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Fearful Part 14: one better than 13!

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#821
monsterthompson said:
BTW, Mike, can you post a picture of the cab you mentioned last time we spoke? You said it has a slightly different red than mine, and that the paint samples online end up drying with some variation from your expectation. I don't know if you want to disclose the specific color name here or if you can pm me with it. I'm curious how the reds look in online samples vs IRL. If I remember, you said it was a Dually, and I love how those look. I don't think it fits with Tom's request for fEARfuls for his article, but everyone loves pictures :)
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This is the cab of which you speak.
 
#823
Blues Bass 2 said:
Got done with my 15/6 today . All I can say is wow , just like everybody says , these things are the real deal .

005-8.jpg
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Hey Blues Bass, that looks awesome! Pm me when you got it on a gig, I gotta hear that baby!
 
#827
mntngrown said:
I know you asked Ken, but I play a SL900 thru a 1515/66, and the bass is a P/J (G&L SB) w/flats. We use a little room recorder at gigs, nothin fancy, and don't worry where we put the recorder. Every post gig review is clear deep fat bass and I can hear every thing I do right or wrong.
Sometimes I will ask my guitar slinger bandleader if I am too loud. He just says," I f--- love it!"
Last gig we had 2 bands of his friends and former bandmates opening, plus another bass playing friend who stopped in just to listen. I got a lot of compliments from bass and guitar player perspective. Trust me it was the gear. I am an average player. It's a great combo for old school and blues. Can't comment on slap etc.
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Hello mntngrown,
I am getting a 1515/66 too and will be shopping for a bass head. I'm glad to hear that your SL 900 pairs so well with this cab. I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the low end capability of that micro head. I'd like to get over my bias that heavy bass heads are the only way to get a deep and clean bass tone for reggae. I'll be using the cab for reggae and I'm interested in that particular GB head. And, not that I play loud but I do need to provide a very large low and clean foundation for our stage sound - the band mates pretty much demand that from my bass tone. Do you really find that the SL 900 has the bass balls to make the 1515/66 really pump out the lows ? Have you heard signs of that head running out of steam with that cab ?

Thanks
 
#828
DrumsAndBass said:
Hello mntngrown,
I am getting a 1515/66 too and will be shopping for a bass head. I'm glad to hear that your SL 900 pairs so well with this cab. I guess I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the low end capability of that micro head. I'd like to get over my bias that heavy bass heads are the only way to get a deep and clean bass tone for reggae. I'll be using the cab for reggae and I'm interested in that particular GB head. And, not that I play loud but I do need to provide a very large low and clean foundation for our stage sound - the band mates pretty much demand that from my bass tone. Do you really find that the SL 900 has the bass balls to make the 1515/66 really pump out the lows ? Have you heard signs of that head running out of steam with that cab ?

Thanks
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Most heads will run out of steam before that cab does!
 
#832
Hey guys, wanna help me trouble shoot for a bit?

I just played my first outside gig with my 15/6/1 and 15/6 cabs using a Ashly SC-40 Preamp and Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 Power Amp....and a Status S2 Classic bass.

I couldn't hear myself at all. It was loud on stage....but not really loud....the closest guitarist to me had a Vox with a 10" in it and there was one monitor in front of us, so I shouldn't have been getting drowned out like that. I heard from the crowd that the bass needed to be a lot louder, too.

NOW....I don't think it was the fEARfuls at all. Each 15/6 can handle about 750W, right? I had my preamp running into the A/B on the power amp and each cab was connected to it's own channel....so each 15/6 was only getting 400W....correct me if I'm wrong with that.

I had the volume of the Ashly at about 7 and the gain at 8. If I pushed that more, it would get to the volume I needed but the peak indicator would stay red any time I was playing. I love my Mesa 400 Power Amp....my question is, if I looked at getting another preamp, is it possible I could get that volume I'm looking for and the fEARfuls crave....or is the volume straight from the power amp and I need to be looking to upgrade that?

Despite the volume, the sound was pretty amazing.
 
#836
MSUsousaphone said:
Hey guys, wanna help me trouble shoot for a bit?

NOW....I don't think it was the fEARfuls at all. Each 15/6 can handle about 750W, right? I had my preamp running into the A/B on the power amp and each cab was connected to it's own channel....so each 15/6 was only getting 400W....correct me if I'm wrong with that. I love my Mesa 400 Power Amp....my question is, if I looked at getting another preamp, is it possible I could get that volume I'm looking for and the fEARfuls crave....or is the volume straight from the power amp and I need to be looking to upgrade that?
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Each channel was getting only 200W. The Mesa is 200W per channel (and it doesn't care whether you're feeding it into a 4 ohm or 8 ohm cabinet; you'll get the same power) max. I've got one sitting in storage and used it with a Triaxis at one point. On the Mesa, you'll see lights coming on at 12.5W (one light), 50W (two) and 200W (all three). I'm not convinced that it's really putting out 200W per channel, but that's what Mesa claims from the dozen power tubes.

If you weren't lighting up the Mesa, you weren't getting all the power it provides. You don't want to run all three lights on constantly, but you can run them pretty hard without fear of a problem. Can't speak for the Ashley, but you might want to tweak the output a bit (if you can) to push the Mesa into that higher level. If you WERE lighting up all three lights on the Mesa, then you'll want to check all the tubes. If they're fine, then you should probably be looking at a stronger power amp. The Mesa *looks* big and impressive, but honestly, it's far outdone by some of the little 9-pounder $299 SS amps on the market today.
 
#837
I don't think the Strategy is a very powerful amp (the manual states "Producing 200 watts of mid-band power..." which means that when it comes to low end and bass power, it's not probably anywhere near that). The fEARfuls love power and while they can handle 750 watts, you aren't even getting close. It will be a problem. They are not as efficient as the big Boogie double 15 cabinets, which is what that amp was designed to drive. They are fun amps but not the greatest for outdoor gigs with modern speakers.

The long and short of it is that you need at least 350 watts of full bandwidth power (not like most amp manufacturers will tell the full bandwidth power with any reliability). I'm using a QSC Powerlight 236, which puts out 700 watts into 8 ohms from 20hz to 20khz at .05% THD so I know that if I need to be deep and loud, it can do it.

The other thing to check is to make sure your speakers are in polarity. The first time I played outdoors with my fEARfuls, I was baffled because I wasn't getting anything like what I thought I was supposed to get. I flipped the polarity on one side and it got immensely louder!

Good luck and have big fun playing outdoors this summer! Once I got my rig going, I got to hear it from out front when an opener was using it. I mentioned to the sound guy that I thought my rig wasn't really reaching out front and he brought down the bass fader. The rig was carrying a good portion of the sound (with maybe 1000 people in the crowd) but best of all, the sound did not shift in quality when the PA was added to it. SVTs will emit a muddy roar when out front and then the PA sounds totally different. the fEARful blended perfectly.
 
#838
One could wire the 1515/66 to use both channels I'm pretty sure---either biamping if you've got the crossover, or wiring each set of 15 and 6 to a separate jack. Complicated though. I'd ask that on the fEarful forum.
 
#839
Yeah, I'm not the biggest Ampeg fan because of that muddiness.

OK. Thanks guys. Now that I know where to look....it's time to start looking. :bassist:

Rewiring might be an option....it would make more sense to put 400W into one than 200W into two....that's such a waste. I will spend the night pondering where to go next.
 
#840
I bet it sounds great, but that's not the right amp for exploring the concept of a loud bass rig no matter what cabs you use. The "400" number is bogus - in reality its likely more like something on the order of 140 watts per cab.

Borrow a large PA amp [1 kw per side into 8 ohms or better] and try again.
 
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