As a follow-up to the speakers, the main problem with the rig were vibration issues. By putting one cab too close to the drums, I set his heads and snare in motion big-time every time I played the e-string. So, we had to move that. Someone also put wheels on the cabs and they rattled like crazy. So, they gotta go if I decide to upgrade things. As I noted, the speakers really aren't handling the volume I was playing at and I was getting some distortion through them.
So, amp buddies, would it be worth my while to upgrade the 15" speakers in these cabs or just go with newer current technology cabs? Changing the cabs location on stage and losing the wheels will help the noise issues considerably.
First, speaker cabinet design is´t really my field, I´m more into amplifier design.
Acoustics is a quite big field, and the variety of possible matching drivers is endless.
That said, I did enjoy doing research for my own optimum MusicMan rig upgrade.
The few fellow bassists-with-MM experience I´ve met all say the same - it´s 70´s sounding, boomy, rattling, unreliable gear that only works together (MM amps/cabs). Guitar players seem to like them better.
I talked to a speaker designer (we have a great speaker factory in my hometown - HiFi, but made a few good guitar speakers in the 60`s and 70`s) about the ´reflex horn´cabinet design. It couldn´t be that shitty design?
Anyway, his view was that the cabinet itself was fine, but finding the right speaker for it might be difficult. Resonance frequenzy, sensitivity, etc would have to be chosen with care. This was many years ago, and it might be easier now to calculate such things - but at the time i was looking for something with ohms and watts chosen to fit.
My 212RH cab never sounded good, but when you´re 15 years old a tube amp and a big cab does the job anyway.
It came with blown speakers, a couple of 1975 fender guitar speakers was fitted when i got it.
(I used the 130 head with 115/410 peavey cabs until I got the 212RH) The sound was boxy and harsh, very midrange strong, but not in a good way. Later changed them to some late 70´s ROLA´s, same rating and ohms but with quicker response and much louder. (we stiffened the paper cone at the factory) Still quite harsh sounding, a bit more bottom but not tight - just boomy.
I then gave the head a full service, just to be sure. One day the ´speaker man`came by our rehearsal room, and took a look at the speaker cab. He asked if I had removed the dampening, but there never was any.
Installing dampening made a huge difference, took care of the `unnatural´ sounds and boom.
When I one day finally got the 115RH cab I´ve been looking for , well - forever, I was glad to see it had the original EVM15L speaker. But it was blown. I reconed it with a kit from soundspeaker repair in U.S., 400w 8ohm.
I dampened this cab too, and put large rubber feet on both cabs. And the results was great, one of the sweetest sounds heard in ages for me! Really tight lows/low mids, punchy, not boomy, quick responding, great!
But sadly it was only the 115RH that was great, couldn´t use them together. The 212RH was too loud (even both cabs were 8 ohms ) and still not sounding right, too much harshness in the mids, so still there was work to be done.
I´m not finished yet, I know this is getting long.... go grab a beer or something
Anyway, at this point I just wrote letters to some of the manufacturers of 12" bass/guitar speakers, ready to buy from whoever with the best answer to my 212RH questions. Celestion responded quickly, and recommended a speaker called BN12-200 (200W 4ohm neodym). Not available here in scandinavia, but watford valves in the U.K. had them.
It is my first experience with neodymium magnets, and the verdict is that they are better than any 12" bass speaker I´ve used. Nice and balanced, very quick, bright. Very even frequenzy response, all in all a pleasant sounding speaker for this application.
Best of all : a perfect match with the 115RH cab- the whole rig now sounds fantastic! Sounds good with my EB-6 too.
Sounds good with a Grabber, EB-3, Rick 4001, anything. Even made my ´75 P bass sound good!
Bottom line here, these cabs sound great with care taken tuning (dampening) them, making the grille sit, etc.
Rubber feet are fine, too. And if you find the right speaker, they wont let you down.
I am of the opinion that the 115RH enclosure was designed for the EVM15L, and that´s probably a good choice if you can get them.
