Another: "I want to build a small cab thread"

[Bluzzin]

Greetings all,

I am a new member here, first post. Been playing 6 string acoustic and electric for 57 years, never been in a band or played in public, just another closet player. After 20 years with no bass, I picked one up recently, nothing fancy, a Harley Benton MJ-4MN that plays and sounds remarkable considering its modest price.

I have home built copies of some classic Fender tweed amps and am currently playing judiciously thru a copy of a 57 Deluxe amp into a 1954 Deluxe cab with Naylor 50 guitar speaker. I need to dial back the gain and bass frequencies to protect from farting and I want to protect my now rare original Naylor speaker. So this leads me to my goal.

I have spent some time here reading threads on building a cabinet. I want to build for single 12 or single 15" amplifier will be external. I would like to be a able play with out worrying about overloading the driver or cab and having them start passing gas on me.

I can do the wood working, no problem, and am willing to spend up to $150 on the speaker it self. My concern is that I do not understand all the speaker parameters and formulas for design. If some one has a known good plan for a ported or closed speaker cab that would relieve me of having to do the design calculations that would be most welcome.

The drivers I have in mind are one of the following but not limited to any of em

Dayton PA 310 -8 12"
Eminence Beta 15 or the Alpha-15

My hopes are some can direct me to a known successful design and a driver that is known to work well in it.

Thank you for any input, Cheers
michael

 

[basscooker]

You could pull up the sheets for most if not all drivers by Eminence where there are suggested box tunings.

The design is in your hands, but the tuning frequency and box volume are there. Front port, rear port, shelf, square, round, even simply sealed (for some); whatever you choose.

Box volume and tuning frequency is the key, and provided. If you have the tools and experience it really can be that simple.

Eminence already did most of the work. WinISD is free and can help you get the port dimensions based on Eminence published reccomendation for volume.

 

[abarson]

Purchasing a well-engineered and well-accepted design is a good place to start. I would recommend looking at the BFM Simplexx as a first build, although you will probably need to throw a couple more bucks in for the correct speaker. If you're confident with your woodworking chops, do the Jack.
https://billfitzmaurice.info

 

[A9X]

Bluzzin, define small in terms of dimensions and acceptable form factor.

 

[Redbrangus]

Since you don't have a lot of power, you need the most efficient (highest sensitivity) speaker you can get/afford. Using the Eminence design pages is a great place to start for the design -- the Parts Express Web site has links to all those pages and is organized better than Eminence's own site is, IMO.

As a for instance, the Eminence Deltalite ii 2512 neo-dym drivers have a rated sensitivity of 99.9 dB -- you'd be hard pressed to find anything more efficient. PE has them for $155 and they weigh next to nothing, so the shipping wouldn't add too much. There's also a 15 in that series. Just a thought.

Welcome aboard.

 

[A9X]

^^ Not that simple. Don't forget Hoffman's Iron Law.

 

[Redbrangus]

I'm not sure where I suggested it be violated; design is always a tradeoff of parameters. I'm suggesting that given the limited power, emphasizing sensitivity is advised.

At any rate, OP is looking for specific recommendations for a box design and driver, so my generic advice is of little value anyway. Like so much else of what's being offered....

 

[A9X]

I'm suggesting that given the limited power, emphasizing sensitivity is advised.

Well, if you want it efficient and LF capable, then it's not going to be small, and small was a design requirement, which is why I asked for dimensions. Naming a driver without the enclosure details isn't a lot of help for most people as they can't design it for themselves.

 

[Bluzzin]

Bluzzin, define small in terms of dimensions and acceptable form factor.

small to me would be small enough for my living room, so no bigger than a single 15, 12 or a double 10. Under 4 cu ft for sure. Sorry I did not provide the info.

Thank you for your input
michael

 

[A9X]

Under 4 cu ft for sure.

That's not small. I'll run some sims when I get home. A JBL2226 works in about 40L net, 40Hz SBB4 tune, but that's an OTTOMH calc. My Beyma 15G40 in in a similar size box/tune.

 

[A9X]

small to me would be small enough for my living room

I should also have asked, does it need WAF and is this for solo, ie, modest levels for practice?

 

[Bluzzin]

Minimal WAF needed, but something with exterior dimensions less than 4.5 cu ft would win points in the marital dept. I have numerous tube amps less than 50 watts or can go solid state up to 200 or so. I think I have power covered. I like the specs on the mentioned Deltalites, I was not familiar with them.

 

[pie_man_25]

OP, your Dayton 12 is probably going to be plenty in terms of power handling (for low-ish wattage guitar amps) and livingroom volumes, tuned properly it could probably stand up to a drummer in a small space.

The Beta is the driver they tend to recommend in the Ampeg B-15, though, and is a great piece of kit in its price range. Another plus for eminence, is the fact that they provide designs for internal box size and port tuning on their website - which makes the design a pretty straightforward process if you even just have a calculator, pen, and paper.

 

[stuntbass77]

You could pull up the sheets for most if not all drivers by Eminence where there are suggested box tunings.

The design is in your hands, but the tuning frequency and box volume are there. Front port, rear port, shelf, square, round, even simply sealed (for some); whatever you choose.

Box volume and tuning frequency is the key, and provided. If you have the tools and experience it really can be that simple.

Eminence already did most of the work. WinISD is free and can help you get the port dimensions based on Eminence published reccomendation for volume.

^this^ I went with Eminence when building my cabinets. I use to use an Ampeg 4x10” with a 15” ( all one cabinet and about 180lbs. ) and as much as I love it even with wheels it was heavy and hard to fit in a car. I ended up buying Eminence kappa pro 10” speakers ( 4 in all ). I made two cabinets consisting of two 10” speakers. I found it much easier to lug around. I also appreciated their cabinet building on their site. Only thing I would add is if you can go with the neodymium magnets as my kappa pro’s weigh a ton and the magnet is almost as big as the speakers. I would go with a 15” if it were me as I like the sound of a 15”. The 10” x 2 are great if you are playing out and need to really reach the back of the audience but sounds like that’s not an issue for you. Look at their model curves as it will let you know if the speaker you are looking at with give you the bass response you are looking for. My speakers are good for mid range. Best of luck !

 

[fdeck]

This is the 12" lightweight that I built almost 15 years ago, and I'm still happy with it. I've learned a lot about speakers since then, but have not regretted this build.

bassistTech/Personal-Page

 

[Alivefor5]

Here's a long running thread that may give you some info. The builder is well respected around here.

Low-cost DIY practice/coffeehouse tweeterless 110 [long] | TalkBass.com

 

[808State]

Between the Alpha15 and Beta15. The Beta has better efficiency and tone all around.
A upgrade would be the CB158.
Eminence has small med and large recommended enclosures for most drivers. Down loadable PDF files.

If you need actual plans then the Electro Voice TL606 is the classic 15" cabinet.
This formula will work for any 15" bass appropriate driver.
It can be used for PA use or Musical instrument. It has a Slot type port with a removable cover.
With the cover off its 55 hz tuning for PA use. With the cover on its 40hz for Musical Instrument/Bass use

 

[bluesfanjp]

I built the simplex 2x10 with deltalite 2510 speakers and love it! Easy to build and louder than its size implies. It can also be built as 1x configuration. See the Bill Fitzmaurice web site for plans

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

I have a pair of 112 cabinets using the Deltalite 2512 II.
I was looking for compact, fairly lite, simple and yet capable of covering a lot of different applications.
I'm old enough to remember when Fender 212 bassman cabinets covered everything.
Maybe not really well, but enough to get the job done.
It just so happens that half of one of those is well within the Eminence sealed cabinet size range.
Covers guitar, bass, PA mains (within reason, vocals only) and floor monitor.
One of them and my 400RB makes a nice low volume rig.

 

[Doufuss]

Since you don't have a lot of power, you need the most efficient (highest sensitivity) speaker you can get/afford. Using the Eminence design pages is a great place to start for the design -- the Parts Express Web site has links to all those pages and is organized better than Eminence's own site is, IMO.

As a for instance, the Eminence Deltalite ii 2512 neo-dym drivers have a rated sensitivity of 99.9 dB -- you'd be hard pressed to find anything more efficient. PE has them for $155 and they weigh next to nothing, so the shipping wouldn't add too much. There's also a 15 in that series. Just a thought.

Welcome aboard.

The Emi Deltalite II 2515 is a stout, but lightweight speaker that happens to be a great sounding bass guitar speaker. It has good power handling, good midrange and enough high end you won't miss a tweeter. It would work well in a TL606, and I see someone posted the plans up above.