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Underpowering Cabinet Question?

#21
You sure all these speakers are in good shape? No glue seams coming apart, dustcaps coming loose, etc. The lack of bass or the bass control seemingly not having much effect may be placement in the room and/or your listening position.

Also the numbers on volume knobs mean nothing, halfway up doesn't mean half power at all. Plenty of amps have most of the useable range in the first 1/2 of the dial, you might be running the amp into clipping.

Something certainly doesn't add up here. Especially with the 810, you shouldn't be lacking for volume at all. I can play with similair instruments with 200 watts and 212's and don't even have to push the amp close to it's limits at rehearsals.
 
#23
Use a different amp and a different passive bass, doesn't matter what kind, borrow them from a friend if you have to. Switch out components one at a time until you figure out which one is causing the problem. Go from there. Make sure all your cords are good. If you use effects, take them all away and plug straight into the amp. If that works, add the effects back one at a time.
 
#26
JHAz said:
The BassGearMag review of the Orange 500 shows quite a bit of bass boost with the control at noon. To make the amp "optimally flat" they turned the bass and treble both to fullest CUT position, and mid to fullest boost (!)

At ay rate, OP, you can't make speakers distort by not giving them enough power, or they'd distort like mad whenver you play quietly. You could try a bit of bass cut to see if that cleans things up.
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound like this is the only issue, but if the Orange has a Fender tone-stack arrangement as this would suggest, then the OP has the equivalent of the dreaded "smiley-face" EQ with his settings, relatively bass and treble-boosted with a mid cut.

Might be worth trying JHaz's suggestion and set the dials to 0-10-0 or thereabouts and see what you can get out of it before adjusting from there. In addition to all the other suggestions, of course :).
 
#28
Frankenwill said:
That is basically what my EQ is, bass and treble flat (neither boosted nor cut). Mids slightly boosted.
Click to expand...

Go back and read JHaz's post -- you have the controls near noon, which with that EQ arrangement (assuming he's remembered BGM's review correctly) is a long, long way from flat.

This is, as I mentioned, a relatively common EQ arrangement, also found on Hartke amps, IIRC.
 
#30
Frankenwill said:
That is basically what my EQ is, bass and treble flat (neither boosted nor cut). Mids slightly boosted.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure you're getting it. If bass and treble are at the midpoints of their travel, bass and treble are significantly boosted from flat. To make the amp actually flat, turn treble all the way down on the amp,turn bass all the way down on the amp, turn the mids all the way up on the amp. NOw it is as flat as it can get.

Which is to say you've got some room to cut bass if you don't need all that boost to get your sound . . .
 
#33
Joe Louvar said:
Franken - if everything is in good working order - my guess is you need/want more speaker and power. Either turn your bass rig down to where it sounds good or upgrade to a BIGGER bass rig. ;)
Click to expand...

I dunno. Given the makeup of his band, I would have thought 500 W (and the Orange really does have 500 W, again according to BGM) and an 810 should be plenty, if everything works as it should.
 
#35
Oh no .. here I go getting involved in amp problems again. It sounds as though your amp is running out of headroom. Are you playing an active bass? If so are you cranking the bass on it? Are you using any pedals that increase the gain? It takes 2x the power for every 3 db of increase. If you are boosting your bass 15 db by cranking the bass on your amp or on your active bass, you are asking your amp to put out 10x the power. Depending on your signal chain you can easily force an amp into clipping.

Another issue could be the isobaric cabinet. In the early days of EA we made isobarics. The interaction between the external and internal drivers could cause driver failure. It is one of the reasons it was abandoned
 
#36
Guys, I think the issue is the practice space. Acoustically, it seems not very conducive to low frequencies. He says it's not a problem elsewhere.

OP, maybe set up closer to each other when practicing. Doesn't make sense to attempt to be louder in this case. Or have the other band members play quieter (maybe have the drummer use Hot Rods during rehearsals.).
 
#37
If it sounds like tube overdrive that's probably what it is. I just picked up a Terror Bass the other day. The gain control is how I set the tone I want, if I want distortion I turn it up, if I don't I turn it down. The volume knob is where I set the volume. If you run your amp really hard you can push it to the point that it will damage your speakers and or amp. 12 o'clock or 5 on the scale is only half way up. Even 9 or 10 out of 10 may not be really hard. I doubt you would have any output problems with the volume at 7 or 8. If you do then there is definitely something wrong.

Your bass may be too hot for the preamp. I often have to use the active mode when I play because I play really hard. It just cuts down the input. Maybe give that a try.

The SP410 won't put out like a 410. It's more like a 210 that cuts your amps power by 50%. Those are just rough numbers, but on a total output it's much closer to a 250 watt head into a 210, but with much better low end. The 810 should blow your head off with the volume at 8 and the gain set below where it gives you distortion. Good luck.
 
#38
+1 to trying the TT set up for max clean headroom by cranking the master way up (maybe even all the way if it doesn't introduce a bunch of hiss) and starting with the preamp at zero, only bringing it up to the volume you need.

if that doesn't get you what you need, then i suspect an actual problem with the amp, cabling or cab.
 

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