New speaker for GK 115 RBH?

[PatrickJohnson]

Hi there,

I just purchased said cab from a friend. Upon further inspection (should have performed due diligence prior to purchase...kicking myself a bit..dummy!!) and pulling the speaker, I find that it's an EV 15b OEM and not a Paragon.

I didn't pay much, so I'm not too bummed, but I am planning to drop another woofer in when finances allow.

Am I missing a great deal with the EV loaded versus the Paragon?

Any advice or commentary would be appreciated. Would anyone consider loading something other than a Paragon into the enclosure?

Thanks!!

Patrick
Louisville, Kentucky

 

[christw]

How's it sound? I think those EV 15B's are some of my favorite "voiced" bass speakers. If it came with the EV and you don't want it, I'd just sell the whole thing rather than start swapping speakers. That's always a messy proposal.

 

[PatrickJohnson]

Thanks for the response!

I think it sounds pretty good actually, but I suspect it's starting to get a little crispy. I don't drive it very hard (MB Fusion) and I hear an ever so slight scratchiness. I think it's rated at 200 watts...near half the original driver. Not that it really matters for my purposes...plus I play with a pretty light touch.

It's my only cab at the moment and we're starting to get a little busy, so I want to be ready when the inevitable happens....

And I don't want to part with the cab as I love the form factor. Love how I can kick it back. Dreaming of stacking another identical on top for larger outdoor stages this spring and summer.

 

[christw]

Why don't you measure out its inner dimensions and port scheme? That way you can plug speaker T/S parameters into a program like WinISD and see how they'd perform. Or wait for a resident speaker expert to have a great suggestion. I'd wager that a Faital 15FH500 would be a bit squished but save you 20 lbs and sound even better but that's biased to my own taste. (I'm rocking an 18FH500 in my TC118!) And to be fair I do occasionally slap non ideal speakers in a box or just take my chances and it hasn't [DEL]bit me once.[/DEL] (Edit: forgot I tried a JBL 18" in a W bin!) But I'm still lucky. So don't take my suggestion of speaker too seriously.

In the meantime, don't goose that bass knob! That's a nice (honestly rated) speaker but 500w can definitely push it too hard on those transients. Just keep the bass knob down and let the sound guy take care of it! ...Assuming they'll have one!

 

[PatrickJohnson]

Goodness, the dimensions of this cab are super funky. I'd have to get my geometry hat on and figure it out. Might be a fun exercise. Hmmmmmmmm.......

Good advise on the bass knob. Even at 8ohms, the MB Fusion is till giving the cab 350 watts. Probably a bit much. Will be using my ears!

I hope one of resident speaker experts chimes in. In the meantime, I think I'll take your advise and educate myself a bit.

And, of course the Paragon 15 is available at GK. I could just pony up the 200 bucks and get it done. I'm sure it would rule!

Cheers!

 

[christw]

200 bucks? Man, you can get a better speaker for less. Brush up on that geometry and figure out what you have so you can figure out what fits! You may be surprised. Then again, if you want that GK sound, there may be no substitute. Just be aware the 400w(?) rating is probably thermal max, not fartout. I doubt it can take more than that EV.