The next big thing will come around. If you believe the hype around a certain cab...it's already here. It will be interesting to see how the GB fans respond.
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fEARFUL the solution to everything
- Thread starter Warwick Qc418
- Start date
Yeah I remember this. There were some very vocal few who spoke to people like they were morons. It kept me away from the amps forum for quite a while.
It's ok to be different, that's why were musicians. I play a fEARful and love what I get out of it. I took a leap of faith when I built it and it payed off. If anyone else if happy with their choice of gear, awesome. I'm happy for them. Different strokes.......No sense bickering about it.
It is EXACTLY because one can't run down to GC and try one out that we feel the need to explain why they can do what they do.
We don't mean to get overly technical, but it is difficult to seriously recommend a cab using superfluous terms that are used in describing every cab, which renders those terms moot. Terms like "deep low end".
What does that even mean when we know that many commercial cabs significantly die off below 100Hz (a fact, not hyperbole). If someone perceives brand X cab has deep low end when in actuality it drops by -10dB or more, then I'm fine with them being satisfied with that.
The thing is, many ask for recommendations for a cab that DOES go low and loud in the low end, so we recommend a fEARful because it actually does...and here's why. I don't know why actual useful information is so unnerving. Would you rather we just say it does and you'll just have to trust us? Difficult to do when you can't try one out, isn't it? That's the reasoning for the data. It's not only provable, but in the end it is something you would hear with your own ears if you could try one out.
guy n. cognito said:
Maybe, but I don't think a cabinet design or style needs to be shunned from conversation due to some of its users' off color comments. Every product from every company will have an ass using them somewhere. That is what the report button is for: pointing out dicks. Fearful users should be, and to my knowledge are, held to the same rules as everyone else.
What you suggest would imply not letting JimmyM talk about his Micro VR if someone else who owns one doesn't have table manners.
Ridiculous.
Simple fact: it is hard to try a fEARful before you decide to buy/build one. I went to a GTG and got to play through one at quiet volume for about 5 minutes. I liked it but that wasn't enough to prove to me everything about it.
I just had to take the plunge. When one came up in the classifieds, I bought it. After playing 9 gigs with it, and a number of rehearsals and jams, I am completely and solidly sold on the concept.
Could I go back to using my Genz 212UB? Sure, but it weighs more and doesn't sound as good. While still being an excellent cab, it just doesn't have the low bass extension or the sweetness in the mids. The tweeter can be a tad shrill with extreme fuzz and with some envelope filters. But I'm not selling it, it is a fine bass cabinet, one of the best I've ever owned, and is a great backup. The 15/6 fEARful I bought from another TB'er is better.
I just had to take the plunge. When one came up in the classifieds, I bought it. After playing 9 gigs with it, and a number of rehearsals and jams, I am completely and solidly sold on the concept.
Could I go back to using my Genz 212UB? Sure, but it weighs more and doesn't sound as good. While still being an excellent cab, it just doesn't have the low bass extension or the sweetness in the mids. The tweeter can be a tad shrill with extreme fuzz and with some envelope filters. But I'm not selling it, it is a fine bass cabinet, one of the best I've ever owned, and is a great backup. The 15/6 fEARful I bought from another TB'er is better.
I'm personally VERY interested in hearing a Big E cabinet myself. The description suggests that the low end sounds quite different from a fEARful's. For me the problem is affordability. I couldn't afford to buy a fEARful, so I built one. It was inexpensive enough that I could risk it - luckily I love the results. I can't do that with other high-end brands or designs.
I really think much of the fEARful appeal is the DIY aspect. I don't advertise that I play a home-made cabinet, but I do take pride in it. I'm not a particularly handy guy, so I take a lot of pride in it.
Sundogue said:
Yes, kind of, of course it doesn't apply to me because I'm obviously not interested in a cab like that, but personally, I would not believe it more with tech specs, I'd have to hear it and that's all.
One of the rare times I agree with you.
However, the guys on the GB forum are all top shelf guys in my experience. I guess we see things differently in that respect.
One of the rare times I agree with you.
However, the guys on the GB forum are all top shelf guys in my experience. I guess we see things differently in that respect.
I don't disagree, although some of the more technically-minded aren't the best at relaying information to the uninformed without being demeaning.
I can understand that. Given that manufacturers of most commercial offerings have specs listed by their marketing departments that are meaningless at best, and deceiving at worst, it's hard to know what to believe then.
Most of us who were in at the beginning of the fEARful designs and understand cab design know what useful specs actually mean in regards to what one can expect to hear. Not all bass players will know how to correlate those specs to sound expectations.
So I do understand where you are coming from. But if someone if offering an opinion and another is offering opinions with facts, which is more trustworthy in making a decision? Ultimately the only way to know for sure is to hear it yourself as you've said. Some take a leap of faith, while others who know what specs mean know it is no leap whatsoever.
EDIT: I can completely sympathize with not being able to try out a fEARful as I can't try out ANYTHING!!! There are three music stores in my area and NONE carry ANY bass cabs or amps (with the exception of some old, used Peavey or what-have-you once in a while). Try dealing with that without some useful specs or at least some knowledge of why cabs work the way they do! Knowing what I know and reading someone's proclamation on TB of some cab that has "thunderous lows" when I know better just from it's displacement (given size and number of speakers), specs are ALL I have to go on. Period. So I do understand.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,043
- 45,893
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Two things jump out at me; one does have to factor cost and what it is they are trying to accomplish with a rig.
Given the cost of neo drivers (when bought in small volumes) building a cabinet is not the miser's way. Having a cabinet custom constructed is by nature a pricey option. If you were to figure a project to take ten shop hours to produce, and charged $50 per hour, that starts to put a face on it. If someone has the tools, skills and time, diy can at least be fun way to spend some time and obtain something they might not have been able to purchase.
The other thing is very big to me - what is that the player is trying to accomplish with the rig? How loud, light, low and what sort of asthetics?
I do play a fearful 12/6 - one I constructed well before the jump in Neo. It was also well reasoned against other options on the market at that time. It fills the bill that I was looking to fill, but I know very well there are plenty of other options that would have done fine as well.
There is no single answer to what works. Gee, at one stage in my career, nothing short of 2 2x15 cabinets would have had the right look on stage. There are so many factors!!!!!
Given the cost of neo drivers (when bought in small volumes) building a cabinet is not the miser's way. Having a cabinet custom constructed is by nature a pricey option. If you were to figure a project to take ten shop hours to produce, and charged $50 per hour, that starts to put a face on it. If someone has the tools, skills and time, diy can at least be fun way to spend some time and obtain something they might not have been able to purchase.
The other thing is very big to me - what is that the player is trying to accomplish with the rig? How loud, light, low and what sort of asthetics?
I do play a fearful 12/6 - one I constructed well before the jump in Neo. It was also well reasoned against other options on the market at that time. It fills the bill that I was looking to fill, but I know very well there are plenty of other options that would have done fine as well.
There is no single answer to what works. Gee, at one stage in my career, nothing short of 2 2x15 cabinets would have had the right look on stage. There are so many factors!!!!!
I use a 15/6 and love the tone but I know it's not for everybody . Another local bassist just went through trying a fEarful 15/6 to see if he wanted one and used one on several gigs . He ended up thinking the 15/6 was just too much for him and liked the tone of his 115 cab with a Kappalite 3015 better overall for the mids . He did order one of Greenboys other designed cabs , a 115 Bassic , built by one of the authorized builders and seems to like it and it doesn't weigh much at all .
I'm just saying that even in the Greenboy fanboy circle they know the fEarfuls aren't for everybody .
I'm just saying that even in the Greenboy fanboy circle they know the fEarfuls aren't for everybody .
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
That would be Shannon, yes? Cool dude. It helps when the player really knows what they want and don't want. I try to ask way too many questions to make sure the customer gets exactly what he's looking for...I'm a musician too
Seems this thread has come full circle to the OP and we see the true colors. For whatever reason, people just like to dislike fEARful. That's fine, I don't really care what other people use
But you would think in a forum designed for musicians to support each other, you'd see a different attitude. I find it humorous that you think because someone wants a better option than what the mass manufacturers make, it makes them sensationalist bandwagoners.
