XF212 done - Egnater style

[kekani]

Yeah, I know, where's the pics? Well, no issues here other than I followed the plans. Okay, some issues regarding the grill cloth and the frame sticking out too much, because its so thick. If I had to do it over, I'd do it in 1/4", because I have it. Then again, I just saw a statement Bill made about being "comfortable with 3/8" in any of the designs. . . " something like that. Had I seen that earlier, AND after completing this build, I think 3/8" would be good.

Back to the grill cloth. One of the issues was I cut the front angle with a squared off top and bottom to fit the metal corner protecters (okay, didn't really follow the plans, did I?).

Next problem, couldn't find the right piping to match, but, its close enough. And since it has corner protectors and no Tolex, its an Egnater style, and not an exact match.

Since it was supposed to come close to matching, I did the Duratex a la Leland, with a faux leather look. Much better than the grainy rolled texture in this case.

End result: a MUCH larger sweet spot than a standard 2x cab, starting from right in front of the cab. With the Tweaker 88, and the cab on the floor, it was too loud, in a very good way. The high's come in at about 2' in front and go to a nice spot about 8' out. However, with the cab shooting at the knees, the eq and switches could be set so there was not enough of a difference there, and 8' out to where it would change just slightly enough to not matter. Slightly off center and the mids go along with the highs, BUT, its still there to where you can hear, and the sound doesn't completely disappear.

And, this is without breaking in the Eminence Legend V128's. Weight is right at 40# with the back closed.

Question: Open or closed?
Answer: Both. After playing closed and running the Tweaker through its paces (what a great amp!), the open back added a nice, open, airy "sound all over the place" dimension. Not as tight, but not in a bad way. Running into some jazzy stuff and closing it back up brought a tight, focused, smooth forward sound, in a very good way.

Okay, so this is more of a review than a build, so Mark can move it where it fits. Again, just sharing the results of what xf players already know - there's no need for a 412.

[MarcBass]

Looks great Kekani! Great work and a great match for the Egnator.

Although you said you are not posting anything new, you've almost inspired me to put a 210 together. ..... Thanks

[LelandCrooks]

Nice work as always.

[gdougherty]

Makes me think for some of the guitarists I know that haul two setups to do stereo that a pair of heads and a 2x12 wired up to switch between mono and stereo inputs could be cool.

[r1c0rtez]

Very nice! I also own an Egnater Tweaker 88, although I feel I'm growing out of it and my tastes are changing I might spring for a boutique 6l6 based amp soon, I LOVE the darker warmer tone of the kt88 but I'm in search of a really heavy distortion and the shared eq is somewhat finicky, I'm new on the site and these XF cabs look very interesting

[kekani]

Very nice! I also own an Egnater Tweaker 88, although I feel I'm growing out of it and my tastes are changing I might spring for a boutique 6l6 based amp soon, I LOVE the darker warmer tone of the kt88 but I'm in search of a really heavy distortion and the shared eq is somewhat finicky, I'm new on the site and these XF cabs look very interesting

If you've tweaked around with the 88, I'm sure you'd have no issues finding heavy distortion. Guitars, Tube Amps, I get it. As a Bass player, I'm not needing the dirt, but I'm finding the need for that thickness this XFE (XFEgnater) puts out. The lower registers are definitely in play as well, but "88 watts" is way too loud for most venues I would imagine, unless you're filling stadiums. Gain up/Master down certainly applies.

Oh, one more thing. We tested the amp in 8 ohm mode - cab is wired in series, so 16ohm. Flipped the switch to 16, and while the headroom seemed the same, it also seemed like there was a little "more" if that makes sense. Can't really explain other than its tighter on the fingers, in a good way. Again, doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to at this point.

I know this is only one simple example, and the amp and drivers certainly color the review, for better or worse.
In the end, as discussed with my friend, reading about the design makes sense; hearing it quantifies the read.

Here's the question that I've been trying to wrap my head around. If its known that guitar players turn up because their sound is shooting at their knees, why isn't this very simple design (sorry Bill, but the theory behind pointing and angling the drivers is a little simplistic - no disrespect intended; just a statement on why this is not the standard, rather than the exception) applied? Yeah, I know, manufacturing costs, yada yada. . .
My other friend immediately asked me to build him an ATA/flight case for his cab, but he wanted it custom to where the cab is, you got it, angled upwards. You'd think my response would be to "sell it and get an XF", but that would mean more work for me, and I don't wanna do another cab right now. I did tell him buying an ATA is cheaper for one that's already made (which it is, here).

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

If its known that guitar players turn up because their sound is shooting at their knees, why isn't this very simple design (sorry Bill, but the theory behind pointing and angling the drivers is a little simplistic - no disrespect intended; just a statement on why this is not the standard, rather than the exception) applied?

Because it's not what they see their heroes using.
You see guitar players going on endlessly about tone and how to get it, from string gauges to pedals to drivers to tone woods to who knows what, but when it comes to the basics of acoustics, especially the simple fact that high frequencies coming out of large drivers travel in straight lines, they just don't seem to get it. Fifty years ago Leo Fender put tilt back legs on his combos so that players could hear themselves, but I doubt one in ten Fender users tilt their amps back. Why? Who knows?

[Bruce Weldy]

Not to mention that all that work on "my tone" is totally lost when they start turning the knobs to get that tone with their ears 4 feet off axis. Once they finally dial in enough high end so that they can hear it up at their ears - the audience gets their head knocked off with the screeching highs.

My fellow guitarists can be such dumbshits sometimes.

[r1c0rtez]

If you've tweaked around with the 88, I'm sure you'd have no issues finding heavy distortion. Guitars, Tube Amps, I get it. As a Bass player, I'm not needing the dirt, but I'm finding the need for that thickness this XFE (XFEgnater) puts out. The lower registers are definitely in play as well, but "88 watts" is way too loud for most venues I would imagine, unless you're filling stadiums. Gain up/Master down certainly applies.

Oh, one more thing. We tested the amp in 8 ohm mode - cab is wired in series, so 16ohm. Flipped the switch to 16, and while the headroom seemed the same, it also seemed like there was a little "more" if that makes sense. Can't really explain other than its tighter on the fingers, in a good way. Again, doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to at this point.

That actually makes more sense now that you mention it, i guess the thickness is what i want, because i actually rewired my pickups from modern to 50's which,well, is a whole other discussion ,but i found my dynamics with the 50's wiring sounded more open and uncompressed. I did spend hours tweaking a long time ago but i haven't sat down in a while, i change settings accordingly from show to show but I might have to review it all over again. I do have a bit different setup as of now.




I also agree with the whole sound at the knees...or even to the side, my guitar player who is far left from me ALWAYS tells me to turn up my volume because HE cant hear me, even though i know damn well the disbursement of sound is just fine in front of me and any louder it gets unpleasant

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

my guitar player who is far left from me tells me to turn up my volume because HE cant hear me,

That's what monitors are for.

[escapemcp]

my guitar player who is far left from me tells me to turn up my volume because HE cant hear me,

That's what monitors are for.

You should build some Wedgehorns

[jwgreen6]

If its known that guitar players turn up because their sound is shooting at their knees, why isn't this very simple design (sorry Bill, but the theory behind pointing and angling the drivers is a little simplistic - no disrespect intended; just a statement on why this is not the standard, rather than the exception) applied?

Because it's not what they see their heroes using.
You see guitar players going on endlessly about tone and how to get it, from string gauges to pedals to drivers to tone woods to who knows what, but when it comes to the basics of acoustics, especially the simple fact that high frequencies coming out of large drivers travel in straight lines, they just don't seem to get it. Fifty years ago Leo Fender put tilt back legs on his combos so that players could hear themselves, but I doubt one in ten Fender users tilt their amps back. Why? Who knows?

In a band I ran sound years ago the guitar player complained he couldn't hear himself. He was using a 100w Fender Twin and the speakers were pointed directly at his ankles. Then I placed the amp in front of and facing him next to his monitor wedge, tilted it backwards and he complained again. "That amp is ripping my #$%&@ face off!" No kidding, I said.

[kekani]

Live gig report:

In a Rock-n-Roll setting, this thing cuts through a drummer. The amp was cruising all night at 10 o'clock on the main. When the effects got crazy, it started sounding "woofy". But, this was with the back closed.

Opened it up, against a back wall, sound everywhere, with, and I quote, "HUGE BASS, but not muddy."

The drummer could've cared less, but the bass player definitely took note.

Bottom line, this is a sleeper cab that probably no one is going to ask about, but it works for those fortunate enough to play through it.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Bottom line, this is a sleeper cab that probably no one is going to ask about

True. Most guitar players seem to think that the pinnacle of guitar speaker technology was reached in the Fender Twin, Marshall stack and Vox AC30. If they drove cars with the same level of technology they'd look like this: