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has anyone built their own cab?

M

madmanmerc

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May 11, 2015
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#1
hey all. so im thinking about upgrading a bit, seeing that I only have an ampeg ba108 combo. a friend of mine has the fender rumble 150 amp and he is willing to let it go real cheap. seeing that I have a family mortgage ect... buying a cab right now is a little difficult. I am very good at woodwork and I was thinking about maybe building my own cab. perhaps a 2x10. has anyone ever done it? will it work?
I was at an electronics store today and I saw some jbl selenium woofers at a good price, can these be used? or do I need a specific woofer for an bass guitar. they also had a brand of woofer named blg, which I noticed was also the name of some combos being sold there. sorry for all the questions but I figured if anyone can help me out its my brothers and sisters at tb.
thanks jimmy
 
#2
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#5
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this is the link to the woofers. if it would cost less to bu =y used I would rather do that, its just that im really good with wood and thought I could save a few bucks
thanks jimmy
 
#6
madmanmerc said:
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this is the link to the woofers. if it would cost less to bu =y used I would rather do that, its just that im really good with wood and thought I could save a few bucks
thanks jimmy
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That has some decent specs, a little low on sensitivity but not bad. You will not be able to make a 210 cab with a single 15" speaker through?
Quite truthfully, you can get a very good used cab cheaper than building your own even if the labor is free (and you don't pay BFM for plans).
 
#9
I've played through homemade cabs since around 1980. My view is that we are in a golden age of bass speaker design, with modern drivers that are a lot easier to design around, and a proliferation of technical, practical, and musical knowledge available online.

My view is that you can save money relative to a high end cab, but not relative to cheap commercial gear. The hard part is knowing what you want.
madmanmerc said:
sorry b string. I they make 10s also though lol
whats a bfm by the way? lol
Click to expand...
bfm = Bill Fitzmaurice
 
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#10
madmanmerc said:
sorry b string. I they make 10s also though lol
whats a bfm by the way? lol
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought you may have posted in error the 15" :). would need to look over the spec sheet for the exact 10" as specs vary widely from model to model.

BFM was linked by another poster, he SELLS plans for warmed up horn cabs and reflex cabs on his website and support in his user boards. You would need to check carefully if the speakers you want to buy are listed as alternatives for his plans. If not they will perform poorly and you wasted money either on the speakers or the plans. There are several good freeware box design programs to make buying plans on a bass reflex box silly.
 
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#14
I have built a few of my own cabs. They are not cheap though. They are great cabs designed around a particular set of drivers. The reason I like building them are it's like making payments on a top-shelf cab on you own schedule. Plywood is cheap, so I usually build the box 1st. When money is available I'll buy a driver, if I'm short that month I'll buy some hardware instead. Maybe some corners, feet and jackplate. Maybe some duratex and insulation. It may take 6 months till I have my cab, but If you have the money it can go quicker. I'm still using 2 of my cabs and have no desire for anything else. I have also built 2 PA subwoofers. But I did use some pre-existing proven plans since I'm not a cab designer. So take your time, have fun along the way, and make a cab that stands out in a crowd!
 
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#15
Build a fEARful!! I'm almost done with mine...
WP_20150627_16_09_46_Pro.jpg

If your good with woodwork these should be a piece of cake, I ended up getting a flat pack, but it was all too easy, fun but time consuming;)
Edit: It *wasn't* cheap though(less than a already built super-cab though), but like Bstring said, it definitely would be cheaper to buy a good used cabinet...
 
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#16
ofajen said:
Do you mean to say Qts, for Q of total system? Certainly it is one of the three critical values values of a driver needed for a T-S design, along with fs and Vas.

Otto
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As I understand it, Qtc is the value that Q takes on, when the driver is in the box. It determines whether the response curve has a "hump" or a "dip" near the driver / box resonance. Most often these days, rather than computing this Q, it's easy to just look at the response curve itself and decide if it's what you want.
 
#17
B-string said:
Yeah I thought you may have posted in error the 15" :). would need to look over the spec sheet for the exact 10" as specs vary widely from model to model.

BFM was linked by another poster, he SELLS plans for warmed up horn cabs and reflex cabs on his website and support in his user boards. You would need to check carefully if the speakers you want to buy are listed as alternatives for his plans. If not they will perform poorly and you wasted money either on the speakers or the plans. There are several good freeware box design programs to make buying plans on a bass reflex box silly.
Click to expand...

+1 on not getting his reflex box design if you're buying a BFM design. The jack line is well-received by bassists, and if you can afford the recommended drivers the design can really help a little go a long way. It depends on the overall sound that you want though - the low-lows are going to necessarily be big and complex, and even the jacks - which are small and simple by comparison - are going to be bigger than a traditional cab, more complex to make, and more mid-focused.

In a nutshell - if you've got the skills to build a horn cabinet, and don't mind a 110 or 112 cabinet being bigger than average - closer to the size of a 210 or 212, and lastly don't want tons of low-lows, a jack is a good option for you. If not, I'd look for a good used cabinet, or a free design for a bass reflex box - perhaps fEARful is out of the question, but that stuff is pretty top of the line.
 
#20
pie_man_25 said:
+1 on not getting his reflex box design if you're buying a BFM design.
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-1. Bill wouldn't do a bass reflex for ten years, because he said that there were enough of them out there that there was no point. He finally gave in to demand with the Simplexx cabs, but only because he knew that he could make a better bass reflex design than all the rest. And he did.
You can find good used cabs for a lot less than building your own good cab.
I've built my own but they were not cheaper than buying a new one.
Better, yes
Cheaper, no
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+1, sort of. You probably won't spend less on a DIY than what you can find a new cab for, but you'll spend a lot less than you would for a new cab, or even a used cab, that sounds as good.
 

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