Amps AMps AMPs AMPS! Need advice...

Amethyste,

I would have to agree with Chainsaw Willie. Your current amp is probably well "voiced" for the theremin. Like a keyboard amp, it has a high frequency driver most guitar amps don't have. It also has built in reverb and chorus, which is a nice feature.

While the Roland Cube would work, I would not recommend it. The low frequecy driver is only 6 1/2" in diameter. This is likely too small to produce an appealing result. The bass will likely be thin and "buzzy". It's not that you need really deep, strong bass - rather you want a speaker large enough to give you nice "tone". Your Fender has an 8" speaker. Something in the 8" to 12" range will usually give you the best results.

Coalport sometimes uses a 15" speaker but without an enclosure, which reduces the boominess it would otherwise have. It is a driver (speaker) often used for lap and pedal steel guitars.

Chainsaw Willie -

Yes, you read well :) Touchless has so kindly offered to send me an attenuator. What a kind thing to do for someone on a forum, that he's never met and lives on the opposite side of the country :) THanks for the offer of putting one together for me - Hopefully, what Touchless is sending me will fix the problem :)

Jeff -
Yeh, I think that my Fender amp should be well suited enough for my Theremin - we'll see how it responds after the fix... :) I'll keep you all posted!

Thanks again - you are all too kind!

You don't have to have a pair of PA speakers. I just have one right now and use it like a combo amp.

So...

Amethyste...

Did the attenuator work for you? Please update how things are working out.

Hey Willie!

Actually, the Attenuator has considerably helped the "blahhhhhhhhhht" sound I got from my Amp. It has added warmth to the Theremin sound as well.

the real problem actually, is the volume loop response of my Wavefront that annoys me to the core... It's extremely sensitive and doesn't matter what I try, I always get either an almost quiet volume to a blaring loud one in a matter of less than an inch play...

I hope this helps! :)

Ooops, double post!

Based on all the helpful comments posted here, I am running my Etherwave Standard through a DI box into the microphone jack on my Jam 90 -- works like a charm!  I love the Jam 90 (now 100), by the way.  Perhaps I could get a warmer sound in my lower range with a larger amp like the Jam 150, but the smaller 90 is fine and creamy and works  for me!

I was wondering if anyone around here has any experience with loud speaker design; I got a older pair of fostex L475 15" 150watt 8ohm woofers for free (similar to a fostex fw405n), they seem rather nice, and was thinking about building enclosures for them. Doing research today is making my head swim. I have a 300w peavey powered pa mixer, for amplification. 

Does anyone know, if these are going to be appropriate at all, and worth the bother?

I assume Ill need to buy tweeters, make crossovers, etc, anything I should look for?

Is there an advantage of a sealed, open, or ported, etc, design in terms of for the theremin?

 

 

http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisd

Winisd is a free speaker box design program that should help you decide.

They have a ton of driver models, including some Fostex, included with the software.

Unfortunately, I did not see the L475 on that list. You can input it's parameters manually.

Ok, well after some research, maybe I should rephrase the question. Is there a rationale for the diamond speaker design, other than aesthetics, that it was a common design at the time, and it points at your head? As in terms of sound quality. It seems to be an open baffle, with a fairly minimal baffle. Ive seen some of coalports videos where there seems to be a bare speaker, without any baffle at all. What is the logic here? Also it seems the diamond speakers have no tweeter, so, not necessary?

The Fostex speakers I got are 15" studio monitor speakers, they have a somewhat wide frequency response.  Highly efficient 50w. Should these work well, or should I pick up a, say, like a 15" peavey bw that they use in their keyboard amps, or a more wide range speaker?