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Double Bass LDS 2x8 3-way and EA VL208 comparison

#41
I wish I could tell you, but I haven't received it yet. It is still somewhere in the Fedex system, making its way to my door.

Don told me that he designed a slightly modified version of the 2x8, and I am the first one to get it (at least that's what he said). He cut a few more pounds off the weight... I believe it is only 37 pounds now.

Oh... and one more clarification. There was one user on the TB forums who said that he received a cabinet from LDS and that it had only 1/4" jacks on the back. I spoke to Don and he said that his standard is to put 1/4" and Speakon. So no worries there....
 
#42
Tbeers said:
I wish I could tell you, but I haven't received it yet. It is still somewhere in the Fedex system, making its way to my door.

Don told me that he designed a slightly modified version of the 2x8, and I am the first one to get it (at least that's what he said). He cut a few more pounds off the weight... I believe it is only 37 pounds now.

Oh... and one more clarification. There was one user on the TB forums who said that he received a cabinet from LDS and that it had only 1/4" jacks on the back. I spoke to Don and he said that his standard is to put 1/4" and Speakon. So no worries there....
Click to expand...

Right on. Can't wait to hear the review. Hope you can give us the slab angle too, for us who are still merry planksters and haven't gotten our hands on a DB just yet. Can't wait to get to Cleveland...NS way.
 
#44
*sigh*

Yesterday my new cabinet arrived and so I disconnected the head from my Contra and made sure everything was in order. Then the power died in my house before I had a chance to try the LDS. Luckily I was playing in a show last night so I took all my stuff to the school. I plugged everything in, connected the cabinet, and turned the power on my Clarus. Unfortunately, the green light did not go on. Uh oh....

Scrambling and with 20 minutes left before the show started, I found that there was an old, beat up GK MB150 in the school. So I took that, turned off the internal speaker, and used a crappy old 1/4" cable to run it into the LDS cabinet. So there I was.

This show was on electric, and I just had to deal with the setup I had, since the Clarus decided not to be working. Surprisingly enough, it was still the best sounding rig I ever played through. Obviously I can't A/B with the Contra since I ended up effectively using a GK head. But I can say one thing about the LDS that speaks volumes about its quality. With every other cabinet I ever tried, you hear an "approximation" of the note. But with this LDS, I found myself hearing every part of the note. The attack, the sustain, the decay, they were all there in a way I never thought possible from an amplified tone. macmrkt was correct to call it "accurate." The subtleties of my acoustic tone, even on the slab, came through like never before.

This morning I finally figured out what was wrong with the Clarus. When I took it apart, I made sure to connect the power cables again. But there is this tricky little connection between the preamp section and the rest of the unit that I missed. After about a half hour of trying to get it to connect, I finally succeeded. Now everything should be fine. So tonight, I play a show with the Clarus/LDS setup. Afterward I will post a more official review.
 
#47
Oh, before I get around to posting pictures, I just want to say something about the appearance of Don's cabinets. On the LDS website, and on these forums when people post pics, the area inside the grating looks bright blue. I am pretty certain this is just because of camera flash. In person this coloration is hardly noticeable. Only when you shine a light directly on it does it really show up. Having said that, it does look pretty cool....
 
#48
The LDS cabs that I've had, 1x8 and 2x8, really take about 10 hours to start to sound their best. I've become even more convinced that this is the sound I've been looking for - the LDS 2x8 3way, now with a Walter Woods and Full Circle with my basses does it. I'm officially 'out of the market'. :eyebrow:

TBeers - do you play in any jazz type groups in N. Conn/S. Mass? I was there in the 80's.
 
#51
One more picture, and my impressions.

This thing is a killer. Craftsmanship is A+. No flaws. Appearance is A+. The thing is surprisingly light and easy to carry. One handle is enough. Speakon and 1/4" inputs -- nice. Sound is fabulous. Extremely balanced, accurate. All of the bite and growl, the "ping" on the attack, it all comes through nice and clean.

I cannot praise this product highly enough. To pay over 400 USD for the AI Contra stock speaker cabinet is ludicrous when you could have one of these beasts for $529. And one more thing: the Clarus and the LDS 2x8 is an unbelievably good rig for electric. I just played a show with that setup and my sound cut through like a hot knife through butter.

As macmrkt said it may take a few more hours to break in fully (I have about 6 hours played into it so far). But even from the get-go I was impressed.
 
#60
Adrian Cho said:
What is the frequency response of this thing supposed to be?

On another topic. Was I imagining it or was someone around here talking about a theoretical LDS cab with a 10" woofer in addition to the 8" and some other drivers?
Click to expand...

I don't know the frequency response, but my 2x8 gets deeper than the VL208 was able to with a 4 string DB. I don't know if frequency response has been spec'd by Don, and as I'm sure you know, there's a lot of variability in getting a useful reference for comparison. Tom Bowlus was getting Don to make a companion 10" woofer cabinet to match the 1x8. I think that's in process.
 

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