabs is that they go 18Sound-->custom Eminence-->Faital in order of "leanest" to "biggest bottom". I don't think that means that the Faital necessarily extends lower than the Eminence (though I think they both go a bit lower than the 18 Sound). FWIW, I own the 18Sound 112. I've played it out several times and have played it next to the Eminence 112 (though only at Mike's place). I haven't played the Faital 112, unfortunately, and I haven't heard you play yours or try to EQ it to get the low end under control and get your sound (I also don't know what your sound is), so I can only guess at what might help.
That said, I wonder if you might be going about things the wrong way. When you say you "notch hard down low" with the Empress EQ, I infer a deep, narrow cut, which is what I might do if I had a specific note that jumped out from the others -- a specific problem frequency -- but if the low end overall is too big and boomy, I'd think a more broad and shallow cut would be more helpful.
Likewise, I wonder if too much deep low end information and/or extension is actually the problem -- or as significant a contributor to it as you think it might be. It sounds to me like you're dialing out too much -- maybe the problem is too much 250-500 Hz (to pick some random numbers) and you're trying to get rid of it by rolling up the HPF. You're not going to get to the problem area that way, but you will neuter your lows. Again, I don't know that this is what's going on, but it seems possible from what you're saying.
Finally, while I've always played my 18Sound 112 vertically and on the floor and never had any problems with uncontrolled low end, I've found that the 46, run with or without the 110 sub, benefits from being elevated (indeed, that's how Mike recommends those cabs be run). Getting them a foot or a foot-and-a-half off the floor reduces the low end coupling and clears things up -- there is still plenty of bass on tap (with the sub especially), but it's not obscuring the mids and highs like it can when the cabs are on the floor, and the whole rig feels better balanced. Maybe the Faital 112 would benefit from a similar treatment? Worth trying to see. If you're on a boomy/hollow stage, that could help, too.
I'd try elevating the cab (if you have the room, I'd also try elevating it and running it horizontally, just to see what happens). I'd do that first. As for HPF/EQ, I'd try rolling up the HPF until you start to hear it thin out the sound a bit, then I'd back it off a hair from there. With the Empress, unless you think you've got a specific problem note, I'd mess around with some more broad and gentle cuts down low. I'm guessing that what you're hearing is more upper bass/low mids than you want to and that it's masking the mids/highs you want to hear, which is what's making you feel like you're in Reggae band instead of a
Yes tribute.
If all that doesn't get you where you want to go, it may very well be that that's not the cab -- or at least not the version of that cab -- for you.
For the record, I think 3rdcurve's characterization of the 18Sound 112, which is my current go-to cab, is fair -- it is lean and dry, but it takes EQ well (that said, I don't use much EQ), hits hard down low, and opens up nicely at performance volume, so it's worked well for me and my tonal goals (I like lots of clarity and articulation). I think I'd dig the Eminence version, too. From descriptions I've read and talking with Mike, I don't think the Faital version would be for me, but it seems lots of Blues guys love it and that it would be good for (though not limited to) Reggae and other bottom-heavy styles.
Anyway, good luck. Let us know how things work out for you.
