wmhill
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- Aug 20, 2012
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I will help empty the barrel just to get the project under way!
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Build your own cabinet - bad idea or really bad idea?
- Thread starter placedesjardins
- Start date
Your point being??
You could say that the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak!
Go for it. I custom built the cab for my Super Bassman 300 below. I wanted a 4ohm 2x15 ported box that matched the head, could handle some wattage, and could lay on its side like the old bassman cabs. If you have the skill to make square cuts (and a round one or two) within tight tolerances, and glue up precise angles, you can make a cab. But like others have already pointed out, there is some pesky science involved, especially if you are porting the cab. I solved that problem by starting with the tried/true design of a Sunn 100s and tweaked the dimensions to suit the drivers I installed. Very little tuning was needed. It sounds absolutely like I had hoped it would, better even. Looks pretty nice, too, IMO. It ended up being more cost effective than buying a couple Fender Neo 115s, I think this cab was between $400-500 all in. Cheaper and I got the look/sound I wanted = happy. Best of luck to you!
wmhill
Inactive
- Aug 20, 2012
- 4,054
- 17,210
- Disclosures
- MTD basses endorsed artist Bartolini pickups emerging artist TECAMP bass players gear endorsed
I said help..... to do it by myself would take, well, a while!Your point being??
You could say that the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak!
Yes, that was a concern that I had during the build, but turned out not to be the case. I've gigged it several times in both horizontal and vertical orientation without any difference in tone that I can detect. It's the widest, warmest, woodiest cab I've ever heard. It produces lows I didn't know existed standing up or laying down.
So I chickened out and bought a Hartke 210XL. I'm a big chicken. Maybe in the future, I'll do a build and hook it up in series.
Speaker designers like Bill Fitzmaurice and Greenboy are. Making your own from plans like what these guys have you end up with engineering that would cost you at least twice as much as it would to buy. With Bills horn loaded cabs you can't buy anything that equals them, unless you buy one from one of his builders.
The difference is how wide the dispersion is with the mids, they go wider with the cab vertical, but you won't be able to tell at close range. In the audience it would be more obvious.
Understood and agreed. I lay it on its side on larger stages that tend to have a pretty serious amount of PA support, so that's probably why I don't really hear much difference. I also tilt it back so that may also help. Also, the front port is a pretty large slot, so the bass just seems everywhere on stage. My drummer said it's like he's wearing my bass sound. He loves it. On smaller stages it stands vertical. Call me nostalgic, but I'm just a sucker for the old school look on its side.
I'm not saying it's easy to reproduce high end cabinets. I was just saying amateurs out there are building sub-woofer cabinets for their cars which are good.
True, but most of them aren't any better than what you can buy. The ones that are better than what you can buy are just like the DIY bass cabs that are better than what you can buy, they're not simple boxes, they're refined designs, like the auto tuba: http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/AutoTruckTuba.html
