dB Technologies Opera M12-4 Plus

hole

Inspired
Hi guys,

I got this thing yesterday (just in time for rehearsal) and wanted to do a short (totally non-scientific) review of it.

Our practice room is about 4x4m, carpetted, but hardly any acoustic absorbtion on the wall. Just so you know the setting in which this was tested. My band consists of a (loud!) drummer, bass player, 3 horns a singer and 2 guitarists.

So here goes:

Construction: It's a wedge, what can go wrong.

Volume: If anyone says this thing does not have enough volume, they should have their ears examined. I was running the Axe at about 1/3 output level and the dB at about 2/3 and I had no trouble hearing myself. (This was using the dB as the only amplification for myself, so not running in the board aswell!).

And most importantly: Sound:
I had the EQ on the dB on flat, the other two settings were usable, but I prefered this one. There is more than enough bass and treble. I had to use a PEQ (forgot which settings) to prevent boominess. This also helped cutting through 'the mix' (I use the word mix lightly, as we don't actually mix anything in this setup). My other guitarist (tube purist) was really impressed with the sound (he wasn't before, when I played the Axe through the (crappy) PA in rehearsal room).

I used all kinds of sounds, from glassy cleans (Vibroverb) to gritty crunch (Trainwreck) to very heavy (Marsha HBE) sounds and they all sounded very, very good.

I recommend the dB to anyone considering getting a wedge. And the best part is, that it's actually affordable (here in Europe at least).
 
Wow. That's great!!!

I would never have believed it!

You really got all of that band in a 4x4m (12x12ft) room?






Oh, and I'm really glad you like the dB too.
 
Oh yes the DB have a really good sound. At the moment I compare it with a QSC K12. The QSC to me sounds clearer and more open and on the other side thinner, while the DB sounds more guitar like, more in the room. I can't decide which one to keep. :(
 
Hm... I have a really nice local deal for this one but can't decide to pull the plug on it. Can anybody give me some more feedback? I'm little skeptic about this PEQ thing that hole is mentioning. :?

Please help guys. :(
 
Shira said:
Hm... I have a really nice local deal for this one but can't decide to pull the plug on it. Can anybody give me some more feedback? I'm little skeptic about this PEQ thing that hole is mentioning. :?

Please help guys. :(
Any FRFR needs some Eq-ing to sound good. Foremost the cabsims, which are EQ-curves corresponding to miced cabinets. Some extra EQ-ing will be necessary for all monitors you decide to purchase. From all I have heard and compared myself (AtomicFR, EV ZX3, the account of Yek's FBT Verve 12MA), the dB is a bit strong in the bass department. Therefore it would need some attenuation in the low end. BUT! I apply that anyway, because PA's usually have quite a bit of low end too. It will just need slightly more attenuation than other systems. I like the bass end of the dB. It's not a world of difference anyway, we're talking nuances here. When playing music I never experienced the dB to fart out or anything like that. It can handle it. Regardless, with any of the other systems you will quite likely need EQs too.

When recording EQ-s are always being applied as well. You won't find many recordings where the guitars have not been EQ-ed. So there's no reason to be skeptic about theuse of EQ in FRFR amplification, which is just intercepted when it is recorded and later played back through an amplification system.
 
I'm with Dutch.

Perhaps boominess was not the correct word. It's just that the dB does such a good job of producing the lower frequencies, that without peq (and with my patches/setup) they kinda interfere with the bass player, and that's why I attenuate them. (Blocking at about 100hz...depending on patch)
 
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