Cabinet size and directionality

[Helmut Gragger]

I have built a large cabinet according to londonpower (Canada) specs. They call those cabinets "detuned" as opposed to a "tuned" (ported) approach. It is kind of an "open front" cabinet without the drawbacks of an open back cabinet.

Those cabinets sound terrific but are somewhat clumsy.
Behold it on my web pages. You can see the slots through the front grille. There is no sound files, because those would only make sense in direct comparison with something. Besides that, it would not help for directionality tests. It has killer tone for steel with a single 12" Eminence deltapro-12a but also for guitar, harmonica and even bass.

For better portability, I am currently building a 1x10 detuned cabinet, which is half the size of above, teamed with an ultra-low noise mosfet amp and versatile loop section.

To cut it short, all cabinets beam. The bigger the cabinet, the more it beams according to londonpower. Acoustical lenses like slots or even the beam blocker help a lot.

-helmut

[Danny Naccarato]

I used to set my amp on top of the flight case, behind me. When I started with Gene a year ago, after a couple of shows, he asked me to brighten it a little, that it sounded a bit dark. I did, but it was killing me. One day, I set it in front of me, about 15' away, and dialed it in. Then worked different angles/position behind/beside me until I found the combination that sounded good, without changing the settings.

What I wound up with is this: amp in the bottom portion of the flight case, tilted back slightly using a rolled up towel. I position my steel towards the center of the stage, and position the amp to my left rear quarter. The direct sound comes across my left chest (I'm on stage right).