Beam Blockers?

[Gibsonman63]

Opinions? Apparently even with the VVR cranked back pretty far, I am hurting people out front. I pulled the plug and ordered a pair from Weber.

[xtian]

I have tried neither, but I've read the foam ring is much more effective at dispersal than a beam blocker.

[RCGPNY1]

Is that straight out of the speakers or are you being mic'd? How loud are you playing? What kind of cab and how many watts are you using?

[Gibsonman63]

We are nowhere near ridiculously loud.

I play my Liverpool clone into a 2x12 with Heritage 30's. Everything is straight up 12 except for the VVR, which I adjust according to the gig. I don't mic up through the PA except for larger (mainly outdoor) gigs. It sounds pretty good as is, but better is always better. As long as the VVR is on at least 10, I can still get infinite sustain if I add enough vibrato, so that is minimum volume for solos. Most gigs, it is somewhere between ten and twelve o'clock. I would think that it would put out no more than 25 or 30 watts at that setting.

All that being said, it is not too loud in general, just directly in front of my amp.

The beam blockers are on order, so I should know something in a couple of weeks. I was just looking to see if anyone else had prior experience.

[jaysg]

I have them in all my 1-12" amps/cabs. That works for me. There seems to be opinion that they don't work well in 4-12" cabinets, which have interesting phase patterns on their own. You can get the basic idea with a couple junk CDs/DVDs and scotch tape. I haven't ever tried them in a 2-12". If you think it sounds strange, try just one.

Some time back, Chief Mushroom Cloud did an experiment with BBs, Mitchell doughnuts and simple round pieces of the same foam. He liked the foam best. I think the test subject was an AC-30.

I don't know whether Jay Mitchell is a member here. He has sycophants at TGP, so you have to take their accolades with a grain of salt, assuming you go there. hth

[TUBEDUDE]

Or try facing the amp backwards, letting the sound bounce off the rear wall, dispersing the highs. Especially good with amps with tilt back legs.

[Structo]

Who was it that used to lay their amp flat on the floor, pointing up?

[TUBEDUDE]

The guy that burned up his tubes and scorched the stage?

[hitchcaster]

Who was it that used to lay their amp flat on the floor, pointing up?

Springsteen band does..... not sure why


those webers suck,.... you have to bend the frame on your speakers... and then I didn't love the sound although they did cut the beam.... the matchless vox built in is better.... you could do ghetto duct tape..... I just put something In front of it these days if the volume/beam is issue.... guitar bag/ case

[NickC]

I installed one (Weber) in a combo amp and like it.

[Gibsonman63]

Beam blockers are installed. Hitchcaster has a point about the frames, so I was careful not to torque the two screws that do not pass through the beam blockers too much. They do extend past the speaker frames. It would be better if they fit completely inside the frame and made an X or circular pattern where all four mounting bolts had the same width of material to pass through. Perhaps new speaker gaskets would be a reasonable solution.

That being said, so far so good, at least in the studio. I post another report after I field test them at the next gig.

[ODwan]

These work great for me at rehearsal and gigs:
http://hoovi.at/deeflexx-2/?lang=en
The asked price is outrageous, though! So I built a reasonable clone of thin plywood which works just as well.
Looks ugly so I'm gonna try and build some of transpex
Greetings,
Timo

[Reeltarded]

Army surplus blankets in pairs riveted together with a saddle blanket over that for looks. Safety pin is the mute lever.

[Structo]

I used to do that with a quilt over the spkr cab when I was a kid.

I could crank the amp and not have the police over.

But dad never failed to yell at me to turn down....


I followed the TGP Mitchell Foam Doughnut thread to the end.

I can see where it might do better than a standard beam blocker thingy.

The thing that he was adamant about was that the high frequencies didn't come
from the center like we have all been taught for years.

As I recall he maintained that it comes from all parts of the cone. ( I hope I'm right on that)

But to get the effect he talked about you have to get the correct thickness, density, right kind of structure for type foam.

Also the required hole in the center exactly over the center of the speaker.
I think it was a 3" hole making it a doughnut.

Anyway he can tell it better than I.

http://www.tgpwebzine.com/?page_id=424

[chief mushroom cloud]

Army surplus blankets in pairs riveted together with a saddle blanket over that for looks. Safety pin is the mute lever.

where's the 'like' button