El Whappo Jr. Ordered

[BassIan]

Why are you wanting to sell it?

Because my Schroeder fits my needs for heavy rock sound way better and I don't have enough room in my apartment to hold on to both (although I would like to).

 

[Bassist30]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bassist30
They tested and confirmed that being
they were completely passive, unlike
what other companies use, so you could only take away from the volume.


then alexclaber states:
So rheostats are passive - yes we know that. But AG are now claiming that other companies' L-pads are not passive - what are they talking about?! The difference between the single rheostat as used by AG and an L-pad is that the L-pad uses two rheostats, one in parallel and one in series with the speaker, to maintain constant impedance. These are all passive devices. Are they suggesting that other companies attenuators also take away from the tone or something?
____________________________________________________

I don't understand why people go around and say things as if it were Gospel. Esspecially those who never even played the cabinet. Now I hear the l pad is wrong, the accuswitch is wrong, there is leakage with un-natural frequencies feeding to different speakers and tweeters........... If all this is true the sound must suck. What are you doing. First of all who is the expert who claims all this. You know Im not much into the Accuswitch being false or not at which i heard they are seeking a patent on it. But OK Ok lets leave it alone. But Im sure if the Neo speakers were about to come out you would say how they could not work. Even Bassplayer with there satements concerning the lack of highs in there cabinet. Ok Tell Bill Dickens that who IMHO is one of the greatest slappers uses accugroove and David Dyson another great slapper.
tell these guys oh by the way the highs are not that great. And that L pad is going to screw up your sound, and forget about that accuswitch. I heard a whoopo with and without the L pad and there is no difference. I myself own a Jr., and love it. In fact I am buying a 12L and probably later buy there single 10. I like these guys. They are doing there best. And treat there customers well. And all in all its a great cabinet.
You don't like it because you believe without expert knowledge that all they put into there cabinet will screw up or not make it sound good or make it blow speakers..... What else im sure you can think of other things........ Do you own one. Did you open one up and see how it does not work?

 

[alexclaber]

that is ALL I'm saying. Science said my old Bagend cubes won't work because there was nowhere close to the internal space needed, Science said the Schroeders sacrifice lows to sound low...

No, science says Bag End cubes and Schroeders are too small to go really low. And guess what? They don't! And neither Schroeder nor Bag End claim that they do, nor do they claim that they are 'audiophile on steroids'. They don't go low but they do sound good for bass.

I don't understand why people go around and say things as if it were Gospel. Esspecially those who never even played the cabinet. Now I hear the l pad is wrong, the accuswitch is wrong, there is leakage with un-natural frequencies feeding to different speakers and tweeters........... If all this is true the sound must suck.

I don't know how you reached that conclusion? There is a very big difference between the sound being heavily coloured and the sound sucking! So you like how the cab sounds - great, it's a bass cab, not a hi-fi speaker. But when the company claims that it meets such incredibly demanding audiophile specs and you see that its engineering makes that impossible then you like to point that out.

I heard a whoopo with and without the L pad and there is no difference.

If the attenuators are all the way clockwise, then the sound would be no different.

I like these guys. They are doing there best. And treat there customers well. And all in all its a great cabinet.

They do treat their customers well. I don't think they treat their prospective customers well by giving them false information. I know, I was one.

You don't like it because you believe without expert knowledge that all they put into there cabinet will screw up or not make it sound good or make it blow speakers..... What else im sure you can think of other things........ Do you own one. Did you open one up and see how it does not work?

I don't have a problem with their cabinets. I do have a problem with their outlandish claims for their cabinets' abilities. I almost owned one - but the **** hit the fan before I could - and I'm very glad about that, because I would have had to buy one unheard because I refuse to pay the huge costs of cabs over in the UK and would have imported one directly myself.

Let me put it clearly:

AccuGroove make good cabinets. AccuGroove cabinets fail to live up to their specs by a mile. AccuGroove have exhibited numerous examples of their remarkable lack of engineering understanding yet continue to claim that they are experts. AccuGroove have good customer service. AccuGroove are not truthful to their prospective customers. AccuGroove cabinets cost far more than their construction and components warrant. AccuGroove cabinets do still sound good. In fact, to your ears they may be the best sounding cabs in the world. But compared to their claims, they are way off - but that's understandable because their claimed specs are impossible to meet with current technology!

Alex

 

[alexclaber]

P.S. Bassist30 - it's Whappo not Whoopo.

Alex

 

[alexclaber]

Just ordered a El Whappo Jr. I've been using a SWR Triad for about 2 yrs now and all in all it is a great full range speaker. I chose the Jr over the Standard El Whappo because it is close enough to the size of my Triad to fit it it's road case. (no other reason). I'll let you know all how the 2 stack up when it comes in next wk.

I think you'll love it! Sorry the thread went off on one, it seems some people are unable to see things objectively - a cab can sound great yet still not live up to a company's hyperbole - that doesn't stop the cab being great, it just makes the company's marketing practices somewhat dubious.

Enjoy the new cab - I bet it'll sound SO loud compared to the Triad, and the high end should be very smooth.

Alex

 

[GreyBeard]

I think you'll love it! Sorry the thread went off on one, it seems some people are unable to see things objectively - a cab can sound great yet still not live up to a company's hyperbole - that doesn't stop the cab being great, it just makes the company's marketing practices somewhat dubious.

Enjoy the new cab - I bet it'll sound SO loud compared to the Triad, and the high end should be very smooth.

Alex

I'm looking forward to an A/B comparison. I'm gonna set them side by side running each of them with one side of my plx 1202. I think I'm gonna just use the pre-amp in the dbx compressor so as to not add any color. I don't know just how familiar you are with the Triad but it is the best kept secret as far as speakers go. I have never been satisfied with its sound. The AG will have its work cut out for it.

 

[alexclaber]

Yes, for a loud guitar based band or a 15+ piece dance band they cut through the densness better than anything I've used / heard. Killer little cabinets for sure. I continue to recommend them for those situations.

So I hear. I'm a keen proponent of Schroeders on my other forum, despite them not being to my taste - but I can see them working so well for other bassists in other situations.

I play and exist in much looser and intimate settings where I need and want my full extended range produced.... there is nothing to slice through, I'm already out front. That's all that's really changed.

A nice situation to be in! I find my Acmes are great in that kind of situation, likewise.

I've actually asked for history on Accugroove, falling in love with them tone wise and never buying into any previous dialog on them. I know about the switch, they pulled it from the line... it's done. But you say "were quite active on various forums", which? I too am active on at least half a dozen boards and news groups... I lurk at a few others too. I guess I missed the marketing push and public backlash (and so has google)

The history of AccuGroove seems to revolve around Mark Wright wanting a better bass cab, finally succeeding in building one that met his desires, other bassists hearing it and wanting it, and the company being born. A nice story of a love of bass producing some good gear. Where it falls down for me is when they started on the whole 'audiophile' claims, the preposterous specs, the patent pending claims, etc etc. If they'd just kept their mouths shut, put out the minimalist specs that you see from most companies (i.e. 'useful' frequency range and 1kHz sensitivity) and been less keen to push their brilliance on forums (both through posts and PMs) then I'd still think they were great.

Someone splashing that much cash after just reading anyones specs isn't going to get what they are after... far too much other things can be read and weighed against each other.

I splashed the cash on my Acmes - including overseas shipping and import taxes - without hearing them, and got what I was after. AccuGroove's specs and claims suggested that they'd taken the Acme concept and improved upon it. Fortunately before I splashed the cash I found that this wasn't the case.

1.) you feel let down by accugroove
2.) you still haven't actually heard or played through them

Indeed. But I still believe that they sound great for many people's needs, and have never posted that I think they sound bad - because, A: I haven't heard them, and B: I believe that they do sound good!

They just don't meet their specs and their engineering is somewhat dubious, especially for the money.

I've said before, I think the El Whappo in particular is very clever concept, with basically a big old school fullrange 15" cab combined with a punchier modern fullrange 12" plus some smooth sounding high range drivers to add clarity. Very nice to get a big fat tube sound (with suitable head) and some added highs. But 'audiophile' and 35-18000Hz and -6dB @ 29Hz, I'll eat my hat!

the SWR Grand Prix is a great preamp. I did a lot of recording through one in the early 90s.

Yep, it's great! I'm sure I could get something incrementally better but I think the cost:improvement ratio would be too painful...

Alex

 

[alexclaber]

I'm looking forward to an A/B comparison. I'm gonna set them side by side running each of them with one side of my plx 1202. I think I'm gonna just use the pre-amp in the dbx compressor so as to not add any color. I don't know just how familiar you are with the Triad but it is the best kept secret as far as speakers go. I have never been satisfied with its sound. The AG will have its work cut out for it.

Look forward to the review!

Alex

 

[AMJBASS]

AccuGroove cabinets cost far more than their construction and components warrant.
Alex

That is irrelevant. Many things cost far more than they are worth and people still buy them. I imagine that Accugroove is as popular as it is for a reason. Who cares what it is made of...if it sounds great that is all that matters. My Ampeg B100R is made of particle board. It sounds awesome in the mix. I wouldn't hesitate to buy an Accugroove if I had the cash.

 

[Bassist30]

P.S. Bassist30 - it's Whappo not Whoopo.

Alex

Now you complain about typing errors. Ok Its whappo. Give me a break.
I heard your tunes on My space. What electronics to record were you using?????????

 

[alexclaber]

I heard your tunes on My space. What electronics to record were you using?????????

'87 Warwick Streamer with P/J EMGs and OBP-3, via SWR Grand Prix into Fostex MR-8HD. Further mixing done on Cubase SX. All EQ on bass and preamp flat. The two completed demos have had compression and some EQ applied in mixing. The raw writing demo probably had some EQ applied on the bass. The bass & drum track has had no EQ and was bridge pickup soloed - it may sound a bit thin now but the lows are there, I'll just tweak them fat enough in the mix.

Alex

 

[J.Wolf]

Just ordered a El Whappo Jr. I've been using a SWR Triad for about 2 yrs now and all in all it is a great full range speaker. I chose the Jr over the Standard El Whappo because it is close enough to the size of my Triad to fit it it's road case. (no other reason). I'll let you know all how the 2 stack up when it comes in next wk.

Congrats on your purchase. The Whappo jr is a phenomenal cab, and I hope you'll be very happy with it. The triad is kind of a similar design (well, moreso than most other trad designs), and hopefully the jr will have what you love about the triad, and take it to the next level.

Maybe someday, someone will be able to ask an accugroove related question on TB without having to sift through all this overtly negative, highly subjective, only quasi-related tangents. true or not true, it really has nothing to do with the original question by greybeard. I'm glad I'm a proof is in the pudding kind of guy. How "wrong" can these cabs be if they sound wonderful, and haven't failed me in any way?

 

[James Hart]

I'm glad I'm a proof is in the pudding kind of guy. How "wrong" can these cabs be if they sound wonderful, and haven't failed me in any way?

Thanks Jake! Known to you or not... you are another reason for my stepping to Accugroove

 

[J.Wolf]

Thanks Jake! Known to you or not... you are another reason for my stepping to Accugroove

glad to be of help! I like the idea of an el whappo with a tube head like your peavey. I'm waiting on a handmade tube head from a friend of mine, we'll see how it does with the EW, its basically a 75 watt tube head based on the amp from a 60's fliptop. Although...... I tried my EW with a SVT-CL head and I was less than blown away, but its probably because I'm so used to my Demeter>CA9.

I'm glad you found the right setup for you...

jake

 

[Bassist30]

Yes good luck with the whappo jr. I have one and just today ordered the tri12L. See what you made me do.

 

[Pako]

Awesome! I got to play through Bruce Cambell's ACCU rig a few years back at a gig. It made my body tickle.

Great stuff....congrats!

 

[Spector_Ray]

Actually, the name El Whappo was a misnomer. The guys were watching the movie The Three Amigos. The villian's name was El Guapo. The guys at Accugroove thought it was El Whappo and decided to name the cabs that. That name actually fits better than El Guapo, unless you think the cabs are handsome.

 

[ArwinH]

I loved that movie...

 

[J.Wolf]

Jefe........ What is a plethora????

 

[Dan Knowlton]

Jefe........ What is a plethora????

You mean, like the plethora of responses from individuals that have very negative opinions of AG cabs without ever hearing one? That whole bunch taking an extreme position based on the "buzz" on Talkbass just makes me laugh. Opinions are worthless unless you can back them up with experience.

Just my $0.0000000000002!

Dan K.