Home Made Cab, Better than Expensive Cabs!

[ticker]

Hi,

Just felt the urge to share my recent experience with everybody.

I have been using a home made 2x15" Cab for about 10 years now. It is fitted with 2x400W Emminence Kappa Pro Speakers, and we used a computer program to work out the cab size and the port size etc. It has been a good cab and has never let me down.

But I have always coveted professionally made gear and especially Trace Elliot cabs as they look great and I have always wanted one.

I had my birthday this last weekend and asked all my family and relatives to chip in towards my dream cab along with some gig money I had saved up.

I went and Purchased a Trace Elliot 1048H Cab.

I was expecting it to revolutionise my Sound. I thought it would sound tighter and be generally better all round.

I was really dissapointed to find that it was actually no better than my trusty old cab. It did sound slightly different in the way it reproduced fret noise and slapped notes, but that was just the addition of the HF Horn. If anything it was also quieter and less punchy and I missed the sound of my 2x15" at the first band rehearsal.

Luckily I was able to return it to the store as it was still in mint condition and I got a full refund.

I have now used the money to buy four Celestion EN12-300S, 300W 12" speakers. And we are going to build 2 new cabs rehousing the 2x15" to create a monster 4x12 + 2x15" stack with similar proportions to a full Marshall Guitar Stack (deeper cabs of course)

This will be cheaper than buying the single Trace Elliot cab and will be absolutely awesome, unique, and very large!!!!

It was just a revelation to me that the expensive gear we buy in the shops is actually no better than what my Dad built in our Garage 10 Years ago! You can build your perfect custom cab quite easily and now I can rest easy knowing it is just as good, if not better, than the top manufacturers Gear.

 

[Let It Fall]

Wish I would build my own cabs, sadly I like haveing the whole brand thing going on, but it would be too easy to make a sealed 410 cab. However I doubt mine would look professional with the nice speaker cover
and all.

 

[tifftunes]

Wish I would build my own cabs, sadly I like haveing the whole brand thing going on, but it would be too easy to make a sealed 410 cab. However I doubt mine would look professional with the nice speaker cover
and all.

Its easier than you might think. My first cab (1x15 TL design) was built in the kitchen of a tiny rented house. I had Home Depot cut the 4'x8' sheets of plywood down to size for me. I cut the holes for the speaker and handles in my kitchen table (with my wife cringing), glued and screwed the sides, back, and baffle together, and initially painted with flat black (outside tho). But eventually, added aluminum extrusion on all edges, steel ball corners, and added a perforated steel grill to it. Looks quite similar to what Mesa Boogie released as the "Road Ready" cabs a decade ago.

Plans are still available for this cabinet (and many others). Its VERY gratifying when someone says "wow! That sounds great! What brand cab is that?" "Yeah, thanks! I made that!"

And BTW, I think my cabs sound as good, if not better, than anything available under $1200.

 

[Magical_Merlin]

What program do you use to calculate volume and port size? Thanks.

 

[Let It Fall]

Yes but I much prefer the cloth style grille

which is probably easy to make

 

[Zooberwerx]

Bill Fitzmaurice has DIY designs for enclosures that purportedly will blow conventional stuff out of the water. I'm particularly interested in his sub designs for PA use.

Riis

 

[ticker]

Yes but I much prefer the cloth style grille

which is probably easy to make

My New 4x12 and 2x15 will be black carpet covered with black speaker cloth on the front, I am having some custom badges made from white perspex on a milling machine at my work place. Once you have put the corner protectors on the finished product is as good or even better than a shop bought cab. When they are done I will post some photo's once they are finished.

 

[MIJ-VI]

Hi,

Just felt the urge to share my recent experience with everybody.

I have been using a home made 2x15" Cab for about 10 years now. It is fitted with 2x400W Emminence Kappa Pro Speakers, and we used a computer program to work out the cab size and the port size etc. It has been a good cab and has never let me down.

But I have always coveted professionally made gear and especially Trace Elliot cabs as they look great and I have always wanted one.

I had my birthday this last weekend and asked all my family and relatives to chip in towards my dream cab along with some gig money I had saved up.

I went and Purchased a Trace Elliot 1048H Cab.

I was expecting it to revolutionise my Sound. I thought it would sound tighter and be generally better all round.

I was really dissapointed to find that it was actually no better than my trusty old cab. It did sound slightly different in the way it reproduced fret noise and slapped notes, but that was just the addition of the HF Horn. If anything it was also quieter and less punchy and I missed the sound of my 2x15" at the first band rehearsal.

Luckily I was able to return it to the store as it was still in mint condition and I got a full refund.

I have now used the money to buy four Celestion EN12-300S, 300W 12" speakers. And we are going to build 2 new cabs rehousing the 2x15" to create a monster 4x12 + 2x15" stack with similar proportions to a full Marshall Guitar Stack (deeper cabs of course)

This will be cheaper than buying the single Trace Elliot cab and will be absolutely awesome, unique, and very large!!!!

It was just a revelation to me that the expensive gear we buy in the shops is actually no better than what my Dad built in our Garage 10 Years ago! You can build your perfect custom cab quite easily and now I can rest easy knowing it is just as good, if not better, than the top manufacturers Gear.

Are you planning on using both of those cabs to-gether in a full-range bass rig?

If so, some reading before proceeding...

'To Mix Or Not To Mix-That Is The Question'

 

[ticker]

Thanks For That,

I have my own opinion on Speaker Pairing and Size Issues.

I am sure on paper there are differences between the response of different speakers, however the biggest issue affecting your tone is your Pre Amp and EQ.

A well built cab with good flat frequency respnse can sound any way you like if you have tone controls! My main concern is building cabs powerful enough to be clean sounding even at my biggest gigs, which the new rig will easily be. I know it is well over the top, but that is half the apeal of it!

As for the phasing issues associated with different sized speakers in the same stack, plenty of big name companies do it so it can't be that big a problem. I think really you have to choose what you want it to look like and buy high quality drivers, the rest is done by good cab design and EQ settings.

I don't mean that apearence is more important than sound, just that you can get a good sound from almost any decent bass speaker regardless of size, so just choose the ones you think look good!

I am using the two 15's because I already have 2 good drivers in my current cab ready to use and I chose the Four 12's because nobody currently makes a Square traditionaly styled 4x12 bass cab. I will make the cabs as deep as possible to give maximum volume and then port them using Perfect Box or a similar program to get good freequency response. I will lalso have a HF horn or two in the 4x12.

I will mostly just use the 4x12 cab but I can wheel out the full stack for big gigs if I feel like showing off.

They will be very big but I don't mind that. It doesn't seem right to me that bass cabs are generaly smaller than the 4x12's used by my guitarists, this stack is going to restore the balance!

 

[billfitzmaurice]

As for the phasing issues associated with different sized speakers in the same stack, plenty of big name companies do it so it can't be that big a problem.

Does the name AIG ring a bell? How about sub-prime mortgages? Hummer? Saturn? Plenty of big name companies engage in any manner and number of ill advised practices, so long as they can make a profit doing it in at least the short term. Speaker companies are no different, giving the customer what the customer wants. If customers think it's OK to mix and match and insist on doing so then that's what they'll sell them.
You as much as anyone should know from personal experience that the touted level of engineering expertise offered in the average bass cab is very much a matter of the Emperor being quite stark naked.
And to that end I suggest you do quite a bit more research on the subject. Your path with your intended design will give you a result that's certainly at least as good as what you can get from the usual sources, but that's setting your sights way too low.

 

[ticker]

Thanks Bill, I have just spent a while looking at your site and I am of course very impressed. I will take your advice and do some more research before finalising my designs. I think the 4x12 would have been my main cab anyway as I would hardly ever use the enormous full stack that I was planning. So I might just throw all my effort into devising the most efficient possible 4x12 cab for bass guitar and leave my existing cab alone. I realise that a 4x12 is probably not needed or even the best solution, however I just want that visual effect. What I do want to do is tune that design to get the absolute best from that particular format.

Again, many thanks for your advice.

Cheers, Will.

 

[Boostedrex]

Will,

I totally agree with your first post. I think that far too many people simply assume that a high dollar commercially available cab will sound better than what can be built at home for a fraction of the cost. I build my own DIY audio stuff for my home theater, 2.1 listening room, car, and am about to start on a DIY bass cab.

And for anyone lacking the carpentry skills, go to your local cabinet maker (kitchen cabinets and such) and ask them for a quote to build what you want. With the slow economy I think you'd be surprised at how affordable of an option that will be. Plus you'll be helping out a local business in the process! Just some food for thought.

Zach

 

[Steelers Fan]

Will,

I totally agree with your first post....

Same here. I made a ported 1X15 cab a couple of years ago as a father-son home project. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out and sounded. I still use it today.

 

[NKUSigEp]

It all depends on the skill of the guy making the cab and the time and effort he puts into it.

 

[Bassmec]

Over here in third world europe the PA hire companies where too poor to
import whole JBL cabinets back when things made in the USA where properly huge.
So we had to just import the drivers and always built our own copies.
Nothing wrong with that, being a wood butcher is quite therapeutic actually.

 

[tifftunes]

What program do you use to calculate volume and port size? Thanks.

Sorry M_M, I missed your question...

The plans I used were already configured. All I had to do was build whatever they said... Which I did! Here's a few resulting cabs:

1x12

2x12 topping 2x15

I had the steel grills made by a local speaker cabinet supplier... But cloth grills are easy for DIY.

.

 

[Ric5]

I built several 2x10, 1x15, and 1x18 cabs ...

I am very happy with the tone ...

The 2x10 at the bottom and the 1x15 at the top are my cabs.

 

[paulears]

Invalid Link Removed
A few years ago, I had been building some 19" racks for a studio, and as I had a few bits and pieces laying around, I did some capacity calculations and built this. 1 x 15" and 2 x 10" drivers, a 400W rack amp and an old Behringer guitar processor. 4 castors on the rear, with the left channel to the big speaker and the right to the 2 x 10"s. Despite having other bass kit, I still like the sound of this. Too big and heavy to use unless we're in a big van or truck, but the sound really works for me. Ok on 6 string too, but bass is nice and solid. Luck, I suspect!