Blu6 into Toob Metro BG vs Blu6 on internal speaker

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

You asked for it, and now you got it! Here's an audio comparison of the Toob Metro BG+ driven by my Blu 6 vs the Blu 6 through its internal speaker with tweeter off. The source is my Eastman 16" Jazz Elite 7 (JS113s over a 75 Chrome 7th), played with a D'Andrea ProPlec. I was practicing a simple arrangement of The Way You Look Tonight, so I just used the first part and tried to play it about the same both times.

The Metro is inherently brighter than the Blu's 6.5. I had to pump up the bass and the low mid to about 2 o'clock and cut the high mid and treble by almost as much to get the timbre close to that of the Blu's internal speaker with EQ completely flat. The metro is also a bit more efficient than the Blu's speaker.





I ran a spectrum analysis on these tracks (see below), and they're pretty well matched for both frequency content and loudness. The Blu track is down a few dB in the low bass compared to the Metro, so I could have dialed back the bass EQ a hair when playing through the Toob to get even closer to equal frequency response. Keep in mind that I tried to play this the same way for both, but some of that difference could also be from variance in my picking force. These spectra are pretty darned close, but the Toob sounds a bit fuller in the low end largely (I suspect) because I pushed the bass up a bit too high.

Toob:


Blu's internal speaker:


Two things seem clear to me. First, the Metro is the equal of the Blu's speaker / cab at moderate club levels. I couldn't push it higher because we live in an apartment - so I don't know how it holds up at higher volumes. Second, the Metro is probably not the best choice for an external cab to use with the blu's internal speaker because it needed a bass boost and treble cut to match the Blu's sound with EQ flat. Compromising on the EQ does yield a nicely balanced sound with both running together, but to my ears it's not as relaxed as either one alone set ideally for my taste.

[Gitterbug]

I again thank the OP for his in-depth work around my humble products. Henriksens are rare on this side of the pond and too pricey for me to invest for testing purposes. How a Metro sounds vs. the original BUD/BLU speaker is interesting per se, but strictly relevant only in the role of an extension cab to ditto. As proven by Fred Archtop's recent demos (Quilter 101R, quite bright), my own trials with some 20 different micro-amps, and positive feedback from users (soon 200 Metros out there), most if not all amps have enough eq leeway to achieve the desired sound. It varies from one gig to another anyway. I attach a photo of the rig of Swedish/Norwegian singer/songwriter Robert Vennström, who uses both a Metro FR and Metro BG as extension cabs to his 1st gen Bud. BTW he got fantastic service from Henriksen when the amp went cold.

[Christian Miller]

Wow thanks so much for doing that! Nice playing too I might add.

[omphalopsychos]

This is totally subjective, but that cut above 5khz on the beta speakers is probably my biggest dislike of the henriksen amps. I’ve realized that my previous concerns about the EQ are actually attributed to the speaker. I know you prefer no “sparkle” on your jazz tone, but I do tend to like it.

I plugged my henriksen into the raezers edge cabinet with the celestion gold, man that was illuminating to me. Unfortunately a henriksen would blow a celestion gold at full volume but the sound was so open and full, I really with there were an open back combo from henriksen with a different speaker.

[Gitterbug]

I think Henriksen's cabs have always been ported, as they've been meant for bass as well. A Bud head is available, of course. With two channels, it may have features you don't need or want to pay for. But to what extent is the "Blu part" of the amp really superior to others built around the IcePower power source/power amp module? I don't think I have seen any A/B comparisons. How about using the Bud facing you from the side as a personal monitor, with a more efficient extension speaker of your liking towards the audience?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

This is totally subjective, but that cut above 5khz on the beta speakers is probably my biggest dislike of the henriksen amps. I’ve realized that my previous concerns about the EQ are actually attributed to the speaker. I know you prefer no “sparkle” on your jazz tone, but I do tend to like it.

Remember that the BluBud has a switchable tweeter too. This adds that sparkle, although as you correctly point out I prefer less to more. So I leave it off.

And if you look at the spectrograms of the two recorded files, you’ll see very little energy above 5k from either speaker. When I have time, I’ll rerecord this with the tweeter active, to see how much HF energy it adds.

[Alter]

It would be great if we were able to hear the Blu this way (with the tweeter), either with an archtop or with an acoustic guitar. It kind of doubles the usefulness of it, being able to gig acoustics also.

[Gitterbug]

This is beginning to resemble the proverbial grandpa's axe, which had four handles and two blades over its lifespan. What I'd like to hear is a Bud/Blu with the SICA speaker I'm using for most Metros. If you look at its response curve, there's a sharp drop between 4 and 5 kHz, but that's not the end of the story. It stays alive, even recovers past 5 K, producing sparkle to acoustic guitars, for example, and doing fine with e.g. violins. If there had to be only one speaker in this caliber, here's a strong candidate.

[aquin43]

I think Henriksen's cabs have always been ported, as they've been meant for bass as well.

The Blu cabinet seems to be an implementation of the "Beta6A Small Vented Mid/Bass Design" by Jerry McNutt from the Eminence cookbook, with the difference that instead of dual ports a single port with the same area is used. There is also some internal damping material, possibly to reduce reflections from the back of the cabinet. The rear section with the amplifier is completely isolated. The cookbook gives a speaker sensitivity of 93.79 dB at 2.83Vrms input (1W into nominal 8Ohms), which would imply 115.7dB at the ICEPower300AS1 clipping level of 50Vpk. The preamp is a conventional multi band eq with the oddity that most of the controls have little effect on the frequency response until turned past half way.

[omphalopsychos]

The preamp is a conventional multi band eq with the oddity that most of the controls have little effect on the frequency response until turned past half way.

I have been meaning to write peter about this. I couldn't tell if it was a non-linear taper or an actual threshold at the midpoint, but I've definitely noticed this. The saying "EQ with your ears, not your eyes" definitely applies to this amp. I like to bring down the high mids on this amp. If I look at the knobs, I wonder if I might have gone too far, but I always come back to concluding that there's almost no audible effect between 9 o clock and 3 oclock.

[aquin43]

The Blu control characteristic comes from the choice of component values in a pretty standard schematic. The pot values are very high compared to the resistance of the filters that they control so that around the centre the filter resistance is swamped by the pot resistance giving a very flat resonance curve. Also, each filter is loaded by a resistor so that at small lift or cut the resonance curves tend to give an overall volume lift or cut above their centre frequencies as well as the desired filter effect.

[Stringswinger]

I am impressed by all the technical jargon you guys use. All I know is that my Bud/Blu amps sound great with all of my guitars.

Nice playing by the OP! I could listen to that on any amp with any guitar.