building cabinets

Neito

Neito

Pouty-face
No DIY thread, so I figured this would be a good place to ask this.

So, my band currently wants me to upgrade from my 100W 15 in. combo bass amp, and I know 100 watts isn't a lot, but I want to try and build a cabinet to go under it; even a dual 10" quarter stack would be fine. I'm just curious as to if anyone on here has any experience with building their own cabinets, whether I should find plans or if winging it would be acceptable, what materials, etc. to use. ANY advice is awesome. Thanks a lot.
 
Neito said:
No DIY thread, so I figured this would be a good place to ask this.

So, my band currently wants me to upgrade from my 100W 15 in. combo bass amp, and I know 100 watts isn't a lot, but I want to try and build a cabinet to go under it; even a dual 10" quarter stack would be fine. I'm just curious as to if anyone on here has any experience with building their own cabinets, whether I should find plans or if winging it would be acceptable, what materials, etc. to use. ANY advice is awesome. Thanks a lot.
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-search function
 
Find Barefoot. He builds studio monitors for a living.

Also, a google search should turn up some good freebie designs.
 
guitar junkie said:
go to visitor feedback and vote for a DIY forum :) your vote counts
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That's the funniest post ever!

Dragon hasn't been here in 40-eleven years!
 
ask barefoot if he has a prints for a front loading 1/2 folded horn with a 15". I built one to go under a 4x10 cab. It puts on the pressure....and would fit under a combo nicely.
 
Have you considered just buying a finished product? If one has not done this before, the time and materials (and perhaps tools) would easily add up to more than a new one would cost.

Most music stores have used stock as well, at even lower cost.

Ed
 
Neito said:
No DIY thread, so I figured this would be a good place to ask this.

So, my band currently wants me to upgrade from my 100W 15 in. combo bass amp, and I know 100 watts isn't a lot, but I want to try and build a cabinet to go under it; even a dual 10" quarter stack would be fine. I'm just curious as to if anyone on here has any experience with building their own cabinets, whether I should find plans or if winging it would be acceptable, what materials, etc. to use. ANY advice is awesome. Thanks a lot.
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A couple of things -

Be sure that your amp can handle the extra load. If you under-ohm your amp and turn it up really loud, there's a good chance you'll be ampless.

You are correct that 100W is not a lot for bass. If your band mates are trying to get you louder, then just adding another cab, even if your amp can handle it, might not get you there.
 
Ed Dixon said:
Have you considered just buying a finished product? If one has not done this before, the time and materials (and perhaps tools) would easily add up to more than a new one would cost.

Most music stores have used stock as well, at even lower cost.

Ed
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Yeah, I thought about buying one, and I might eventually, but at the moment I live with my grandfather who has an extensive wood/metal shop, and I have experience with woodworking, so I was going to see if it wouldn't be too difficult to make. I suppose it wouldn't be a good beginner's project, but I thought I might give it a shot. Thanks. :)
 
A cab is a little more than just a box with speakers in it, but not really a lot more complicated to build. A quick search should get you the plans for what you want to build, remember the dimensions are part of the acouctics so try to find plans cloce to the size you need. There is an ongoing debate over plywood Vs solid, either will work and plywood is stronger, just avoid particle board as it is heavy and dosen't hold up well. Use a basic construction principal "GLUE AND SCREW" because nails or just screws will viberate loose, especially in a bass cab.
 
You can wing it, but the results won't be very good, probably. Unlike an open back guitar cab, the performance of whatever speaker you choose will be drastically affected by the box you make for it. A little extra effort and research will make a huge difference.

As I understand it, the box should be built around the driver you choose for best performance/driver life, when building a bass cab. Here is a story about one person's experience building a bass cab.

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Bistro/3491/speaker.html

He talks about Thiele-Small parameters. Those are a set of measurements that define a speaker's construction and limits. You don't need to understand most of them, as there are many programs out there that will let you plug the numbers in and give you the right box size and port/vent size. Most woofers have those parameters readily available. Some makers even print recommended box sizes.
 
ggunn said:
A couple of things -

Be sure that your amp can handle the extra load. If you under-ohm your amp and turn it up really loud, there's a good chance you'll be ampless.

You are correct that 100W is not a lot for bass. If your band mates are trying to get you louder, then just adding another cab, even if your amp can handle it, might not get you there.
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I'm gonna back up what ggunn said here. 100w really is not that much for bass. It's not uncommon for bass rigs to be upwards of 400w. I just upgraded from my crappy Fender Rumble 60 1x15" (basically used as a personal monitor) to one of the new Fender Bassman 250's with 2x10" Eminence speakers and the difference is nothing short of stunning.

Sure, you can add two 10's in a cab, but then instead of having 100w going to one speaker, you have 100w being split between 3 speakers, which means that none of them are being driven with the power they were designed for. The best you could hope for with adding speakers is a VERY slight improvement in how it cuts the mix. I emphasize VERY slight. When it comes to bass, there really is no replacement for sheer wattage. The basic rule with bass is that you need about 3 times the wattage of the guitarists.
 
sile2001 said:
I'm gonna back up what ggunn said here. 100w really is not that much for bass. It's not uncommon for bass rigs to be upwards of 400w. I just upgraded from my crappy Fender Rumble 60 1x15" (basically used as a personal monitor) to one of the new Fender Bassman 250's with 2x10" Eminence speakers and the difference is nothing short of stunning.

Sure, you can add two 10's in a cab, but then instead of having 100w going to one speaker, you have 100w being split between 3 speakers, which means that none of them are being driven with the power they were designed for. The best you could hope for with adding speakers is a VERY slight improvement in how it cuts the mix. I emphasize VERY slight. When it comes to bass, there really is no replacement for sheer wattage. The basic rule with bass is that you need about 3 times the wattage of the guitarists.
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Well, 100 watts is not a lot of power for bass, that's true.

BUT: Increasing your speaker area will do more to increase volume than any other change. Even if you double the amp's power, it only increases volume by a few decibels.
 
AGCurry said:
Well, 100 watts is not a lot of power for bass, that's true.

BUT: Increasing your speaker area will do more to increase volume than any other change. Even if you double the amp's power, it only increases volume by a few decibels.
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That's all you get out of doubling the speakers, as well. 3db.

You need to double the power (+3db) and double the speakers (+3db) to get any significant volume increase (+6db). Extra speakers give better coverage, which many interpret as more volume.

Don't forget to check the sensitivity of the speakers you choose. A speaker that is 95db sensitive needs twice as much power to get as loud as one that is 98db sensitive.
 
Neito said:
No DIY thread, so I figured this would be a good place to ask this.

So, my band currently wants me to upgrade from my 100W 15 in. combo .
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I thought of this. Does it have an extension speaker jack?
 
easychair said:
That's all you get out of doubling the speakers, as well. 3db.

You need to double the power (+3db) and double the speakers (+3db) to get any significant volume increase (+6db). Extra speakers give better coverage, which many interpret as more volume.

Don't forget to check the sensitivity of the speakers you choose. A speaker that is 95db sensitive needs twice as much power to get as loud as one that is 98db sensitive.
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Give the man a cigar to smoke in his easy chair! To get any significant improvement, you need to address all of these issues. Keep in mind that dB is not a linear measurement, it is logarithmic, meaning that an increase from 95dB to 98dB is a larger increase than from 92dB to 95dB. It's one of those "greater than the sum of the parts" things.
 
google US Speaker. lots of components. Eminence speaker company has software for exact tuning of cabs. Their speakers are reasonably priced and quality. I would recommend going to guitar center and finding the cab you want and stealth measure it and try to duplicate it in a design. Use multi ply birch wood it is generally regarded as the standard for quality. There are plenty of sites with good info on building cabs. even some of the sites dedicated to stereo speakers have info that is usefull to bass cabs.
 
thanks

Thanks to everyone who's giving feedback; I now realize that even if I build a new cabinet, it won't give me the desired effect, so I've decided to buy a new head first, then embark on a cab-building adventure a little later. I would still appreciate any tips on how to do it, for future reference. I'll probably eventually also post my findings, experiences, etc. on here eventually. Thanks a lot.
 
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