Iso-cab for an Iso-Cab

N

notCardio

I walk the line
OK, I've got a Randall Iso-Cab (well, two actually) but it's not quiet enough for me in the room. I want to build a 'soundproof' (I know that's not possible, but that's the best description I can think of) closet or cab to put the Iso-cab in. I'm just trying to reduce the noise level of sound leaking out as much as possible, but I don't want to screw up the internal acoustics of the cab. How much do you think I need to worry about things like standing waves, or the cab being able to 'breathe'?
 
I've got two amp vaults that built in my room. They're about 4' square inside (a Marshall 4-12 cab will fit inside). The walls are basicly 3/4" partical board and plywood sandwich. Definately not 100% soundproof by any means but they slow it down substantially. If I put an iso cab in one I bet it would be that much quieter. I've never noticed any standing waves or strange artifacts while using them.
 
Thanks. I would think, though, that you wouldn't want a square 'room'. Did you try to make them airtight? Any pics would be greatly appreciated!
 
notCardio said:
Thanks. I would think, though, that you wouldn't want a square 'room'. Did you try to make them airtight? Any pics would be greatly appreciated!
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in an iso cab isn't the mic inside the cab?
If so I doubt it matters much about the room it's in for recording. There's simply no way, in my opinion, that any sound or standing wave nodes would get into the cabn at a level high enough to be audible over whatever you were playing.
 
Yeah, they're not perfect squares. The door side is angled about 20 degrees. I'll see if I can take some pics. They are air tight. The door is held in place by eight bolts with wing nuts. They do a great job but with a 4-12 cab powered by a Marshall, the sound can walk through about anything.
 
Lt. Bob said:
in an iso cab isn't the mic inside the cab?
If so I doubt it matters much about the room it's in for recording. There's simply no way, in my opinion, that any sound or standing wave nodes would get into the cabn at a level high enough to be audible over whatever you were playing.
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Yeah, the mic is inside the cab, but the cab itself is not airtight, it's ported. The cone needs to be able to move freely, and I thought if it were in a relative small airtight chamber, excursion might be inhibited, and particularly, inhibited at certain frequencies due to standing waves.
 
Track Rat said:
Yeah, they're not perfect squares. The door side is angled about 20 degrees. I'll see if I can take some pics. They are air tight. The door is held in place by eight bolts with wing nuts. They do a great job but with a 4-12 cab powered by a Marshall, the sound can walk through about anything.
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Thanks. What did you use for the door? I know I'm probably going for overkill here, but I don't want to go to all the trouble of building something and then have a major flaw in the design. And the iso-cab by itself isn't quiet enough for my needs.
 
I built something similar a while back. It's not totally soundproof {a loud amp is a loud amp, after all}, but when you crank an amp up full, then do likewise within both boxes, it really makes a difference.
 
notCardio said:
Yeah, the mic is inside the cab, but the cab itself is not airtight, it's ported. The cone needs to be able to move freely, and I thought if it were in a relative small airtight chamber, excursion might be inhibited, and particularly, inhibited at certain frequencies due to standing waves.
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I don't think so ..... the standing wave that actually stops cone movement is the back pressure at the port's tuning freq. I really can't imagine the room making much of a difference if any at all when you're mic'ing an iso-cab
 
grimtraveller said:
I built something similar a while back. It's not totally soundproof {a loud amp is a loud amp, after all}, but when you crank an amp up full, then do likewise within both boxes, it really makes a difference.
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Pretty cool. I might have to try a variation on this at some point. I like the idea about not being tied to a particular speaker. I do have different speakers in the two iso-cabs, though, and I can also run stereo this way. And in case you're wondering why I'd want to run stereo - two different speakers, two different amps, plus a stereo Deja-Vibe.
 
notCardio said:
And in case you're wondering why I'd want to run stereo - two different speakers, two different amps, plus a stereo Deja-Vibe.
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I wasn't wondering ! :D
I often do that myself. I know the general wisdom is that you do two separate guitar tracks and sometimes I do. But sometimes, I couldn't be bothered so I run out of two amps simultaneously but set up differently. The effect is subtle but noticeable if taken away.
 
grimtraveller said:
I wasn't wondering ! :D
I often do that myself. I know the general wisdom is that you do two separate guitar tracks and sometimes I do. But sometimes, I couldn't be bothered so I run out of two amps simultaneously but set up differently. The effect is subtle but noticeable if taken away.
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The chances of me being able to do two separate tracks that are even remotely similar is pretty much nonexistant.
 
I'm thinking about building a second iso-box just to do this. (Just got a Live Wire a/b/y switch too.) I've noticed lots of guitarists now seem to combine different amp sounds to get a fuller, unique sound. The best example I can think of right now is Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys; I think he plays through a Marshall, a Twin and a Blues Deluxe or something, but all mic'd up separately at the same time. At least that's the live rig I've seen pictures of.

I think it might look weird to me to have an a/b/y box in front of me leading to 2 separate, sealed iso boxes but once you start combining amplifiers there's no turning back! It just sounds so "stereo."
 
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