fEARful cabs, your thoughts, reviews?

[KJung]

"Good for some, not for others" is a great way to express a balanced critique. These cabs will not meet everyone's needs, but they sure meet mine, especially considering their power/weight/portability. Having said, that I also agree with the eq comment. I definitely like to eq my 15/6. I cut 6db at about 1000hz and boost 120hz-200 about 3db. That's with my J bass with flats and tone control on the bass rolled completely off. I am not a fan of in your face high mids and I find these settings work very nicely for a fat, yet punchy tone with little in way of treble or high-mids.

This is a GREAT post, and points to a key issue here. Unless a player describes his input signal and tone goals, all this talk is meaningless. With a J Bass with flats and the passive tone engaged, the ENTIRE issue with the particular mid driver and crossover in the fEARful spec goes away... completely... zero issue. In that case, you are basically using a VERY good one way 115 cab, for all practical purposes, dialing in the low mid bump that naturally occurs in many bass cabs, and getting the advantage of the amazing mechanical capability of that LF driver.

TOTALLY +1.

As many who have heard my 5 years of too many clips, my tone is probably as different from that as you can get, and all the information coming out of my input signal above 1K totally lays bare any anomolies in the top end of a cab. That is one of the reasons the sophistication of the crossover and top end voicing in the Thunderchild, and also in some of the Bergantino cabs make them totally 'plug and play' for me, which is wonderful, since it allows me to use a very simple, mico head sort of solution with moderate power and standard EQ to keep that basic sound the same across rooms.

The other cool thing for me about the Thunderchild cabs is that when I do want to go a bit more old school, the crossover has a 'gentle upper treble rolloff' filter that really emulates a good one way cab, with that bit wider upper mid dispersion pattern that some feel is key to a good bass tone. Of course, if you want 'icepick' upper mids or super brightness, the Thunderchild is not going to do that (even with lots of boost in those areas), or, as Chef posted, similar to the fEARful also, if you want a more traditional 'top of the cone' break-up response, the Thunderchild nor the fEARful is going to do that. Interestingly, for that vibe, Roger Baer's ML112 with the Faital mid driver and a relatively sophisticated crossover(sophisticated meaning there is quite a bit of EQ applied above the crossover point to even out the response of the top end driver) gives you, IMO, a 'true' one way cab sound with the various benefits of a mid driver.

Lots of ways to skin the cat here! All good stuff, each of which has its own positives and negatives.

 

[Chef]

This.

if you want a more traditional 'top of the cone' break-up response, the Thunderchild nor the fEARful is going to do that. Interestingly, for that vibe, Roger Baer's ML112 with the Faital mid driver and a relatively sophisticated crossover(sophisticated meaning there is quite a bit of EQ applied above the crossover point to even out the response of the top end driver) gives you, IMO, a 'true' one way cab sound with the various benefits of a mid driver.

Lots of ways to skin the cat here! All good stuff, each of which has its own positives and negatives.

 

[Joe Louvar]

^^^ +3 to page 3 (so far).

 

[ArmoredAngels]

Thanks for all the input here guys! My guitar is ESP LTD-415 5-string with EMG active pickups. My amp will probably be Eden WT800 And as stated before I play Real Heavy stuff and I need to cut through the mix pretty much at all cost.

 

[barryaudio]

if you want a more traditional 'top of the cone' break-up response, the Thunderchild nor the fEARful is going to do that.

With the right driver(s) the new designs from greenboy, Bassic/Dually will give you that.

 

[ArmoredAngels]

oh and I am going to put DR Neons strings on it too

 

[aborgman]

Size differences are incredibly subjective. Mostly due to transportation limitations. What fits fine in one vehicle, might not fit through the door/trunk on another. Sometimes that extra inch gets you "that much closer" sometimes its the straw that breaks the camels back.

Yeah - but when we're calling 10% more volume and less weight a "huge" difference in size - that is rather hyperbolic.

 

[lomo]

With the right driver(s) the new designs from greenboy, Bassic/Dually will give you that.

how?

 

[barryaudio]

using a full range speaker, you will hear cone break up

 

[CL400Peavey]

how?

The same way that any full range driver does.

 

[Chef]

It's ok for people to have opinions and preferences different from yours.

Yeah - but when we're calling 10% more volume and less weight a "huge" difference in size - that is rather hyperbolic.

 

[lomo]

The same way that any full range driver does.

But if you push say, a 3015LF to hear it break up, you may also have to rupture a few tympanic membanes, or am I missing something?

 

[Chef]

I think GB has non-LF designs now...

 

[lomo]

Oh-so we're talking about a non-LF driver OR one without a midrange to cross up to-is that it?

 

[RNV]

Thanks for all the input here guys! My guitar is ESP LTD-415 5-string with EMG active pickups. My amp will probably be Eden WT800 And as stated before I play Real Heavy stuff and I need to cut through the mix pretty much at all cost.

Knowing this, and knowing most people in the "heavy" genre, and not knowing you personally, I'm going to suggest that you play around with your EQ in the mids area. Cutting through isn't always about better cabs, more wattage, or active basses. Cutting through is filling in voids in the sonic soundscape your full band is producing. My EQ setting isn't even close to what I want to hear when playing alone or to CDs, but live it fills in the voids and is heard without blowing the mix all to hell. My tone is heard and sounds great when my band plays, and that is what is important.

My $0.02

 

[CL400Peavey]

Oh-so we're talking about a non-LF driver OR one without a midrange to cross up to-is that it?

The Bassic and the Dually can be made with Non-LF 3015's, or Faitals as far as I know.

 

[BurningSkies]

I'd like to comment that the slope on the crossover for the fEARful is at roughly 800hz (more likely slightly lower). even if you're rolling off some of your highs, there is still plenty of content in the mids coming through the 6" speaker. I ended up turning over my 15/6 for this reason. I've also seen some measurements that make it look like fEARful cabs have a fairly level range between 1500-3000hz and the bump people are hearing is closer to 4kHz.

If you look at the graph that Foz posted of his 1515/66/1:

You can see that slope that moves up from 1.5kHz and peaks around 4.kHz, before you get a bit of a drop off between the mid and the tweeter in the crossover range. This is the old tweeter crossover, so I believe there's less of a dip in that 5K range.

 

[Joe Louvar]

I think GB has non-LF designs now...

+1. both the Basic 115 and Dually 215 use full range drivers with no crossover, mid drivers, or tweeter/horns.

But, I 'think' the OP was asking about the 15/6 vs. the 1515/66?

EDIT: Bassic/Dually use 3015's or 15PR400's.

 

[CL400Peavey]

+1. both the Basic 115 and Dually 215 use full range drivers with no crossover, mid drivers, or tweeter/horns.

But, I 'think' the OP is asking about the 15/6 vs. the 1515/66?

Yes,

I think the discussion turned to the drivers in the Dually and Bassic in light of cone distortion being part of ones sound.

 

[ArmoredAngels]

Knowing this, and knowing most people in the "heavy" genre, and not knowing you personally, I'm going to suggest that you play around with your EQ in the mids area. Cutting through isn't always about better cabs, more wattage, or active basses. Cutting through is filling in voids in the sonic soundscape your full band is producing. My EQ setting isn't even close to what I want to hear when playing alone or to CDs, but live it fills in the voids and is heard without blowing the mix all to hell. My tone is heard and sounds great when my band plays, and that is what is important.

My $0.02

Thanks, yeah you're right, be where your guitarist is not ... good 2 cents