Turning off tweeter vs. Taking out tweeter

[Masher88]

I was loading into the studio where we are going to record and the engineer and I were talking about how I'm not a fan of tweeters in bass cabs. I play in a loud, detuned, doom band. He was describing how his bass player actually disconnected the tweeter and crossover and took them out of the signal path from his Ampeg 4x10he. This makes it so all of the frequency spectrum and the wattage get routed to the speakers. He said the cab got noticeably louder. I have an Ampeg 410hlf and have always run it with the tweeter attenuator full off.

Is it a good idea to take out the horn tweeter and crossover. (Leave the physical horn still in the cab, but disconnect it). Will there be any adverse effects?

 

[birminghambass]

I've done this with a few cabs with excellent results.

 

[Floyd Eye]

As long as you are aware of the resulting impedance change.

 

[Masher88]

As long as you are aware of the resulting impedance change.

The engineer guy said he checked the impedance and it was no different. Because the tweeter is crossed over and it was taking the crossover and the tweeter out of the chain. This leaves four 4 ohm drivers...2 sets in series then parallel together to be at 4 ohms total.

 

[Bassamatic]

The impedance should not change as the crossover should be matched to the speakers. There are some losses in a crossover, but if it is a good design, I can't imagine that they would be so noticeable. A more preferred balance, perhaps.

B aware that the result will be brighter than using the tweeter with full attenuation, as all the highs above the crossover point will now go to the woofers.

 

[Joe Louvar]

I’ve read that if you take a horn out of a bass cabinet you should cover/plug the hole where is was.

I was loading into the studio where we are going to record and the engineer and I were talking about how I'm not a fan of tweeters in bass cabs. I play in a loud, detuned, doom band. He was describing how his bass player actually disconnected the tweeter and crossover and took them out of the signal path from his Ampeg 4x10he. This makes it so all of the frequency spectrum and the wattage get routed to the speakers. He said the cab got noticeably louder. I have an Ampeg 410hlf and have always run it with the tweeter attenuator full off.

Is it a good idea to take out the horn tweeter and crossover. (Leave the physical horn still in the cab, but disconnect it). Will there be any adverse effects?

 

[jumbodbassman]

I’ve read that if you take a horn out of a bass cabinet you should cover/plug the hole where is was.

I would try it an see if it sounds better with the hole plugged or not. not sure technically what it does but another port sometimes adds a lot of oomph....

I havebeen thinking about doing this to one of my PF 15HE to get a little more oomph on the bottom cab as they are sealed normally and i hare the horns most of the time.

 

[Bass_Pounder]

I’ve read that if you take a horn out of a bass cabinet you should cover/plug the hole where is was.

I would try it an see if it sounds better with the hole plugged or not. not sure technically what it does but another port sometimes adds a lot of oomph....

I havebeen thinking about doing this to one of my PF 15HE to get a little more oomph on the bottom cab as they are sealed normally and i hare the horns most of the time.

Leaving the tweeter hole open changes the tuning of the cab, and can cause damage.

 

[BassmanPaul]

I would try it an see if it sounds better with the hole plugged or not.

Don't use the cab with the tweeter hole unplugged. you'll wreck your drivers.

 

[B-string]

Bass cabs that I have seen do not use a low pass crossover for the LF drivers. The LF speakers run in full range. If you disconnect the "tweeter" you should disconnect the crossover also even if only pulling the protection lamps.

 

[David Jayne]

Bass cabs that I have seen do not use a low pass crossover for the LF drivers. The LF speakers run in full range. If you disconnect the "tweeter" you should disconnect the crossover also even if only pulling the protection lamps.

This. The woofers already run full-range. If it's dark enough sounding now with the tweeter turned down, removing the crossover from the signal path will make no difference at all. Zip, nada, zero change.

 

[B-string]

Just beware an unloaded crossover (just disconnecting the tweeter) can cause amplifier instability.

 

[Mark Nye]

Just beware an unloaded crossover (just disconnecting the tweeter) can cause amplifier instability.

Can you elaborate on this? I was contemplating the exact same thing, but with one of my SVT210HE cabs. Is simply taking the tweeter out and covering up the hole enough? Would it be a wise idea to have a qualified tech just pull out all of the components that don't pertain to the woofers and rewire it as though the tweeter never existed?

Don't use the cab with the tweeter hole unplugged. you'll wreck your drivers.

And it'll sound like butt. I did try to pull the tweeter once, leaving the hole open. "Not so good, Al."

 

[SunnBass]

Just beware an unloaded crossover (just disconnecting the tweeter) can cause amplifier instability.

This helps with my project too.

 

[B-string]

Can you elaborate on this? I was contemplating the exact same thing, but with one of my SVT210HE cabs. Is simply taking the tweeter out and covering up the hole enough? Would it be a wise idea to have a qualified tech just pull out all of the components that don't pertain to the woofers and rewire it as though the tweeter never existed?



And it'll sound like butt. I did try to pull the tweeter once, leaving the hole open. "Not so good, Al."

Not without knowing the exact design of the crossover and the amp typology driving it. This is a good general practice. The crossover does not need to be removed completely, lifting one connection on the crossover will effectively remove it from the circuit.

This helps with my project too.

Still waiting for beer:30.

 

[JimmyM]

Bear in mind that the 410he and 410hlf are two completely different cabs. It works with the 410he because the tweeter crosses over at 4k and the woofers will go up to 5k. I don't know what the woofers in the 410hlf top out at, though.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I have the 410he. Personally I wouldn't do this. I run mine with the horn turned down because Im used to the 810 but I don't turn it all the way off. I don't know enough about crossovers to where I would feel good about messing with my cab. In fact on of the reasons I don't turn the horn down more than I do is I heard over time it damages the crossover. My recommendation is get a new amp. If you want a warmer/creamier sound get a tube head or a nice pre.

 

[Masher88]

\My recommendation is get a new amp. If you want a warmer/creamier sound get a tube head or a nice pre.

I like the sound of the HLF cab with the tweeter turned off and as far as tube amps go... I used to have an Ampeg SVT-CL, a Mesa Boogie 400+, and a Peavey VB-2 over my long playing career...I always come back to my Sansamp RBI and QSC PLX power amp. So, I don't think I'm really a tube guy.

I was just wondering if it would be beneficial to remove the tweeter an crossover altogether, making it more like a Fridge cab (which I used to have an liked also, but it's WAY too big). By beneficial I mean: would the cab gain any volume/efficiency/loudness by being able to send the full sound to the drivers instead of going through a crossover first? And would it get damaged? Thanks for everyones input!

 

[B-string]

The signal does not go through the crossover to the 10's, it is not a HiFi cab. The only time it could make a difference is if the crossover is damaged causing a loading problem or stability problem to the amp.