fEARful Cabs

[Derelict78]

yeah those cabs are PURRRRDY
I usually run white noise through new speakers at low volume for about 12 hours, loosens them right up

[MSUsousaphone]

Thanks, guys. To be honest, the wiring is the part I had no hand in. I have a computer guru/nerd herd type friend who did it. It didn't take him long at all. I had the parts and diagrams and he did both cabs perfectly in about two hours.

I got back late and cranky preggo wife demanded cuddle time and then slept....so I never got to put the Mesa past 3....but the low end is so freaking massive that items were STILL rattling.

[oinkbanana]

cool. thanks for the update.
what kind of cab were you using before? (for comparison sake)... that mesa is a monster I'm familiar with.

Once you sort out the rattling tube, let us know how it sounds cranked!

[MSUsousaphone]

I've had quite a weird journey. I tend to upgrade in giant leaps...so I've only owned two rigs. The first was a Crate 115 combo like 12 years ago. The second was an Eden Nemesis 700 head with 410 and 115 cabs. I've been using the Eden 410 with the Mesa/Ashly combo until these fEARfuls get up and running.

SOOOOO. Preggo wife FINALLY went to the bathroom and I took advantage of the 5 minutes and plugged my bass in.....

HOLY BALLS!!!

I mean....I put the Mesa's gain at 8 but I didn't even have the Ashly's volume past 5 (gain on 6) and the entire fucking house was shaking. I mean....I THINK I heard some rattling coming from some of the corners on the cabs...I need to check that....but it was impossible to tell because there was at least 20 other things in the room rattling. Just fucking massive. So I tried plugging each cab in, one at a time, and it was still just rattling everything. The wife came back before I could go in depth or any further and grumbled some sort of preggo grumpiness so I packed it up.

But holy shit.

Really.

[oinkbanana]

just rattle the preggo out of her and remind her that holy balls are in the room now. re-incemination will occur.

is the cab THAT good?



shot in the dark here
do you happen to have any synths?
if by magic you do, would you care to try synth (LR) > mesa (LR) > fEarful (LR)
that's a stereo rig worthy of god quite possibly. would that finally be enough to battle with the dumb loud doomers?

[MSUsousaphone]

Does a Microkorg count? I've been using that to "warm up" the speakers. I mean....I haven't gotten to give it a good run through, yet. But it sounds very nice. Clean, clear, and fast.

It was so loud...I'm actually wondering if I even need two. I mean....I would say one of those 15/6s was rattling the house more than my 410/115 stack ever did. Albeit, I don't know how many times I cranked the Eden stack in the middle of the living room. Definitely things to ponder. I'll be able to take it back in an hour or two and give it a low to moderate demo. I will say, it slayed with some fuzz, earlier. Hit me up with some questions and I'll demo it. I can try to record some tracks....not sure how that comes through, but I'll try to get a nice example for you.

[oinkbanana]

MicroKorg definitely counts.

unless you can record it at a distance next to a full marshall stack to A/B the comparable volume, i'll have to trust your word for it.
here's my bla bla
I play in a dumb loud band, this is my current rig,
I've got my synth going into both, but also a baritone into both - but when they're both going it gets less then pretty using both for both.
I would really like a rig for the synth (nord lead + pedals... pads and leads), but at those dumb loud volumes too.
so if those cabs (and a mesa 400) can do the deal - i'm gonna run towards making that happen.
[picking up a pair of these is less then appealing, and has zero mojo. I've been avoiding it dearly]
so with the microkorg... full lows? soaring highs? earplug mandatory volumes?

does the horn play well with fuzz? I read many people would turn off the horn (or remove it) when using fuzz or dirt.



you needed two cabs anyways because the Mesa is stereo (can you even just run one side at a time?)

[Dark Barn]

You can build these without a horn, I don't like horns and would skip it personally. The fEARful with horn is referred to as a 15/6/1 and without as just a 15/6. They should work great for keys, they're designed to be 'flat'. One is enough to get loud, but dumb loud, maybe 2? A 15/6 is comparable to a good 4x10 in my experience, volume wise. But then I look at your rig Oink, I dunno if you'd get more volume from 2 fEARfuls than with what you have already. You might get better volume though; more lows, better off-axis, less phase cancellation.

[MSUsousaphone]

Quick reply, on my phone. But I built a 15/6 and a 15/6/1 with the tweeter contol built on the side so that I can easily tweak it midset. It's all a matter of taste as to if the horn plays well with fuzz. It adds a high end that can be annoyingly grating at times but kinda....cool...in a weird way at others.

[oinkbanana]

You can build these without a horn, I don't like horns and would skip it personally. The fEARful with horn is referred to as a 15/6/1 and without as just a 15/6. They should work great for keys, they're designed to be 'flat'. One is enough to get loud, but dumb loud, maybe 2?

sounds like one of the better ideas I've seen so far.

But then I look at your rig Oink, I dunno if you'd get more volume from 2 fEARfuls than with what you have already.

i wouldn't want to replace... just add to it.
adding a fender 2X15 wouldn't do much at this point... i need something significant. hoping that 1515/66 would be significant...

[MSUsousaphone]

I have no clue how much you can tell about cabs from a demo.....and I suck at synth and don't know this thing enough....but here it is (you can really make out that tube rattling in the demo. The Mesa's gain was at 8 but the Ashly's volume was only set at 2):

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/msusousaphone/microkorg[/soundcloud]

[Deltaphoenix]

I am blowing up off of that demo

[oinkbanana]

thanks for showing the tweater up/down difference, it really makes a notable difference.
seems like i'm lining up a summer building project.

[Gone Fission]

Yeah, listening to that demo, I'd agree. Better to have the tweeter and the ability to use it or not.

Though I'll ask -- i assume there is a crossover pre-tweeter? Are you nixing the high frequencies or just not sending them to the tweeter? Full highs limited by the roll-off of the mid-driver might be more fuzz-friendly while keeping some of those frequencies.

[MSUsousaphone]

So yeah. These things are LOUD. Like...I just figured all the talk was hyperbole but no.....these things are dang loud. But crystal clear. Pristine. I mean, I love them. You for sure have to spend some time readjusting your EQ, and while you're doing that the cabs are just...eh...but once you get it dialed in.....oh man.

Since they're so loud, I'm looking to downgrade one of my 15/6s to a 15sub....or the whole rig to 12s instead of 15s. I found out during the build that the wife and I are expecting....and towards the end of the build we found out it was multiples.....like....a lot of of multiples. So space is at a premium. Two 15/6s slays the rest of my band. A slight downgrade and I'll still have enough to drop the hammer when I need to. It's also very sweet to know the FoH sounds pretty much exactly as it does from my cab.