These were originally being made for use as p.a. tops but I wanted to try them out for my bass rig as well. Last night I had a gig at one of my favorite bars so I threw the cabs together without a full finish, hardware or the peizo arrays. Also, I did not do a break in of the woofers as suggested. There just was not enough time. (And my amps are loaded in a case at my guitar players house. No time to go get them.)
As expected, my first trial with them I was not a jaw dropping experience. However, they did sound very nice and better then the 2x10 I am currently using. That was apparent immediately. The mids were over the top and had to be tamed down quite a bit and the bass slightly boosted to get a good, even tone. It was a crystal clear tone that I really liked though. I would describe it as a lower register piano string. Very clear, crisp and clean.
I dinked around for a couple hours getting to know my new toys and refining my sound with them. I am sure my neighbors really love me now because I had to see how stupid loud these thing are. That is exactly how they are too, STUPID LOUD! I also got “the look” from my wife and I noticed that she prefered to be outside for most of the afternoon.
After that, I decided to go ahead and load them up and use them at the gig. I hate bringing new/untested gear to a show, so I also brought my 2x10 incase I needed a back up. I did not need it.
My rig was already set and ready to go when the rest of the band showed up. No one really noticed at first in the flurry of activity to get everything set up and running. When my guitar player noticed them he rolled his eyes and told me they “looked nice”. Haha! I new he would not be impressed with how they looked at the time.
I got some quick revenge soon after when I plugged in and struck that first note. I am sure everyone has a sore neck today, because everyone whipped their heads around in unison and stared at me with open mouths.
Our soundman was extremely impressed with the tone and volume I could get from these cabs. He said he did not want to run me though the mains because he did not feel like he could get it to sound nearly as good.
Several friend showed up to the gig and I was able to ask them what they thought. Two of them are drummers and have a lot of experience playing and running sound. Both loved everything out front with the only suggestion being, I should be louder. I obliged and instead of getting the “eyebrows” from the soundman, he kept giving me the thumbs-up sign and grinning like a idiot every time I turned it up a hair.
Overall, I am very impressed with these cabs. It’s a shame I’ll have to take them apart to finish them properly and add the peizos. I can’t wait to try them out as tops though. Maybe I’ll need to do one at a time. I don’t think I’ll want to be without at least one working cab.
If you play bass, you need to try one of these!
Ben
Personally, I was in heaven.