Some have said not to bother with lower power amps, but over in the fEARful forum I remember one posting stating good luck was had with a Walkabout. I have no actual experience.
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Fearful Part 14: one better than 13!
- Thread starter Chef
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Some have said not to bother with lower power amps, but over in the fEARful forum I remember one posting stating good luck was had with a Walkabout. I have no actual experience.
On some of my gigs I work with an acoustic guitar player.
I doubt I use even 50 watts those nights and my 12/6 (not as efficient as a 15/6)sounds just fine.
I doubt I use even 50 watts those nights and my 12/6 (not as efficient as a 15/6)sounds just fine.
I'm the guy who liked the Walkabout through a 12/6.
I used that pair together with a fretless for some jazz gigs. I had a nice round uprightish tone that filled the bill. Plenty loud for those nights.
The fEarful can take lots of power, but that doesn't mean they have to be run hard to sound great. I've also had a SVT through a fEarful and that was the best tone I've ever had. The SVT was wheezing and the little 12/6 was still in its safe zone.
I'd argue that the fEarful is a great match for lower powered heads, it doesn't need any boosting of the bass to sound BIG. That lack of eq saves lots of power.
I used that pair together with a fretless for some jazz gigs. I had a nice round uprightish tone that filled the bill. Plenty loud for those nights.
The fEarful can take lots of power, but that doesn't mean they have to be run hard to sound great. I've also had a SVT through a fEarful and that was the best tone I've ever had. The SVT was wheezing and the little 12/6 was still in its safe zone.
I'd argue that the fEarful is a great match for lower powered heads, it doesn't need any boosting of the bass to sound BIG. That lack of eq saves lots of power.
I know of one fEARful builder who made 2 subs, but he also build a head unit with a mid driver and space for packing cables in.
There isn't much happening above 800Hz-1kHz with just the sub, but adding a mid makes it come alive
@DaZombieWoof, a 15/6 will sound fine with low power (I run my 15/6 with my power amp at 300W most of the time, but can bridge it for 1050W), but a 1212/6 will go louder and isn't much bigger (4 ohms versus 8 ohms and more surface area). Actually the 1212/6 is a very good do-everything cab.
I have switched my mid and tweeter to "correct" polarity, but it somehow seems less tight in the mids. It just seems like their is less clarity than there is with reverse polarity. I have tried it with the tweeter in both polarities, but it doesn't affect it much, just the mid driver polarity.
Anyone else with a similar experience or who just prefers the sound of the cab with the mid in reverse polarity?
Anyone else with a similar experience or who just prefers the sound of the cab with the mid in reverse polarity?
- Dec 28, 2010
- 357
- 3
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- Art of Noise Audio, fEARful builder
Well considering how popular the reversed polority mid fearfuls were, I'd say MOST people like either iteration. I personally like the normal polarity, but it isn't a make or break difference. Do what sounds good.
Robby
I'm still on reversed polarity. Haven't tried it yet. I will keep it as is for now as I have an important gig coming up - don't touch a running system. So far I just love how that cab sounds.
I finished my 1212/6 this weekend. That's my Walkabout on top. Sounds fantastic! I do find that I get more "umph" from my GK 1001RB, with 700 watts on tap. I didn't find any particular benefit from the 1500 watt Crown XLS1500, though. More experimentation will (happily) occur this week...
To revisit 2 pages back: curing Duratex smells like cat piss / ammonia. Not too bad unless you're in a very small room, and it only lasts a few days.
I finished my 1212/6 this weekend. That's my Walkabout on top. Sounds fantastic! I do find that I get more "umph" from my GK 1001RB, with 700 watts on tap. I didn't find any particular benefit from the 1500 watt Crown XLS1500, though. More experimentation will (happily) occur this week...
Good to know. I'm still on the fence between a TecAmp Puma or a Walkabout (as a smallternative to my M6). I've been a Mesa guy for a long time, and the shop is down the street from me. The para EQ from the WA is nice, and the tube-ness of the WA is attractive. However, the extra power and silly smallness of the Puma is hard to ignore. Plus, as transparent as it is, I could always put a pedal into it to get a tube-tone.
The 15/6 does not give up much as to efficiency to the 1212. I am thinking start with one 15/6/1 with tweeter cut out switch and then seeing if that really doesn't satisfy what I want. I am thinking it would cover the Ampeg 410LF thump territory without the back pain. Mind you, I am tweaking my B-25B with a Mercury Magnetics output transformer so I can have 16, 8, and 4 ohms out along with Mercury mojo in the mix.
Top panel brace in place. Yes, I cleaned off that glue and bits of poly along the top of the bracing and mid chamber before gluing.
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Underneath side of top panel before poly batting added.
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Underneath side of top panel after poly batting added. I used an entire can of spray adhesive applying the poly batting to the rest of the cab and did not want to buy a whole new can just for the top panel. As a result I used hot glue for the top panel. Hope it holds.
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Underneath of top panel after poly batting added. Centre view.
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Now the box is complete. Sanding, spackle, duratex and component load to come.
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Underneath side of top panel before poly batting added.
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Underneath side of top panel after poly batting added. I used an entire can of spray adhesive applying the poly batting to the rest of the cab and did not want to buy a whole new can just for the top panel. As a result I used hot glue for the top panel. Hope it holds.
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Underneath of top panel after poly batting added. Centre view.
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Now the box is complete. Sanding, spackle, duratex and component load to come.
I've tried searching through all of the fEARful threads to find my answer to no avail. So, has anyone paired a 12/6 with an Ampeg SVT-4? If so, what do you think?
fEarful's are the "Non-bass cab" cab. They really don't have a sound of their own. They don't have a particular "sound bias" in their design, though the designs are offered with different versions to fit different needs.
They are designed to be neutral, handle gobs of power while remaining clean and are very efficient. You don't need a lot of watts to get loud, though if you've got'em a fEarful can handle'em. If you know what studio monitors "sound like", you can imagine a studio monitor on steroids. That's a fEarful.
You will be surprised the first time you play your bass through your amp, thru a fEarful. It won't sound like you're used to. Then you'll tweak the EQ/gain/tone knobs and you'll realize that your bass and amp are capable of producing a lot of different sounds...more than you're used to. Fourteen thousand posts on this forum alone...a few hundred converts at least...they are that good.
They are designed to be neutral, handle gobs of power while remaining clean and are very efficient. You don't need a lot of watts to get loud, though if you've got'em a fEarful can handle'em. If you know what studio monitors "sound like", you can imagine a studio monitor on steroids. That's a fEarful.
You will be surprised the first time you play your bass through your amp, thru a fEarful. It won't sound like you're used to. Then you'll tweak the EQ/gain/tone knobs and you'll realize that your bass and amp are capable of producing a lot of different sounds...more than you're used to. Fourteen thousand posts on this forum alone...a few hundred converts at least...they are that good.
SVT 4 has totally adequate power. The cab would not weigh that much more than the head. You would hear what the amp can do and how it colors things.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
If you like the sound of the SVT-4, you'll like the sound of it with a fEARful. The deal is that instead of having to EQ to make up for your cab's own tonal footprint, the fEARful's footprint is a LOT lower impact, meaning you don't have to boost a lot of lows if you like lows, because they're not naturally rolled off. If you like low mid bump, you'll need to add it, because its flat there while most cabs have a natural bump. If you're used to a cab that has a woofer and a tweeter, you're used to a gap in response where one ends and the other begins...the fEARful doesn't have that gap.
What many (including some guys who are experienced, long time and normally savvy players) forget is you need to start by unlearning your EQ curve that you use with regular cabs and start from a neutral point and use your ears. Say, you've got a Sadowski with 13db boost at 4kHz, you'll need to roll that boost back and start from flat again and use your ears to find your sound.
There's a lot of freedom in having this kind of cab. Can it sound 'sterile'? Sure. If you have a sterile sounding amp. Can it sound warm and fat? Sure. If you have a warm sounding amp.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
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- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
BurningSkies said:If you like the sound of the SVT-4, you'll like the sound of it with a fEARful. The deal is that instead of having to EQ to make up for your cab's own tonal footprint, the fEARful's footprint is a LOT lower impact, meaning you don't have to boost a lot of lows if you like lows, because they're not naturally rolled off. If you like low mid bump, you'll need to add it, because its flat there while most cabs have a natural bump. If you're used to a cab that has a woofer and a tweeter, you're used to a gap in response where one ends and the other begins...the fEARful doesn't have that gap.
What many (including some guys who are experienced, long time and normally savvy players) forget is you need to start by unlearning your EQ curve that you use with regular cabs and start from a neutral point and use your ears. Say, you've got a Sadowski with 13db boost at 4kHz, you'll need to roll that boost back and start from flat again and use your ears to find your sound.
There's a lot of freedom in having this kind of cab. Can it sound 'sterile'? Sure. If you have a sterile sounding amp. Can it sound warm and fat? Sure. If you have a warm sounding amp.
Haha!
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Thanks for the input on the reverse polarity thing, guys! I have been using mine now in correct polarity and starting to like it more. I think the "clarity" I spoke of before was caused by some frequencies being a bit louder and it seems to change with the source I use.
I now have the updated tweeter highpass installed, slightly less attenuation on the mid (modified the L-Pad values) and a piece of open-celled foam in front of the mid driver. I am finally satisfied that it sounds exactly how I want
I now have the updated tweeter highpass installed, slightly less attenuation on the mid (modified the L-Pad values) and a piece of open-celled foam in front of the mid driver. I am finally satisfied that it sounds exactly how I want
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