Duke and I met up Saturday in Boise at another Talkbass Get-Together. One of the people playing through my new rig was Michael Manring, a player who puts incredible demands on his amplification system with his often percussive and harmonic-laden techniques and constantly shifting tunings. The "acoustic-friendly" TC sounded absolutely stunning, and we were all treated to a really nice impromptu mini-concert. I really look forward to hearing some more heavy hitters playing through these cabs, not only because I want to see Duke succeed, but simply because so many of them would sound better IMHO.
Rich Hansen plays much the same as you describe above. I keep hearing in my mind how much better it will sound on Duke's TC, and can't wait to experience it. Rich is a major gear head and he wants to hear the TC asap. I will be shocked if Rich doesn't purchase a TC. Also Jeremy Nivison is another local pro bass player who wants to hear it.
I'm embarrassed to criticize the design of someone of Phil Jones' caliber, but here goes. My best guess is, by employing multiple mid-basses rather than a multi-way system, Phil perceives an overall advantage in avoiding all the hassle, effort, compromise, and
cost of the XO. But there's no free lunch. There simply must, in my mind anyway, exist comb-filtering effects with Jones' design. I presume the radiation pattern must be quite erratic.
To me Duke' single greatest trait, after his gentlemanly kindness, is that
Duke instantly, immediately, and forthrightly confronts and admits every design foible and weakness in his philosophy. No other known audio designer does this, and I've been around many of the best and most successful. So Duke will tell you how he had to fudge this or that toward achieving a particular goal. IIRC most often, the fact is Duke's XO's are not easily accomplished, and can take up room and cost and are complex. Some think (wrongly in Duke's case) that XO complexity always equals degraded performance.
IMO, the only known potential drawback for the TC is that it might appreciate and/or better employ more power than other cabinets. Considering Rich Hansen lugs around not only the PJ combo amp, but also the huge passive extension speaker (much larger than the PJ combo amp, which has a smallish face but is very deep and isn't lightweight) I can't help but predict he'll likely soon be selling his PJ and be shopping for a head amp for the TC. I predict he'll either keep his extension speaker for more output when it's occasionally needed or more likely buy two TC's and sell the extension cabinet also. Rich is a pro engineer but he plays several times per week.
I suppose for owners of two TCs, depending on the shape of the venue, the player will either stack inverted or otherwise space the two TC's away from each other?
