Jack 15 bass cab

[Preston]

Baltic Birch, 3015, no tweets. This cab replaces an old school Peavey 4x12 Black Widow loaded bass cab. I just finished rehearsal with the Jack. I can lift the jack easily enough with one hand. I can barely pick up the Peavey at all. The Peavey is a 4 ohm cab, the Jack is 8 ohm. One driver vs four in the Peavey.

I honestly thought I'd need two Jacks to keep up with the Peavey. I don't. In fact, the Jack is easily louder at the same amp settings, responds better to eq, and has a much richer, fuller tone. The entire band commented on how good it sounds.

I'll be gigging it this Saturday in a good sized room without PA support, and will post an update afterwards.

How does it sound? It was articulate and focused and still had "girth." I felt that the cab actually did what it was supposed to - reproduce what I was playing - instead of coloring the sound, and that it would take anything I was capable of throwing at it.

P-bass w/flats. T-Max. 70's and 80's classic rock. no effects.

[Chris_Allen]

Sounds good so far - it will be interesting to hear what you think. I don't believe there are many (any?) vanilla Jack 115 reviews.

BTW, we want pictures!

[Harley]

I have the driver, I have the piezos, I have the wood, I have the fittings.....the only thing I don't have...is the time.

So many cabs....so little time

So yeah...this review will be watched with interest

[Mikey]

Love to see some pics!

[Preston]

Fresh back from the first gig with the Jack 15. Good sized room, one of the larger clubs in area, high ceilings, about half full of "water bags." I was not in the PA and had to carry the room with "just" this one little cabinet and about 200 watts. (Peavey T-Max)

The band plays loud, 60's, 70's, 80's classic rock. The Jack performed flawlessly and effortlessly. I had the gain on about five and the master just shy of 4. I dialed up my usually settings on the amp and quickly found I was too loud... way too loud. A couple tweaks and I had a nice fat, growly tone that filled the room and sat perfectly in the mix.

I have nothing but praise for this cab. The end of the night load out was a breeze too!

Here's the pics:

[Gauss]

Very, very cool. I was going to ask about the dispersion, but with the flats, I guess you're not going to far into the upper range anyway. Did you notice a difference from dead-on compared with off to the side? Does the horn on the Jack change the usually narrow dispersion of 15 inch speakers?

[Haysus]

Nice job. The pic really shows the size of the cab. Kind of like the first time seeing a WH8 to a WH10.

I have been contemplating some jacks for light duty PA and I might like the size of a 10 or 12.

[Preston]

As far as bass cabs go, this is tidy little cab, but I think many would find it a little large for use as a PA main, at least when compared to other BFM offerings. I used to manhandle original Peavey SP-2's up on speaker stands... compared to those, and many other comercial designs, the Jack-15's seem pretty nimble.


Although I didn't specifically check dispersion, everything seemed really even, and I didn't detect any beaming.

I did learn that I need to elevate the cab or tip it back so that I get a better idea of how loud I'm playing. I'll be making a very high tech seismic vertical alignment audio management system: probably a piece of 2x4 painted black.

[Preston]

BTW, the Marshall pictured next to the Jack is a 2x12, not a 4x12. (for size reference) The T-Max is a standard 2 rack space size.

[dcodym]

Do you get any rattle or a flapping noise of any sort from the pet screen on the baffle like that?

[Preston]

no flapping or vibration at all that I could see or hear. I did it just like in the plans, and it worked great. This is the first cab I haven't put a full grill on, and I'm finding I really like this look. I was most worried about the handles vibrating, but I didn't notice anything from them either. I forgot to order handles with my kit, and just used some I found at Lowe's.

[Dave Non-Zero]

BTW, the Marshall pictured next to the Jack is a 2x12, not a 4x12. (for size reference) The T-Max is a standard 2 rack space size.

haha if that was a 4x12 then the jack would be a pretty big cab!

that is one majorly overloaded lighting bar by the way! wow i wouldnt want to be that drummer....

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

haha if that was a 4x12 then the jack would be a pretty big cab!

J15 is smaller overall than a typical 4x10, and less than half the weight of most. It won't fit in a Miata, but bassplayers don't drive Miatas.

[Harley]

.... It won't fit in a Miata, but bassplayers don't drive Miatas.

Certainly not in this country - Miatas simply don't exist, we call them MX5s and the steering wheel is on the other side for the singers...

[dcodym]

no flapping or vibration at all that I could see or hear. I did it just like in the plans, and it worked great. This is the first cab I haven't put a full grill on, and I'm finding I really like this look. I was most worried about the handles vibrating, but I didn't notice anything from them either. I forgot to order handles with my kit, and just used some I found at Lowe's.

Awesome, thanks. I'm going to be using a grille cloth, but I want to put the pet screen on there anyway. I figure, in the future, I can easily pull the grille cloth off, but there's no way to go in and add the pet screen on the baffle.