fEARfuls for heavy rock?

[mikeddd]

Ah, BurningSkies spreading the fEARful gospel again. Me finally building one is due largely in part to his thorough answers to everyone's fEARful-related questions. Thanks, BS.

 

[Son of Bovril]

Thanx Guys I wish I had these available at a store nearby, I'd love to try one out!

 

[mikeddd]

Thanx Guys I wish I had these available at a store nearby, I'd love to try one out!

I thought the same thing for more than a year. I'm almost done building mine and I've never heard a fEARful in person or played through one.

But between the videos and sound clips and descriptions from real people that gig a whole lot, and play many different styles of music, I was convinced.

 

[tombowlus]

I have played my fEARfuls in a country setting, and on multiple "rock" gigs (which include some heavy stuff), and they just kill. I prefer a clean and tight, but deep and big tone that is fairly balanced from top to bottom, and as you might imagine, this is not always easy to achieve. The fEARfuls excel at just this, IME/IMHO, and what's more, they seem perfectly happy when you add in some grit/grind/overdrive.

 

[Jools4001]

I don't believe there is such a thing as an unbiased review on TB. Really. If you want people want to play harder music, I’d certainly consider the views and reviews of people who play harder music who have had their hands on these cabs regularly. I’m not one to play heavy stuff all that often these days, but I’d suggest that there is no comparison to any of the multi-15 rigs of the 70’s…beyond the fact that they happen to share the number 15 somewhere in their specs. The 3015LF is a very modern driver, and the dedicated 2 or 3 way design with properly designed crossover belies almost everything that a vintage 15 cabinet represents. This is lower, and higher, and with present mids. It doesn’t distort easily with volume like many of the old cabs did. It has dispersion that is unheard of with the older cabs. It can take WAY more power. The perception of ‘slow’ or ‘loose’ or any of that stuff can be wiped off the slate. Because of the GOOD quality speaker components, distortion doesn’t get ratty or grating in the highs…and it doesn’t get flabby or farty in the lows...when YOU feed it an overdriven signal. They don’t snarl and grind naturally unless that’s what you’re giving it.

No, they’re not the answer for everyone, but many people have found them to be THEIR answer.

I would go along with that. On the recording that I posted a link to, the recordings were done, as I said in the earlier post, with the simple expedient of sticking a Zoom recorder on a mic stand and moving it to the location in the room where some sort of balance is achieved.

In a 12' x 14' room, the only way we can jam a five piece band in is for the drums to go in the middle along one of the longer walls, with a guitarist's half stack either side of the kit. The PA speakers are the rubbish items that belong to the rehearsal studio and are in the corners of the room on the same side as the drums and angled in towards the middle. My bass cab sits directly opposite the drum kit and fires into the middle of the room. To make the recordings the mic stand for the Zoom recorder sits in the middle of the room about 6" in front of my cab, but about 6' high so that it's in line with the PA cabs.

I think it speaks volumes (no pun intended) for the dispersion characteristics of the 15/6 that any mids show up in these recordings at all (apart from the few reflected mids you might get from a carpeted wall). So the recorder is about 3 feet above and 6 inches out from the mid driver...those people who are better at trigonometry than I am will be able to work out the angle that makes...the rest of us will just remain dumbfounded at how good the dispersion is.

PS: The space in the room is so tight that I have to stand alongside my cab so I'm actually BEHIND the drivers...that does distort my perception of what the cab sounds like...

 

[BurningSkies]

Ah, BurningSkies spreading the fEARful gospel again. Me finally building one is due largely in part to his thorough answers to everyone's fEARful-related questions. Thanks, BS.

No gospel, no religion or mystical revelations...just trying to be honest as I see things. Often, when you try to be descriptive of what you hear or your experiences with fEARfuls, people like to act as if you’re being a cultist or brainwashed. These cabs do have limits. All gear has limits. I just find their limits to be better limits than many other available options. Because those limits seem to extend past what most people have experienced, I can understand people thinking that those are exaggerated. We do hear so many exaggerated tech, spec and observation when it comes to gear. The only way to counter that is to let people use and try.

Again, not for everyone. I can understand people enjoying exactly what most traditional, vintage or standard modern production cabs have to offer. Plenty of people don’t need or want ‘extended lows’, or the other mid/high content these cabs have and the way they present it. That’s fine. Its not a contest.

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

I would essentially be looking at a 15/6 and a 15 sub. Mainly Running an Avalon U5 into a crown XLS1500 bridged. The distortion/overdrive characteristics are not my biggest concern, was just interested as there may be a tube head in my near future again.

Only problem being that I live in South Africa, I wonder if any of the fEARful builders would be willing to ship the cabs over here ready built?

If I were you I would contact a local woodworker/furniture builder and have him build the box. The plans are pretty easy to follow and a competent woodworker should have no problem putting it together. Then I would have the drivers and components shipped over.

That would be a much cheaper option than having all that wood shipped when you can just build the box locally.

 

[Son of Bovril]

Thats a pretty logical point, seeing as it is likely that the wood is the heaviest and most expensive part to ship

 

[Bardley]

If I were you I would contact a local woodworker/furniture builder and have him build the box. The plans are pretty easy to follow and a competent woodworker should have no problem putting it together. Then I would have the drivers and components shipped over.

That would be a much cheaper option than having all that wood shipped when you can just build the box locally.

+1

That would probably be your best solution.

 

[mikeddd]

+1

That would probably be your best solution.

Yup, +2 votes for this option. As long as the builder can get quality plywood, this is the way to go.

 

[Sundogue]

I agree on having a local builder build it for you.

The flatpack is really a great option for those who can't find someone local to build it, or want to build it and lack some skills or workshop space.

But yeah, the shipping would be far less for just the hardware and have a local guy (friend perhaps doing it for some beer? LOL) build it for you.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Son of Bovril]

will do, been speaking to Leland about my options etc.