What Kind of speaker would i use to build a cab??

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ashley_B_Soton

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I am thinking about buiding a guitar and bass Cab for the studio I am building. The problem is, what kind of speaker would i use for each?

I have seen threads on here about buiding cabs and mostly they talk about materials and techniques, i just want to know where i would get them in the UK or online? And what i should be looking for with regards to the speaker.
 
ashley_B_Soton said:
I am thinking about buiding a guitar and bass Cab for the studio I am building. The problem is, what kind of speaker would i use for each?
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Keep the order straight. :)
First, choose the amp(s) for studio you are building.
Next choose the speaker(s) for the amp(s) you've chosen.
Next build the cab(s) for the speakers.
Next put the speaker(s) into the cab(s) you've built and then - cab(s) into the studio you are building :D
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When choosing the "right" speaker (or speakers) for an amp the impedance of the speaker (or combination of speakers) and power handling are things to watch with care.
There are bunch of other aspects, which are not critical from technical point and are preferential from any other point you can think of.
 
ashley_B_Soton said:
I am thinking about buiding a guitar and bass Cab for the studio I am building. The problem is, what kind of speaker would i use for each?

I have seen threads on here about buiding cabs and mostly they talk about materials and techniques, i just want to know where i would get them in the UK or online? And what i should be looking for with regards to the speaker.
Click to expand...
I'm a fan of the instrument 12" drivers from JBL and Altec-Lansing.
Great drivers for cabs as they will, en masse, handle some serious power without blowing up, but provide astonishing efficiency on a watt/SPL basis.
 
Dr ZEE said:
Keep the order straight. :)
First, choose the amp(s) for studio you are building.
Next choose the speaker(s) for the amp(s) you've chosen.
Next build the cab(s) for the speakers.
Next put the speaker(s) into the cab(s) you've built and then - cab(s) into the studio you are building :D
************
When choosing the "right" speaker (or speakers) for an amp the impedance of the speaker (or combination of speakers) and power handling are things to watch with care.
There are bunch of other aspects, which are not critical from technical point and are preferential from any other point you can think of.
Click to expand...
+1

It really all depends on what type of sound you are going for. Celestions are a popular choice for guitar, if you are doing the distorted marshall or mesa thing. If you are doing a more fenderish sort of thing, JBLs are a popular choice.

As with most things in audio, it depends on the context.
 
The amps will Probably be a laney RB9 and a marshall JCM 2000 but i would preferably like to keep it flexible and not sound too bad on other amps as i already have a slew of requests to use the studio when its ready.

I was wondering not only what make but what model of speaker, just to give me an idea, but i will research a little myself.
 
For Laney and Marshall the common choice would be Celestion vintage 30's.

It would probably be easier to just get an older used cabinet. It would cost less than the materials to make a good cabinet and you could have it tomorrow.
 
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Whenever I order speakers, I usually get them from Weber:

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/ There are descriptions there about which ones do what, if you look around.

Note that lower wattage handling capacity speakers break up sooner than higher capacity ones, and that when they break up, they stop getting louder at the same rate -- the end result is that a high wattage speaker will go louder than a low wattage one when it's pushed. A lot of people like the breakup sound, of course, and you don't need (or even want) loud-loud-loud in the studio, but you also can't ignore the possibility of blowing a speaker by pushing it too hard.

I've always wanted to build a cabinet, but what Farview says is right about getting a used one. I've picked up a couple of used ones and replaced the speakers.

I searched the web for someone who builds cabinets and didn't find much - the ones I found were pretty expensive and shipping is also quite expensive. (Weber has cabinets, for example, but I never want to spend that much). I asked a local speaker guy about this, and he said there just wasn't any money in doing it, because of 1) the cost of materials, 2) the cost of shipping, and 3) the availability of used ones, which aren't going to be much worse than something you could build -- undoubtedly someone with skills can build a better cabinet than what's generally available, but the difference in quality wouldn't likely justify the expense/trouble. That said, I'm sure the Weber cabinets are awesome :)
 
It's been my experience that it's pretty easy to find a loaded 4X12 cabinet for right around the cost of the speakers. So buying a bunch of 3/4 birch plywood and spending a weekend measuring, sawing, sanding, etc... is silly from a monetary point of view. Assuming your weekend is worth more than $50 to you.

Of course, if you really enjoy woodworking and you are just looking for a project to take on, that's a different story.
 
Thanks, i will look into how much it'll cost each way.

Though looking at the 15" speakers on the weber site, i am tempted to use them. But it may be a cost too far, and i have no idea how it will adversly or beneficially effect the sound.
 
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