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future trends

sonicnuance

sonicnuance

Supporting Member
Commercial User
Aug 30, 2003
1,479
457
California, USA
www.sonicnuance.com
Disclosures
Engineer & Owner, Sonic Nuance Electronics
#1
With neodymium speakers making cabinets lighter
and digital power amps & switching power supplies making amps lighter and generally louder, I suspect the trend will be to sacrifice speaker efficiency to get more low-frequency response (to be made up for with the higher-wattage digital amps). This could probably be done for less overall weight than the more efficient counterpart

Let's say an Acme Low B2 (an inneficient but extended low-frequency cab) were to be made into a lightweight version. Wouldn't it be great to get a stong LOW B fundamental for (say) 35lbs and a 5 lb head...

I think the future looks very promising for us bass players. Love it!
 
#2
Well the digital amps aren't really higher wattage yet...most hover around 500w. But the newer ones introduced at NAMM are going to be higher and they'll keep getting higher. And then maybe your scenario will happen. But even though the downsizing craze has included speakers, you're never going to defeat the laws of physics (as so many who have added extension cabs to their mini-rigs have found out), so I don't know how widespread your scenario will pan out.
 
#3
JimmyM said:
Well the digital amps aren't really higher wattage yet...most hover around 500w. But the newer ones introduced at NAMM are going to be higher and they'll keep getting higher. And then maybe your scenario will happen. But even though the downsizing craze has included speakers, you're never going to defeat the laws of physics (as so many who have added extension cabs to their mini-rigs have found out), so I don't know how widespread your scenario will pan out.
Click to expand...

Good points Jimmy

I quess what I was trying to say was the trend might be to move away from high efficiency speakers to low-frequency performance and make up the efficiency difference with the higher power heads. As many have pointed out, physics dictates with cabinets that you can pick two of the three: efficiency, size, and low frequency performance (or something like that).
 
#4
JimmyM said:
Well the digital amps aren't really higher wattage yet...most hover around 500w. But the newer ones introduced at NAMM are going to be higher and they'll keep getting higher. And then maybe your scenario will happen. But even though the downsizing craze has included speakers, you're never going to defeat the laws of physics (as so many who have added extension cabs to their mini-rigs have found out), so I don't know how widespread your scenario will pan out.
Click to expand...

I predict one of the "future trends" will be for some to actually devise elaborate methods of concealing their little micro-amps from public view... :p
 
#5
Getting an actual valve amp sound from a solid state to the point you cant tell thats it's a solid state! Sansamp neally got it with the bass driver, IMO it's way ahead of it's time, but could have been invented a good few years before.

And i wish people would stop moaning about the weight of basses, heads and cab's n all that,! If you don't like it... get a fiddle or sommet! part of the sound is in the weight!

Soon people will be moaning about the weight of their own feet!

Making a top valve amp so anyone can afford them! thats the future!
 
#11
seamonkey said:
I read a news post somewhere about carbon nanotube loudspeaker.
A no magnet loudspeaker. If I remember right they were not as efficient, but would be incredibly light. They are not diaphrams so the who knows what happens with the box.
Click to expand...

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Video:

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#13
jellymax said:
i predict new high tech speaker systems, able to suck & blow
simultaneously.
Click to expand...

This guy, right here, has violently ripped the words out of my mouth. :)

Future trends? I hope that with the increasing lack of demand for old amps, I'll be able to amass a large collection of 70's Sunn amps and cabs. Keep on buying those flashy little 5 pound amps so my dreams can come true. ;)
 
#14
JimmyM said:
Well the digital amps aren't really higher wattage yet...most hover around 500w. But the newer ones introduced at NAMM are going to be higher and they'll keep getting higher. And then maybe your scenario will happen. But even though the downsizing craze has included speakers, you're never going to defeat the laws of physics (as so many who have added extension cabs to their mini-rigs have found out), so I don't know how widespread your scenario will pan out.
Click to expand...

I used to have a Crown I-Tech digital amp that I used with my Line6 POD... They come in 4000-, 6000-, and 8000-watt versions. It weighed 28 pounds and was 2 rack spaces. Powersoft makes even smaller & lighter ones, with similar power ratings. There are high-wattage digital amps out there, it's just that most bassists don't need that much power. The new Markbass Littlemark III is 800 watts (solid-state); that's 200 more than one channel of an Ampeg SVT-4 Pro, and that Markbass is designed to be an ultra-portable amp. If you don't mind two rack spaces, you can have pretty much as many watts as you want.

It's true that you can't circumvent the laws of physics, and it's possible that we've come just about as far as we can with speakers that use magnets.

If these carbon nanotubes turn out to be the ticket, considering you can stretch them without affecting their functionality, perhaps in the future we will have collapsible cabs: Say a clear, carbon nanotube roll of "fabric" that's attached to a frame, which you "unfold" at the gig from 12" wide by 12" tall by 6" deep, to 2' wide by 6' tall by 0.5" deep, and weighs 5 pounds.

That would be cool :bassist:
 
#17
Dave Muscato said:
I used to have a Crown I-Tech digital amp that I used with my Line6 POD... They come in 4000-, 6000-, and 8000-watt versions. It weighed 28 pounds and was 2 rack spaces. Powersoft makes even smaller & lighter ones, with similar power ratings. There are high-wattage digital amps out there, it's just that most bassists don't need that much power. The new Markbass Littlemark III is 800 watts (solid-state); that's 200 more than one channel of an Ampeg SVT-4 Pro, and that Markbass is designed to be an ultra-portable amp. If you don't mind two rack spaces, you can have pretty much as many watts as you want.

It's true that you can't circumvent the laws of physics, and it's possible that we've come just about as far as we can with speakers that use magnets.

If these carbon nanotubes turn out to be the ticket, considering you can stretch them without affecting their functionality, perhaps in the future we will have collapsible cabs: Say a clear, carbon nanotube roll of "fabric" that's attached to a frame, which you "unfold" at the gig from 12" wide by 12" tall by 6" deep, to 2' wide by 6' tall by 0.5" deep, and weighs 5 pounds.

That would be cool :bassist:
Click to expand...
Yes, but would it look cool? ;)

I was speaking about bass amps, BTW. But now that you mention it, I think we're getting close to the day that huge racks of amps, EQ's and effects will be obsolete. You could power a stadium with a single rack of digital high-power amps, and digital boards have already enabled many soundmen to ditch a few EQ racks already.

I doubt seriously that your Bose world domination scenario will happen, though ;)
 
#19
JimmyM said:
I doubt seriously that your Bose world domination scenario will happen, though ;)
Click to expand...
Bose! I've owned all kinds of Bose stuff over the past 30 years, and have used the L1. I think of Bose as a marketing company more than anything else - their stuff is "decent" but oh so proprietary. Thing about them, which probably explains why their stuff is so stupid expensive, is their customer service. Had a set of 401 loudspeakers for 10 years (79-88); I called about service as the foam had started to rot. They appologized and sold me a new set for 80% off; they replaced for free my QuietComfort headphones because the plastic dohickies on the headset adjustments broke after 4 years.
 

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