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Big E Speakers pt 3
- Thread starter john turner
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Mike, not a huge fan of Genz Benz? Not sure how the GK reference slipped in.
Gallien Krueger---lots of honest power but I've never liked the voicing. With the MVW (Big E) cabs I find that I can get a nice sound with the GK's.
When Randy and I were there a while back, I had my MB800 and played through a 4x5 and a couple of 10's (the long ones?) separately. Mike commented that the GK "had a lot of hair on it" but we all liked the sound. Played my Skjold CS5 and Mike's Roscoe.
My Walkabout was the first amp to drive my 110 Flex in my living room. The first listen was jaw-dropping. Simply amazing. I now use a 'vacuum tube power plant' by Reeves. I have so much fun every time I plug into this combo.
So it sounds like for micros, the Puma 900 seems the overall favorite with Big E cabs and tubes sound great with the Flex series. From early impressions, the new Baer Valkyrie should be very nice with a MAS66 or Flex 210...
I'm sure that a Valkyrie would generate some sweet, powerful, and lethal (to mice!
) vortexitude with a 210 Flex.
I don't necessarily think that the Puma is the best with my cabs. I like it for the ease of getting a sound with electric or upright.
The Tonehammer sounded great and the GK MB 800 sounded great. We played a Precision through an 85 and it was a great combination.
I've played Markbass amps that sounded great. I didn't like the Streamliner with the 6's (not the new 46 or 26) but they were too prominent in the midbass to upper bass regions. The Streamliner through the Flex's sound nice. The Flex's are very tight in the low end and they offset what I consider tubbiness of the Streamliner.
Shuttles sound relatively neutral to me. They work great.
Tubes work great.
I think it's more dependent on the sound you're going for. I never liked tube amps for bass but with the electric I love them with the MVW cabs. I don't think I'd like them with upright.
The Puma is a little more tubey in their flat position but the taste control makes dialing in a sound a cinch. I typically have the taste control in the 11 o'clock position.
All that being said---I thought that the Puma 900 was the end-all until the mean spirited Tom B. played the Reeves. The midrange and upper end detail were stupid.
Again----take the amp recommendations with a grain of salt. The biggest education I'm getting is realizing that what suits my needs isn't gospel.
I think that certain other speaker designs may favor a certain amp to compliment their voicings. I find the MVW cabs less so, but the MVW cabs like others have a degree of their own built-in voicings. I've tried to get them as close to neutral as I can but each model still has it's own character.
For instance--now this is just me---but I wouldn't use the woofer I use in the Flex's in a reflex enclosure. It's a very damped and controlled driver. Tends toward dry to me with a QTS of .26. But the vortex adds some mid and upper bass warmth to make it a very functional sound.
The new MA109 (the German WW II plane was the ME109---told you about these Big E guys) has a 10 with a QTS higher than I would use in a reflex enclosure. Low 40's I think. My experience is that in a reflex enclosure it would be too loose and ill-defined. Which is also the case with the 3015lf. In the MVW cab the 10"er in the 109 gains some control. So---the Flex's and the 109 have different tendencies soundwise. The Vortex tends to buffer each to a better end result. I don't think that a Streamliner would be good with the 109 while it's very nice with the Flex.
Steve and Tom were working like crazy with the 109 the past few days and they sent me a frequency graph that I'm very pleased with. They've been working virtually non-stop the past 5 days. I feel fortunate to work with them.
Also---I really want a Valkyrie! Looks like the smartest amp design I've seen.
The Tonehammer sounded great and the GK MB 800 sounded great. We played a Precision through an 85 and it was a great combination.
I've played Markbass amps that sounded great. I didn't like the Streamliner with the 6's (not the new 46 or 26) but they were too prominent in the midbass to upper bass regions. The Streamliner through the Flex's sound nice. The Flex's are very tight in the low end and they offset what I consider tubbiness of the Streamliner.
Shuttles sound relatively neutral to me. They work great.
Tubes work great.
I think it's more dependent on the sound you're going for. I never liked tube amps for bass but with the electric I love them with the MVW cabs. I don't think I'd like them with upright.
The Puma is a little more tubey in their flat position but the taste control makes dialing in a sound a cinch. I typically have the taste control in the 11 o'clock position.
All that being said---I thought that the Puma 900 was the end-all until the mean spirited Tom B. played the Reeves. The midrange and upper end detail were stupid.
Again----take the amp recommendations with a grain of salt. The biggest education I'm getting is realizing that what suits my needs isn't gospel.
I think that certain other speaker designs may favor a certain amp to compliment their voicings. I find the MVW cabs less so, but the MVW cabs like others have a degree of their own built-in voicings. I've tried to get them as close to neutral as I can but each model still has it's own character.
For instance--now this is just me---but I wouldn't use the woofer I use in the Flex's in a reflex enclosure. It's a very damped and controlled driver. Tends toward dry to me with a QTS of .26. But the vortex adds some mid and upper bass warmth to make it a very functional sound.
The new MA109 (the German WW II plane was the ME109---told you about these Big E guys) has a 10 with a QTS higher than I would use in a reflex enclosure. Low 40's I think. My experience is that in a reflex enclosure it would be too loose and ill-defined. Which is also the case with the 3015lf. In the MVW cab the 10"er in the 109 gains some control. So---the Flex's and the 109 have different tendencies soundwise. The Vortex tends to buffer each to a better end result. I don't think that a Streamliner would be good with the 109 while it's very nice with the Flex.
Steve and Tom were working like crazy with the 109 the past few days and they sent me a frequency graph that I'm very pleased with. They've been working virtually non-stop the past 5 days. I feel fortunate to work with them.
Also---I really want a Valkyrie! Looks like the smartest amp design I've seen.
Thomas Ewers
Commercial User
M109 name was truly based on the physical properties of the cab but with previous Germanic names we could not pass on the obvious overlap!
M for Mike
10 for the 10"
Well the rest is in engineering......
M for Mike
10 for the 10"
Well the rest is in engineering......
Nah, you guys aren't fooling me. I figure it's named after
the Messier 109 spiral galaxy
or the beautiful highway M-109 here in Michigan
or the M109 self-propelled 155mm Howitzer
There's also an M109 2 1/2 ton truck, an M109 Tactical Mini Gun or a Suzuki M109 motorcycle.
So which is it really, hmmm?
I'm betting it's the Howitzer...
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Ha! Yes, the Puma 900 is a really good match, but certainly not the only head to get the job done. And boy, howdy, does that Reeves just SHINE with your cabs!
And and an intriguing quote from one of the co-inventors:
"Spiritbass - they are very functional too as they are up-splayed 45* when the cab is played on its side (probably it 's most common use) so the one will clearly be heard by the player. The other crossfires and splashes across the floor for a little wider dispersion than these cab generally get so a benefit there too."
My FB feed said that research and development continues in the BigE lab despite drifts of snow outdoors...
Mike: a couple of questions --
Do you know if the new cab using 8" drivers will be a 2-way design?
Not sure if you've had the chance to try this: how would driving two 110 Flex compare to one 210 Flex (in my case with electric bass guitar)?
I was considering two MAS-46, but it sounds like those are going to be 4 ohm cabs now which would give less options on powering them.
The cab with the 8's will be 2 way. It's still on the drawing board. Tom and Steve have been building knock-down cabs to try small changes everywhere in the sound path. These guys just keep on reworking, testing, and measuring. They are improving all of the cabs in small increments and will continue to do so.
The 8" cab will be big---likely around 41" tall and 24" wide by 15 deep. And around 75#. The high frequency driver and horn will be way above what you see in a bass cab.(Faital HF10AK) I used it in Thumbsandfingers' cab and was blown away. Again, the 48 has about 25% more output than the 210.
As far as the Flex and 46 cabs---
For now the 46's will be 4 ohms. I had to make a choice---an economic one. I figure a lot more guys will buy the 46 to use alone and 4 ohms makes more sense in terms of amps. These will take 500 watts and 500 watts at 4 ohms is a lot cheaper than 500 at 8.
If these sell well than I'll make a driver buy of 8 ohm drivers. It's just that I have to buy 50 drivers at a time.
I don't think that you need two Flex 110's to equal a Flex 210. A Flex 110 and a 110 sub will give almost all of the benefits of the 210 flex. The 210 switches will function a bit differently and the 210 has a couple of different options as far as switching. But a 110 Flex and a 110 sub will sound pretty much like a 210 Flex. Same dynamic range--same punch--same basic sound and lots of switching options. The 210 has two tweets but the default setting is one tweet. I use the 210 and always use one tweet. One will handle all of the volume you need and can still be goosed a little to give more highs if needed. The 210 has one mid position that is more aggressive but it's pretty extreme. The switches on the 110 give a lot of sonic options.
I'll be moving toward a 110 Flex and 110 sub for myself. Lots more flexibility as far as shlep and little downside.
I was thinking dual-purpose use on the dual cab thing (bass guitar & home stereo system).
If I went with a Baer Valkyrie or a Genz SM12.2 the 4 ohm MAS-46 should work fine.
A dual 4x6 rig would most likely be bad to the bone. Throw in the Valk= killer. The Shuttlemax would likely be a good match as well. I have found that the Big E cabs warm up the tone of a naturally dry amp
A Valkyrie should also be able to drive 500 watts into a 5.3 ohm MAS-66. For an easy schlep single cab rig, that looks real interesting...
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