WH8 Completed

[Charles Jenkinson]

Hi Aidan and Charles,

Not eBay or speakergrilles. I got it from http://www.wiremeshfabs.co.uk/ just follow the perforated link, then you can filter by mild steel and open area. I wasn't bothered what pattern it was just as long as it was over 60% open area, but I must admit that the hex looks cool and it's 64%... So I ordered a 1.6mm thick sheet.

It was quite spendy at nearly £60 with VAT and shipping, but it arrived in a couple of days and it's a 2m x 1m sheet, so I will have plenty to do all the cabs I'm planning.

Thanks all for the positive comments and Miked, I also have a Barefaced Big One, it's virtually the same as a fEarful 15/6 (in fact I asked a question about a fEarful build and Greenboy replied that if he was in the UK he would just get a Barefaced cab...so I did). I love the tone but I just started another thread due to problems I'm having squeezing enough out volume out of it. I've managed to convince people I'm playing at maniacal volumes but I don't think I am, anyway...gives me a Jack 15 lite build to ponder

Sheesh, that's a great website/vendor for mesh products, and they're only spitting distance at Wigan - I looked for ages for wire cloth when I needed some.

You bring up a very interesting area of topic, re: tone and bass amps/cabs. I'm here essentially because I wanted something that would dual in both bass and P.A. cabs. I may start another thread and refer here because I just did try my bass through 2xJ12L's the other night. I wanted to make a video but family matters pressed hard - simple things like bath time, and "Jude (the baby)'s going to bed now" - it was only half 6!, I was thinking 'Dang it!' I'm not sure a single J15, even with the natural horn increase, would give you the lift you need, over a 15/6. You may need two, but then there's all the tone aspects, i.e. if Jacks need EQ for P.A. use, how can I expect to wang a head on it, and everything will be great....? I know people write reams on this, and that's why there's many designs of cabs (, amps and pre-amps) out there, but I need a 'starter for ten on bass cab EQ'.

Edit: Oh, ...and you have to pay for Barefaced cabs now. I get the impression it was a (free?) plans job at one time, like fEARful.

[Tom Smit]

Hey Charles, hang onto your bass-EQ thoughts until you've run your bass through the cabs for a couple of...hours? You might be doing a re-think.

[Jools4001]

Well, I know this post is really a review, but I thought I would put it up here just by way of rounding things out.

I took the W8 to our band rehearsal on Tuesday evening. We always rehearse without mains and use our backline rigs for guitars and bass and use monitors for the vocals (and in rehearsals it's only vocals in the monitors). The monitors we've been using are a pair of cheapo QTX passive speakers driven from one side of one of my old poweramps (300 wpc into 4 ohms), They belong to our drummer and I asked him to bring them along as usual in case there were any teething troubles with the W8.

The QTX's (they're a stop gap between our last singers departure, taking his Mackies with him, and the construction of a new BFM rig), present the amp with a 4 ohm load. I used Delta Pro 8b drivers in the finished W8 and the one under construction so with a single W8 there was a 16 ohm load on the amp.

I put the QTX cabs in their usual monitor position on the floor, with the W8 centred between them. Our usual problem is getting enough volume for the vocals before the monitors start howling feedback at us, and it then becomes a juggling act of speaker placement and/or making the FBD on the DEQ2496 work hard for it's living. On Tuesday we got about three songs in when one of the guitarist who stands far right of the centrally placed W8 said "jeez, the vocals are really clear and loud tonight...in fact they're probably too loud, do we really need three monitors for vocals?" I tried not to smirk too much when I said "Rod, we're not using three...the QTXs are just there for backup and they're not plugged in yet!"

So the vocals were indeed loud and clear, the W8 was being driven via the DEQ2496 with just the open air RTA setting (I didn't bother EQ'ing the rehearsal space) and sitting centrally it was able to give more than enough for the guy on the far right. The FBD did trim a couple of squeals during the course of the rehearsal, but when I looked, there were only two frequencies that had been cut by just 6db...

So, first impressions are the a single W8 is a vast improvement on two of the cheapo speakers we've been using (and from memory the SRM450s we have used as well)....that'll do for me!

PS: Charles, you've always had to pay for Barefaced cabs. As I understand it Alex Claber from Barefaced and Greenboy, the fEarful designer, had a lot of discussion between them during the design phase of the 15/6 and the similarly specced (but now discontinued) Barefaced Big One, but wheras fEarfuls have always been a self-build from free plans, Barefaced have always been a commercial cab builder. As I said, I just asked Greenboy about some component sourcing and he said that since I was in the UK me best bet would be to buy a ready made Barefaced cab. I did a quick comparison of the component costs of a 15/6 and found that the ready made cab from Barefaced was only £275 more...and since my time was at a premium when I was looking for this kind of product I decided to go with it. I love the tone, just need a bit more headroom...as mighty as a 3015LF is, it's still a "single 15" driver vs the world".