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Tweeters Off, none for me Thanks
- Thread starter madjazzbass
- Start date
I turned the tweeters completely off on my two 2x10 cabs.
because I figure Hey, I play Bass, Why do I need tweeters? They're only gonna take away from the warm tone I'm trying to achieve anyhow, AND, back in the day Bass players didn't have tweeters in the cabs and they sounded perfectly fine; I would go as far as to say even better.
Try tort drivers if you really want the right sound.
because I figure Hey, I play Bass, Why do I need tweeters? They're only gonna take away from the warm tone I'm trying to achieve anyhow, AND, back in the day Bass players didn't have tweeters in the cabs and they sounded perfectly fine; I would go as far as to say even better.
Madjazz, I'm right there with you!
During the past 45 years of playing bass, I have had so many different amp rigs that it's actually embarrassing when I look at my gear profile. And looking back over the years, every time I had a cab that had a tweeter (or a horn), I turned it off. I found that I just didn't care for anything over about 4 or 5 kilohertz.
But hey, to each his/her own. I fully respect other players having a preference for some higher frequencies in their bass sound. My philosophy is, do what makes you happy!
Btw, I will say that I do like bass cabs with a low freq woofer and a mid driver, such as the Baer cabs, Greenboy 15/6 cabs, and others. Those cabs rock! But no tweets for me!
my, Rock and Roll will never die...
Be careful maligning your elders or we'll have to yell at you to get off the lawn!
Your presence would be welcome in the GOF thread, sir!
Well if that's the sound you want, turn them off. All I çan say is that I think it sounds better when you can hear all the overtones. You may think that you're getting more low end, but you're into an area of psychoacoustics that says when your ear hears less highs it thinks there is more punch. As others have pointed out, havings highs makes the bass sit in the mix better too.
- Nov 24, 2008
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- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
Back in the day, the woofers used in bass cabs generally had more top end than the woofers used today.
At the risk of overgeneralizing, what happened was, portability took a toll on how high woofers could go. Let me give an example:
If we want one woofer to be just as loud as two woofers, assuming their efficiencies are the same, that single woofer has to handle FOUR TIMES as much power, both thermally and mechanically (the latter referring to linear excursion capability). So that means the single woofer needs have a voice coil four times as thick and heavy, and twice as long. Heavier voice coil = more moving mass = less top end, and longer voice coil = higher inductance = less top end. (Yes I know it's actually more complicated than this, but I think the basic point valid.)
So I'm not sure that you're necessarily getting yesteryear's voicing simply by turning off the tweeters in a modern bass cab. It depends on the specifics.
Note also that if you're going by the bass tone on a recording, the microphone was probably positioned right where it needed to be to capture that tone. The more directional, or beamy, the cab was, the greater the discrepancy between what that mic picked up and the sound out in the house.
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As someone that likes to use fuzz, I've always struggled with tweeters. But turning them off removed too much articulation for me when playing clean.
The solution for me has been cabs with no tweeters but a separate mid driver. My favorites for a while now have been Baer cabs.
The solution for me has been cabs with no tweeters but a separate mid driver. My favorites for a while now have been Baer cabs.
Tuck and Roll! I had a dual JBL D140 15's cab black T&R. Rock on bro!
Some people are so stuck in the past it's a wonder we ever got out of living in caves.
"back in the day" there was this bad joke...
"everything smaller than 15" is a tweeter" (or did it say "everything smaller than 15" is a joke"?)
may the bass be with you
Wise(b)ass
I have nothing personal against tweeters, but when that is said they sound awefull with any kind of dirt in my opinion.
What I did when I used my active PA speaker to spike up my tone beside my main amp, I cut just about everything above 10Khz and a bit of the highs under that as well of the signal going into the PA to get around this problem.
Seemed to work great for me.
Also in Russia speakers tweet you, for some bizarre reason, I heard.
What I did when I used my active PA speaker to spike up my tone beside my main amp, I cut just about everything above 10Khz and a bit of the highs under that as well of the signal going into the PA to get around this problem.
Seemed to work great for me.
Also in Russia speakers tweet you, for some bizarre reason, I heard.
I have two 410 HEs that i bought to replace my 810. I immediately turned off the tweeters. Love how it sounds. I have a wireless setup and have been able to play with the band at soundcheck while standing out in front and it sounds great. The fridge is sealed and that is the sound i am going for. I also play a P with a built in mute on the bridge cover.
I leave mine at 50%, and I assure you, no one is going to hear my rig and say "wow - that's really awful". If you want to turn off part of your kit - knock yourself out.
I can dig a vintage amp, but there are precious few cabinets from yesteryear that sound good, IMO. I used to hate one-way cabinets, but I really do love my NV610. One-way cabinets are much easier to mic. My ears still like - and usually prefer - the sound of a tweetered cabinet, but my preference is something with a coaxial driver, as I think they sound more natural than a typical tweeter/horn.
I'm always a little scared when someone says that they turn off the tweeters in their cabinets, because so many cabinets actually begin crossing over in the high-mids; so unless your speakers are running full range and the tweeter/horn is just handling everything above 5k, you're essentially throwing a blanket over your cabinet. Blah!
I'm always a little scared when someone says that they turn off the tweeters in their cabinets, because so many cabinets actually begin crossing over in the high-mids; so unless your speakers are running full range and the tweeter/horn is just handling everything above 5k, you're essentially throwing a blanket over your cabinet. Blah!
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It is all relative and to each their own. I think a lot of this is the current fascination with retro or vintage things going on now days. I am near 50 years old and remember well the tone of bass on the older rock albums as that was what we lived on growing up. I have to admit, that today I still like the classic rock but I love, love, love to hear it done with modern equipment where the bass has much more definition and clarity with the kick drum - But that is just me, YMMV.
When I switched to flats, I was liking the playability, tension, lowered action....all that jazz, but was actually kind of struggling to find just the right tone. They just weren't singing quite enough for me. After trying quite a few different settings on my D-800, I finally remembered that I had tweeter adjustments on the back of my cabs (hadn't really messed with them much since originally setting one at about a quarter on and the other off). Ended up bringing them up to quarter and half and it really opened up the sound. Who knew?
