Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Fun Stories => Topic started by: willie on November 15, 2007, 11:18:47 AM

Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: willie on November 15, 2007, 11:18:47 AM
My brother and I just finished building some new cabinets for my JBL E-140 and E-145 drivers. They are tuned and vented to match the drivers and we made the outer dimensions so they would stack on my Eden 4X10's. They sound great in this setup with 1 Crown PB-3 amp is stereo mode using the bi-amped outputs of the F1-X. But I will be trying them soon using 2 PB-3's, each run in bridged mono using the bi-amp outs for 3000 watts total, the neighbors will like that. Willie
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/394/45930.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/394/45931.jpg)
  (Message edited by davehouck on November 16, 2007)
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: 811952 on November 15, 2007, 11:57:42 AM
Those look good, and building stuff is fun!
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: keurosix on November 15, 2007, 06:55:23 PM
Cool!
What's the dragon do?
He IS plugged in, right?
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: jacko on November 16, 2007, 02:23:56 AM
Nice looking rig. What's the chain for?
 
graeme
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: willie on November 16, 2007, 05:25:48 AM
The chain keeps everything together when the floor starts shaking like an earthquake hit and would hopefully slow anyone down who was stupid enough to break in and try to steal anything.
The Dragon plays Tenor Sax  until it melts than he just dances around.
I guess I should have included my Alembic's in the pictures but I wanted to get some pictures as soon as I brought the new cabinets home. I'll take some with the basses and post them as soon as I can.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: lbpesq on November 16, 2007, 07:10:34 AM
Willie:
 
If anyone stole that rig, I'd look for the thief at the nearest Chiropractic office!  lol
 
Bill, tgo
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: willie on November 16, 2007, 08:29:54 AM
If they try it when I'm around you might want to check the emergency room of the nearest hospital or that cold room they have in the basement of the hospital.
I'm the one that needs to go to the chiroprator from moving it myself, ha ha
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: Bradley Young on November 16, 2007, 11:13:46 AM
Willie,
 
Sounds like they might get a bad case of spontaneous lead poisoning?
 
Bradley
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: terryc on November 20, 2007, 03:39:20 AM
That is a bass rig and not a PA system??
3k..jeeze..no good for small venues then unless you want to clear the room
Bet it sounds awesome
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: keavin on November 21, 2007, 05:29:21 AM
Damn willie the you gotta chain your shit down at home?..........what kinda neighborhood you live in?
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: willie on November 21, 2007, 07:05:23 AM
No its not a PA system but back before I got the Eden cabinets and built these 1X15 cabinets I was using the same configuration cabinet wise and sound men in clubs didn't want me using the whole thing because I could overpower their front of house system. I tried explaining it wasn't just for volume but so that I could have a clean sound from the deepest lows to the highest highs at whatever volume was needed, but that went over about as well as trying to explain to them not to try to make my Alembic sound like the Fender Precision's they were used to dealing with. But sometimes you get a good sound man who would look and say KOOL. Heres a line for your direct out and which speaker do you want miked.
Its not that its that bad of a neighborhood but there are some people you just can't trust and I put to much time & money putting this system together to have someone take it.
I put a picture of the rig with my Alembics in a thread in another section.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: mcrracer on January 15, 2008, 06:59:51 AM
Have any of you guys built or heard any of the Bill Fitzmaurice bass speaker cabs. From reading the posts on his site his cabs sound like they would be a perfect match for Alembic basses. Clean , clear sound. I have played Alembic basses on store purchased cabs and other DIY cabs, but never a BFM. Trying to find someone who has.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: 0vid on January 15, 2008, 08:05:30 AM
re: BFM
You can post on the BFM forum and chances you'd find someone near you who'd help you audtion them. I'm in the process of finishing  an OMNI 15 tallboy, and am planning to get rid of my PA for some DRs and TUBAs.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: David Houck on January 15, 2008, 08:21:44 AM
Raymond; after going back and reading a couple prior threads, it appears to be that Marlon already owns some Fitzmaurice cabs.  What he doesn't own is an Alembic.  So apparently he is familiar with the cabs but has never heard an Alembic through them.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: 0vid on January 16, 2008, 10:41:12 AM
OK thanks for heads up Dave. I didn't check the background...
 
BFM cabs are largely a DIY thing unless you pay a builder to make them for you, at which point they may not be economically attractive.
 
Alembic owners tend to be the sort of people who are less likely to DIY bass gear - a generalisation though this may be,a generalisation it remains. I don't see it applying to all. I have tinkered with my basses, cabs and rack gear, Alembic or otherwise since I started playing so there must be others who do so too.
 
I generally use my own design 4 way cabs(3 way top, and sub - 1X12,1X6,peerless tweeter + 2X12 sub) , crossovered and Driveracked and RTA EQ compensated, so I like the full frequency balanced sound.  
 
The BFMs are primarily full range PA systems and they are not magically better than other full range EQ'ed Systems except that they are horn loaded, and therefore more efficient per watt, and lighter because there are less drivers and the box design's are invariably braced 12mm ply instead. So anyone who has done a large concert and played through a well balanced full range horn loaded PA rig is largely going to have the same sort of sound. Whether you want that in your backline is a different consideration.
 
My interest in BFM is primarily weight and efficiency. Where the designs do not compromise  though is size. The BFMs are not small because efficiency is paramount in his designs.
 
Hoffman's law states that out of efficiency, size,  and low extension  - you can only ever have two out of these 3 and so BFMs are large and low & >100dB... and  ACME cabs are low and small & 90dB.
 
Also  horn loading has noticeably less driver distortion than any direct radiator, and this is a good and bad thing depending on what you want to achieve. Low distortion is good if you want it, but if you want growl - a large part of that is essentially direct radiator distortion.
Title: Custom made speaker cabinets
Post by: David Houck on January 16, 2008, 05:17:44 PM
Thanks for the post, Ramond; I enjoyed reading your analysis.