fEARful part 13: the bad luck's done, son

[smeet]

Unless I missed something, you might want to see if this is what you really mean. The 15/6 requires a 3015LF, and the 12/6 uses 3012LF.

Whoops. Yeah, I meant I ordered the 3015LF.

If light weight is a strong consideration for you, you might just consider sticking with the Okume and adding more bracing.

It's not that important. I can deal with a couple of extra pounds. It seems all fEARfuls are pretty darn light anyway.

 

[solarplexus]

Whoops. Yeah, I meant I ordered the 3015LF.

It's not that important. I can deal with a couple of extra pounds. It seems all fEARfuls are pretty darn light anyway.

I used okoume for my 15/6 not just because of the weight saving, but also because it was marine grade, voidless and super strong wood. I did not want to build a 15/6 that would end up in unwanted vibrations from voids in the plywood. Baltic birch is fine, just make sure it is high quality voidless ply.

 

[jnewmark]

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Wow, mini fEARfuls ! Are you thinking they should go as a pair, or are both stand alone cabs ?

 

[Bardley]

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Should be very interesting.

 

[masonsjax]

Something like that might make for good monitor wedges too! I'm all ears.

 

[BurningSkies]

Get used to saying the word "fearLESS" everyone... That's the working name for this new line of speakers. Don't expect them to be give away plans, either.

 

[jnewmark]

Get used to saying the word "fearLESS" everyone... That's the working name for this new line of speakers. Don't expect them to be give away plans, either.

Are they meant to be used as a pair ?

 

[thudfromafar]

That probably depends on how much volume you want.

looks cool.

 

[DONZI97]

I don't think I posted a pic on here yet, but heres my stack, I'm obviously not the photographer Burning Skies is, but you get the idea.....plus I took it with my iPhone 3GS

 

[singlemalt]

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I got a bunch of work done yesterday, just waiting on crossover parts now.

I'll be finalizing the wiring on both cabs for the 4 pole speakon cables to run the horns from the GK's high side. That, and a small Lpad repair on the first (lower) cab. Then both lids get glued permanently, and the last corners installed.

I took the original 15/6/1 to a gig Saturday night after my 12/6 got locked in the rehearsal studio. (Long story) It sure is one great sounding cab! But I would have preferred not to hike up paths, stairs, and around the fire pit and through the lodge with a 65 lb cab, the 12/6 would have been plenty.


The new 15/6/1 weighed 40 lbs empty. I'll weigh it again with the crossover and horn driver installed.

Whatever it takes, I'm in for building one of those mini fEarless cabs.

Anybody have any thoughts on the TC RH 750? I think I can keep it below 125 dB for most things

 

[Robby Hoinsky]

The new 15/6/1 weighed 40 lbs empty. I'll weigh it again with the crossover and horn driver installed.

What kind of wood?

Robby

 

[Scogman]

...

Anybody have any thoughts on the TC RH 750? I think I can keep it below 125 dB for most things

My experience with the TC RH750 with the fEARfuls is that if you go above 120+db the RH750 will start to give some breakup at those high volume levels. It's a pleasant breakup, but a breakup nonetheless. At those levels my SVT-7 Pro can stay clean.

With one 15/6/1 the SPL on the RH750 and the SVT-7 Pro are about the same (120-123db). When you put 2 15/6/1 cabs together the SVT-7 will have a bit more give to that stack than the RH750. You will be able to get cleaner high volume and have more headroom. Someone pointed out that the RH750 will max at the same number of watts at both 4 and 8 ohms.

After my review of the 2 15/6/1 posted here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/fearful-part-13-bad-lucks-done-son-814236/index9.html#post11653519
I've had a chance to A/B the RH750 and the SVT-7 Pro more. I notice that the SVT-7 Pro will get more highs than the RH750. The RH750 seems to be voiced with a tad more mid and much less highs at noon on the dials than the SVT-7. I normally roll back some highs so not a big deal for me.

All that being said, I like the RH750 through the fEARfuls. I also like the Ampeg SVT-7 through the fEARfuls. I like the tube-like breakup of the RH750. Regardless of past controversy, I still think it has some of the best tube emulation that I've heard from an SS amp. With the SVT-7 I like the Ampeg tone but find if I want breakup that I like, I put my Sansamp Paradriver into the FX loop and mix to taste. The SVT-7 does have breakup by itself when you put the gain up, but I find it's rather binary. It's either there or it's not in my experience playing with it. With the RH750 seems a little more analog in that that I can add incremental bits of grit via tubetone. That's not a putdown of the Ampeg, you get the great Ampeg tone in spades with the SVT-7 and that's a fantastic sound. And at high SPL and add the grit from driving the gain on the Ampeg, it sounds really good, just more difficult to incrementally tweak to taste alone.

With one cab, I think the RH750 will hang with pretty much any other (except maybe separate pre's with power-amp rigs). With 2 cabs you will be able to get 123 db with the RH750. If you need more SPL than that you would need to consider something else.

Since I will mostly play with one cab, the choice between the RH750 and the SVT-7 would be a toss up, probably mostly influenced by mood. If I ever played with the 2 cabs, SVT-7 for sure if greater than 123db is needed.

PostScript: Some will see from above that with the RH750 with either 1 or 2 cabs I say you will get 123db. This is what the meter measured at 3 feet. I will say, however, that with 2 cabs the sound was fuller, brass-basket-balls full. There was a big difference using 1 cab vs 2 with the RH750 in fullness, so SPL doesn't tell the whole story there. With the Ampeg, there was definitely more gas in the tank when going from 1 cab to 2.

 

[Robby Hoinsky]

PostScript: Some will see from above that with the RH750 with either 1 or 2 cabs I say you will get 123db. This is what the meter measured at 3 feet. I will say, however, that with 2 cabs the sound was fuller, brass-basket-balls full. There was a big difference using 1 cab vs 2 with the RH750 in fullness, so SPL doesn't tell the whole story there. With the Ampeg, there was definitely more gas in the tank when going from 1 cab to 2.

That's strange. You should most definitely see a dB increase with using two cabs, even with no change in the amp settings. I wonder if something is up with your spl meter. Were the measurements done at different times or locations?

Robby

 

[smeet]

I used okoume for my 15/6 not just because of the weight saving, but also because it was marine grade, voidless and super strong wood. I did not want to build a 15/6 that would end up in unwanted vibrations from voids in the plywood. Baltic birch is fine, just make sure it is high quality voidless ply.

So okoume is actually a stiffer and stronger wood than than baltic birch. I guess the guy on the phone at Allied Veneer was clueless. Or not... They appear to have two grades of okoume, one is half the price of the BB, the other (marine grade) is $150 for a sheet, a little rich for my blood.

Has anybody had experience with using arauco? It's softer and 5-ply, but it would be 20% or so lighter than the BB. Is it worth using it and adding bracing, or should I stick with baltic birch?

 

[rpsands]

So okoume is actually a stiffer and stronger wood than than baltic birch. I guess the guy on the phone at Allied Veneer was clueless. Or not... They appear to have two grades of okoume, one is half the price of the BB, the other (marine grade) is $150 for a sheet, a little rich for my blood.

Has anybody had experience with using arauco? It's softer and 5-ply, but it would be 20% or so lighter than the BB. Is it worth using it and adding bracing, or should I stick with baltic birch?

Okoume is not stiffer or stronger than BB. It's high quality and void free.

It's lighter than Arauco, but has a tougher surface face. It's tougher than Poplar, but not quite as light.

IMHO, at 150/sheet, it's worth every penny. There is a place in california with 12mm Okoume for 95/sheet.

It should shave around 25% of the wood weight off your cab, or around 10lbs.

 

[smeet]

Okoume is not stiffer or stronger than BB. It's high quality and void free.

It's lighter than Arauco, but has a tougher surface face. It's tougher than Poplar, but not quite as light.

IMHO, at 150/sheet, it's worth every penny. There is a place in california with 12mm Okoume for 95/sheet.

It should shave around 25% of the wood weight off your cab, or around 10lbs.

Ah, I found it at AIT.

My concern is since I'm a rookie with wood, I don't want to ruin $95 worth of nice wood. Maybe I'll do some extra practice with cheapo wood before and take the okoume plunge.

 

[Scogman]

That's strange. You should most definitely see a dB increase with using two cabs, even with no change in the amp settings. I wonder if something is up with your spl meter. Were the measurements done at different times or locations?

Robby

I should have also said take the readings I got with a grain of salt. Readings were taken same location, differnt times. It could have been what I was playing or playing different or the level of attack may not have been the same on the two. We were going back and forth between 1 cab and 2 cabs, Ampeg and RH750 and I was noting what the readings were as we were switching cables around.

Definitely with one cab and two you could feel a difference, big difference in fullness. But for some reason when we took the SPL from the meter, didn't seem to register on the meter as different, with the RH750. With the Ampeg, different story, with 2 cabs, could drive more SPL out of the Ampeg for sure. But like you said, could have been something with the meter along with the unscientific nature we were doing things.

Should also have added. The SPL we got out of both the RH750 and the SVT-7, with one or two cabs, were more than plenty for what I would ever need, so I could have been a little sloppy in measuring when we were at SPL's that high because all I was doing at that point was playing and thinking, "Holy ---t, that's louder than I will ever need." We did reach max SPL in my opinion with the RH750, I think I gave up on going higher after a certain point with the SVT-7 because it was already plenty loud with boatloads of headroom. We even hit the 'Ultra-Low' on the SVT-7 and pretty much shook the contents of our bellies at that point. It was awesome.

 

[greenboy]

Most people don't need to maximize for lightness anyway. It's a craze, but with these speakers even true quality Baltic Birch puts you so far ahead of the curve in broadband SPL per cubic foot. And if that's not loud enough for you, get a louder amp - because they can take things that you will not believe until you do it yourself.

And if that's still not enough for you still put a bypass switch on the midrange driver padding. You'll be deaf in NO TIME! ; }

 

[smeet]

Most people don't need to maximize for lightness anyway. It's a craze, but with these speakers even true quality Baltic Birch puts you so far ahead of the curve in broadband SPL per cubic foot. And if that's not loud enough for you, get a louder amp - because they can take things that you will not believe until you do it yourself.

And if that's still not enough for you still put a bypass switch on the midrange driver padding. You'll be deaf in NO TIME! ; }

OK, so how do I check if the Baltic Birch is good enough quality? Does it need to be void free, or is there a grade I'm looking for, or... ?

 

[greenboy]

Void free, always. More plies perhaps is not intrinsically better, but typically if a manufacturer is using a lot of plies they are doing the rest of it better too.