Thanks. I'm actually listening in a large , crappy cement floored garage. Not exactly a studio is it. I'll get it to the bandroom next practice.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Cabinet tuning help
- Thread starter randyg
- Start date
Did some checking on my cabinet today and with will33's suggestion , I found a tone generator app for my iphone that allowed me to do a much more accurate rice test than I had been doing with my laptop. I thought this thing was tuned to around 48hz but turns out it was in the 40 to 41hz range. Ended up cutting about 1 1/2" off each port and it now checks in the 50hz range and sounds a lot better. The low notes that were weak and sloppy sounding are now tight and very punchy. Looks like it's going to be a keeper after all. I may trim the ports a little more. I don't know how my tuning calculations got so far off , but I did notice the port tubes are tapered quite a lot from one end to the other. This may be it or it very well could be I don't know what I'm doing. Thanks again for the help. Looks like it may have gone from a turd to a diamond.
I think you could go as high as 55hz if you just play standard tuned 4-string. Anything lower and I'd stop at 50hz.
The low tuning likely had the most to do with your lack of heft. I'd leave it where it is now at least until everything's had a chance to break in a bit and especially until you've had a chance to run it turned up, with your band, in a couple/few different listening environments aside from the garage/shop/basement, etc.
The low tuning likely had the most to do with your lack of heft. I'd leave it where it is now at least until everything's had a chance to break in a bit and especially until you've had a chance to run it turned up, with your band, in a couple/few different listening environments aside from the garage/shop/basement, etc.
I followed the Johnk starliner build and this one is pretty close to the same inside dimensions with 2 more ports. I used 3/4" ply so it's a little larger on the outside and there was some discussion of the possibility of port noise with only 2 ports at high volume. Since I already have the 610Ampeg , I wanted something smaller for the svt-cl that would be loud when needed , so I went with 4 ports. I'll get the freq up to a little over 50hz and I think it's going to be awesome. Lots of sound from a small box.
You're definitely on the right track with the increased port area.
To add: Ports size is not just a matter of chuffing or not chuffing at whatever power level. They contribute to the output. If you don't have enough port area, you won't get as much output contribution as you could down there. There is a point of diminishing or no return. Using crazy large port area will not give you crazy large output, but not using enough, will not give you as much output as you could be getting.
Yours has enough, so don't worry about it. Yours will likely have the best balance of output vs. low frequency power handling somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-53hz, which is pretty much where you are.
If you think it's too "middy" still at that point, it's time to start looking into notch filters or other things used in passive crossovers to bring down a little whatever bandwidth you feel is "too much", rather than trying to get more and more midbass output to balance it out.
To add: Ports size is not just a matter of chuffing or not chuffing at whatever power level. They contribute to the output. If you don't have enough port area, you won't get as much output contribution as you could down there. There is a point of diminishing or no return. Using crazy large port area will not give you crazy large output, but not using enough, will not give you as much output as you could be getting.
Yours has enough, so don't worry about it. Yours will likely have the best balance of output vs. low frequency power handling somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-53hz, which is pretty much where you are.
If you think it's too "middy" still at that point, it's time to start looking into notch filters or other things used in passive crossovers to bring down a little whatever bandwidth you feel is "too much", rather than trying to get more and more midbass output to balance it out.
