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Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia
- Thread starter kesslari
- Start date
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,233
- 45,120
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Leland says my home system (GC25's and RachE) are done!
Is your 109 8 Ohms? I haven't heard one but, before ordering my 112, toyed around with the idea of a pair of those. Thought they might match well with my Walkabout. If I understand right, they're warmer and more "vintage voiced" than the 112 while still being fast in the bass, as you say. What head are you running with it?
Dude.
It's 8 Ohms add running with a Shuttlemax 9.2, more than enough headroom for it. I bet the 112 is not far off the mark at all. It would be real fun to do a side by side. Obviously, Mike would be the best to describe any differences. My intent with the 109 was a doubling cab, but I haven't had in a lot of rooms to assess the upright side of things. I've had the best luck with the 10 inch and smaller for the upright.
I'm very interested in the 112. I think it could be the grail of electric cabs. I can testify to the 10 killing JJ's Blues Club and I still had some left in the bank. That 12 must be freaky...
Bad cell shot from one of the last gigs at JJ's Blues Club in San Jose. A legend in the blues scene here, hope it comes back...
Darn sad to hear that JJ's closed. Cool you were one of the last in that venerable Santa Clara club.
lelandcrooks
Commercial User
Being an early adopter has its benefits. I didn't have time to do a standard RachE 12 so you're getting the newest bigger version I built a month or so ago to see how much difference wider made. Shipping as soon as my poly packing gets here, I ran out. I've had trouble with FedEx dropping subs on the edge and breaking plywood. So now they're packed to survive gorillas.
- May 15, 2007
- 344
- 465
- Disclosures
- Owner RAD Repairs and RAD Engineering ,guitar, bass, and amp repair and limited custom instrument and amp building.
I got to hear the MA 112 Essential at Mike's temple of tone yesterday. The sound of that thing is really unexpected. The lows and low mids are as I figured as incredible as the MAS 112, but the upper mids on this cab are very present and sound very, very good. No mids or tweeters, just the 12. My experience with older big driver cabs is, you could get decent upper mids from them, but the dispersion was like a ray gun, you could only hear upper mids directly in front of the cab. The 112 Essential somehow uses the vortex to spread all the sound the 12 produces all over the room. You can hear upper mids standing above, next to, or even behind the cab. I not much of a slapper, but I could be perfectly happy using this cab on a job and I like aggressive upper mids. Sounds wonderful!
This bodes well for the (*cough cough*) MarkA switch package (which is actually just one extra switch). Remember, though, if it becomes unpopular or someone injures themselves using it, I never heard of it.
I hear that sponsorship deals/naming rights for the casters and the little rubber feet are still available.
EDIT: Smartass comments aside, I am really looking forward to playing my MAS112 when it's done. I'm trying to avoid the GAS-related convulsions I often see TBers in the grips of when awaiting a custom build, and I think I'm doing pretty well. When I feel them coming on, I just breathe deeply. For the most part, I feel a relaxed but happy anticipation re this cab -- unusual for me with gear.
Hard to know what to say beyond that! I'll be less tongue-tied when I've had it out a few times.
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Mark, I really like your take on the MAS112 and if I pick up one in the future that's the one I'd go with. That being said, here are a couple pics of the 3rd generation MAS66 twins Mike delivered to me in July. He really did a great job on them and I appreciate the extra time he took to tweak the crossovers to sound good for music playback. Even though they make an excellent bass cabinet as you can see by the Demeter on the right one, I wanted a dual use cab that could provide a potent portable PA if the need arose. One of my friends who runs sound stopped by and commented they had good imaging and an even response with no holes in it. The dispersion is noticeably wider and more even than anything else I've run and the sound is clear, balanced, and smooth. They have metal pole mount cups on the bottom so I can use my tripod stands to get them up at chest height if needed. The Crown XTi4000 seems to be a good power match and the Driverack PA+ dials them in nicely. Thanks Mike, these hit the spot!
Stephen Regier
Commercial User
- Apr 11, 2014
- 78
- 131
- Disclosures
- Co-Inventer and Co-Owner of Big E Loudspeakers Technology
Very nice! I, however, would ditch the XTi4000 as soon a you are able. I've had way too may fail and take the loudspeaker with them....Ashly KLR ... You'll thank me later.
Mark, I really like your take on the MAS112 and if I pick up one in the future that's the one I'd go with. That being said, here are a couple pics of the 3rd generation MAS66 twins Mike delivered to me in July. He really did a great job on them and I appreciate the extra time he took to tweak the crossovers to sound good for music playback. Even though they make an excellent bass cabinet as you can see by the Demeter on the right one, I wanted a dual use cab that could provide a potent portable PA if the need arose. One of my friends who runs sound stopped by and commented they had good imaging and an even response with no holes in it. The dispersion is noticeably wider and more even than anything else I've run and the sound is clear, balanced, and smooth. They have metal pole mount cups on the bottom so I can use my tripod stands to get them up at chest height if needed. The Crown XTi4000 seems to be a good power match and the Driverack PA+ dials them in nicely. Thanks Mike, these hit the spot!
Thanks! I'm looking forward to it, too. Chatted with Mike briefly today -- the more I hear about the 112 Essential, the more glad I am that I asked for that switch. Sounds like it will be a viable voice, and not just for the Jamerson-esque stuff. Speaking of which, Mike had a cool-sounding take on the foam mute -- trying to remember how he described it; I think it was a small piece of wood with a felt back on one side and foam on the other, that could be quickly slid under the strings. Something like that. I mentioned how I used facial tissue woven in between my strings in high school to achieve various foam-mute type effects, and how I sometimes played with a pencil on the strings (which idea I got from col legno playing on doublebass -- like at the start of Mars, the Bringer of War). Tony Levin's Funk Fingers came up, which led to this (look for a cool interplay between the bassist and drummer, about 2/3 of the way through):
I dug that enough to listen to a few other of their tunes -- some good stuff. Hard to believe some of those recordings are 70 years old!
Looks like your dual 66 setup is flexible, too. A pretty mean PA rig sans sub, I'd imagine.
Thanks for posting this Mark, I'm going to talk to my drummer and see if he can play my bass live using his sticks - that was awesome.
Mike told me about it -- after seeing the vid, I realized I'd heard the tune before, but don't think I ever saw the performance.
Tell your drummer to be careful!
Any driver or horn will beam as the frequency increases. Some worse than others.
The MS112 mids are crossfired as well, a proven acoustic design principle for maximum dispersion.
Been in contact with Mike and going to place an order for a 46/26 combo. The 26 will have a switch so it can run by itself for low volume condo practice or with the 46 and give me full power running at 4ohms. eXcited boy I am!
