- Apr 29, 2003
- 9,078
- 9,800
- Disclosures
- Contributor- Bass Musician Magazine | Marketing Manager- Trickfish Amplification
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Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia
- Thread starter kesslari
- Start date
Back with a first gig report on the MAS 112, from Friday's Hallowe'en party. This wasn't the problem room I was whining about, a few pages back. (Gonna take the MAS112 there next weekend.) I've been able to get a decent sound here with a Berg AE212 or a pair of Patterson 12/6/1 cabs, before. The bass is a Metro Will Lee 5 in alder/morado with broken-in stainless rounds straight into an Aggie TH500. Best description of my tone goal would be old school J with a modern clarity; I want it meaty, but well-defined.
Over the years I've developed the habit of using fingerstyle articulations (like dead notes, right or left hand pats, and -- most of all -- the cutoff on notes) to further the groove. IOW, I'm paying as much attention to where and how the notes end as to where and how they begin, as an expressive device, regardless of the musical genre. This is especially useful in the small ensembles I work in: kinda filling in what hand percussion might have covered, and shaping the phrasing of the lines to create the pocket. The frustration I've experienced before is that these details often get buried in the stage mix, unless I cranked some upper mids into the EQ or jacked the volume up louder than I really should be. I figured that blurriness was from room reflections, mostly.
Well, the first thing I noticed when we sound-checked was that with the MAS112 all those nuances were _right there_, audible but not overbearing, and without any adaptation on the EQ. Big smile on face! Big-E magic, yup.
Another thing I've disliked but gotten used to is that EQing to get some nice phat on the A and E strings has tended to make the B sound too big or boomy. In the past I've put an HPF in front of the amp to tame it, but I went straight into the amp on Friday. Wow! Even response through all the registers, top to bottom. The lowest notes clearly spoke an octave down, but their size in the mix was the same as notes on the higher strings. I was reminded of Nomatic's comment that his Big-E cab sounded like pricey studio monitors. Yup. Another reason for the big smile!
That same clarity, articulation, and even response was true of slapping: no spikes, no harshness. No compression this time: straight into the amp. I figure the dispersion magic of the MVW design is at play in this. I've never had a cab that didn't have some amount of beaminess going in the upper mids and highs, until now.
This is getting long, so the bottom line:
I'm an old cat, and I've played through a pile of gear (including lots of "vintage" stuff back in the day, like a Fender Dual Showman, Acoustic 371, Sunn 200s/2000s--and lots of nice boutique stuff in recent years). This MAS112 works _with_ me to effortlessly do what I can do on the instrument, in a way I've not experienced before.
Props, Mike and Big-E crew. There's no doubt in my mind this is a breakthrough in bass amplification for a bar band guy like me.
Over the years I've developed the habit of using fingerstyle articulations (like dead notes, right or left hand pats, and -- most of all -- the cutoff on notes) to further the groove. IOW, I'm paying as much attention to where and how the notes end as to where and how they begin, as an expressive device, regardless of the musical genre. This is especially useful in the small ensembles I work in: kinda filling in what hand percussion might have covered, and shaping the phrasing of the lines to create the pocket. The frustration I've experienced before is that these details often get buried in the stage mix, unless I cranked some upper mids into the EQ or jacked the volume up louder than I really should be. I figured that blurriness was from room reflections, mostly.
Well, the first thing I noticed when we sound-checked was that with the MAS112 all those nuances were _right there_, audible but not overbearing, and without any adaptation on the EQ. Big smile on face! Big-E magic, yup.
Another thing I've disliked but gotten used to is that EQing to get some nice phat on the A and E strings has tended to make the B sound too big or boomy. In the past I've put an HPF in front of the amp to tame it, but I went straight into the amp on Friday. Wow! Even response through all the registers, top to bottom. The lowest notes clearly spoke an octave down, but their size in the mix was the same as notes on the higher strings. I was reminded of Nomatic's comment that his Big-E cab sounded like pricey studio monitors. Yup. Another reason for the big smile!
That same clarity, articulation, and even response was true of slapping: no spikes, no harshness. No compression this time: straight into the amp. I figure the dispersion magic of the MVW design is at play in this. I've never had a cab that didn't have some amount of beaminess going in the upper mids and highs, until now.
This is getting long, so the bottom line:
I'm an old cat, and I've played through a pile of gear (including lots of "vintage" stuff back in the day, like a Fender Dual Showman, Acoustic 371, Sunn 200s/2000s--and lots of nice boutique stuff in recent years). This MAS112 works _with_ me to effortlessly do what I can do on the instrument, in a way I've not experienced before.
Props, Mike and Big-E crew. There's no doubt in my mind this is a breakthrough in bass amplification for a bar band guy like me.
- Apr 29, 2003
- 9,078
- 9,800
- Disclosures
- Contributor- Bass Musician Magazine | Marketing Manager- Trickfish Amplification
Cool man! That's a very well articulated description of your experience, and seems to me to be particularly helpful for folks who have not yet heard these cabs in person. You should post that over on the MAS FB page.
I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it!
And I didn't even mention how the cab didn't develop the dreaded thermal compression, by the last set. Or how loud it could get pushed with a 500W micro. (AFAIK, the TH500 is rated at 350 into an 8 ohm load. And I wasn't maxing the amp out.)
This to me is a huge thing. I was pretty much of a moron (still am) in understanding this. Who cares how great a speaker sounds if that sound starts to degrade after a half hour of hard playing?(medium too, likely) My whole career I was stymied by the fact that by the end of the night there was something weird about my bass or rig. My sound got thinner and more quiet as the evening went on. But why did it sound ok at the beginning of a set? Thermal compression. That was a problem I noticed when I first tried the Kappalite 3012lf in this cab. Noticeable thermal compression. Now in the MVW enclosures this is lessened due to the constant air movement. But---the 18sound was noticeably better due to a 4" voice coil and better heat management.
Yeah, I had long been frustrated by the fourth set wimp-out effect and had even blown out a driver in a very good boutique cab by jacking up the amp volume to compensate. I thought the guitar player was getting louder... For once I was erroneously blaming him for something. <rimshot>
Learned about thermal compression from the discussion on this thread, actually. Now I understand what's going on in the cab when I hear it.
But I didn't hear any of it on Friday's gig.
Indeed I am, Mike. Loved the sound of it in my music room, loved the sound of it on the gig.
This 'feedback' encapsulates what I've been babbling about when I try to speak to the increased 'satisfaction factor' I've been reaping with my MAS cab. Thanks for the reminder about the complete lack of thermal compression. This should be lauded and touted on your site, Mike (next update)!
Excellent review, Steve! I snickered at the part about blaming the drummer.
Excellent review, Steve! I snickered at the part about blaming the drummer.
I always attributed it to ear fatigue and guitards. Until I learned about thermal compression a few years back...
OK, I get that the MVW design dissipates heat better regardless of woofer, but the 18 Sound 12" has a bigger coil. Are the 10's in the Flex design standard 3010lf Eminence or something different also? If this was already discussed sorry I missed it.
It's a stock Eminence offering. You'd have had to look nearly thirty pages back to find any mention...
Where/how does one get a 1200 watt Ice Amp. I know B & O makes them, but is this something a regular non-amp maker can get a hold of?
- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,217
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
So I am not being sarcastic here. Would it benefit one to take a small fan on a hard driving gig, and point it into the port at the breaks. I am not just talking MVW cabs but any ported cabs.
