Boss Katana 100 with a Travis Toy speaker

[John Gould]

Here's the setting I've been using , discovered I was using the 2x12 c cab so I starting working on a no cab setting I will post if anyone is interested . My delay and reverb setting are changing depending on the venue. Some places seem to swallow up reverb and delay .

[John Gould]

I know I promise some audio samples or video samples of the Mustang III with the S2012 Speaker. I've have had a bad case of the flu but I'm finally on the back side of it . I'm going to ask my friend that has the same amp with the TT speaker and see if we can put together a fair and unbiased comparison. I hope to get this done this weekend if he's not to busy .

[Josephus Vroomans]

Great! Looking forward to your comparison John!

[John Sluszny]

Great! Looking forward to your comparison John!

So am I !

[John Gould]

Well there were a few surprises at least for me . One of the speakers was much hotter than the other . We setup the amps with the same settings and found the one speaker was hotter so we balanced the outputs as close as we could. If you look close you can see a phone with a db meter app running on the floor. The audio is coming from a Sterling Audio condenser mic located in a position to get both amp at about the same focal point. I will divulge which speaker is which once a few guesses are made from the video. https://youtu.be/yLkJ-c_URhc

[Josephus Vroomans]

Great job John Gould. Both sound very good I think. I don't have a clue which is which. Also very curious about Travis Toy's response to this comparison.

[John Gould]

https://youtu.be/0ANrH0UqjbA
Here's a link to a visual RTA of the two speakers taken right off the audio from the video

[Bruce Bjork]

They both sound great to me and very much alike. I'd appreciate the settings you're using on the Mustangs.

[John Gould]

For the test the settings were
The studio Preamp Gain 8.1 Volume 10 Treb 4.6 Mid 1.6 Bass 9.0 Reverb 4.3 Page 2 Gate Off Cab 2x12C

Delay Mono Delay Level 2.2 Time 367MS FdBK 1.0 Brite 5.5 Atten 5.5

Reverb Fender 65 Spring Level 4.3 Decay 5.9 Dwell 4.5 Diff 10.0 Tone 5.5


Working on some without Cab setting

[George Kimery]

Isn't anybody going to guess? The first one is brighter and the 2nd one is warmer and not so bright. Logically, the 2nd should be the bass-lite speaker, based on the good track record of bass amps and bass speakers with steel guitars, I am guessing the bass-lite speaker is the first one.

I think the 2nd one sounds smoother and not as brittle, and with little high end added would be very nice.

[James Quackenbush]

The first recording “A” sounded briter and more present to me....Recording “B” still sounded good but I thought “A” sounded better......Jim

[Larry Dering]

I would expect A to be the Telonics for its brightness but who knows. These things can surprise me. Now I wish I had this before I bought my quilter. Both sound great and would save me money.
Thanks.

[John Gould]

This picture shows the peaks over all during the loop.

[John Gould]

Neither one of the speakers are Telonics . Both are made by Eminence , one is the Travis Toy signature the other is the BassLite S2012

[Larry Dering]

Thanks for the correction. They both sound good. And I am more than impressed with the Mustang 111.

[John Gould]

Well it doesn't seem like there is as much interest as I thought there would be . There again I want to make sure to acknowledge that Travis Toy and Eminence created a great product for the Steel guitar community and I appreciate his talent and ear and status as a musician . Also with that being said , if we all liked the same gear there would be only one Steel guitar builder one amp builder one speaker builder and so on . Much of what makes up tone is different with every player, pick angle , timing, volume pedal technique etc . That's why I sound like me no matter who's rig I'm playing on , and guys like Travis and Paul and Jay Dee sound like themselves .

All that being said here's the reveal
A: is the Basslite S2021
B: is the Travis Toy Signature

[Larry Dering]

Wow, I actually liked A better from what I heard. To each his own. Thanks for the demo. I'm sure others will get some use of this too. I know it was an eye opener for me.

[James Quackenbush]

WOW !!!!! Just blow me away !!!...... I listened back to your examples, and stand by what I said earlier......Speaker “A” is still my speaker of choice !!!

[James Quackenbush]

I can see now that by looking at this speaker chart that I’m gonna have to start looking at a lot more bass speakers because they seem to be pretty much in tune with pedal steel .... funny how the TT speaker chart shows a rise in dB in the 200 to 500 ya range over the the same range on the Basslite speaker .....Go figure!!.....Jim

[Josephus Vroomans]

Thanks for this comparison John. Just one more question from me: you mentioned one speaker was 'hotter' or louder than the other one. Just wondering which one, A or B?

[John Goux]

First, let me thank you for your work to do this and to post the samples.

You did well to use a loop. And to equalize their volume. But the distance from the mic to the speakers, I don’t know if you used a stereo mic, but the mic appears to be way off axis above the amps. There is so much variation in the angle of the amps, the resonance of the floor and room, etc.
It would be a more accurate test if you put a 57 or similar a few inches away from each speaker, which would take the room and floor out of the test.

Speaker A sounded better to me. More even throughout the registers. Warmer over all.

Speaker B was less even. A bit boxy with some dips in the response.

My question is, the bass speaker a Neo magnet? What is the weight difference?

John

[John Goux]

Nice playing.
Which model Legrand is that? There are 3 I think?

And the Mustang III amp sounds very good. Is it loud enough for a band?

John

[John Gould]

Sorry for the delay but fires out here in Ventura an LA counties have messed with me a bit.

Josephus The TT speaker was a bit louder.

John the reason I didn't mic the speakers with individual mics is I don't own a matched pair of mic's and I was trying to go for a more real world test
The Basslite speaker weighs 4.1 lbs and sensitivity of 99.08
The TT Speaker weighs 7.1 lbs and sensitivity is 100.2

My guitar is a Lashley LeGrande II

The amp is 100 watts and it has been plenty loud for any gig I have played inside and outside .

[John Goux]

Welcome to California. The fires are a hellish thing.
Nice playing and work on this.
The Legrand 11 sounds excellent, as they usually seem to. Something about that model. Are those 705s on both necks?
John

[James Quackenbush]

Looking at the sensitivity numbers on both speakers you wouldn’t think there would be that much of a difference in volume......????... Jim