Karlson

Moray - I was surprised by John Lapaire's recordings of the short K
-lens vs no lens and vs a scaled JBLEON lens as the K sounded very even on vs off.
yes it does do well with dispersion especially considering it is a 2D version where the JBL Eon lens in a D design. In 2D I fond the Karlson tapers sounded more natural an retained better spatial qualities but that is just my take as always ymmv.
 
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features of the Karlson enclosure claimed "controlled ring" (reverb time) to enhance realism. K15 has a lrage enough fron resonator to gie some loading effect. Even K12 with aobu 0.6 cubic feet front chamber seems to give a sense of power - bass guitar sounds quick on transies (an illusion?). I need to get some more Lavoce or Faital 3" (4" would be nice if extended) - of course there's no money- we don't even have a functioning car.
 
Happy 2025! - Here's an animated recreation of a 1973 Hawkwind performance. I believe to the far left an Acoustic Control 115BK cabinet is seen. The 3D modeler worked from a photograph. I may be wrong but do think its the little 115BK Karlson-coupler. Reverb has an older listing of a 115BK along with a Peavey 200 top and calls the cabinet "1972" - I wonder as Karlson died in January 73. Perhaps I'm just seeing things (?)


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John Karlson died January 18th, 1973. Someone who knows Acoustic Control Corporation's history may know when 115BK and similar 115BC combo were produced.

There's a story that Karlson, shortly before his death, sold a license to JBL without his wife's knowledge. After John died the wife appeared to had sold multiple licenses as companies one in Chicago (forgot name), Westwood, KK Audio, Transylvania Power, and Acoustic were making pretty much the same X15 size cabinet. That's 5 brands not including UK Leech and Ernest Beck in Germany. The representiative of the Chicago Illinois company said JBL issued a "cease and desist" order - but never used the agreement for productino.

Ah - I see what I believe is an Electro-Voice "Eliminator" W-bin in another photo - Did EV's Ray Newman design that cabinet? It's description called it a 55Hz horn. The local college/university ("Marshall" in Huntington WV) had one or a pair in their new at the time "Student Center" with EV's 800Hz horn and a tweeter. I think it would have been a fun bass guitar box.

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One of my top 5 mistakes in all of this life was I never pursued guitar when it was introduced to me around the age of 13. I realize I shouldnt beat myself up too badly about that, as the resources to be able to play something just werent available back then like they are today. You can just look up on line how to play something like "Everyday" by Buddy holly and get a chord interpretation ratified by 1500 other players as being pretty much correct, if not exact.

I swear my neighbor on the street where I grew up had a Carlson in his basement. I recall being intrigued by the shape of it. I think the guy was a guitarist, or maybe it was just part of a monaural system he had. Probably had a cherry red ES175 in his closet... Unlike the neighbor on the other side, this guy was quiet and never shared anything of his experience in audio / music / electronics.

How would it sound?

Ask Stanley Clarke -

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I think the amplifier depicted in the animation was the VOX "DEFIANT" - -Look:
 

Attachments

  • HAWKWIND ACOUSTIC CONTROLL 115BK KARLSON WITH VOX DEFIANT HEAD SMALL.jpg
    HAWKWIND ACOUSTIC CONTROLL 115BK KARLSON WITH VOX DEFIANT HEAD SMALL.jpg
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  • HAWKWIND ANIMATION  ACOUSTIC 115BK CABINET AND AMP DETAIL.jpg
    HAWKWIND ANIMATION ACOUSTIC 115BK CABINET AND AMP DETAIL.jpg
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