Mesa Subway 115 Crackling/Buzzing

[mixbus]

I don't know, I have a WD800 and the Subway+ MkII pre/di I use back and forth. Perhaps my idea of low-end is different but I find I get enough of it, even for low-level reggae. But everyone hears things differently and has different expectations.

I’m glad you found something that’s works for you

Still, the SW 115 perceived as not having enough low-end, I dunno
At times I have to engage the HPF to clean up the low-end.

It surprised me. I thought three would be more lows on hand, but there wasn’t.

Again, I’m not looking for stupid loud lows.
It just didn’t seem to want to produce anything lower than say 60-75 hz.

It felt like it had a permanent high pass filter on it.

Whadda I know.

 

[Pep]

The SW115 was mostly midrange (great midrange) and some lows. I don't use tweeters on most cabs.
I wasn't able to get super solid lows out of that cab. Not that I wanted earth shaking low end, just more than it would deliver.
I don't play at high volumes either.

The Genzler cab has similar mids - not quite as aggressive or forward - but would give additional lows when the fat or thick control was engaged. The SW115 didn't really do anything when I used those switches. Even adding bass on the tone control didn't do much more than what it was initially producing.

Not sure what was up. Just my observations of this particular example.
Possibly cabinet design & overall cabinet (volume) size making the difference. Dunno...

If I could get the same lows out of the SW115 that I got out of the Nu Classic, I probably would have kept it.

Not enough low end from the SW115 doesn’t sound like any SW115 I’ve ever heard. I’m not familiar with the Kinetix but I would think it’s quite capable of producing great lows with the SW115. Something isn’t right.

 

[agedhorse]

That's not a complaint that I have heard before.

Glad you found something that works for you.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Well then us that have the perception that there is enough low-end from the subway don't know what real low-end is about

Or there is something amiss with that particular cabinet

Now I remember this other cat on TB that felt not only did the subway cabs not go low enough, but almost all commercially available cabinets didn't, or as he put it, didn't produce a fully formed low E. That most all cabinets fell off too high up in the frequency range.

The last time I saw a post from him, he found a cabinet that reached that goal, an Ampeg 8x8. But there was another problem he felt. That cabinet is a ported cabinet and he was hearing the low end from the port being out of phase from the drivers. His latest remedy was that he was thinking of going to a sealed cabinet so everything would be in phase.

Anyway…

 

[mixbus]

That's not a complaint that I have heard before.

Glad you found something that works for you.

I think there might be something wrong with it.

It sure didn’t seem right, or what I thought it should be.

All I did was swap speaker cables between cabs, and adjust for volume difference.

It was like switching from a bass cab to a guitar cab to me.

I may revisit another sw115 at some point just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

 

[mixbus]

Well then us that have the perception that there is enough low-end from the subway don't know what real low-end is about

Or there is something amiss with that particular cabinet

Now I remember this other cat on TB that felt not only did the subway cabs not go low enough, but almost all commercially available cabinets didn't, or as he put it, didn't produce a fully formed low E. That most all cabinets fell off too high up in the frequency range.

The last time I saw a post from him, he found a cabinet that reached that goal, an Ampeg 8x8. But there was another problem he felt. That cabinet is a ported cabinet and he was hearing the low end from the port being out of phase from the drivers. His latest remedy was that he was thinking of going to a sealed cabinet so everything would be in phase.

Anyway…

I’ve gotten plenty of low end out of all sorts of gear, and am pretty adaptable if it’s anywhere near the ball park.

I think there might be something wrong with this particular unit. It should produce more lows.

At this point I’m tired of chasing it down. Time to move on, and let my wallet recover!

 

[DJ Bebop]

I think there might be something wrong with it.

It sure didn’t seem right, or what I thought it should be.

All I did was swap speaker cables between cabs, and adjust for volume difference.

It was like switching from a bass cab to a guitar cab to me.

I may revisit another sw115 at some point just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I mean, I don't find the cabinet to be subby-dubby on its own. It will take EQing to get it in the ballpark. This is coming from someone who used to use a powered 18” sub in my bass rig. No real single passive speaker will do that, that I know of. I find though it has enough of the right low-end for practical uses. Too much low-end can clutter things up on stage and in the FOH.

I find it's a good balance between clarity, and heft in the lows. As you said you are pretty adaptable at dialing in an amp and cab to get what you need. I'm thinking there is something wrong with that cab.

But that could be just me

 

[Pep]

Some cabs require more volume to oerfirm cirrectky

I mean, I don't find the cabinet to be subby-dubby on its own. It will take EQing to get it in the ballpark. This is coming from someone who used to use a powered 18” sub in my bass rig. No real single passive speaker will do that, that I know of. I find though it has enough of the right low-end for practical uses. Too much low-end can clutter things up on stage and in the FOH.

I find it's a good balance between clarity, and heft in the lows. As you said you are pretty adaptable at dialing in an amp and cab to get what you need. I'm thinking there is something wrong with that cab.

But that could be just me

i agree. If he bought that cab from Sweetwater iwould exchange it for another one. If it cirrect the pribkem, great. If it doesn’t, send the replacement back and get your refund. I believe there’s a problem with that one cab and quitting now is a bit premature, but that’s just me. I’d end up wondering “what if I . . . . “

 

[mixbus]

Some cabs require more volume to oerfirm cirrectky

i agree. If he bought that cab from Sweetwater iwould exchange it for another one. If it cirrect the pribkem, great. If it doesn’t, send the replacement back and get your refund. I believe there’s a problem with that one cab and quitting now is a bit premature, but that’s just me. I’d end up wondering “what if I . . . . “

It wasn’t from Sweetwater. No other cab in stock from the retailer.

When the time is right, I’ll revisit it again. Not right now.

 

[Pontiac Thrasher]

I’ve gotten plenty of low end out of all sorts of gear, and am pretty adaptable if it’s anywhere near the ball park.

I think there might be something wrong with this particular unit. It should produce more lows.

At this point I’m tired of chasing it down. Time to move on, and let my wallet recover!

There was another cab designed to be part of the Subway lineup that did the low thing, but did not get approved for production, and recently someone here on TB blew their brand new SW115 playing a church gig running eq’d heavy on the lows, and it was not covered by the warranty which was due to him having misused the cab…

I have seven old Peavey silver stripe stacks mostly loaded with old school JBL’s with the lower cabs being the 118D’s, and for LOW end out of my bass guitars I have yet to hear it’s match, a pair was enough to stop the volume war below, and send them straight to item’s. The amp was the Peavey ipr3000 running full tilt on the 118’s channels at 4 ohms being fed by a Sansamp RPM, volume control was the guitar.

I hope they revisit the low end Subway cab, but beef up the specs.

: )

 

[agedhorse]

The extended LF cabinet got a big thumbs down due to the increased size. It was about 35% larger, nobody thought it was a good idea at the time, but maybe I will have the opportunity to revisit this. It used the same driver as in the Subway 115.

I also did a 215 this way, it was pretty large (scary large) for sure.