Double Bass Focus SA?

[Bob Gollihur]

As long as you are listening and are sensitive if a speaker starts to yell help!, headroom is a wonderful thing. The response is cleaner as your amp has plenty of room to stretch, hitting peaks with clarity. There is nothing more ugly than the distortion you get when you're at or beyond the peak power your amp can deliver. IME most folks blame it on the speaker (I used to) when in most cases it's the amp that's punking out.

Wattage ratings are typically spec'd as the voltage a speaker coil can take in continuous power at a moderate frequency before you fry it. Now, I wouldn't pump 200w of a 41.2hz. open E string into a Wizzy 10 for ten minutes, but you get the idea. You have to look at averages, but also at cone excursion, the other killer of speakers-- too many watts at too low a note and you can blow that voice coil beyond its designed excursion, usually damaging the coil's formerly perfect shape.

As I've mentioned elsewhere I've driven a pair of Wizzy 10 cabs with a Focus 1, playing a five string slab (low B) and it was a wonderful thing to have the lightest rig on stage. That said, it's never good to be underequipped for a gig-- same as with too few watts -- if you need more than the speaker complement you have can delivery, your sound is probably suffering.

 

[fish slapper]

Okay, I'll ask the question: If you're looking at the Focus SA and need a pre for DB, why wouldn't you consider just getting the Focus 1. I have a Clarus 1 series III (thank you Bob) as I don't need the volume as much. I borrowed a friend's Fishman Platinum to try and found that it didn't offer anything more than the pre on the Clarus did. I know the Fishman's EQ has a couple more controls than the AI but to my ears there really wasn't any value. Of course, I tried it with my old SWR combo I used play DB with and it was amazing.

But AI stuff is first rate. Definately recommend.

 

[christ andronis]

Okay, I'll ask the question: If you're looking at the Focus SA and need a pre for DB, why wouldn't you consider just getting the Focus 1. I have a Clarus 1 series III (thank you Bob) as I don't need the volume as much. I borrowed a friend's Fishman Platinum to try and found that it didn't offer anything more than the pre on the Clarus did. I know the Fishman's EQ has a couple more controls than the AI but to my ears there really wasn't any value. Of course, I tried it with my old SWR combo I used play DB with and it was amazing.

But AI stuff is first rate. Definately recommend.

I can only speak for myself here; I was asking the original question because I don't really know that there is an advantage one way or another of having separate components. I always kind of like having the option of being able to replace a weak link and not affecting the others.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

I can only speak for myself here; I was asking the original question because I don't really know that there is an advantage one way or another of having separate components. I always kind of like having the option of being able to replace a weak link and not affecting the others.

If by weak link you mean that the AI preamp may be inferior to the Fishman I would dispute that.

 

[christ andronis]

If by weak link you mean that the AI preamp may be inferior to the Fishman I would dispute that.

No, I meant more that if one piece of the whole thing fails, it would be easier to replace it, even with something better, than having to take all the components into the shop. That was by no means meant to be a ringing endorsement of the Fishman.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Got it. Since I stepped up to a Clarus I understand what everyone has been talking about.
AI gear is incredibly transparent. Rick's reputation for the best service in the industry is legendary, so I don't worry about failure. If a problem should arise, I may just get upgraded to the latest specs for free.