What makes fEARFUL Cabs so scary?

[Jazz Ad]

I believe you heard what you heard, but there is a very good reason why a 12/6 "should" go louder than a conventional 12: it has more displacement: the sucker can just plain push more air (if powered to capacity), period. You are the 1st and only person I have ever read a post from who has heard a fEARful and believes it doesn't go louder than other cabs with the same size and number of drivers if it is fully powered.

Good components in a well designed cab is what these cabs are. No more displacement than any other properly designed cab using the same off the shelf speaker. The good part is getting it at a low price because you build it yourself.

As for my experience, the Bergantino IP112ER isn't exactly what you'd call a conventional cab. Fearful cabs are rather uncommon (read:non existant) in Europe, I only ever heard 2.

On a sidenote, people who talk about commercial hype are rather laughable when we're dealing with a freely available DIY design.

 

[Passinwind]

As for my experience, the Bergantino IP112ER isn't exactly what you'd call a conventional cab.

Yep, and FWIW the Clair monitor in question also needs a fair bit of processing to sound the way it does. I can tell you first hand that if you apply IP-style processing to a 12/6 it will sound a whole lot like an IP, although the IP310 is the only one I have actually heard and directly compared so far.

 

[CL400Peavey]

Good components in a well designed cab is what these cabs are. No more displacement than any other properly designed cab using the same off the shelf speaker.

The whole thing is the 3012LF/3015LF isnt used in many bass cab applications as it is not a full range speaker by itself. That said it does have way more displacement than its full range counter parts.

 

[Sundogue]

On a sidenote, people who talk about commercial hype are rather laughable when we're dealing with a freely available DIY design.

Not really. While I respect their right to keep proprietary information to themselves, commercial cab manufacturers could certainly publish meaningful specs as to the output of their cabs at frequency without divulging anything to hurt them financially.

Saying their cabs output say 30Hz to 20,000Hz is what's laughable because at 30Hz most cabs are inaudible.

It's not only laughable, its BS and misleading.

 

[bassdude51]

When I finished my first 12/6, I did a side-by-side comparison between it and my Acme B-2. Same amp; same settings; same bass; same room. The only thing that varied was which box the speaker cable was plugged into.

It's been about 2 and a half years, but here are some of the high points as I remember them:
The 8 ohm 12/6 was at least as loud as the 4 ohm B-2.
The very low end was similar.
I liked the mids better with the 12/6. This was especially true in the "guitar register" (D,G,C strings/12th fret and higher).
The 12/6 was slightly larger than the B-2.
The 12/6 weighed 12 lbs. less.
The single side-mounted strap handle on my 12/6 made it much less awkward to carry than the ridiculous handles/placement on the B-2.

I sold the B-2 after my 1st gig with the 12/6.

Thank-you for your comment!

As a B-2 owner, I'm having doubt thanks to your fEARful people. ha ha ha

I'll check around and see if I can find someone here in the Central Ohio area that has a fEARful cab.

Looks like Tom Bowlus lives in north central Ohio. I had the pleasure to meet him one time in Lancaster, Ohio for a gathering of TB members in that area. Maybe I can have him give me a fEARful demo.

What brand of drivers do you fEARful people use?

I agree the Acme's little 5" mid is a bit weak for those who might like a dominate mid sound. They are a full range cab and can be used for PA and even home theater..........although I've never checked that out.

I think that it's been stated several times the importance of listening before buying or building anything. Some like Coke, others Pepsi, others RC. Some Toyotas, Subarus, Chevys and Fords.

Try before we buy. Word of mouth can just be opinions. "One size" doesn't not fit all.

 

[wcriley]

So question between the 12/6 and the 12/6/1 is the 1 needed?

Depends on individual taste.
Personally, I don't have much use for anything higher than the Alpha mid can reach. (On the rare occaisions that I have PA support, I filter everything above 5K before sending it to the board.)
The only time I've missed having a tweet was when running electronic drums though my boxes. The cymbals were kinda' dull.
Others probably couldn't live without the tweeter.
More than a few people have thought the tweeter wasn't working because they couldn't hear anything coming out when they played a bass guitar though the cab.

 

[tombowlus]

Looks like Tom Bowlus lives in north central Ohio. I had the pleasure to meet him one time in Lancaster, Ohio for a gathering of TB members in that area. Maybe I can have him give me a fEARful demo.

As I mentioned above, I would be happy to oblige.

 

[CL400Peavey]

What brand of drivers do you fEARful people use?

Eminence and 18sound are the only specified drivers.

 

[thiocyclist]

I don't have a dog on this fight nor have tried them myself. Just asking questions and trying to understand the hype. That's all...

You're trolling from what I can tell. You don't want to understand. If you did you would have used the search function, for one thing.

I've owned several different cabs that I was told were the right cabs to like, mostly the nx10 or nx15 variety, but none of them were as ear-pleasing to me as 15/6 I now use. So there's a real-life experience.

 

[bassdude51]

Too lazy to do a research right now but what is a ball park figure for building the.........

12/6? (no tweeter)
15/6? "

Thanks a million!

 

[wcriley]

I built each of my 12/6 Alphas for ~$350, but that was before the price of neo drivers went up.
My best guess today would be ~$450 if you do everything yourself and don't go hog wild on the hardware and cosmetics.

 

[mbelue]

I built each of my 12/6 Alphas for ~$350, but that was before the price of neo drivers went up.
My best guess today would be ~$450 if you do everything yourself and don't go hog wild on the hardware and cosmetics.

Spot on , just finished mine, ~$450. Including tweeter.

 

[DONZI97]

So question between the 12/6 and the 12/6/1 is the 1 needed?

I have two, a 15/6 and a 12/6/1 cube. I personally don't need a lot of highs for my sound...but I'm very happy that i added the tweeter, because using a Boss RC-3 looper I can play a drum machine, and iPod through the cab making practicing easy and efficient. If i have the tweeter off and running music through it, i miss the highs, with tweet on, sounds like a stereo system but better. I actually use it to listen to tunes while I work in the garage, sounds great.

 

[MarthaSamira]

You obviously (as others have pointed out) don't get it at all. Do you know what low frequencies actually sound like? I don't think you do. They don't boom. Mid-bass booms. Schroeders boom. A fEARful will not boom unless you eq your amp that way on purpose. They don't need to go "very low". They need to reproduce what I want. If I roll off the tone and play my low B, I still want to hear the pitch, even with the rest of the band playing. I can do that with my fEARful, and I haven't been able to with most other cabinets.

I know quite well how low frequencies sound... The frequencies you guys talk about are the ones Michael Bay loves to put on his movies and some home systems won't reproduce.

Reading the other posts I see the fEARfuls being compared with the ACMEs. Is that so?

I've played through ACMEs many, many times... Not bashing the brand, nice cabs for great price. But nothing really special... Quiet and power hungry little things. Not sure if I'll be understood here, but not enough grace and excitement on ACMEs.

 

[ChuckTrucks]

On a sidenote, people who talk about commercial hype are rather laughable when we're dealing with a freely available DIY design.

I bet a few people know the Large Hadron Collider is actually just a giant torridial generator designed to artificially generate the Earth's magnetic field when our poles get flipped on 12/21/12.

 

[BawanaRik]

So does that mean his story will be something about the audacity of hope?

From what I've heard about these speakers I would buy, or at least try, one of they came up for sale near me.

There's a lot of happy people with these pups.

In a way, what's miraculous is that Greenboy had the audacity to hang his reputation on his designs, and to assemble a critical mass of people willing to give them a try.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I know quite well how low frequencies sound... The frequencies you guys talk about are the ones Michael Bay loves to put on his movies and some home systems won't reproduce.

Reading the other posts I see the fEARfuls being compared with the ACMEs. Is that so?

I've played through ACMEs many, many times... Not bashing the brand, nice cabs for great price. But nothing really special... Quiet and power hungry little things. Not sure if I'll be understood here, but not enough grace and excitement on ACMEs.

The ACMEs give up a lot of sensitivity to do what they do. A 15/6 fEARfuls are right around 99 db/w/m and can handle around 750 watts cleanly. Doing the math, that equates to around 128 db max volume, give or take.

 

[Sundogue]

I know quite well how low frequencies sound... The frequencies you guys talk about are the ones Michael Bay loves to put on his movies and some home systems won't reproduce.

Reading the other posts I see the fEARfuls being compared with the ACMEs. Is that so?

I've played through ACMEs many, many times... Not bashing the brand, nice cabs for great price. But nothing really special... Quiet and power hungry little things. Not sure if I'll be understood here, but not enough grace and excitement on ACMEs.

If you are really sincere, ask your questions here...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[KJung]

I know quite well how low frequencies sound... The frequencies you guys talk about are the ones Michael Bay loves to put on his movies and some home systems won't reproduce.

Reading the other posts I see the fEARfuls being compared with the ACMEs. Is that so?

I've played through ACMEs many, many times... Not bashing the brand, nice cabs for great price. But nothing really special... Quiet and power hungry little things. Not sure if I'll be understood here, but not enough grace and excitement on ACMEs.

FYI, way back when, a couple of the TBers who used Acme speakers were into the concept of a full range, full sounding bass speaker that 'fixed' some of the things they (and others, including me) didn't like about the Acme's:

1) So much low end extension that the trade-off in efficiency to get what amounted to sub bass was not particularly a useful trade-off in live performance

2) The small mid driver in the Acme tended to become buried by the big wump of the low end driver

3) The physical characteristics of the OEM Acme 10" drivers resulted in the strange combination of needing a LOT of power to get the things pumping, but pushed the limit of thermal safety and XLIM.

So, these two TBers (AlexClaber and Greenboy) started down the path of taking what was good about the Acme (full range performance with impressive low end and no low mid hump, nice dispersion of the upper mids, relatively small size), and 'fixing' 1-3 above (and, for the Acme fans, many believe these fixes were not needed).

Those two guys ended up being 'Barefaced Cabs' in the UK, and fEARful over here. Using the PA quality 3015(12)LF drivers, various heavy duty 6.5" mid drivers, decent crossovers, and a relatively large box made out of lightweight materials, I think they were successful.

What you get is more absolute low end extension than the typical production cab, but not so much to be a problem regarding efficiency (I believe most of the designs are -3db a touch above 40hz). You also get a mid driver that can keep up with the low end so you don't lose your definition on stage, and you also get INCREDIBLE XMAX and XLIM specs that result in a very open, even low end, even when slapping and digging in.

As has been posted, all these cabs have a voice, and the extended low end and bright upper mids are not necessarily the 'end all' in tone. However, the specs are accurate, and the performance is pretty impressive.

When you hear a Mesa M9 (for example), with literally no hi passing, wumping into a 15/6, whether you dig it or not, it is impressive as heck, especially if you have a nice traditional 410 or 212 around to A/B. You still might like the 212 (I prefer my Bergantino AE212 over virtually any other cab), but the 15/6 (much less the 1212/6) will 'outperform' it in a technical sense.

Again, just trying to clarify that even some of us (like me) that don't really appreciate the extra low end and the nature of the upper midrange in the fEARful, for the most part appreciate that the design goals of both Alex and Greenboy were achieved pretty nicely in each of their product lines.

IMO and a lot of IME

 

[J Posega]

I wish there were some fEarfuls in Columbia, SC that I could play through. I don't have a car, so travelling more than 15 miles from home is kinda difficult.