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New Head: Valkyrie from Baer Amps... Thoughts?
- Thread starter Hollow Man
- Start date
I think the Baer 12/6 cabs use the Faital 6.5 mid which seems like a good choice with the 3012LF. I have a 212+tweeter Uber212 and have used both 12/6 and 15/6 cabs with the 18Sound mid but haven't had a chance to hear the Faital yet. I get the upper mid breakup with a traditional 212 cab but wonder if a tube preamp or overdrive couldn't get a somewhat similar sound through the 3012LF/Faital 6.5? It's like tweaking a recipe. Is there more than one way to get there?
IMO, no. There is something unique about both an amp breaking up into a very clean box, versus a very clean amp pushed into traditional full range drivers that huff and puff a bit about 1K... totally different sound to my ear. IMO and IME!
I do very much like the Faital with a single 3012LF... kind of halfway between a traditional horn type tweeter and the 18Sound to my ear.... more upper treble than the 18sound, more even transition than a tweeter in that 2K-4K region, but still a touch of a dip that removes any harsh upper mid gank that the 18sound throws right in your face. Of course, with dual 3012LF's or the big 3015LF, the 18Sound is great, and keeps up with that massive amount of low end coming from those much bigger, louder, deeper boxes. IMO and IME!
So, are the amp and cab designs ( especially the amp ) pretty much settled? Are we getting any closer to their release? Any price set on the amp yet? I need to start putting some cash aside.
I get the feeling that Roger really wants to get it right and exactly the way he wants it before he starts offering this gear for sale, unlike some companies who rush to get product out, then have to do numerous revisions due to problems.
He's seems very concerned with "bang for the buck".
FYI, we don't use a 3012LF in our cabs, it's a custom OEM that Eminence did for us that I'm really happy with. As far as the mid driver, the 18Sound was never a contender. The ML212 is based on using 2 mids stacked vertically. The 18Sound is both too loud and too expensive to use that way. We also don't use an L-pad on these mid loaded cabinets, instead choosing to use drivers that are well matched for each other. We had been using a Celestion (which is a great sounding driver by the way), but just very recently have decided to switch to the Faital for pretty much the same reasons Ken has noted.
The Faital, to my ears, sounds a little more 'tweeter' like, where the Celestion has a little more "in your face mids". Because the Faital loaded cabinet has a little less going on in the upper mids, it actually gives the entire cabinet a little wider sound. The cab sounds a bit fuller in the deep lows and a bit brighter on top, simply by switching to the Faital. I think this helps the cab not sound so foreign to those players not accustomed to a mid loaded cab. The thing that sold me on the Faital, is the fact that you can get it to sound very similar to the Celestion with just a slight boost of the amps EQ at around 3k. The Celestion, on the other hand, isn't capable of the reproducing the slightly brighter top end detail of the Faital.
Excellent! I forgot, is your woofer a neo or a more traditional ceramic model?
And, your description of the wonderful Faital mid driver is right on... all the dispersion benefits of a mid driver design, but without that overwhelming upper mid sort of high SPL thing and attenuated upper treble that I've heard with some other mid drivers and executions. Nice!
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Keep in mind, computers are not typewriters. You don't have to hit "return" when you get to the right hand edge of the screen.
I miss the sound of the little bell ringing at the end of each line!
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,947
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
I miss the sound of the little bell ringing at the end of each line!
I think that you can install some add-ons that will do that for you!
- Aug 25, 2007
- 835
- 6
- Disclosures
- I manufacture for several companies including but not limited to: Bridge City Sound, Catalinbread, more.
Excellent! GREAT drivers, and I dig the idea of taking the time to tweak a bit to 'make it your own'.
- Jun 16, 2005
- 3,584
- 31
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Spector, Aguilar, Darkglass
I think my questions are answered. Thanks. That Valkyrie head on top of an ML212 cab seems like it will be a powerful sweet sounding rig. Nice work!
There is another builder going in that same direction, although eminence could go in different directions for each of you... It seems for one, you stuck with 8 ohms per driver...
I have to say that I like your design goals, and your desire to "create your own niche". May not be the lightest stuff, but as you have mentioned before, it is a Harley, not a crotch rocket.
Hey Kringle,
The amp design is pretty set in place. Right now we are just going through the process of taking the prototypes to the stage where they can be manufactured in larger quantities.
We had to completely redesign the front panel as we were having problems achieving a class A quality finish on a consistent basis with the original design. I redesigned the look a bit and switched to a new vendor that uses a different machining and finishing process. I think it came out better than before, but it did set us back a bit as we had to make changes in the chassis design as well, to accommodate the new front panel layout.
Unfortunately pricing will not be announced until we are actually ready to take orders. In an effort to clarify our position in the marketplace, this is equipment that will be made in the USA in small production runs. Those factors alone will price our products more towards the higher end of the spectrum.
When I was checking out Roger's gear, I brought my own amp and box to a/b with. My box and head are well matched. The Valkyire sounded better with my box than my own amp did. The eq points, two sweepable mids and power should make this a very versatile amp that could be used with a wide range of speakers boxes.
I need more gear like another hole in my body but, I can't wait for this amp to be released! Thanks Roger.
