Cabinet question

[BigPigPeaches]

Will yanking the horn on a cabinet change its rating? If so, how?

 

I would think probably not, as the attenuator doesn't change it, AFAIK.

Thanks.

[Kindness]

 

Will yanking the horn on a cabinet change its rating? If so, how? I would think probably not, as the attenuator doesn't change it, AFAIK. Thanks.

 

 

Don't just yank it, remove the crossover (or high pass filter) and the horn from the circuit entirely. As a result, the impedance will simply be that of the woofer(s).

[BigPigPeaches]

Meaning I should just attach the wires from the jack directly to the speakers? Nothing in between?

 

Thanks.

[georgestrings]

 

Meaning I should just attach the wires from the jack directly to the speakers? Nothing in between? Thanks.

 

 

 

That's what I would do if I were planning to run a horn-loaded cab w/out the horn... When I fried a horn in my 410TVX, at 1st I just disconnected it, then later on removed the X-over from the circuit as well - and to my ears, it sounded better going straight to the speakers... I don't know about your cab, but it took a little work to accomplish this with my 410TVX - since the X-over is an integral part of the jackplate...

 

 

- georgestrings

[Kindness]

 

Meaning I should just attach the wires from the jack directly to the speakers? Nothing in between? Thanks.

 

 

Yep.

[BoundandBlocked]

Are you talking about your ampeg cab? I have the same cab and I always have the attenuator dial turned all the way down. I'm interested to know if your cab sounds different after disconnecting the horn.

 

P&M

B&B

[L. Ron Hoover]

The broad range of misconceptions about cabinets on this board is truly staggering....

 

 

Sorry man, I had to do it.

 

Anyway, all jokes aside:

Just disconnecting the horn won't do anything significant to change the load seen by the amp. At low frequencies the woofers dominate the impedance because the tweeter filter in the crossover is a very high impedance in parallel with the woofers. At high frequencies, the impedance seen by the amp will still be high because with no horn connected, the impedance of the crossover is effectively infinite.

 

Whether you should bypass the crossover depends on how the crossover is set up. If it's a simple set up where the woofers are full range and the only crossover components are for the horn, you don't need to disconnect to get full range sound to the woofers. However, if the crossover has a low pass filter to limit high frequencies in the woofers, you need to bypass the crossover to get the full range.

 

Bypassing the crossover and connecting the woofers straight to the input jack is your best bet.

 

If it's an Ampeg you'll need to do that because they do have the LPF on the woofers. It will sound different that turning the horn off for sure because with the horn off, the high frequencies are still being rolled off by the crossover. With the horn disconnected and the crossover bypassed the woofers will still reproduce some of the higher frequencies. I did this with an SVT-410HLF and it sounded great.

[BoundandBlocked]

The broad range of misconceptions about cabinets on this board is truly staggering.... Sorry man, I had to do it. Anyway, all jokes aside: Just disconnecting the horn won't do anything significant to change the load seen by the amp. At low frequencies the woofers dominate the impedance because the tweeter filter in the crossover is a very high impedance in parallel with the woofers. At high frequencies, the impedance seen by the amp will still be high because with no horn connected, the impedance of the crossover is effectively infinite. Whether you should bypass the crossover depends on how the crossover is set up. If it's a simple set up where the woofers are full range and the only crossover components are for the horn, you don't need to disconnect to get full range sound to the woofers. However, if the crossover has a low pass filter to limit high frequencies in the woofers, you need to bypass the crossover to get the full range. Bypassing the crossover and connecting the woofers straight to the input jack is your best bet. If it's an Ampeg you'll need to do that because they do have the LPF on the woofers. It will sound different that turning the horn off for sure because with the horn off, the high frequencies are still being rolled off by the crossover. With the horn disconnected and the crossover bypassed the woofers will still reproduce some of the higher frequencies. I did this with an SVT-410HLF and it sounded great.

 

Do you by any chance know what frequency the LPF is set at? I have an SVT-410HLF and this idea is intriguing to me. I'm not very happy with that cab or my amp or the combination of the two and I'm looking for inexpensive ways to "fix" it.

 

Oh and I know that BPP has a SVT-410HLF. I'm not sure if that's the cab he's considering "yanking the horn" on, but I'll assume it is so that I am not derailing the thread.

[BigPigPeaches]

Thanks for the answers, this is actually an Avatar 210. Still gots me the Ampeg but it's not my main gigging cab anymore. I've found that (gasp) I just don't need that much sound. I'm a much happier bassist now that I'm not fighting the PA.