Who uses beam blockers?

Who uses beam blockers?

  • Total voters
    37
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Rowan said:
So it sounds pretty good on a combo amp? Good to know, glad it worked out for you bro. Yeah the screamer has plenty of highs on tap. I usually run a flat EQ with the presence at about 3 or 4.
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Same here, although I cut off bass a bit. Since the Sovtek LPS preamp tubes are in there I am quite happy with it. Got a Tung Sol V1 and let's see how this one will sound. Thanks!
 
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Re: Who uses beam blockers?

I just bought some of these after one gig and one rehearsal of playing my DSL 100 at about volume 4 on the lead channel. I was standing beside it most of the night saying "wow this tone kicks ass" then walked out infront of it about 30 feet away and it turned into "wow what the hell is that" it was high pitch, non musical and actually sounded like nothing but noise.

I ordered them. I have a gig next weekend but I'll probably have to put cardboard or duct tape over the front of the cabinet and line it up as best as I can. I'm sure that will help enough to get a good tone for that gig. Then once the beame blockers come, I'll install them.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

I tried 'em on a Crate with a crappy speaker (Celestion 70/80). Sounded less beamy and less bright, but didn't make up for it being a crappy speaker.

For what it's worth, my Scumbacks and Weber Blue Dog don't really sound beamy. I don't know if it is purely the speaker, or also the fact that they are in a 2x12, rather than the 1x12 the 70/80 was in.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

This is just my opinion, but even if a speaker has inherently excessive treble tendencies, there are always cheaper alternatives to "beam blocker(s)". 1) Sufficient break in period for any and all new speaker cones. 2) Proper utilization of tone and EQ controls on amp(s), guitar(s), and/or pedal(s). 3) Gaffer or electrical tape strategically placed on the grillcloth over the speaker(s) in question. (See Stevie Ray Vaughan Live At The El Mocambo DVD). I have several Tone Tubby Hempcone speakers (10"s and 12"s) which many guys say are too trebly for their tastes, and I am one who has NEVER cared for cutting treble tone. By initially cranking the Tone Tubby speakers and consistently playing through them, any excessive treble response that these speakers may have had were replaced by "smoothness" or "creaminess" in the high end that completely eliminates the need for anything remotely like "beam blocker(s)". Also combinations of speakers and speaker types can achieve great results as well. For an example, I have a 66' Fender Blackface Super Reverb amp with (2) Tone Tubby Ceramic 10" hempcone speakers and (2) Tone Tubby Alnico 10" hempcone speakers in an X pattern. This is the best of both worlds. Tight low end response from the ceramic's, and smooth creamy high end from the alnico's.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Southbound Suarez said:
This is just my opinion, but even if a speaker has inherently excessive treble tendencies, there are always cheaper alternatives to "beam blocker(s)".
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Beam blockers aren't expensive. How much $$$ was spent on the amp? $15 or whatever they cost is not expensive and they are much better at reducing excessive treble then the "alternatives".

Southbound Suarez said:
1) Sufficient break in period for any and all new speaker cones.
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Breaking the speaker in does help warm up the sound but the physics stays the same and you will still get a high frequency 'beam' from the dust cap.

Southbound Suarez said:
2) Proper utilization of tone and EQ controls on amp(s), guitar(s), and/or pedal(s).
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This will obviously change your overall tone. You may get around the 'too much treble' from the center of the speaker but the rest of your tone will be undefined garbage. Back to the fundamental problem: the speaker.

Southbound Suarez said:
3) Gaffer or electrical tape strategically placed on the grillcloth over the speaker(s) in question. (See Stevie Ray Vaughan Live At The El Mocambo DVD).
Click to expand...

Yeah, this will help....but this is the excessively cheap/ **** way to do it. Maybe if you are like Stevie Ray and spend all your hard earned $ on coke....
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

ksmith63 said:
Beam blockers aren't expensive. How much $$$ was spent on the amp? $15 or whatever they cost is not expensive and they are much better at reducing excessive treble then the "alternatives".



Breaking the speaker in does help warm up the sound but the physics stays the same and you will still get a high frequency 'beam' from the dust cap.



This will obviously change your overall tone. You may get around the 'too much treble' from the center of the speaker but the rest of your tone will be undefined garbage. Back to the fundamental problem: the speaker.



Yeah, this will help....but this is the excessively cheap/ **** way to do it. Maybe if you are like Stevie Ray and spend all your hard earned $ on coke....
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Sounds like you already have a few "beam blockers" since you seem to be an advocate. Why don't you expound on the virtues of beam blockers over any other "alternative" methods and why they make so much of a difference. But then maybe you run your treble on all your amps to "11" for that added little extra push over the edge so to speak.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Southbound Suarez said:
Sounds like you already have a few "beam blockers" since you seem to be an advocate.
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Did you not read the thread? :scratchch I have already stated that I have some in my 4x12 (bottom two). I also stated that I believe the blockers improved my tone but I can easily live without.

Southbound Suarez said:
Why don't you expound on the virtues of beam blockers over any other "alternative" methods and why they make so much of a difference.
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What other alternatives are there? Fabric Softener (j/k)? The wad of sticky tape is the only similar alternative to the beam blockers and I fail to see why anyone would go this route. Blockers are cheap and don't get my amps sticky.:crazy:

Southbound Suarez said:
But then maybe you run your treble on all your amps to "11" for that added little extra push over the edge so to speak.
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As I said before, You cannot EQ the amp to negate the physics of a speaker. The dust cap will always 'beam' out the highs. Sure, you can tame it with lots of bass/mids but then you lose the highs from the rest of the speaker cone. A bass/mid heavy sound does not work for my music (not everyone wants a SRV sound) so I prefer to use beam blockers. Treble on my amp is usually at noon. :friday:
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

ksmith63 said:
Did you not read the thread? :scratchch I have already stated that I have some in my 4x12 (bottom two). I also stated that I believe the blockers improved my tone but I can easily live without.


What other alternatives are there? Fabric Softener (j/k)? The wad of sticky tape is the only similar alternative to the beam blockers and I fail to see why anyone would go this route. Blockers are cheap and don't get my amps sticky.:crazy:


As I said before, You cannot EQ the amp to negate the physics of a speaker. The dust cap will always 'beam' out the highs. Sure, you can tame it with lots of bass/mids but then you lose the highs from the rest of the speaker cone. A bass/mid heavy sound does not work for my music (not everyone wants a SRV sound) so I prefer to use beam blockers. Treble on my amp is usually at noon. :friday:
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Any "beam blocker" is not going to improve your tone, only your hearing by deferring deafness until a later appointed time. I highly disagree that the use of a treble control, bright switch, or presence control will not smooth out the tone issues we're talking about here. P.S. - Fabric softener sheets are to be used on pickguards for guitars with static issues. I think the main issue here is really that most of the young guys in this forum (like yourself - no offense intended) use a combination of hot pickups, high gain amps, and similar pedals to get that "biting" treble response from their rigs that would shred most people's ears clean off. My reply is, go ahead on be my guest and use those "beam blockers" if you really believe it helps in this type of scenario. At least SRV could hear people other than himself speak in a conversation.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

I'd probably be more interested in a beam "spreader" than a blocker. Maybe something about 3" wide that goes back at an approximately 22.5 degree angle (like a cone), that forces the high frequency beam to spread out in all directions rather than just try to block it by getting in it's way. That would probably require a six inch depth which might be too much for some speakers, so something close to that, but still practical enough to split that beam up.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

tonedeaf1 said:
I'd probably be more interested in a beam "spreader" than a blocker. Maybe something about 3" wide that goes back at an approximately 22.5 degree angle (like a cone), that forces the high frequency beam to spread out in all directions rather than just try to block it by getting in it's way. That would probably require a six inch depth which might be too much for some speakers, so something close to that, but still practical enough to split that beam up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the ticket.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

You can't use EQ to get rid of the nasty beam effect in front of the amp.

I tried this with my EQ by cranking the bass cutting treble, rolling the bass up on the amp, treble on 0. I used the OD pedal with the tone rolled all the way off. By that time it didn't sound like a guitar.

I really don't think there's a way to cut it out without some sort of beam blockers (which do spread the treble in all directions instead of one) Or home made cut out circles ect.. The only shot would be to position your amp where nobody would be in front of it and mic it from the side of the speaker. That way you get the sound you want through the PA.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Southbound Suarez said:
Any "beam blocker" is not going to improve your tone, only your hearing by deferring deafness until a later appointed time. I highly disagree that the use of a treble control, bright switch, or presence control will not smooth out the tone issues we're talking about here. P.S. - Fabric softener sheets are to be used on pickguards for guitars with static issues. I think the main issue here is really that most of the young guys in this forum (like yourself - no offense intended) use a combination of hot pickups, high gain amps, and similar pedals to get that "biting" treble response from their rigs that would shred most people's ears clean off. My reply is, go ahead on be my guest and use those "beam blockers" if you really believe it helps in this type of scenario. At least SRV could hear people other than himself speak in a conversation.
Click to expand...


Trust me. I'm not a high treble guy. I've used an alnico pro 2 pickup which is VERY smooth in the neck. Had my tone rolled back and it sounded fine from the side but step out in front and it was dreadful and not musical at all.

Eddie Van Halen used to put foam infront of his speaker to cut down the nasty highs.

And Tone is what you hear so yes to his ears it is making a tone that he is more comfortable to deal with. There are many ways to get a "better" or different tone and this is one of them. Honestly I think playing in a Jazz band or blues band or clean tone band would be fine. But for example in a hard rock band running a JCM 800, 2000 ect with Vintage 30's. Aint gonna happen.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

C.T.D_nicke said:
Ok... I'll try again:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=470956

as I mentioned in last post.. long thread good read!

Perhaps EVH use THIS method?

nicke
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I read the post and it was very interesting. The fellow seems to know what he is talking about. Several guys tried it and reported good results. The foam is definitely cheap so I figure it is a no brainer to try. I ordered a few sheets of 1/2" and am going to try it out. Worst case I will be out $5/speaker.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Southbound Suarez said:
Any "beam blocker" is not going to improve your tone, only your hearing by deferring deafness until a later appointed time. I highly disagree that the use of a treble control, bright switch, or presence control will not smooth out the tone issues we're talking about here. P.S. - Fabric softener sheets are to be used on pickguards for guitars with static issues. I think the main issue here is really that most of the young guys in this forum (like yourself - no offense intended) use a combination of hot pickups, high gain amps, and similar pedals to get that "biting" treble response from their rigs that would shred most people's ears clean off. My reply is, go ahead on be my guest and use those "beam blockers" if you really believe it helps in this type of scenario. At least SRV could hear people other than himself speak in a conversation.
Click to expand...


0 <====The point....................................You====> X


I'm only gonna say this once, so if you ignore it and continue to spout assumptions based on nothing but conjecture, I'll be forced to write you off (and we don't want that, do we?).

fig. 1
Beam blockers aren't for taming treble.



Ah

don't hit that quote button yet

go back up and read figure 1 again

now proceed to figures 2 and 3




fig. 2
Beam blockers are for evening out the directionality of the speaker so that the tone from in front sounds like the tone from the side.




whether or not you see a benefit from that is determined by a number of factors - one of which is whether you spend a significant amount of time gigging, but whichever way you slice it

fig. 3
The affect from obstructing / redirecting the sound wave emanating from the dust cap of a guitar speaker can not be emulated by any other means.

An dats dat.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

C.T.D_nicke is spot on.....
To reduce the ice-pick beam in front of speakers:-
I can vouch for Jay Mitchell's foam dough-nut working, and very well too.
I can also confirm that beam-blockers are of relatively little benefit.
How? Tried 'em both on 2x12 and 4x12 closed backs and a 2x12 open-back combo.
Gaffa/Duct tape and a variety of cones and discs and stuff just had no effect or reduced the ice-pick at the expense of some other weird sound artefacts - nothing bad, just not what I was after.
The foam did the job straight off - nice even tone from 45degrees off axis through face on, with a very gentle drop as you went further off axis. No more ice-pick.

Go read http://jay-mitchell.com/dirmod.html
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

I went, I read, and I would definitely give that a try before purchasing beam blockers.

That Jay Mitchell guy sure seems knowledgeable about the subject, if a bit supercilious, and his "solution" is simple and compelling enough for me to give it a shot.

I would like to know what affect it has on the sound seen by, say, an SM57, before going to the effort of buying $40 of foam and tearing my cab apart.
 
Re: Who uses beam blockers?

Adam - I use a Shure SM58 (usually) close mic about half way across the cone and 90deg to the cabinet face. Started off removing the front panel (and hence the "ring-of-foam") but recorded one day without removing it and it made little difference, if any. Now I stick it pointing at the edge of the hole in the foam, seems to be just as it was pre-treatment. But I am guessing it would depend where you prefer your mic, and mic's placed further away might hear more difference..... dunno. Experiment. Well worth it.

I am considering a horizontal elliptical hole to spread the sound more sideways than vertically. Who knows.....
 
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