New Cab Build advice

[ChuckO]

Hey Guys,

I currently have a hartke lh500 and an avatar 210 with the old deltas in it.

I have been considering building my next cab and am looking for some advice, I am looking for more volume, and low end clarity. I am a strapping young lad so multiple cabs are not a problem.

The paths I have been considering are building a BFM Jack or a fEarful desgin.

I play jazz, funk, and rock. Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.

[rpsands]

A fEarful 212/6 is how I'd roll with the LH500. The Jacks are not fat enough on bottom innately (neither bass nor upper bass) and the Lh500's eq won't be able to achieve it very easily (can't boost in the range to add upper bass for a more bassy sound).

I guess it might depend on what kind of jazz or funk sound you're going for but I expect you will want to be able to have some big booty for funk grooves.

I would not recommend the Jack series of cabs to anything with less than a graphic eq or at least one parametric band. The BX500 would be a great amp for the Jack IMHO, or the Iamp series, or the ShuttleMax.

I own a J112 with 3012HO and my eq setup (3band on a pedal and 4 band on the Markbass F1) is about as limited an eq as I would consider for it.

[ChuckO]

corrected!
Any feedback on the fearful? How hard is it to build compared to a Jack?

[rpsands]

A lot easier and more straightforward. The jack plans involve a lot of precision cuts and cutting to fit IMHO especially with the upgrade. Definitely would not recommend it to a woodworking novice. Also a lot of circle cuts, which are no picnic without a router.

I'd estimate a quarter the hours of work with a fEarful. Also, tools-wise, I'd expect you could do a fEarful with a jigsaw and skilsaw without too much trouble. The Jack without a router makes me cringe.

If you're going to build a jack as a first-timer I would recommend ordering a flatpack cutkit from Leland @ SpeakerHardware, or some other outfit

[ctmullins]

What? A lot of circle cuts? Cutting to fit? Where do you get that?

I just finished building two Jack10s. First cabs I've ever built. The only circle cuts in my plans were for the driver mounting. That's it. And even though I have a router, I didn't use it. I traced out the right size circle using a scrap of wood as a compass, then jig-sawed around it. It's mounted in the interior, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

(I did use my router to round-over the edges of the cab, but that's entirely optional, and a sander would do the same job.)

Cutting to fit? Nope. Just cut the panels to the dimensions in the plans, being as accurate as possible, and assemble. There is a tiny bit of trimming necessary to make the ends of the horn flush with the edge of the cab, but again, that's the only "cutting to fit" in my plans.

I do recommend a table saw, as the various panels do need to be cut to the proper dimensions. But that's going to be true for any cab design. You can do it with a hand-held circular saw, but it's quicker and more accurate to use a table saw.

I haven't seen the fEarful designs, but honestly, the Jack isn't that difficult. As Bill mentions in the plans, it's a little bit more involved than a plain box, but not much.