Mike does not use the term 110 Flex in this discussion, but it is what he is referring to. This is a pic of the prototype:
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Big E speakers: Pt 2
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Mike does not use the term 110 Flex in this discussion, but it is what he is referring to. This is a pic of the prototype:
Visited Mike a couple of Fridays ago. Before giving my overdue impressions of the cabs I tried, a disclaimer: the night before, I caught a show – Scott Lucas and the Married Men, in a little place called The Hideout. Great show, but it was insanely loud and I was right in the front, sans earplugs. Rather than move toward the back or step outside when it became painful, I stuck it out up front like a big numb-nut. My ears rang for days and when I showed up at Mike's the next morning I had the aural equivalent of a hangover. I was not at my best (ears ringing the whole while), and I probably showed my impairment in my playing (sorry, Mike!), but I'll do my best to relate that which still could be readily discerned.
I brought a four-string fretted and a five string fretless bass, along with a Mesa Walkabout head and my 4 Ohm Dr. Bass cab for a point of reference. (The well-documented wrongdoings of the nefarious Doctor aside, I've found it to be reliable and a good performer. The cab is 4 Ohms, loaded with 2 Faital Pro 12FH500 12s and a W6N8-120 mid/high driver – no tweeter – in a vertical arrangement.)
Big E cabs tried:
8x5 (non-Ciare tweets – forget the name)
2x5 (no tweet)
4x6.5 (in okume, Ciare tweet)
MAS 110 Flex (Ciare tweet).
We played them and the Dr. Bass with the Walkabout and with Mike's Puma 900.
All of the Big E cabs have more true low-end than the Dr. Bass. By comparison, the Dr. Bass, which to my ear has a fairly tight, articulate low end, has noticeably better low-end performance than an SVT 410. (I've played the two side-by-side; the DB goes lower and articulates better down low, though the SVT is a hair more efficient and sounds attractive in its own right. I especially liked it with an old GK 2000 RB, but that's another story!) The 8x5 rolls off noticeably lower than the Dr. Bass. The 4x6 goes a little lower yet and handles those B-string notes with more apparent ease. The 110 Flex goes a little lower again (or seems to, anyway) and handles the lowest notes in a manner that borders on shocking.
Transients: All of the cabs were articulate in slap and fingerstyle, but the 110 Flex (this is the shocking part) gave me the same pop on the E-string that I got on the G while slapping. Pretend you're listening to Louis Johnson play the bass solo from Stomp, and each note is a slice of cake: Each of the lower notes has a sharp, percussive part on top of a somewhat compressed midrange and low end. Spiky frosting on sponge cake (still yummy). Now pretend that that spike happens all the way down through the cake. All the parts of the note (treble, midrange, bass) “spike” together. Not sure how else to describe it. I slapped a bit on the B-string of Mike's Roscoe, but didn't have the courage to lay into it like the E. I can vouch for the effect down to an open E, though.
The older tweeters are really smooth and nice. The Ciares are better for slapping. If I remember right, harmonics have a little more pop with them, too.
The 8x5, the 4x6, and the Dr. Bass 2x12 were more efficient than the 110. Not sure how they compare in terms of max volume. We got pretty loud – a little louder than I was comfortable playing – but I didn't have it in me to push the cabs to their limits in this regard. The 4x6 and the 110 (and maybe the 8x5), though, would handle a bass-heavy, dubby sound better at volume than the Dr. Bass, IMO.
The voicing switches (phase between woofer and mid/tweet; -6, -3 and 0 dB padding on mid/tweet) on the 110 Flex have a noticable effect and the voicings are useful. That said, I think I'd leave it at “default” (-3 dB mids and tweeter, top and bottom in phase) 95% of the time.
Subjectively speaking, the midrange on the Okume 4x6 is good, the 110 Flex is better, and the 8x5 is best (or at least the prettiest). If I had to play one of those cabs in a funk band for the rest of my life, it would be the 110. If I had to accompany Joni Mitchell, it would be the 8x5. If I played five string and wanted to make the most of a 500 watt micro, it would be the 4x6. (Side note: the shape of the 8x5 is appealing -- footprint is *tiny* and it's relatively tall for its size.)
The little 2x5 does not go as loud as a good 12, but it handled more power than I thought it would from Mike's Puma (with Mike at the controls – I didn't want to do anything silly) with surprisingly good low end. And it really does fit in a medium-sized duffle (cajon case) that you can throw over your shoulder. Beautiful practice cab, would also handle a coffeehouse gig ably and work well atop a 4x5 or 6x5.
The “surround sound” effect of the cabs is especially pronounced outside. My Dr. Bass cab has good horizontal dispersion, but the sound still sounds like it's coming from a box. Much less so with the Big Es.
Mike and I talked about the 4x5/110 stack, but that didn't exist a couple of weeks ago!
I brought a four-string fretted and a five string fretless bass, along with a Mesa Walkabout head and my 4 Ohm Dr. Bass cab for a point of reference. (The well-documented wrongdoings of the nefarious Doctor aside, I've found it to be reliable and a good performer. The cab is 4 Ohms, loaded with 2 Faital Pro 12FH500 12s and a W6N8-120 mid/high driver – no tweeter – in a vertical arrangement.)
Big E cabs tried:
8x5 (non-Ciare tweets – forget the name)
2x5 (no tweet)
4x6.5 (in okume, Ciare tweet)
MAS 110 Flex (Ciare tweet).
We played them and the Dr. Bass with the Walkabout and with Mike's Puma 900.
All of the Big E cabs have more true low-end than the Dr. Bass. By comparison, the Dr. Bass, which to my ear has a fairly tight, articulate low end, has noticeably better low-end performance than an SVT 410. (I've played the two side-by-side; the DB goes lower and articulates better down low, though the SVT is a hair more efficient and sounds attractive in its own right. I especially liked it with an old GK 2000 RB, but that's another story!) The 8x5 rolls off noticeably lower than the Dr. Bass. The 4x6 goes a little lower yet and handles those B-string notes with more apparent ease. The 110 Flex goes a little lower again (or seems to, anyway) and handles the lowest notes in a manner that borders on shocking.
Transients: All of the cabs were articulate in slap and fingerstyle, but the 110 Flex (this is the shocking part) gave me the same pop on the E-string that I got on the G while slapping. Pretend you're listening to Louis Johnson play the bass solo from Stomp, and each note is a slice of cake: Each of the lower notes has a sharp, percussive part on top of a somewhat compressed midrange and low end. Spiky frosting on sponge cake (still yummy). Now pretend that that spike happens all the way down through the cake. All the parts of the note (treble, midrange, bass) “spike” together. Not sure how else to describe it. I slapped a bit on the B-string of Mike's Roscoe, but didn't have the courage to lay into it like the E. I can vouch for the effect down to an open E, though.
The older tweeters are really smooth and nice. The Ciares are better for slapping. If I remember right, harmonics have a little more pop with them, too.
The 8x5, the 4x6, and the Dr. Bass 2x12 were more efficient than the 110. Not sure how they compare in terms of max volume. We got pretty loud – a little louder than I was comfortable playing – but I didn't have it in me to push the cabs to their limits in this regard. The 4x6 and the 110 (and maybe the 8x5), though, would handle a bass-heavy, dubby sound better at volume than the Dr. Bass, IMO.
The voicing switches (phase between woofer and mid/tweet; -6, -3 and 0 dB padding on mid/tweet) on the 110 Flex have a noticable effect and the voicings are useful. That said, I think I'd leave it at “default” (-3 dB mids and tweeter, top and bottom in phase) 95% of the time.
Subjectively speaking, the midrange on the Okume 4x6 is good, the 110 Flex is better, and the 8x5 is best (or at least the prettiest). If I had to play one of those cabs in a funk band for the rest of my life, it would be the 110. If I had to accompany Joni Mitchell, it would be the 8x5. If I played five string and wanted to make the most of a 500 watt micro, it would be the 4x6. (Side note: the shape of the 8x5 is appealing -- footprint is *tiny* and it's relatively tall for its size.)
The little 2x5 does not go as loud as a good 12, but it handled more power than I thought it would from Mike's Puma (with Mike at the controls – I didn't want to do anything silly) with surprisingly good low end. And it really does fit in a medium-sized duffle (cajon case) that you can throw over your shoulder. Beautiful practice cab, would also handle a coffeehouse gig ably and work well atop a 4x5 or 6x5.
The “surround sound” effect of the cabs is especially pronounced outside. My Dr. Bass cab has good horizontal dispersion, but the sound still sounds like it's coming from a box. Much less so with the Big Es.
Mike and I talked about the 4x5/110 stack, but that didn't exist a couple of weeks ago!
I played a prototype 2x8" last year -- it was actually the cab I liked best, then. It's a bigger cab than the term "2x8" might seem to imply -- there is a lot of "box" for the amount of "speaker," and it's wide and low (you can turn it on its side to make it narrow and tall, but you'll lose some of the dispersion benefits of the design). It's been a year, so my my recollection might not be totally reliable, but I'd say it would compete favorably with most 15s, yes. I didn't know they made a 1x8!
When I played that cab (again, a year back), it was with a different bass and through a different amp -- the design was different back then, too, with the tweeter section firing into the vortex, if I understand correctly. There was something about the sound and feel of that cab that I really, really, dug, and it had the most articulate low end of any cab I'd played to that point. The 110 Flex, though, goes a good deal lower and, even a year apart, I could tell that it has noticeably more "muscle" down low than that 2x8 (again, an earlier version) did. It's narrower and a little taller, as well.
I think all of the current cabs go lower than that early, Faital-loaded 2x8 did, but Mike can confirm or correct this.
Are you looking for a cab to use with doublebass?
Mostly.
Some people handle insanely loud sounds better than others. Despite my other super-human abilities (if I told you I'd have to, you know...), I don't appear to be one of them. I usually take a pair of musician's earplugs with me to shows, but I was traveling and this was unplanned. Still, I feel chagrined. I'm still fairly young and I use my ears to make a living -- not to mention that I derive a great deal of pleasure from being able to hear accurately! I don't need to muck about with my hearing like that.Kids, don't be stupid.
Chagrin over, PSA ended, back to your regularly scheduled program.
Very detailed and helpful reviews, thanks! Really looking forward to the unleashing of the 210 Flex beast.
Thanks, Mark--always a fun hang.
Actually, the 110 is pretty efficient. I'd say around 97db. The Dr. Bass is probably around 100. Which is really high. The 85 is about the same. The 46 is around 98.
Too bad that Dr. Bass can't get his shite together. I thought that his cab was well made and sounded good. Competitive with the better 212's out there. Very nice driver selection. I prefer the Big E's by a big margin but I wouldn't hesitate to compare his cab with the better ones out there.
The original 28 had the Faital 8PR200. Great mids but I couldn't eek out enough lows and overall volume. Weird footprint, though at 30 x 12 x 15deep.
Actually, the 110 is pretty efficient. I'd say around 97db. The Dr. Bass is probably around 100. Which is really high. The 85 is about the same. The 46 is around 98.
Too bad that Dr. Bass can't get his shite together. I thought that his cab was well made and sounded good. Competitive with the better 212's out there. Very nice driver selection. I prefer the Big E's by a big margin but I wouldn't hesitate to compare his cab with the better ones out there.
The original 28 had the Faital 8PR200. Great mids but I couldn't eek out enough lows and overall volume. Weird footprint, though at 30 x 12 x 15deep.
Am I reading this right? A 2x8 competes with a 1x15 and a 1x8 competes with a 1x12?
Yes-----a single 8 will compete with a 12. I think that a "super" 12 like the Fearless or Thunderchild will edge it by a small margin but it will keep up with your standard 12" bass cab.
Same for a 2 x 8 as far as keeping up with a single 15. Again---same caveat. A "super" 15 like the Thunderchild or Fearless will edge it by a small margin---but any other 15---no problem.
Right now I'm focusing on the 10" and 5" based cabs. I feel that while the midrange of the 6" cabs and 8" cabs is good---it's better on the 5" and 10" based cabs.
Same for a 2 x 8 as far as keeping up with a single 15. Again---same caveat. A "super" 15 like the Thunderchild or Fearless will edge it by a small margin---but any other 15---no problem.
Right now I'm focusing on the 10" and 5" based cabs. I feel that while the midrange of the 6" cabs and 8" cabs is good---it's better on the 5" and 10" based cabs.
I love to talk to you some time. I pm'd you with a few questions. But I am sure you are very busy.
The 110 was pretty insane. Don't know how close I got to its max volume, but at the fairly loud volumes we hit, it never even hinted at any strain, and the authority of delivery of the lowest notes was like nothing I'd heard before. Nix that -- at a DJ Shadow concert two years ago I heard and felt something like that out of his zillion dollar subs. Felt it in my intestines. It was like a sonic disruptor out of a movie. The 110... is not that loud. It might not go that low. But it goes lower, better than any bass cab I've ever heard.
So, yeah, the 210 should be beastly. Especially for its size.
Thank YOU, Mike. Next time I'm in Chicago I owe you a beer and one of those overgrown apple fritter/pancakes you talked about. I would've ordered one, but then I don't think I'd have made the drive home!
To be clear, while I like my Dr. Bass cab, it does not do what the Big E cabs do. In my apartment, it sounds smooth and wonderful. On stage, I think it does better than any of the cabs you can find at your area Guitar Center or that I encounter as backline in my modest rounds. Next to the Big Es, it sounded a little ganky in the mids and thin down low. More than that, the presentation of the sound is different -- markedly so, and I, too, prefer the Big Es in this regard.
Difference in efficiency wasn't that much. The 110 needed a little nudge on the volume knob when switching between it and the other cabs. The return is this astounding, articulate low end.
To be clear, while I like my Dr. Bass cab, it does not do what the Big E cabs do. In my apartment, it sounds smooth and wonderful. On stage, I think it does better than any of the cabs you can find at your area Guitar Center or that I encounter as backline in my modest rounds. Next to the Big Es, it sounded a little ganky in the mids and thin down low. More than that, the presentation of the sound is different -- markedly so, and I, too, prefer the Big Es in this regard.
Difference in efficiency wasn't that much. The 110 needed a little nudge on the volume knob when switching between it and the other cabs. The return is this astounding, articulate low end.
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After playing the 110 proto, I am really wound up waiting to try out the 210!
You'll have one next month
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Woot!
Hey Tom - can't you give it a lab test?
Take some measurements. Compared to measurements of other cabs?
Playing it is one indicator, but potential real world performance also comes out in the measurements.
Real world performance occurs in the real world in my experience but I welcome any measurements Tom would like to make.
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