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gigging WITHOUT cabinet grill cloth

#42
bon viesta said:
sometime in the early to mid 70s, a couple of guys started playing bass without the use of cabinet grill cloths on their speaker cabinets. and… it looks awesome. plain and simple. it became more of a thing i think as time went on, i think. or maybe in the 80s and 90s. there's a purpose to grill cloths, to somewhat protect the speakers, but does anyone around here ditch the grill cloth on gigs?
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The grill cloth was both an aesthetic and a protective measure. Remember that the cones of those speakers were/are paper (or a combo of paper-like materials. They are easily torn and can be ruined if you spill something on them. So it was a protective layer that also gave a modicum of protection to the speakers. If anything hit those speakers, even a falling broom as someone cleaned up the stage, if you didn't have a grill cloth, you had to replace that speaker.

Back in the early '71 while I was touring, I bought a Standell MCIIb/SAM30b piggy-back amp. It had a sparkly aquamarine grill cloth on the speaker cab and also on the head. And that entire grill cloth was held onto the cab with velcro tabs. I could quite literally grab the brushed aluminum frame of the grill cloth and pull the whole thing off exposing my two 15" speakers along with the 4 round ports mounted vertically next to the speakers. Was kind of cool to see, but the sparkly aquamarine grill cloth looked classier on it.

Plus that grill cloth helped protect my speakers from splashing or spilled drinks and the sound coming out of it was more than enough to impress people. I didn't need to show them the guts. Additionally back then, if the grill-less speaker cabs didn't have the chrome dust caps to show everyone you were using JBL speakers, why pull the grill off? Was like saying, "Hey, look at me! I don't have really good speakers!" That would change in later years but in the late 60's and early 70's the reflection of light from those chrome dust caps would shine through the grill cloth making a subtle statement, "I've got JBL's. Don't you wish you had those in your amp?"

Most of the modern cabs actually have a metal grill in front of them now for protection. And that adds some real protections against accidentally hitting the speaker cones. Or if you are in a real rowdy bar and the audience doesn't like you, it protects your speakers from flying objects. Still have to worry about liquids, but you're not going to accidentally put your toe through the speaker when loading in our out your cab. And that gives you some visibility of the speakers although it is a bit more subtle, which I think looks good.

So I'm old school, which is actually where this bare speaker stuff came from, but I am not a fan of exposed speakers. Out of all your pictures the only ones I would consider would be the speakers with the metal covers and red background on the speaker mounting board - at least it's a little more cosmetically pleasing while offering some protection.
 
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#43
No cloth, full metal grill.
You can see the speakers and have bonk protection.



Genzler-rig-full-on-zpsavjinb09.jpg
 
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#44
Back in the early '71 while I was touring, I bought a Standell MCIIb/SAM30b piggy-back amp. It had a sparkly aquamarine grill cloth on the speaker cab and also on the head. And that entire grill cloth was held onto the cab with velcro tabs. I could quite literally grab the brushed aluminum frame of the grill cloth and pull the whole thing off exposing my two 15" speakers along with the 4 round ports mounted vertically next to the speakers. Was kind of cool to see, but the sparkly aquamarine grill cloth looked classier on it.



So I'm old school, which is actually where this bare speaker stuff came from, but I am not a fan of exposed speakers. Out of all your pictures the only ones I would consider would be the speakers with the metal covers and red background on the speaker mounting board - at least it's a little more cosmetically pleasing while offering some protection.[/QUOTE]
My first "real" amp was a Plush 1000ps with with the matching tuck and roll cabinet with 3 15 inch speakers.
It also featured the velcro tabs and our blasted lead singer requested that I take off the grill cloth. He then proceeded to poke his finger into the dust cap of the center speaker resulting in damage to that cone.
I still have the amp and speaker and the center cone is still unmatched 35 or 40 years later. Turns out they couldn't replace the chrome looking dust cap.
Leave your speakers protected and mistrust your lead singer if necessary.
tumblr_oz65nm9VV51vcc466o4_1280.jpg
 
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#46
Beans on toast. Is that really a thing?
Sounds ok.
You're right, and I see NO benefit to going grill less.
I seldom use an amp live anymore, but many times I plug into one, I cover it with a furniture blanket, to get the sounds I want.
Those screens do more than just keep the flies out of your speakers guys.
beans-on-toast said:
A grille cloth can act as a highly focused filter. Long waves can pass through whereas short waves are attenuated. it's called a cloth because it scrubs the combined waves emanating from the speakers, filtering them into separate time aligned signals. The grille cloth also reduces reflected waves into the speakers, attenuating back EMF in them.

Believe this, you read it on the interweb.
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#48
I had a cabinet with no cloth or screen. Our (idiot) guitar player was setting up mics and didn't know what to do with the bass mic, so he duct taped it to the (metal) speaker dust cover and put a dent in it. I had expanded steel on it the next week.... that dent (while smaller after a quick repair with some tape and a quick tug) bugged me for years. To this day... I believe that guitarist is an idiot.
 
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#49
Passinwind said:
View attachment 4402120
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how in the world do they store that stuff on tour?! they must have a small construction committee on their roster.
TheReceder said:
I had a cabinet with no cloth or screen. Our (idiot) guitar player was setting up mics and didn't know what to do with the bass mic, so he duct taped it to the (metal) speaker dust cover and put a dent in it. I had expanded steel on it the next week.... that dent (while smaller after a quick repair with some tape and a quick tug) bugged me for years. To this day... I believe that guitarist is an idiot.
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what? what in the? …what?
 
#50
bon viesta said:
how in the world do they store that stuff on tour?! they just have a small construction committee on their roster.

what? what in the? …what?
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The cabinets would typically live in road cases or include front covers.

On tour, there cab be anywhere from a few to over a hundred hands that set up, work and tear down stages.
 
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#55
Jaygetsreal said:
Well done those of you who've used the original spelling 'grille'. I guess I am just old fashioned but the English language outside of the USA is a rich and vibrant thing ;)
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We just shorten things out of economy ;)
 
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#56
bon viesta said:
how in the world do they store that stuff on tour?! they must have a small construction committee on their roster.
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They had two of those systems. While one was being used the other was getting trucked to the next show.

The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound is worth reading up on. There's been a lot written, easy to find stuff online. It's a combination of ridiculous overkill and a kinda' clever attempt at solving some real problems with large-scale sound systems, and the background story features an array of wild men with big ideas and a lot of money at their disposal. Systems these days are a lot more efficient (edit: 'effective' was the word I was looking for) but also rely on technologies not available in the early 70s as well as a better understanding of how speakers work and how sound reinforcement works.
 
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#57
Spectrum said:
A properly tuned grill cloth can block the thetatron brain waves of most guitarist brains, preventing lenticular overflow of guitarist energy from spilling over into the bassist's neuroacousstic spacetime. In extreme cases, however, a grill cloth may cause a buildup of fromular standing waves, resulting in overheating of the harmonic cortex and, in extreme cases, a brain explosion.
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Hilarious!!!
 
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#59
I don't even like to leave speaker cabs sitting in my shop with the grill off. Speakers aren't tough. Almost anything in motion will tear paper cone speakers if the moving object hits the cone.
Playing live with the grill off a single or multi speaker cabinet is high risk, especially if the un-grilled cab is behind ME. It's not a risk I take, ever.
 
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