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AngryGoldfish wrote:Why? Wouldn't a lower sensitivity speaker be more 'efficient' for lower volume where the amp is working that much harder to put out the same volume level?

You could look at it that way. I see it as a speaker that wastes energy it could convert to sound. People sometimes recommend a lower efficiency speaker to deal with being too loud but I suspect in those cases, no amount of volume reduction will satisfy the wives, babies, neighbors, etc...

When you're looking for a 100w Marshall at TV volumes, yeah, that a waste of time, but I can see why some would prefer to avoid super efficient speakers. I prefer the idea of efficient speakers, and most of them that I've tried were better for that reason. The idea of an insensitive speaker doesn't sound particularly appealing to me. But a middle ground might be practical, I'm not sure. Nick will test the amp with his speakers, which I believe are all efficient medium-high wattage speakers, and we'll see where we can go from there. Besides, maybe the amp is already only going to work out as 25lbs without a speaker, so a Ceramic magnet would only make the amp 33lbs, which is fine. It's only if we start eking into the 40lb mark where a Neo magnet would be necessary. The iron is small, so Nick tells me, and I'll be using Pine as cabinetry wood, so I doubt it'll be too heavy.

As a bass player I've been absorbing the NEO speaker thing for a long time now, and I think non-neo purists just prefer the tones that sound like tones they have heard before( or they prefer to carry heavy shit around.) I think there is a difference, but I don't think that anyone is ever going to make or break their band and legacy on the difference. It's one more just another part of your sound that can be tailored to and worked around with everything else you've got going on. (neck material, string material, string gauge, string core shape, fretboard materials, fret material, fret width, zero fret vs nut, nut material, body wood, weight, thickness, paint vs oil, paint material, paint thickness, bridge type, bridge material, (number, type, and placement of pickups), active vs passive electronics, tone caps, switch type, jack, cable length, cable gauge, cable shielding, cable directionality, pedals, order, bypass type, patch cables, power supply, amplifier (insides ad infinitum), speaker cables, cabinet material, cabinet shape, number of speakers matched with, types of speakers matched with, the shape of the fucking room, and your god damn fingers!

NEO speakers are fine, let the blues lawyers sort that shit out.

I like these neos more with my Science amps than the Wizards in one of my other cabs. Its just a matter of what works for a given style or amp.

Finished on time and shipped my way... at least I have these pictures to cuddle while I wait for the world to turn.

Nice!

Killer!!

Got my Shiv yesterday, here is the report I sent to Alex:

I spent about an hour and half mucking around, playing with knobs and various guitars. I was very pleased with my initial testing, and I think you did an excellent job describing the amp and it's capabilities... my expectations were right in line with what it does, which is great!

I packed it up and took it band practice last night, and was able to run through it in band context. This was very informative as I really got to feel and hear the difference in our normal practice environment. A bit more cutting and less spongy than I've been getting with my other amp/pedal combo, which I really liked. Higher pitched 'note-y' stuff sounded particularly vivid without being piercing or disappearing in the mix. I'll need some more work tailoring the relationship between the path volumes and getting the distortion flavor I like the most (gain II/level balance), but was very pleased with the amount of feedback and harmonics I could get from it!. The only quirk I experienced was if I cranked the tone knob on my Marr, the amp started to sing on it's own quite a bit (this is at loud volumes), but if I dialed it back just a hair it went away. I'll need to test out the absence knob a more and see if how that really impacts things.

Anyway, kudos. I'm happy, and psyched to start living with it for awhile and see how it really sinks in... that said, initial report: VERY FAVORABLE

Congrats, mate! Glad you're liking it!

What's the average price for the Shiv combo? I'm not planning on getting one of these now, but having an average price would give me a clearer goal to work towards.

Inconuucl wrote:What's the average price for the Shiv combo? I'm not planning on getting one of these now, but having an average price would give me a clearer goal to work towards.

The head is $1500. He's only made a single 1x12 Shiv combo and I have no idea what it cost but I'd guess an extra $400-600 depending exactly what your after in terms of speakers and format.

Email Alex and he'll gladly discuss options and pricing.

Waiting for my piece of shit motorcycle and Sunn Sonaro to sell so I can grab a street sweeper. I never have had gas like this before. My wife thinks I'm going crazy drooling over the tolex options haha. So... Orange or Fawn?

I really like the Fawn.

odontophobia wrote:I really like the Fawn.

That is what I'm leaning towards.

I went with Fawn on my Shiv and it looks killer.