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fEarful Amp call out

4Mal

4Mal

Gold Supporting Member
Jun 2, 2002
15,715
10,208
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Columbia River Gorge
#1
Ok - so what amp are you using with your fEarful ? which fEarful are you running ? Are you running biamped or passively crossed ? What are the positives ? What about the negatives ?

Please note: This thread is intended for real world practcial applications of amps & fEarfuls. Basically I'm looking for feed back from those folks who have actually fired up their fEarful cab's - preferrably in a band context. The information gathered here might become an addition to the Wiki so that in the furture, interested parties can get a sense of what is required for real world usage...

Which means if the cab isn't yet built, the information isn't really practical yet ... Thanks!
 
#3
Me!

fEarful 15/6 (no tweeter)
-Duratexed in dark red
-Grille from Reliable
-Dual Speak-on and Dual 1/4" ins
-Greenboy's crossover design with all upgraded component specs.

Currently running with my LMII for 95% reggae gigs.

Its plenty loud for me, but I'm looking at bumping up to a higher wattage amp so I can support the lows I like and that this cab can produce. Also seriously considering a 15-sub once some monies are freed up.
 
#4
LDS fEarful 15/6 (no tweeter)
-LDS polyurea or whatever it is
-Don's round hole metal grill
-Single speakon and 1/4
-Passinwind's passive crossover

Currently running a Demeter HBP-1 and a Carvin DCM1540-L bridged.

I also run a Yamaha PB-1 and QSC PLX 2502 as backup, and have run the PB-1 with the Carvin as well.

Also gigged with a:
Gk 1001 RB II
EA Iamp 800
 
#6
fEarful 12/6/1 with Markbass LMII
One of Swifts kits
Passinwinds crossover on the 3012LF and Alpha 6 and Duke's highpass on the ASD1001s driver.
Duratex finish.

Positives, great tone up to the limits of the LMII. I can keep up with two guitars and a drummer at practice and jams but have to crank the LMII pretty hard. Very deep,clear sound.

Negatives, the fEarful isn't the most efficient 112 cab out there so the LMII may be a little underpowered to get the most out of the cab ,but no other 112 cab sounds as good up to that point as the 12/6/1
 
#8
rpsands said:
LDS fEarful 15/6 (no tweeter)
-LDS polyurea or whatever it is
-Don's round hole metal grill
-Single speakon and 1/4
-Passinwind's passive crossover

Currently running a Demeter HBP-1 and a Carvin DCM1540-L bridged.

I also run a Yamaha PB-1 and QSC PLX 2502 as backup, and have run the PB-1 with the Carvin as well.

Also gigged with a:
Gk 1001 RB II
EA Iamp 800
Click to expand...

Curious as to how the 1001 rbII mated with the 15/6, as far as power and the EQ? I think I remember you saying something about padding back the 18sound (-3db), wondering if that would be necessary with the 1001s' 4 band...
 
#9
Stinkyg said:
Curious as to how the 1001 rbII mated with the 15/6, as far as power and the EQ? I think I remember you saying something about padding back the 18sound (-3db), wondering if that would be necessary with the 1001s' 4 band...
Click to expand...

The crossover on my cab has the midrange padded 3db back but that's pretty standard. It's 3db or so more sensitive than the woofer.

I have no doubts that the 1001 RB II has enough juice to blow a 3015LF without much bass boost at all. It moved the woofer a lot, and it got loud enough to make me uncomfortable being close to it without diming the amp. I would not hesitate to go with that combination.

But you do want the midrange padded. If you need more volume in the mids, the 1001 RB II's eq is more than flexible enough to achieve it. i cannot think of any situation in which I would need more mids than the 1001 RB II + the 18 sound padded 3db back would put out.
 
#11
My 800RB is going with my 15/6 after I finally get off of my duff and build it. rpsands (IIRC) suggested that I skip installing a crossover in the cab, and instead have one 1/4" jack in the back of the cab for each driver. So I would plug the 800RB's 300w amp into the 15" and the 100w into the 6", and use the 800RB's bi-amp feature to handle all the crossover duties. Sounds like a winning friggin' combination to me!
 
#12
based on my experience I would agree, with a modification. What I did was to add a 1 space rack rail to the back of my rack and I wired up a 4 pole speakon to two banana connectors - my WT-800A is old enough to have only banana and 1/4 inch. My cab then has two 4 pole speakons in parallel.

Taking the 4 pole speakon and a rack rail approach has some real advantages on a dark stage ...

FWIW - on my 12/6, the balance between lo & hi favors the low at near 90% - now I am admittedly old school when it comes to tone. A P or a J and flats suits me just fine. Even so I woulfd have to say that the 100 watts available to the mid from that amp would be more than sufficient.

Somebody here out to be working on a mod to the GK 1001 Rb II to drop the xover point ... um, maybe not ...
 
#14
4Mal said:
based on my experience I would agree, with a modification. What I did was to add a 1 space rack rail to the back of my rack and I wired up a 4 pole speakon to two banana connectors - my WT-800A is old enough to have only banana and 1/4 inch. My cab then has two 4 pole speakons in parallel.

Taking the 4 pole speakon and a rack rail approach has some real advantages on a dark stage ...

FWIW - on my 12/6, the balance between lo & hi favors the low at near 90% - now I am admittedly old school when it comes to tone. A P or a J and flats suits me just fine. Even so I woulfd have to say that the 100 watts available to the mid from that amp would be more than sufficient.

Somebody here out to be working on a mod to the GK 1001 Rb II to drop the xover point ... um, maybe not ...
Click to expand...


Of course, the real question is where is the crossover point, and what do the slopes look like? The 15.6 likes to be crossed over surprisingly low to avoid the 'spike' in mid-high that the 3015LF has. And as someone who has crossed at 800 and at the lower 500-ish of the GB design, I can say that it does make a noticeable difference.
 
#16
Bluesy Soul said:
Would you please elaborate on the difference(s) and tell us which you prefer?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


First off, with the cab crossed at 800, that peak is definitely noticeable...it comes off as brighter and honkier and not as even to my ear. Also off axis, the cab is definitely not as 'hearable'. I noticed it the first few practices...as I wandered across the room, the definition and 'body' of my sound was suffering and I was getting a lot of boom without the tighter definition that helps differentiate notes.

With the cab crossed over with the GB design, all of a sudden, the mid speaker was actually working quite a bit more (since its at the top of the cab, it was easy to tell the difference). The off axis sound was also better. Now I can walk across a fair sized stage and still be able to hear myself and have definition (within reason, of course).

That mid-peak that was a bit edgy is also tamed and the over all sound is more integrated and to me sounds 'richer'.
 
#17
I can definitely tell the difference between my 3015LF cab with a 1200hz crossover and the one with a 700hz crossover. It's a different mid driver, but, you can hear a ton of honk at 1khz-1.2khz that is easy to dial out in the DRB 3080 with parametric @ 1khz or so.

I wouldn't cross the 3015LF over any higher than 700hz unless that was a tone you were looking to achieve. If you're used to traditional mid-peaking cabs and don't have the eq to dial the honkiness in, I can see someone choosing to go with a higher xover point.

Ralf who makes LDS' crossover says he prefers the tone of the 3015LF crossed over up around 1.2khz, to his 3rd order 800hz (which he terms "Ruler flat") and over my Passinwind xover. I believe Don felt the same way, although I don't know for sure.

It's all very subjective, but one thing is for sure: Greenboy's is more efficient and flatter. So, if you're designing a flat cabinet to reproduce the sound of your amp and bass, do not even think twice - just use his. It's crazy cheap for the quality.
 
#18
I'm crossing lower than that with the 12+6 and Eden rig. Still playing though. I should probably take it too high and start backing down again... Today I was cranking guitar synth through it ... it was freakin' awsome ... The B3 patch was just killer...
 
#20
LDS built fEarful 15/6 (no tweeter)
Ralf's version of passinwind's crossover
Don's Quantum shield finish

TecAmp Puma 1000 run bridged which gives 1000 W into 8 ohms.

This is pretty much my only rig now. I use it for jazz-pop with a fretless, for reggae/dub stuff and with a ton of effects in my new project.

The only gig I have that I don't use it for is a RHCP tribute band where my GK rig is a no-brainer.
 

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