Guitar isocab for cheapskates and amateurs.

Well, I got it all together, cab, mic, gooseneck, everything, & it works pretty good, although not totally soundproof/silent, it probably cuts the noise in the room by at least 50% if not more. The low end/resonance is really all you can hear, so for around $125 or so, it's been worth the trouble. I'm already planning on the inner box like I mentioned, similar to the Randall/Jet City ISO's, but a little bigger. I'll most likely use birch plywood or something similar for the inner box though, while the particleboard I used is ok, it probably would break pretty easy, & if it ever got wet, well, I'm sure you know......

No sound clips yet, I have did a little recording with it, & so far I can't really tell any difference in the sound/tone, so all in all I'm pretty happy that I can turn my amp up & not bother my wife (as much.....:D she's sick too, surgery scheduled for the 30th of this month, the big "C" word......:().....

Here's one of my famous shitty cell phone pics to show how big the box is:
IMG00123-20130120-2143.jpg
 
Hey Miner. Looks great - pleased you're getting good noise reduction. Is it a 1x12 cab you've got in there?


PS - Hope your wife is ok.
 
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minerman said:
Well, I got it all together, cab, mic, gooseneck, everything, & it works pretty good, although not totally soundproof/silent, it probably cuts the noise in the room by at least 50% if not more. The low end/resonance is really all you can hear, so for around $125 or so, it's been worth the trouble. I'm already planning on the inner box like I mentioned, similar to the Randall/Jet City ISO's, but a little bigger.
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Looks good ! That inner box will make a great difference too. I remember when I first tested mine, the first box cut down the noise but when the amp was in both boxes, that was when I smiled and thought that it was really worth it. Until I tried to lift the two !
Guitar isocab for cheakskates and amateurs.
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After all this time, I've just noticed this ! What the heck is a cheakskate ? :facepalm:
 
Thanks guys! I knew the single box wouldn't be totally silent, but it'll work for now, I usually don't dime my amp anyway, I've found the sweet spot is about 5-6 for the Tweaker, any louder than that, & it loses clarity/definition in the sound (dirt sounds anyway....)...

I built mine with casters, so I don't have to lift it, I can roll it around if need be......I also built it to where the 1x12 sits on it's side in the box, making it narrow enough to fit through the doorways here.....

And yes Jonny, I have my Orange PPC112/V30 & SM57 in it right now, if I wanna put the Randall Greenback in there, probably would take all of 5 minutes......

Thanks for the encouragement about my wife too, actually a pretty scary time for both of us.....

I just noticed that too Grim, maybe you can edit or have the mods edit the thread title.....

Clips to come eventually guys, & thanks again for the help, ideas, & encouragement......
 
OK guys, here's a little test I did with the homemade ISO box, it's my Ibanez > SD-1 (clean boost) > Tweaker > 1x12 Greenback cab > SM57 mic > interface. I can't tell any difference in the tone in/out of the box, so I suppose that's a good thing, I was worried having the cab inside the box (with a shitload of Roxul) would alter the tone, but so far so good I suppose......and yes, this is the same old shit I've posted for months playing-wise, I just re-amped the di's as life is pretty hectic for me right now, but hopefully will get back to normal before too long.....

BTW, the ISO box I built cuts the volume of the amp/cab probably 50% if not more, these clips were with the amp on about 6 (sweet spot for my little amp), & you can barely hear it in the room......I plan on building another box (like the Randall/Jet City ISO's) to go inside the box I already have (with changeable baffles for different speakers), & it should be totally silent......

Lemme know what you guys think.......

and yes this is basically the same post I made in the Tone Thread awhile ago, but I told you guys here I'd post a clip or two, so here they are for now......more to come once life settles down for us here at home.......



tone:SoundClick artist: Minerman's Mix Check Page - page with MP3 music downloads



mix:


SoundClick artist: Minerman's Mix Check Page - page with MP3 music downloads​
 
Well, I finally got around to building my inner box today, I haven't tried it out, I'm waiting for the caulk to dry, but I'm pretty confident that it's gonna cut the noise even more....I've made the baffle so I can change speakers pretty quick if I wanna, & the total cost for today's build is about $75 or so....sound clips to come....

Here's a few crappy pics:













 
And the best bit, any burgular trying to lift those boxes gets a slipped disc and hernia !
It's looking really good but it's going to sound better.
 
I have a nephew who does acoustic rock and he didn't like the sound that came from his plugged in guitar, he wanted it fatter. So, he took one of his road cases, sound proofed it, put a mic and an amp in there, ran some inputs, outputs and sent the sound to the PA. He had one fat acoustic sound on stage. Plugged the guitar hole to avoid feedback. Don't know why this wouldn't work the same. Not sure what a good used road case would cost.
 
Thanks guys,
Yeah Grim, the bastard is heavy, it was a pain to put the inner box inside the outer, but it's there, & it did cut the noise some more, so I'm pretty happy to be honest....yeah, it looks like shit, but it was cheaper than a Randall or Jet City ISO (that would've had to be modified/worked on to be as quiet I think...), it sounds pretty good (throught the daw of course), & I can swap speakers out in a matter of minutes....

I'd been planning on some sound clips, but I've been swapping pickups in my guitars this week, maybe by the weekend I can have some more of my crappy sounding clips for you guys to laugh at....

Got some NOS tubes on the way for my little 1w Marshall too, those with the new p'ups should make a difference in my sounds....the tone quest is alive & well here at my place guys....:D
 
minerman said:
it was a pain to put the inner box inside the outer, but it's there, & it did cut the noise some more, so I'm pretty happy to be honest....yeah, it looks like shit, but it was cheaper than a Randall or Jet City ISO (that would've had to be modified/worked on to be as quiet I think...), it sounds pretty good (through the daw of course)
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I'm with you on the weight thing. When I blocked and decoupled with all that foam, I got my little brother to help me lift the inner box and it felt heavier than the outer one !
As for the look, who cares ! It's there to do a job and by the sounds of it, yours is doing just that. For those that like to mic their amps but have to take into account neighbours and family, these kind of things really make a difference. I remember one of the questions that was raised when I was looking into building one was "won't it make the guitar sound boxy ?". If it has, I haven't noticed.

drumslinger said:
i'm gonna have to build one of those. Looks like a fun project.
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Actually, thinking back to when I did mine, it was a whole load of fun. Funnilly, mine still smells of the glue I used to put the acoustistop covering on. I always loved that particular smell. It's the same as this stuff called Cow gum that my Dad used to have around the house when I was a kid. I would've made a useless glue sniffer but a grade A glue smeller !
 
Thanks Grim,
Yes, this home-made ISO does make a huge difference for me, without it, I'd be limitied to when I could play/record, now I can play at 3-4 a.m. & not bother anyone, which is the whole reason I built this thing....

My inner box is definitely heavier than the outer box, but it's got 2x4" bracing, it's made out of 3/4" birch ply, & is just built better/sturdier to say the least.....

Still no clips, as work's kicking my ass, but I do have tomorrow off, & I'm counting the days down to my summer vacation, which starts 3 weeks from today......
 
Hey guys,
Sorry for the necro-bump, but I figured it was better than starting a new thread.
I just picked up a fender amp, chassis only, and intend to rehouse it as a head.

I'm thinking of making an iso box (12" 100 watt celestion) and thought I'd spark this up again for some chat.

I'm planning to the isobox in an unused car maintenance pit which is closed off with heavy wooden boards and carpet, so I think I'll just do a single box instead of a box-in-box.
I'll probably mount two mics in there permanently.

Any advice about dimensions, or any general advice you've picked up now that you've gotten to know your boxes?
Anything you'd do differently?

I'll post up pics as it comes together.
Thanks. :)
 
I'd advise against the 100w Celestion. IMO they simply don't sound very good.

If you need a high-power Celestion that actually sounds good, think about a Classic Lead (80w), or one of the new "Creambacks". How much power handling do you actually need?
 
The best sounding Celestion I've ever heard is the Celestion T-652. They sound great! Same ones that came with the Marshall JTM-45 combo back in 1964. They're costly and hard to find, but worth every penny IMHO.
 
Since you are now discussing the relative merits of various drive units?

Can I make the point that it is MUCH easier to just incarcerate a SPEAKER cab than a whole, hot amplifier?

You also have the enormous benefit of keeping all the controls handy. FMe! You could keep the amp in the control room and dial away to your collective hearts....!

If you are building a box-in-a-box... Just make the inner box a cab?
One small point. Use an XLR4 for the speaker out, jacks are not airtight and will leak sound. With a bit of ingenuity you could make the cab "modular" so that you could change the drive units PDQ for different genres.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Can I make the point that it is MUCH easier to just incarcerate a SPEAKER cab than a whole, hot amplifier?

You also have the enormous benefit of keeping all the controls handy. FMe! You could keep the amp in the control room and dial away to your collective hearts....!

If you are building a box-in-a-box... Just make the inner box a cab?
One small point. Use an XLR4 for the speaker out, jacks are not airtight and will leak sound. With a bit of ingenuity you could make the cab "modular" so that you could change the drive units PDQ for different genres.

Dave.
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Hi Dave.
Yeah, I'm not planning to put an amp in there. I'm rehousing the fender chassis as a head and just mounting the 12" driver in my iso box.

To be honest, a combo amp stuck in the pit would probably give just enough ISO to be useful, which is why I'm not worried about a box-in-a-box.
I'll take your advice about the connectors, though. Thanks.

Greg_L said:
I'd advise against the 100w Celestion. IMO they simply don't sound very good.
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You'd better be wrong, Greg, cos it's already bought and paid for. :facepalm:

Having said that, it's going to be used for cleans and light crunch with a fender head.
That couldn't be farther from what you do, so maybe it'll be OK?
Or do they just suck in general?

It's a G12T-100, if that makes any odds.
Thanks for the advice.
 
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Well you know, tone beauty is in the ear of the beholder. They don't suck as far as quality goes, I just don't like their voicing really for anything. They're a favorite of metal guys that go for a drop-tuned chugga-chugga. You may love it though. If Fender cleans and light crunch is your goal, then maybe it'll work because it's a heavy magnet, stiff as hell, and very pronounced in the lows and highs with mild, almost non-existent mids.
 
Greg_L said:
Well you know, tone beauty is in the ear of the beholder. They don't suck as far as quality goes, I just don't like their voicing really for anything. They're a favorite of metal guys that go for a drop-tuned chugga-chugga. You may love it though. If Fender cleans and light crunch is your goal, then maybe it'll work because it's a heavy magnet, stiff as hell, and very pronounced in the lows and highs with mild, almost non-existent mids.
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Hmm. Doesn't sound promising but I guess we'll see what happens.
I'm not very experienced with guitar amp drivers but at least I have an idea of what to expect now.

Thanks again, Greg.
 
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