15" Cabinet

[damaset]

Hi everyone, I'm building an extension cabinet for a Fender Rumble 500, specifically for a 15" speaker. I'd appreciate any advice on the type of speaker to install. I'm considering the following: Celestion Pulse, Eminence Legend BP 1525 A, Eminence Delta-15LFA, and Eminence Delta-15B. Thanks for your opinions. My playing style is rock and blues. Cheers!

 

[agedhorse]

Here's what I would recommend, guaranteed to work well with the voicing of your combo:
Invalid Link Removed

If your combo is the 19" wide version, the extension cabinet is 4" wider.

Trying to build one adds more variables, including getting the tuning alignment close enough to work well.

 

[eniac]

It is a nontrivial exercise. If you really want to build your own cab, 99% of what you need -- or at least what you have to consider -- is already here:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/cabinets-building-your-own-how-why-pros-and-cons.166257/

 

[agedhorse]

By the time you figure in the cost of the finish/covering, adhesives, wood, hardware, drivers, crossover, etc, it's tough to be able to build for less than it costs to buy the Rumble extension new. If you can find one used, it's almost guaranteed to be cheaper than building.

 

[wjcstp]

There's a guy on one of the vintage car forums I often use who has a posting signature: "For just a little more you can do it yourself!"

 

[damaset]

Thanks for commenting. I am aware of the actual cost of manufacturing a cabinet, but just as I make my own bass guitars, the end result is much better and more satisfying. I would just like to hear your opinions on the Celestion Pulse 15" speaker or the Eminence Legend BP 1525A. Thank you.

 

[murphy]

It is fun and can be very satisfying building your own cabs.
I was tempted at one point when everyone was building the Greenboy cabs

 

[ctmullins]

Thanks for commenting. I am aware of the actual cost of manufacturing a cabinet, but just as I make my own bass guitars, the end result is much better and more satisfying. I would just like to hear your opinions on the Celestion Pulse 15" speaker or the Eminence Legend BP 1525A. Thank you.

You have to build the cabinet to suit the Thiele/Small parameters of the driver you choose. So driver first, then that determines cabinet dimensions and porting (if any).

The Legends I have played sound good to me.

 

[agedhorse]

Thanks for commenting. I am aware of the actual cost of manufacturing a cabinet, but just as I make my own bass guitars, the end result is much better and more satisfying. I would just like to hear your opinions on the Celestion Pulse 15" speaker or the Eminence Legend BP 1525A. Thank you.

Then you will need to learn about speaker design and what makes cabinets/drivers work together. Then you will need to learn what makes different cabinets work well together.

Can't predict what might work well with your Rumble cabinet without a lot of work, and even then there is uncertainty because the driver used is proprietary.

 

[Redbrangus]

Setting aside any discussion about the advisability of building a DIY cab, there are still some serious issues that need to be addressed. One is that a driver and an enclosure act together as a system; the cab has to be designed to work with the particular driver used. So as mentioned, and generally speaking, picking a driver first and then designing the cab for it is the preferred path. I believe the Rumble cab you are wanting to pair this new cab with is a bass reflex (ported) enclosure, so you will need to continue with that concept in order for there to be a chance for them to work together effectively. Designing a bass reflex cab is considerably more complicated than building an infinite baffle (closed) cab, but there are some shortcuts and tricks to work around the problems. One is to clone an existing, proven design. Another technique is using the info that some manufacturers provide to help DIY-ers achieve predictable results. In that regard, choosing an Eminence driver is great, in that they will provide you with enough data to build a decent box. They'll give you the internal volume required, along with the porting data -- it will then be up to you to 'design' (manipulate the dimensions of) the box to achieve that specified internal volume. If you choose the Eminence Legend, for instance, Eminence provides several different sizes and types of cab designs. Here's a link to some recommended designs for the Legend driver you mentioned, reproduced at the Parts Express site, but also available on Eminence's own Web site: DIY info for Legend BP1525 The design that's most relevant to your purpose will probably be the 'Small vented bass guitar or PA' design, near the bottom of the page. They give you dimensions for a typical cab that will work, but you can adjust those dimensions to suit your purpose as long as the adjusted size yields the same internal volume, shown in the data sheets as the 'V (total)' number. This is a fairly foolproof path to building a cab that will yield the optimum performance for a given driver.

Buying a cab that's already built is definitely going to be easier and is likely to also be a lot cheaper, but I understand there are other reasons that might make going the DIY route attractive. Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[Redbrangus]

@agedhorse is right about there being complicated issues with having cabinets with two different designs work together effectively. One approach to this might be to build an exact clone of the Rumble enclosure you already have and load it with the same driver, acquired as a replacement part from Fender. Of course, if you're going to do that, you really are in the region of it being so much easier and more effective to just buy the manufactured cab to match your existing cab.

Again, good luck with it, whatever path you choose to pursue.

 

[Giff]

I would vote for the legend. And if you're worried about the width of the cabinet matching the combo, just make sure you get the dimensions correct make it deeper and/or taller if you have to.

 

[ole Jason]

Thanks for commenting. I am aware of the actual cost of manufacturing a cabinet, but just as I make my own bass guitars, the end result is much better and more satisfying. I would just like to hear your opinions on the Celestion Pulse 15" speaker or the Eminence Legend BP 1525A. Thank you.

The Eminence is a well regarded speaker and should work great if you build an appropriate box for it. Generally speaking, this forum tends to strongly dissuade people from DIY cabs as you're finding out lol. There are lots of reasons for that, most of them justifiable. If you look at the big fEarful DIY cab thread(s) you'll find a lot of useful info though.

 

[Redbrangus]

I'm something of a fan of the fEARful 15/6 cabs, but they're more complicated and far more expensive than the single-15 cab the OP is considering building. They would be especially difficult for a first attempt at cab DIY, IMHO. They are, however, available as a precut flat-packs from Parts Express, I believe. That might be a solution for the construction difficulty, but it doesn't address the relatively high cost of the drivers and other parts.

 

[Jogobass]

i hooked an old ampeg 15 inch cab to my rumble 500. surprisingly the combination works. They each have their own character and seem to complement each other.

 

[eaglemachine]

I'm something of a fan of the fEARful 15/6 cabs, but they're more complicated and far more expensive than the single-15 cab the OP is considering building. They would be especially difficult for a first attempt at cab DIY, IMHO. They are, however, available as a precut flat-packs from Parts Express, I believe. That might be a solution for the construction difficulty, but it doesn't address the relatively high cost of the drivers and other parts.

*speakerhardware.com