I don't see that, as the main things that fEarful hangs their hat on is the separate mid driver and slot ports.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
DIY Subway 115 Cabinet
- Thread starter Mr Sensitive
- Start date
I don't see that, as the main things that fEarful hangs their hat on is the separate mid driver and slot ports.
- Nov 24, 2008
- 4,343
- 7,163
- Disclosures
- Owner & designer, AudioKinesis; Auth. mfg, Big E (Home Audio only)
I don't see that at all.
None of the specifics are the same, and any similarities in the general format and/or outward appearance are consequences of what the basic problems are and what the possible solutions are when it comes to bass cab design. And Agedhorse is the last person who would "borrow" someone else's design.
You stated that "in other words, they [the Mesa Subway 115s] are basically production made fearful cabs with the Mesa logo and some additional engineering by the Mesa folks." That is not only false, it is also insulting to Mesa and is imo way out of line.
edit: Thanks for your post below.
Last edited:
I certainly didn't mean anything negative by it, Mesa stuff is great. If I misinterpreted what I was reading, my apologies.
The fEarfull plans don't use corner ports, and they don't use bracing that looks anything like the bracing in the Subway cabs. The Subway cabs don't use midrange drivers, the FEarful do, so your understanding is 100% wrong.
Those Altec's come from an age where efficiency was prized over power. I tried to use a pair back in the late 70's and they just will not take the abuse you'll give them with a bass. You can buy some decent high power 15's at Parts Express that'll do the job nicely and leave money in your pocket to build your enclosure.
Good bass cabs are complex animals, as these replies attest. You will do much better trolling threads here on TB about lightweight cabs, deciding for yourself what you think you might like, then watching craigslist and local sales for the sort of cabinet you want. No, you won't find something for $100, but you can find very very good deals on even high end gear if you are patient and persistent. A place to save money is the product which is functionally sound but cosmetically substandard. Use your DIY skills to work rehabbing a good cab in tough cosmetic shape, I've done it with high end cabs several times.
“Hey, I have this 15” driver, it just needs a box. How hard can it be?”
How many of us started the journey by saying something just like this? Over beers?
Throw in access to power tools and it’s off to the races.
Some free scrap plywood off the job? Hell yeah! Cooking with gas!
I know I built some stuff that shouldn’t have seen the light of day.
Building you own cabs is super satisfying. Especially when they knock the stuffings out of your old gear.
Skip over to the Greenboy’s website, build a 12/6. You’ll have a winner.
Or you could build a TL 606 and put a 3015 non LF in. Sure, you can stick the Altec in there just because you have it. After it blows, or sucks, try a 3015 neo.
Either way, you’ll have fun in the shop.
Here’s a fEarful 12/6 cube, from scratch, after a pleasant afternoon in the shop.
No drinking until the tools are down for the day.
How many of us started the journey by saying something just like this? Over beers?
Throw in access to power tools and it’s off to the races.
Some free scrap plywood off the job? Hell yeah! Cooking with gas!
I know I built some stuff that shouldn’t have seen the light of day.
Building you own cabs is super satisfying. Especially when they knock the stuffings out of your old gear.
Skip over to the Greenboy’s website, build a 12/6. You’ll have a winner.
Or you could build a TL 606 and put a 3015 non LF in. Sure, you can stick the Altec in there just because you have it. After it blows, or sucks, try a 3015 neo.
Either way, you’ll have fun in the shop.
Here’s a fEarful 12/6 cube, from scratch, after a pleasant afternoon in the shop.
No drinking until the tools are down for the day.
That's a pretty nice looking cab for being constriction site scraps.
I actually did build two small cabs from construction site scrap.
It was a piece of 3/4 ply that had been used for troweling concrete.
Gave my cabs a heavy rock vibe.
Awww, power tools and booz! I'm a tequila and combustion engine kind-of-guy.
Yea, that VOT is of little use. They were cross-overed over at 500Hz or 800HZ depending on what horn was in them 511/811. And they did not have big bassey sound; they were efficient dialog/movie sound track speakers. Me, I'm going to do a fEARful 12/6 from a flat pack. I have two TL606s w/EVM15LIIs that I am retiring. I built the cabinets forty years ago, before Mesa Boogie and such began using the EV-TL designs. If you're in the USA-Mid Atlantic region, I'll sell them to you real cheap
Thanks, I’ve made progress from used scrap form ply to actual store bought Baltic birch.
$34 for a 5x5 sheet at my local supplier. One sheet easily does a 12/6.
The most expensive part of a 12/6 is the 3012LF.
I found the drivers and crossover for the last 12/6 I built in the TB classifieds for $250.
If you are a DIY kind of guy, the fEarfuls are a great project. Huge bang for the buck!
$34 for a 5x5 sheet at my local supplier. One sheet easily does a 12/6.
The most expensive part of a 12/6 is the 3012LF.
I found the drivers and crossover for the last 12/6 I built in the TB classifieds for $250.
If you are a DIY kind of guy, the fEarfuls are a great project. Huge bang for the buck!
It's been said, building a near-identical cab to a subway might not be practical for an old driver from the seventies.
Now, here is the dilemma - do you spend some dosh on a modern DIY design that's made for lots of hi-fi low end volume and power handling, which would need an expensive new driver alongside the new cab materials. Or, do you attempt to make a cab for your older driver that won't perform in the same way, and might be unpredictable in that you can't get modern specs for it - or they might be hard to get a hold of.
Honestly, I don't think that the latter is all that outlandish when you take into account certain compromises and variables. The reason that we recommend people take a more scientific approach to designing their cabinets before building them is to help them get the best out of their situation, some attempt to dissuade others into specific designs - like the fearful. Sure, the fearful is the top of its class in terms of raw power handling and high fidelity as far as DIY is concerned, as are BFM designs - but both of them are designs requiring you to buy specific drivers.
If you're willing to keep using your music man head, I'm sure a voice of the theatre speaker won't blow up with 65 watts of power. From here it's a matter of trying to find information specific to your driver - oi you have a model number, a quick Google search might help shine some light on what cabs the driver might have gone into - that you could then take notes from and perhaps make a lighter, smaller version of with minimal compromise.
If worse comes to worst and you can't get ANY information, you could make a box with a baffle - perhaps 22" by 22", and as deep as your backseat could allow, you could put a sealed back at varying depths in the cabinet. One perhaps at 12-14" depth, another 15"-16", and lastly, as deep as you can go, flush with the back of the sides - I'm assuming maybe 18-20". When you set up the shortest depth, take it to band practice, see how it rolls. Then go to the middle depth, take it to practice, see how it goes. Then the deepest, and again, take it to a jam and see how she fares. Then cut the cabinet down to the size you liked the best, and finish it up - maybe put some foam and bracing in to taste, apply tolex or something, get a handle. It's basically "speaker design while naked and afraid," but trial and error is sometimes the only method you have, and after one's due diligence on research turns up fruitless it's hard to find other options and making a sealed box like this is the most effective way to make a cabinet by trial and error with a minimal possibility of breaking the speaker or arriving at analysis paralysis from all of the variables involved.
Also, Celestion has made a speaker design catalog in the 90s that seemed to help people out. Sure, most of the info is just plain dated, but it might help you with brainstorming just a tad. I've flipped through it a few times as a curiosity.
Edit: I just looked on eBay, that Lansing might be worth some dosh. You might be able to just sell it to an enthusiast for an amount of money with which you could possibly get a new driver like an eminence Beta or Alpha 15, and potentially even cabinet materials, with money leftover for a post-build beer.
Now, here is the dilemma - do you spend some dosh on a modern DIY design that's made for lots of hi-fi low end volume and power handling, which would need an expensive new driver alongside the new cab materials. Or, do you attempt to make a cab for your older driver that won't perform in the same way, and might be unpredictable in that you can't get modern specs for it - or they might be hard to get a hold of.
Honestly, I don't think that the latter is all that outlandish when you take into account certain compromises and variables. The reason that we recommend people take a more scientific approach to designing their cabinets before building them is to help them get the best out of their situation, some attempt to dissuade others into specific designs - like the fearful. Sure, the fearful is the top of its class in terms of raw power handling and high fidelity as far as DIY is concerned, as are BFM designs - but both of them are designs requiring you to buy specific drivers.
If you're willing to keep using your music man head, I'm sure a voice of the theatre speaker won't blow up with 65 watts of power. From here it's a matter of trying to find information specific to your driver - oi you have a model number, a quick Google search might help shine some light on what cabs the driver might have gone into - that you could then take notes from and perhaps make a lighter, smaller version of with minimal compromise.
If worse comes to worst and you can't get ANY information, you could make a box with a baffle - perhaps 22" by 22", and as deep as your backseat could allow, you could put a sealed back at varying depths in the cabinet. One perhaps at 12-14" depth, another 15"-16", and lastly, as deep as you can go, flush with the back of the sides - I'm assuming maybe 18-20". When you set up the shortest depth, take it to band practice, see how it rolls. Then go to the middle depth, take it to practice, see how it goes. Then the deepest, and again, take it to a jam and see how she fares. Then cut the cabinet down to the size you liked the best, and finish it up - maybe put some foam and bracing in to taste, apply tolex or something, get a handle. It's basically "speaker design while naked and afraid," but trial and error is sometimes the only method you have, and after one's due diligence on research turns up fruitless it's hard to find other options and making a sealed box like this is the most effective way to make a cabinet by trial and error with a minimal possibility of breaking the speaker or arriving at analysis paralysis from all of the variables involved.
Also, Celestion has made a speaker design catalog in the 90s that seemed to help people out. Sure, most of the info is just plain dated, but it might help you with brainstorming just a tad. I've flipped through it a few times as a curiosity.
Edit: I just looked on eBay, that Lansing might be worth some dosh. You might be able to just sell it to an enthusiast for an amount of money with which you could possibly get a new driver like an eminence Beta or Alpha 15, and potentially even cabinet materials, with money leftover for a post-build beer.
Last edited:
