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Please define “slam”

In my mind, "slam" is how vigorously the cone accelerates when driven by a percussive event on the bass.

The rise time (slew rate) of the electronics is FAR faster than the electro-mechanical response to the amp signal.
To me, it seems the BL:MMS ratio indicates the strength of control the motor has over the cone and air load.

Most everybody publishes MMS (cone + air load).
However, this is simplistic and does not account for spider or cone surround stiffness that impedes motor control.

Across the Eminence product line, the 10" driver has higher ratios than most of the larger 12 and 15 drivers.
This ratio declines as the size of the driver increases.
In my mind, the 10 inch bass driver has the tightest control over the cone motion.

The B810 and Delta 10B are the top two in 10-inch Eminence drivers.
 
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Early in their career, Soundgarden printed up a t-shirt that said "speed doesn't kill--impact does." That's how I think about "slam" as a component of bass tone--definition and impact in the low end. In my amateur, non-engineering way, I would connect this to what I understand about Damping Factor, which is "the amplifier's ability to control speaker motion once a signal has stopped." Slam means instant conversion of electrical energy into felt acoustic energy in the lower part of the frequency range.
 
It's like the famous Supreme Court justice who said he could not define **** but he knew it when he saw it. Slam is like that, you can't define it but when you feel it, well it's slam.

The OP should go on a car forum and ask "what's a sports car"? That question seems to have a never ending definition LOL.

Analogeezer
 
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"Slam" is felt, not described. It is not unique to the bass guitar, but is unique to bass frequencies. It is that feeling of being physically pounded in the chest/back/face/etc by low frequencies. When you feel the low frequencies actually pushing you around, that's "slam".
 
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Early in their career, Soundgarden printed up a t-shirt that said "speed doesn't kill--impact does." That's how I think about "slam" as a component of bass tone--definition and impact in the low end. In my amateur, non-engineering way, I would connect this to what I understand about Damping Factor, which is "the amplifier's ability to control speaker motion once a signal has stopped." Slam means instant conversion of electrical energy into felt acoustic energy in the lower part of the frequency range.
Except that it doesn't correlate in the least bit to damping factor. I can give as many examples of amps with a lower damping factor as with a higher damping factor when it comes to the PERCEPTION of "slam" (whatever definition may be assigned).

IME, it's more a part of the voicing than it is anything else. The problem is PERCEPTION, everybody perceives this a little bit different.
 
I’ve seen the term “slam” used fairly regularly and was curious if it is well defined. How do you define it?

Guitar and drums have been my primary instruments but changing to bass due to hand issues. I use Mesa D800+ as primary and Mark Bass LM3 as backup into Ampeg Pro Neo 1x15 cabs. Not sure if I’m achieving slam with this gear.

I have no clue what you are talking about. This is the first time i have read or heard "slam".
 
sema-2015-slashgear-0-980x420.jpg
 
To me, a few have described it but no one's said it: transient response, or the ability of an amplifier to deliver transients. The class a/b (and others, i.e. GK RB series) amps I've owned/tried/used seem to deliver stronger transients than the class D amps I've tried/used. For class D, if the wattage rating was 500w then that's as strong of a transient as I could get from it. To my ears they sounded compressed. I can see more than one use-case for owning an amp like that, but it's not what I prefer.
 
I’ve seen the term “slam” used fairly regularly and was curious if it is well defined. How do you define it?

Guitar and drums have been my primary instruments but changing to bass due to hand issues. I use Mesa D800+ as primary and Mark Bass LM3 as backup into Ampeg Pro Neo 1x15 cabs. Not sure if I’m achieving slam with this gear.
Slam is that little extra juice that allows you to make the sound a little more forceful than no slam at all. It's really a meaningless term, though I use it because I can't think of any other way to describe it.
 

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