I'm just wondering what the real benefit of these things is. How different do they sound from conventional cabs of similar size? Does anyone have back to back recordings or anything?

They are very good at projecting a full sound to a big room. You don't need to turn up the bass control as much. Alone at home they sound great. Smaller rooms in band context they may become too bass heavy and clutter the mix. I haven't seen a single 15 at this size that's not a Tone-ring cab so can't compare. I do, however, have small single 15 cabs (about half sized), that sound punchier in smaller rooms in a full band context.
For places like the Alpine Village, I like to set each Showman with a Tone-ring 15 and a small single 15.
Hope this helps.
Ran

The Scimitars

I just picked one up locally today and I can say it is a serious improvement over the modern 4x12 Fender cabinet I had under my Ampeg GVT15H.

I can't say how much is attributable to the magic ring and how much to the simple fact that it's a 15" speaker (it's not a JBL) but one thing is certain: it's a lot bassier and punchier! The 4x12 is just anemic and totally uninspiring by comparison.

4x12 is out, Tone Ring is in!

Maybe I'll do an experiment with the Tone Ring cabinet and do back to back recordings with it stock and with the baffles blocked on the inside.

DeathTide wrote:

I heard a cabinet builder say to pull any insulation you might find in there. In his opinion it deadened the cab.

Interesting, I've heard exactly the opposite (from a master builder). If the insulation is fiberglass type (thermal), the absorption effect won't deaden the sound, but expand it, esp. the bass response, because it is as if making the cab's inner space bigger, thus allowing the bigger waves to develop. Trust Fender on this.
When I built my cab at first it was w/o any insulation, then I added some poly foam that didn't do nothing, then a fiberglass equivalent (building grade) that did result in adding more punch.
Other types of insulation may not be preferable.

I’m SO freaked out about touching and breathing that crap!

Yes, be! Although replacing old, disintegrating crap with modern, new crap isn't a bad idea (face mask time), and it will do it's intended job even when still mostly packed with nylons - just a few long cuts will suffice, as the reflection of high frequency waves is negligible.

As for the drip question in your previous post, hard to say, you would need to compare the exact same speaker in the same cab w and w/o a Tone-Ring to really hear the difference. Otherwise, there could be many elements esp. the speaker itself that would affect the drip, which mostly resides in the mid-high, I would think. But the TR does allow more power the escape overall, which may add to the 'pumping', so... IDK.

The Tone-Ring is truly a genius design - basically a port like in bass, sub and venue cabinets (which allows the lower frequencies to escape instead of cancelling or causing phase distortion), but unlike other port designs - maintaining the exact direction of the speaker (caveat: bass frequencies aren't too directional to begin with...), perfect for guitar players.

Last edited: Sep 12, 2019 14:14:08

I found this thread from Facebook, of all things, and found the conversation about insulation interesting to me personally. I purchased a 15-in tone ring cabinet clone without insulation. It was "boomy" as all hell, with an uncomfortable resonant peak. The first thing I did was put insulation in it. And not the fiberglass kind; I used proper polyfill batting, like you'd find in modern enclosures.

From an acoustic physics standpoint, it made the most sense to apply the insulation such that each opposing wall only had it it on one side. I will not go into the theory but, trust me, this is the way you should do it to make it optimal.

Now, of course, the old Fenders had it on all surfaces, and to the detriment of sound, IMO. So, if you want to be period correct, all surfaces should be covered. I don't give two shits about period correctness in the unseen part of a Mojotone cab.

That's all I got.

Ariel wrote:

DeathTide wrote:

I heard a cabinet builder say to pull any insulation you might find in there. In his opinion it deadened the cab.

Interesting, I've heard exactly the opposite (from a master builder). If the insulation is fiberglass type (thermal), the absorption effect won't deaden the sound, but expand it, esp. the bass response, because it is as if making the cab's inner space bigger, thus allowing the bigger waves to develop. Trust Fender on this.
When I built my cab at first it was w/o any insulation, then I added some poly foam that didn't do nothing, then a fiberglass equivalent (building grade) that did result in adding more punch.
Other types of insulation may not be preferable.

I’m SO freaked out about touching and breathing that crap!

Yes, be! Although replacing old, disintegrating crap with modern, new crap isn't a bad idea (face mask time), and it will do it's intended job even when still mostly packed with nylons - just a few long cuts will suffice, as the reflection of high frequency waves is negligible.

As for the drip question in your previous post, hard to say, you would need to compare the exact same speaker in the same cab w and w/o a Tone-Ring to really hear the difference. Otherwise, there could be many elements esp. the speaker itself that would affect the drip, which mostly resides in the mid-high, I would think. But the TR does allow more power the escape overall, which may add to the 'pumping', so... IDK.

The Tone-Ring is truly a genius design - basically a port like in bass, sub and venue cabinets (which allows the lower frequencies to escape instead of cancelling or causing phase distortion), but unlike other port designs - maintaining the exact direction of the speaker (caveat: bass frequencies aren't too directional to begin with...), perfect for guitar players.

SSIV