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Finally Played One and It Was Terrifying. ;)

#81
dukeorock said:
I wasn't pointing fingers, brother! But in the context of this thread the OP was saying how much HE liked the fEARful compared to the 810...I wouldn't want to jump in and say that on an 810 thread, but someone else said it on this thread...all about differences, btw :)
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Anybody finds a piece of gear that's a revelation relative to their tonal needs -- then hallelujia!

I guess I reacted to what I took to be disdain for the Ampeg. I've never owned one, and don't want one; but I respect that they're the cat's meow for lotsa players, and that they produced tones I like on classic records. Anyway, I'm finished butting in on the OP's intent!
 
#82
Gab124 said:
fEarful are the best.....
As long as you play one with a solid state amp, with an active bass wearing nothing other than flats. Then that is tone nirvana...............I think,,,, or was that a passive P with rounds????
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Tubes, fEarfuls, and active basses with TI Power Bass rounds: :ninja:

SVTandfEarful.jpg
 
#84
You and I are walking a similar path at this point.

will33 said:
That's all very true from a technical, datapoint type aspect. They do go lower, higher, more widely dispersed, take more power and turn it into clean sound, etc. than a lot of stuff out there. But, "tone" is a subjective thing most people aren't going to agree on. I'd also agree that four 10's in a cube is a pretty crap design, but if that's what floats someone's boat, who am I to tell them their stuff sucks and they should get something else instead?

It's the difference between educating/helping, telling people why their stuff works the way it does and some of that may be the reason they're not hearing some things they'd like to hear out of it....and just saying "that thing is crap, get what I have instead".

I dunno, the more I learn about this stuff and the more I experiment with it, the more I'm coming to like and appreciate things that aren't on-paper as perfect as they can be. I'm liking more speakers that get some "flavor" when you push them too far. I like stuff that does that without a bunch of extra effects or eq's. I'm pretty much commited to the "lower isn't always better" school of thought. I really don't care how deep sounding or loud some rig can get, if it's washing out other instruments it needs to be fixed. Different strokes I suppose.

I do agree that the insane marketing claims of some these "same-old" designs sells more of them than it should. Example is stupid low response specs. A lot of players would think "this one goes lower than that one, so it must be better". I would think "if it's that strong down there, I'll need to dial it back some to get a good mix, maybe there's something else that fits better so I won't be buying a bunch of performance in some area I won't use".
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#85
Just a question for some of you guys who carry the room with your rigs.

What are y'all doing with your drums?

I'm one who enjoys cerrying the gig with just the backline bass rig when I can, I just like the way things sound. More "live", more "raw", and less like the giant "radio/stereo" that a PA is. But, there comes a point, and I don't think that point is too far out there in terms of volume/audience or room size, when things start to get out of balance and the overall product that the audience is hearing starts to suffer.

When you have backline rigs like big amps and fEARfuls that are truly capable of competing/interfering with PA output, and you get above the volume level that a good drumkit can produce, it can really make for interference and "bass suckouts" when you have that sort of lowend coming from different sources placed in different spots. This holds true whether you use subs or not, so, what then? Do you maintain a good mix, or just have awesome bass guitar tone all over the room at the detriment of good drum sound?

I'll "cheat" plenty of times and put some kick thump-n-tap in the mains with no sub and my rig carrying it in small places and if you dial it in right, it can work and sound good, but that usually means focusing even more on highbass/lowmid "fatness" in my bass and still giving the kick the very bottom in order to keep some separation between us. If you're using subs, and a fearful on stage doing what it can do, it ends up just like scattering subs wherever they fit and ending up doing more harm than good.

There is the approach to mixing where the bass guitar is at the bottom, floating the band, and the kick sits above it, is that what y'all do? It can work well in some types of music, not so good in others.

Just curious as to how all this works out like that, as opposed to the traditional, kick is on the bottom, bass sitting right above it, and the rest of the mix working your way up, giving the bass a spot up there in it's harmonics somewhere for definition/presence, etc.

There is a point where having massive backline output, especially in the low frequencies, hurts more than helps, where is that spot for you? I kinda like CL400Peaveys approach of running a lot of instruments through his big 66. Mix it all together, single point source, no interference, etc. I've done a cobblee together version of that a few times in the past when I had a single 18 "sub" placed in the backline, under my bass rig, with just kick in it. Took some pressure off the one speaker from having to carry all the lowend, still let my rig carry the gig, and didn't cause any interference because all our lows were still clustered. A little "ghetto", but worked out well in the end.
 
#88
will33 said:
I expected that.:D

So how much rig do you need to carry a room before you run up against the limits of maintaining a good drum sound at the same time?
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We play pretty small clubs. The drummer has been using an electric kit lately, which helps keep out overall volume down. When playing an acoustic kit, he feeds at least the bass drum into the PA.

I carry the room with my 1212/6, but adjust my volume and EQ based on the sound engineers instructions.

The big thing, for this band, is to make sure that all of us are aware of volume, and we keep communication going throughout the gig. Very easy bunch of people to work with.
 
#89
Gab124 said:
fEarful are the best.....As long as you play one with a solid state amp, with an active bass wearing nothing other than flats...
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No, again. I've used tube pre-amps/lead sleds, hybrid suitcase nukes, and FET micros with passive basses loaded with hex-core stainless steel rounds—and will use my active basses when I get the chance, you can be sure of that! :eyebrow:

No problems getting "my sound" ever. The fact is that "my sound" is many sounds, depending on the music. :D
 
#90
will33 said:
I expected that.:D

So how much rig do you need to carry a room before you run up against the limits of maintaining a good drum sound at the same time?
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I play in four decidedly different bands, so...it depends on the style of music, the drummer in question (his kit, how he tunes it, stick weight and of course how he plays them) and the venue. I've always preferred to have too much and not use it, than needing more and not having it. But interestingly enough, I just bring my whole rig to every place I play because it's easy to do so. Then I just adjust my volume accordingly.
 
#92
Well depending on the band or the venue, we could be running the drums through my rig with the bass and the keys, or just the kick to my rig and the rest to the PA. Or when I play with my drummer who thinks he is Thor, he can hang with me at a pretty loud volume. I never have my rig run full out, I dont have to because the dispersion is good so it can be heard everywhere in the room pretty evenly.
 
#93
CL400Peavey said:
Well depending on the band or the venue, we could be running the drums through my rig with the bass and the keys, or just the kick to my rig and the rest to the PA. Or when I play with my drummer who thinks he is Thor, he can hang with me at a pretty loud volume. I never have my rig run full out, I dont have to because the dispersion is good so it can be heard everywhere in the room pretty evenly.
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The idea of having a bass rig with extension and output you can double as a kick sub is pretty cool. Covers all the basses there and negates the need for carrying more big boxes....hmm....may have to give that more thought.

I guess I should qualify I'm comng at this from the aspect of a sort of DIY band, meaning we use my PA, carry all our own gear, mix from stage, etc. I guess that's sort of an in-between from some folks who are either rig only, or "PA" means a big system with an engineer to control it all and it's all out of your hands.

To me, keeping things as plug-n-play simple as can be while still maintaining quality sound is key, as we are our own transportation, roadies, booking agents, managers, sound engineers, etc. Setting everything up, playing, singing, turning knobs, etc. all at the same time, I like stuff that does what I need done "out of the box" so to speak, while still maintaining control over it all. Don't like too much "automatic sound corrector" type stuff like really involved DSP, powered speakers, etc., or bass rigs I need to turn a bunch of knobs to make sound right. We get a pretty close mix just running our normal stuff with our default tones and the knob twisting is just for fine adjustments.


My drummer and I are pretty tight....so...if I had a bass rig that could support his kick at pretty high levels and didn't need to carry a subwoofer system.....hmm....:)
 
#94
I use fEARfuls for the following reasons:

1. portability (my 15/6 weighs 43LBS and reportedly is able to achieve 610 volume given enough wattage)
2. power handling ability ( I dumped 1500w into my 15/6 a couple weeks ago and, oh my, what a sound).
3. dispersion
4. I enjoy building things
5. customization & creativity (I love seeing all the different amazing builds)
6. there is a huge support network via the greenboy forum
7. I know my cab is well built since I built it
8. I would rather have too much low-end and dial it out rather than try the reverse
9. Aside from the crossovers, I have confidence that I can fix anything
10. Even though I like subdued highs I dont like mud. fEARfuls give me as much low-end as I want and with *clarity*. The midrange drivers are a big part of that.

If those points are not important to you, that's fine by me. Tone IS very subjective and fEARfuls are not for everyone. If you like the way a particular cab sounds, who am I to say you should play a fEARful instead? Beautiful tone is in the ear of the beholder and I am not going to judge that. I do think that fEARfuls are pretty adaptable and versatile though as EQ goes a long way to make drastic tonal changes.

Ultimately, I think people should just play what makes them happy. If you are in the market for a new cab and are curious about fEARfuls I would suggest trying to give one a demo. Only then will you know if a fEARful is right for you.

Aside from that, I think its important to remember that it really should be about the music and not the gear. The gear is just a tool to get your music heard and whatever helps you do that is a good thing in my book.
 
#95
I think its also important to consider that among the fEARful users our tonal goals vary very widely. Torin runs his tone knob rolled back on a passive bass. I run my mid knob dimed on a stingray with super slinkies. 'Skies plays reggae with a dingwall. RNV plays metal. Dukeorock plays hillbilly upright. All of us run different amps, but we all start with the same cabinet base.
 
#96
CL400Peavey said:
I think its also important to consider that among the fEARful users our tonal goals vary very widely. Torin runs his tone knob rolled back on a passive bass. I run my mid knob dimed on a stingray with super slinkies. 'Skies plays reggae with a dingwall. RNV plays metal. Dukeorock plays hillbilly upright. All of us run different amps, but we all start with the same cabinet base.
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Well said!
 
#98
scottfeldstein said:
First guy: Whoa, I just got this vehicle that's a boat, a car and a plane! You might want to get one of these!

Second guy: Yeah, but I like my car. I like to drive. I don't live near water and I hate to fly.

First guy: Yeah, but...!

Second guy: ಠ_ಠ
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As it pertains to this thread, it's more like a guy who only likes cars, walked into a dealership that sells boats, cars and planes and then wonders why everyone wants to talk about all the boats, cars and planes. ;)
 
#100
I think that it's important to keep in mind that the OP drove halfway across Pennsylvania to have the opportunity to play through a couple of different fEARful cabinets to create his own informed opinion. He then posted that based on his experience, he liked what he heard.
No amount of descriptive prose can substitute for actually playing through a cab with your own bass and a similar amp (he has a Shuttle 6.0, I provided a 9.0).
I would encourage anyone that is actually considering any acquisition to make the same sort of investment of their time. That's the only way to know if its what you want or not. I personally commend him for taking the initiative to educate himself.
 

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