fEARful part nine (9)

[cableguy]

On the few occaisions when I've wanted to put the rack case behind me rather than beside me, I've turned my 12/6 sideways on a stand.

But then my bottle opener will be useless...........Unless I incorporate a swivel on it!

 

[MX21]

With how powerful micro heads are getting now I don't see a lot of reason for the 1212/6. But I have yet to have a gig where my 15/6 wasn't enough Maybe if you're really tall and need that mid driver up a little higher.

Just my pence of course, but the size of the 1212/6 is intimidating to me. Seems like you can't help but be 15lbs heavier than a 15/6 and enough bigger to be tough. I do have an effed up back though, so any more weight would not work for me.

I'm 6'2", so I do like it taller. For the record, my 1212/6 came in at 60.4 pound, WITH the added wheels and handle. IIRC, your 15/6 was 48 pounds. Not too much more weight for a lot of benefit (taller, 4 ohms, 1000 watts). But that's what's nice about the fEarfuls - you can choose what suits you best.

MX21

 

[Passinwind]

At this point I don't have a micro head so my rack head will look a little silly on my 12/6.

I've never understood the aversion so many guys feel to having the head overlap the cab sides by an inch or two. Music as fashion show, OCD, or ??? To me a little-bitty amp sitting on a fEarful looks at least as goofy as this:

Link Removed

Plus, where does the cup holder fit on a micro amp?

 

[cableguy]

Put my cab all together and fired it up..........HOLY SH........This cab thunps. I was cutting mids out. Running sansamp RBI into Carvin DCM600 bridged with eq mainly flat. Pulled back on the mids & treble a tad. I was starting to clip the amp a bit but the cab sounded good. I can't even imagine how loud some of the bigger fearfuls would get with the watts. thank you GB for the design. Thanks you also to Passinwind, 4mal, mx21 and the others who have helped me along the way. Now back to breaking in those speakers.

 

[Interceptor]

12/6 cube operational.

All that's left is to mount the grill when it arrives and get some short screws and mount the plastic corners.

It turned out very nice. I am much more confident in the wood shop than I was when this project started. I can now reliably make cuts with 1/64" precision. It was very rewarding to glue in the last panel and have it fit.

I hadn't worked with PL or Duratex before, and am in love with those two products now.

Initial impressions: the evenness of frequency response and the wide arc of the thing sounding the same are very easy to hear. Fooling around with different pickup settings or eq were very easy to discern. My B string came to life. As a fingerstyle player, the bandwidth of the Alpha 6 works GREAT. The other thing that really hit me was how effortlessly it gets loud.

The sad part - I had a ball in the shop building it, but after hearing it and giving it a test heft up a couple flights of stairs; I doubt I'll ever build another cabinet. This is the last cabinet I'll need. By the way, the Barker + Thunderfunk just plain kill through it.

Thank you Greenboy.

Jim

 

[rpsands]

Got my crossover in; man soldering inside the cab can kiss my ass. I went with spade terminals after soldering a couple pieces, and am going to do that forever from now on, until I learn to solder better. Ugh.

Tomorrow, I'm going to add some more lining to the inside of the cab. The bracing all looks good except from the back of the mid chamber - which turns out not to be a plastic cup, but a really heavy cardboard tube almost. It seems almost like it's wood. I'll take some pics of that.

It looks like I did have a very close approximation of Passinwind's crossover in there - it looks pretty nice. Probably will desolder all the components from it and reuse them, as it looks like it uses the same coil that is in my other Xover.

The weird thing about the Ralf crossover is it's got a pair of bulbs in the mid's path, that look like some kind of protection circuit.

 

[m.oreilly]

i guess my eden's onboard xover was not up to snuff, as leland's cbg has reveled the 18sound at last. very nice indeed. felt-tip has scored us some more of the 18sound, so it looks like a 12/6 is next on the horizon...

 

[dug dog]

The weird thing about the Ralf crossover is it's got a pair of bulbs in the mid's path, that look like some kind of protection circuit.

That's exactly what it is. I've seen them in Yorkville PA cabs and I think they're relatively common.

 

[Interceptor]

Wiki updated.

Played late into the night last night. It is likely now broken in.

 

[greenboy]

I'm 6'2", so I do like it taller. For the record, my 1212/6 came in at 60.4 pound, WITH the added wheels and handle. IIRC, your 15/6 was 48 pounds.

Anyway, we've been down the weight discussion road before, so leave us all refresh our memories on the most significant landmarks. Given cabs of equivalent bracing and plywood choice, the sustainable SPL per pound of either design is roughly equivalent.

 

[lelandcrooks]

i also have a crossover question: i'm about to install the xover i got from leland. it's clearly marked what goes where in terms of drivers, but i see mention of reversing polarity for the 18sound: is the xover wired with this already taken care of, or do i put the mid positive on the common terminal/mid common on the xover positive?

It is not wired out of phase. You need to reverse the connections from the crossover. Too much chance of error and too hard to layout reversed on the board. I need to get instructions written.

 

[greenboy]

Tomorrow, I'm going to add some more lining to the inside of the cab. The bracing all looks good except from the back of the mid chamber - which turns out not to be a plastic cup, but a really heavy cardboard tube almost. It seems almost like it's wood. I'll take some pics of that.

It's like Sonotube. Strong enough, but of unfortunate shape from an acoustics perspective. Cheapie studio acoustics control gets built around the larger diameter ones, foundation piers get poured into large diameter ones, blueprints and other high-dollar custom print jobs get rolled into smaller diameter ones.

It looks like I did have a very close approximation of Passinwind's crossover in there - it looks pretty nice. Probably will desolder all the components from it and reuse them, as it looks like it uses the same coil that is in my other Xover.

Photos, component values?... Nice looks not withstanding, no matter how good it could have been once it's on a cheapie 100-watt variable L-pad it's no longer all that great.

The weird thing about the Ralf crossover is it's got a pair of bulbs in the mid's path, that look like some kind of protection circuit.

Yeah, I could have added that to the crossover designs, but frankly the midrange drivers are a lot stouter than newbies and cluebies are giving them credit for, and I really don't see any reason to put some analog compression in the pathway. Nor did I ultimately see any reason to have fuses, polyswitches, or any other "solution" because it seems like people who blow drivers still end up blowing drivers ANYWAY. It's what they do.

So. The smartest protection is to pick the right drivers and then do the right crossover. Hopefully I somehow stumbled on that combination ; }

 

[greenboy]

Wiki updated.

I see you shrunk your xover, and it's tighty righty for sure. It really does make good sense to get this stuff into the wiki, I really like reading the changelog and seeing what pages have been getting attention.

Played late into the night last night. It is likely now broken in.

Looks familiar, very nice : } ...Gonna replace that handle with a foldable tilt-up leg? I've been playing my Cube in that orientation lately, and liking it a lot.

 

[Interceptor]

...Gonna replace that handle with a foldable tilt-up leg? I've been playing my Cube in that orientation lately, and liking it a lot.

There's a tilt up underneath it.

I put two handles and a tilt up leg on it. I routinely get schleps that treat me to a flight or two of stairs. Two handles make a balanced carry for me.

I went up and down two flights of stairs last night with it, it is a joy to move.

Jim

 

[m.oreilly]

It is not wired out of phase. You need to reverse the connections from the crossover. Too much chance of error and too hard to layout reversed on the board. I need to get instructions written.

so, reverse the hot/common out to the mid driver coming off the xover? so hot to hot as it stands is out of phase?

 

[greenboy]

I've never understood the aversion so many guys feel to having the head overlap the cab sides by an inch or two. Music as fashion show, OCD, or ??? To me a little-bitty amp sitting on a fEarful looks at least as goofy as this: {...}

I was going to design a 9"-wide cab for users of micro heads but then I realized that microheads are all different widths. And depths too! I decided at that point there was no point to being further involved in music equipment design. So I washed my hands of it. And washed them again. And again. Three times. Three times. Three times.

 

[greenboy]

No one in a fEarful thread will ever tell you not to get a fEarful.

Oh yes they would.

Damn contrarians!

I had followed the fEarful threads and wanted a 15/6, but was ummming and errring on another thread over whether to build a fEarful or buy a Barefaced Big One. Greenboy himself popped up to recomend that if, like me, he was in the UK he would buy a Big One.

So I did, and I couldn't be happier with it - a full review will follow.

Glad that's worked out for you, and awaiting any comments here. Most here, I'm guessing, are probably not real big on full-out reviews which often get sidetracked by wordisms and cute turns of phrase. So don't feel obligated to over-formalize the process. Just put up the appropriate graphs and reference the measurements process and we'll call it good ; }

 

[dannster]

... it seems like people who blow drivers still end up blowing drivers ANYWAY. It's what they do.

So very, very true.

 

[m.oreilly]

looking at any of the diagrams for the cbg xover, then photos, i can't tell what's what. does the finished cbg built from the diagrams already have the positive terminal going to the negative of the 18sound, or do you reverse it? i had a member here tell me the cbg is already wired for the reverse polarity...confused...if so, then lelands cbg is reversed already, according to the original plans, or...? looking over this entire thread, and seeing photos of the finished xovers people are building, i cant tell what to do. the diagram shows the plus going to the minus side, but the constructed pieces (with connector terminals and the like, marked for "+" and "-", are not telling me what's going on. do you construct the xover, but then mark the minus as a plus at the terminal where the speaker connects, or mark it minus, and then connect the plus wire from the speaker to it? anybody? because it is up to the builder, i'm not understanding how the signal is routed. i'm not an electrical engineer.

 

[GrooveWarrior]

I've been around TalkBass for a long time, and have seen these threads, but have never looked at them because I was fine on my amp.

Well, now I have parted out my amp for a smaller cabinet and head. I had a pre/power/cab setup that was big and bulky.

I was looking to get a single 12 cab, but have been interested in the prospect of building one. For someone who hasn't followed this topic at all, the amount of information that is here is impossible to wade through. Is there a place where a list of plans, retailers for components, etc. is listed. Maybe a sticky somewhere I'm missing?

I'm a capable woodworker and could do this, but I'm curious as to the approximate cost of doing a 12 sub with standard components.

Any thoughts or input would be helpful.

BTW, some great looking cabs here.