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My Neo 410 blew up :( Cab Recommendations?

D

dfmilkman

Nov 13, 2012
25
0
#1
Hey guys! So I recently bought a GK 1001 RB II and a GK Neo 410 cab from RMC audio on the cheap. Neat! I wasn't initially sure if I liked the cab (I found it boomy and a bit sterile) but I was able to dial some settings on my bass/pedalboard/head and I got it to a place where I think it sounds pretty good. As a side note, I love the 1001 RB2. I've played the head through a few cabs and it's a really nice machine.

However, yesterday in practice one of the speaker cones in the Neo blew, or something. It now distorts heavily when pushed past a certain threshold. There's no way I was driving it too hard due to the voltage (head pushes like 460w @ 8 ohm, while the cab is rated for 800), so I called RMC. The gentleman there told me that this is a known issue with GKs, so I could send it to the factory and they'd fix it, or I could exchange/return the cab since I'm in the return period.

I kind of want to take this as a sign that I should try a different cab, since I had doubts about the Neo anyways. Does anyone have any recommendations? I thought the GK sounded great through my Hartke 410 XL series, but it's not rated for that much power. I'm strongly considering the Hartke Hydrive 410 as the logical next step, but I've heard good things about Eden and Avatar too.

I'm usually playing a musicman stingray or Spector coda 5 (with DRs or Boomers). I play mostly rock/funk, and some of the players I like to emulate are Flea and Tim Commerford. I like an aggressive, flea-like tone, but I like some warm tones and want to get mellow sometimes too.

TLDR: What cab should I pair with my GK 1001 RBII?
 
#2
Cab ratings mean absolutely nothing, you can blow any cab with just about any amp. How was your EQ, do you use the contour knob, was the 5 string button pushed in. All of these things can cause you to push your cab a bit to hard in a band setting, because they boost low frequencies which is hard on a cab, and they cut mids which makes it hard to hear yourself, so you have to turn up. The 410 NEO is an excellent cab, I have had mine for a few years with absolutely no issues with the drivers.
 
#3
Hopkins said:
Cab ratings mean absolutely nothing, you can blow any cab with just about any amp. How was your EQ, do you use the contour knob, was the 5 string button pushed in. All of these things can cause you to push your cab a bit to hard in a band setting, because they boost low frequencies which is hard on a cab, and they cut mids which makes it hard to hear yourself, so you have to turn up. The 410 NEO is an excellent cab, I have had mine for a few years with absolutely no issues with the drivers.
Click to expand...

There's no way dude, volume was at 12 oclock, contour at 12 (edit: 9 actually, just checked), boost all the way off, bass cut in the EQ. I don't think any one person's experience means much anyways, mine or yours...sh#t happens.

I take it you don't have any recommendations beyond exchanging for another neo?
 
#4
Hi,

Could be a manufacturing defect. Could be operator error. Either way, the Neo 410 is a great cab. Get a new one under warranty. Get another one to stack on top of it if you need that much sound.

LCR-Grazies-110813-002_zpsf21a675c.jpg


Or you could try a Neo 412 cab. ;-)


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#5
dfmilkman said:
There's no way dude, volume was at 12 oclock, contour at 12 (edit: 9 actually, just checked), boost all the way off, bass cut in the EQ. I don't think one person's experience means anything anyways, mine or yours...sh#t happens.

I take it you don't have any recommendations beyond exchanging for another neo?
Click to expand...

From one GK user to another, turn the contour to zero and rip the knob off. You are cheating yourself out of some really nice sounds by running the boost completely off. I usually keep it at about 10

My recommendation would be to stick with the NEO, I haven't found a better 410 cab to match to a GK head
 
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#6
Hopkins said:
From one GK user to another, turn the contour to zero and rip the knob off. You are cheating yourself out of some really nice sounds by running the boost completely off. I usually keep it at about 10

My recommendation would be to stick with the NEO, I haven't found a better 410 cab to match to a GK head
Click to expand...

Interesting, I found that the boost muddied my tone and added too much boom, but it could also be the room that I'm playing in or a million other factors.

That's 2 votes for sticking with the GK. Anyone else?

Side note: gear buying is such a bitch...I can't try any of this **** out at my hometown. It's youtube videos or other people's recommendations pretty much.
 
#8
just bought a gk 1001rb today after my other head pooped out on me (possible user error.......) running it through a genz xb2 410 sounds good. extended low range cab, good power handling, maybe a little dark sounding for some, but i like it. they don't make them anymore, but if you come across one, be sure to try it out!
 
#10
dfmilkman said:
Interesting, I found that the boost muddied my tone and added too much boom, but it could also be the room that I'm playing in or a million other factors.

That's 2 votes for sticking with the GK. Anyone else?

Side note: gear buying is such a bitch...I can't try any of this **** out at my hometown. It's youtube videos or other people's recommendations pretty much.
Click to expand...

The boost will sound much better with the contour off.
 
#11
zenman said:
If you like the Hartke, just use that.
Click to expand...

I'm just constantly worried about blowing it since the GK is much hotter than the HA3500 I was using before. Plus I'll be returning/exchanging the GK so I'll have some cash. The hartke is actually on craigslist at the moment, but I haven't had much movement so it could be an option if voltages really don't mean anything.
 
#12
dfmilkman said:
I kind of want to take this as a sign that I should try a different cab, since I had doubts about the Neo anyways. Does anyone have any recommendations? I thought the GK sounded great through my Hartke 410 XL series, but it's not rated for that much power. I'm strongly considering the Hartke Hydrive 410 as the logical next step, but I've heard good things about Eden and Avatar too.
...

TLDR: What cab should I pair with my GK 1001 RBII?
Click to expand...

The Hartke 410XL and Hx410 are completely different cabinets. The XL is ported and the HX is sealed. The HX handles a lot more power and is about 20 pounds lighter than the XL. In my opinion which one is better is a matter of personal opinion.

Eden and Avatar also make very good cabinets. I think any of those cabinets will work well with your amp so it comes down to which one you like the sound of best. I have seen used Hartke cabinets priced very inexpensively. A good option would be to get a used one and see if you like it. If you do then you could get another one and if not then you should be able to sell it fairly easily. Guitar Center has a thirty-day return policy and list used cabinets on their website so it's a pretty easy way to try out a used one. Of course, shipping and taxes will be additional costs. FWIW, I bought a used 2x15 cabinet and shipping and taxes were an additional 50 bucks.
 
#13
I should add - don't worry too much about the power rating. I have used a cabinet rated for less power than my amp puts out for about twenty years and haven't blown it up yet and that is with some rather loud bands and usually marginal to no PA support. You just have to be careful and not overdrive it excessively.
 
#14
Vince Klortho said:
I should add - don't worry too much about the power rating. I have used a cabinet rated for less power than my amp puts out for about twenty years and haven't blown it up yet and that is with some rather loud bands and usually marginal to no PA support. You just have to be careful and not overdrive it excessively.
Click to expand...

Exactly Vince! an underpowered amp will be more destructive!
 
#16
Dialing in contour on the 1001RB-II (scooping out mids) coupled with the NEO 410 (already a bit mid-shy relative to other GK cabs) could be a bad combination, as others have pointed out. Maybe this is what you were hearing as "sterile", but it's hard to say.

Also, I assume you're using the 4-pole speakon cable, have the cabinet set to "biamp" mode, and have the bi-amp levels on the amp (woofer/tweeter knobs) adjusted appropriately. A common error is to select "bi-amp" on the cabinet but use a 2-pole speakon cable, or leave the tweeter dialed off. Either of those mistakes will defeat the HF horn entirely. Not saying you're doing this, just pointing out that it's happened before.

Blown speakers do happen and they can be fixed. But tone is subjective, and if you're unhappy, try something else.

In general, the NEO cabinets do pair well with the RB series amps; it's a matter of finding the one which meets your expectations. The NEO 410 is tuned lower than most other GK cabs, and as a result some find it "too boomy". Those people usually end up adoring the NEO 212 cabinet voicing instead, which has a "tighter" low-end and more mid presence. Most people find the NEO 115 to be tighter down low (more "hifi" and less "warmth") even than the NEO 212, but it will produce significantly less volume overall.

One other point: the 1001RB-II is a very powerful amp, and it delivers more power than its conservative rating suggests. That amp is well-known for blowing speakers, and can blow just about any of the NEO line cabinets if you aren't careful, with the possible exception of the NEO 412. So don't let the amp rating give you a false sense of security. We'll all give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you weren't playing loud enough to do it, and you just hit an unlucky manufacturing defect. :)
 
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#18
I just completed a 17 show tour with a GK Neo 410 (4 ohms) and pushed it hard every single night, I had some initial issues with the 'contour' knob on my head but once I dialled in the head (GK MB500) everything sounded loud and punchy with a good low end.

I used to have an Eden 410XLT...great cab but 98lbs...the Neo is 30% lighter and kept up with everything just fine.

I'm a touring player...so weight is more important to me than a fraction of tone here and there, I accept Neo's are somewhat limited, but not enough to lift an extra 1000lbs over 3 weeks.

You might also want to pick up a used SWR Golight, never heard anything bad about them, but the are long discontinued, or a Markbass 104HF.
 
#19
Take this opportunity to get a cab that you like. When you pick a new one consider that the power rating given for cabs is the thermal rating. These cabs are rarely more than about 5 percent efficient. For every hundred watts of amplifier power, 5 of them get turned into sound and 95 of them become heat. It ends up being a lot of heat: enough to damage the voice coil. The amount of power that would damage the voice coil is the thermal rating. Well, it's quite a bit higher than the 'other' power rating: the excursion limit (Xmax). That's the maximum amount of linear excursion (how far the cone can move in one direction). Much beyond that and the surround and spider get stretched out of shape and the voice coil starts to rub the pole piece. That's likely what happened to yours, although it could have just been a defective driver. If you want to play loud or with 'full' or 'fat' bass you need to buy enough cab to have about twice the amps power rating into the resulting impedance. So, get something that you like and buy adequate power handling.
 

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