Peavey Combo 300 questions

[SouthpawStrat]

OK, they seem to be multiplying...
I originally had just one, but the bottom part of the cabinet got water damaged (particle board swelled and disintegrated) so I cut the head off and kept it as a backup.
Perusing Craigslist (damn GAS!) I have run across and purchased 2 more, both in decent shape for under $50 each.
As everyone here knows, these things are HEAVY and AWKWARD to haul around, so I'm thinking of building some single cabs for the Black Widow 15's (1502-4) and using the heads separately.
I've searched around, and have had no luck finding some decent cabinet designs for these speakers, and my design skillz are questionable (don't really trust the numbers I've gotten from various cabinet design software).
I'm on a budget (who isn't?) and would like to use these three speakers I already have. I know they're limited in excursion and have a relatively high resonant frequency, but "run what ya brung", ya know...
I have good tools and woodworking skills, so construction isn't a problem.
Everyone here raves about the fEARful designs, would one of these work for my Peavey speakers, and if not what parameters would I tweak to make them work?
I'll be using them with the original Peavey heads.
Any thoughts/suggestions/Ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[basscooker]

i had this one in the eighties and did about the same thing- put the head on top of a 3620- try moving that sucker around! now the question i have for you is this-- i didn't think the cab without the amp was so bad to move around, are you absolutely sure you wouldn't want to just rework the cabs? i know you said the one got damaged, but you have two others, right? would you be uninterested in maybe putting together a 2x15 cab? i know that would be more of a b*** than the combo to move around, but 2x15's just plain kick tail! as for a fearful, i don't know enough to help with that, but on the surface, why couldn't that work? but wait: these had an external cab jack on them, or at least the one i had did, so they would have to be 8 ohm speakers, yeah? i noticed you put a part number of 1502-4 in your post, does that mean you have 4 ohm speakers? if so , you would have either 2 half stacks or if you went for a 2x15 you'd have to make it an 8 ohm cab, killing your power and leaving you with two useless (except as backups) heads.

 

[SouthpawStrat]

Thanks, basscooker... I thought about a 2-15" cab but my back protested...
Yeah, the cab with no head in it is not too heavy. I just think the cab design doesn't get it. It is only about 2 cu. ft. volume, is very shallow (about 12"), and only has two triangular holes for ports. It's also made from particle board, so it's heavy and prone to damage.


I'm thinking using 1/2" plywood with good internal bracing and a shelf port, such as the fEARful design construction. All I would like to do is use some dimensions that complement the parameters of these particular speakers.


The speakers are 4 ohms, and the Combo 300 head is 210w/4 ohms, 300w/2 ohms. A pair of these speakers (in decent designed single cabinets) with this head should be a nice easily transportable modular setup that kicks butt.


A lot of people don't like the "Mississippi Mud" Peavey sound, but I gigged the original one I had (that got water damaged) for over ten years... it was a real durable workhorse that sounded good with some EQ tweaking and was plenty loud for most venues.


If this project works out well I'll have a nice modular rig with backup spares. If not, I'm not out a lot of $$$ and will still have the two original cabs to put all the bits back into and make them stock again.


My two main players are lefty Fender MM P-Basses, one with stock MM pups and the other with EMG-AX actives.

 

[will33]

Work up a box with a net internal volume of about 3.5 cubic feet, tune it to 45hz or pretty much anywhere in the 40's, that'll sound a lot more like a real bass cab. For reference, the response charts on Peavey's site were measured in cab, 3.5 cu.ft. tuned 40hz. The slightly higher tuning will bring the lowend up a little more.

 

[Standalone]

Why not copy the orig. design in lightweight plywood...?

 

[will33]

Why not copy the orig. design in lightweight plywood...?

Those, like many combos have the cabinet portion undersized to make the whole package smaller. Rebuilding it into a normal size 115 box will get you lowend extension and smoother response, less of the "boom" that makes mud in bad rooms.

 

[dog1]

Those, like many combos have the cabinet portion undersized to make the whole package smaller. Rebuilding it into a normal size 115 box will get you lowend extension and smoother response, less of the "boom" that makes mud in bad rooms.

Will and standalone have good advice. I had one of those 300 combos, and it sounded great. Don't build a 2-15 old man, (I am also old with heavy gear issues) build 2 1-15 cabs that duplicate the internal volume and porting of the original. Use 1/2" plywood, and 3/4" for the front and back. That'll do.

 

[SouthpawStrat]

Thanks for all the sage advice.
I think I'll build a single speaker enclosure of about 3.5 c.f. with a shelf port.
Port dimensions are TBD, and I'll try and calculate them using the specific driver parameters based on a target resonant frequency of about 45Hz.
Cabinet construction will be 1/2" birch ply with bracing.
If the first one works out, I'll build two more.
The heads will go in separate enclosures, with a space to store cables, etc. under the front panel covered by a hinged door.
Mods to the heads will include an XLR out (maybe an in also), additional speaker jacks and a detachable power cord.
These heads are also set up for bi-amping, so that's an option I'll consider in the future.

 

[will33]

You certainly can do shelf ports if you want. If it's easier for you, a pair of 4" pipes is plenty of port area for these, they're not mucho excursion drivers. If you do shelf, refer to this thread, http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/cab-building-question-about-shelf-port-length-823673/ Some correction factor is needed when using WinISD. There's another online calculator there that's a bit more accurate. WinISD is accurate with the pipes. Search the DIY threads for proper bracing techniques, bracing is very important.

Curves for the 3.5cu.ft. - 40hz alignment can be found here. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/cab-building-question-about-shelf-port-length-823673/ Looking at the 1502-4, it looks like you could bring the lowend up even more. I wouldn't go above 50hz though. If your amps are biamp capable, I'd layout the baffle to leave you room to add a 6 or 8 inch down the road should you want that later.

 

[Ray1502-4]

Why not copy the orig. design in lightweight plywood...?

Why not copy the orig. design in lightweight plywood...?

I found 115 cabinets, same outside dimensions, but one has a 5" sound hole in lower front,cand the other has a horn like Angled wood section built across the bottom. The Combo has 2 triangles one on either top side..they weren't BW cabs, but I cut them to fit the BW's and added a BW badge.