My Demeter isolation cabinet- and the surgery i did on it!

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GONZO-X

GONZO-X

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i bought a used demeter isolation cabinet.... off of ebay.....

it is very tight, and well built....
it has a brand new v30 celestion in it...
so, i gotta be careful driving my boogie into it (60 'boogie' watts into a 30 watt driver spells disaster!) ;)
but when i got it, it had a fibery dacron insulation attached..... which i thought i could improve on, so i did surgery.... and the surgery on the iso cab was sucessful!

let me explain-

when i first got the iso cab, and first heard it, i thought "this is totally worth the money".

but i also looked at the dacron insulation that lined the entire cabinet, and i thought "i can do better".

so, i went online, purchased 36 sq ft of 2" Acoustic Wedge Foam....
12"X12"X2" squares....to treat my studio room with... and some extra for the cabinet....


so, i spent an afternoon, stripping out all the dacron insulation (man, that stuff was put in really well!) and prepping the surfaces for spray-adhesive gluing in the insulation.

i had to block off the speaker, and wrapped the cab around the access door for any sprayover, and starting cutting out pieces of the wedge foam, to fit in just right.
i cut out sections for the handles, the speaker wires, the mic cable, and the microphone mount.
every inch of the inside of that thing is covered now....
looks like a anechoic chamber in there!

and talk about a difference in the sound!!
i can crank up even louder now, and what the mic hears is more accurate, more even.....
I'll try to get some pics tonight, and post tomorrow...

this iso cab, as loud as i play it, does not completely kill the sound, of course....
it allows me to play at (almost) stage volume, but is only as loud in the room, as a casual volume stereo would be....
wouldn't work situations where you don't want any bleed over onto other mics in the same room, but is totally do-able for home and apt. situations, especially if you had a low wattage amp you wanted to crank all the way...

as it is, the boogie is still only on about 1.5.

LOL

and that's freakin' loud.....
but it's a 60 watter, 60 boogie watts, my little mark2b head is as loud as a 100 watt marshall......

i still think, ultimately, if i want to use the boogie head, i could get a nice weber speaker, and a speaker mass, and dial it in even better!
and i'm still using the pod for the different amp sounds, and i'm still to experiment with just pure boogie....

pics of the isocab, post surgery

my.php


my.php



so, i spent sunday afternoon, stripping out all the dacron insulation (man, that stuff was put in really well!) and prepping the surfaces for spray-adhesive gluing in the insulation.

my.php


i had to block off the speaker, and wrapped the cab around the access door for any sprayover, and starting cutting out pieces of the wedge foam, to fit in just right.
i cut out sections for the handles, the speaker wires, the mic cable, and the microphone mount.
every inch of the inside of that thing is covered now....
looks like a anechoic chamber in there!


my.php


a link, to a song i recorded, using the iso cab for all the guitar parts....
guitar>>podXT (set for no cabs/mic models, live mode, 2x12)>>mesa boogie mark2b (power section only)>> iso cab>>at4033 mic>>ART DPS preamp>>digital out>>vs-1880 recorder.

 
not a single reply...

i'm kinda suprised.

for years, i struggled with how to control my volume for recording, but not give up a basic component of my sound.. the thump, and air movement involved with percussive picking....

i thought this would garner some conversation, among home recordists.

i guess i'm the only one struggling!
LOL :)
 
its a good tune


I would have never guessed you used an iso cab for that. Crazy.
 
That is a great idea. Personally, I use a coat closet in my computer room for an isolation booth for my amp. I find that the wool Banana Republic P-Coat really does the best dampening, but it also just doesn't sound the same without the never-worn 12-year-old sportcoat in just the right spot :)
 
How do those things work with bass? I've heard of them but never seen one.
 
How much does an Iso-box like that sell for? I think the price factor would determine how useful it actually is in my particular situation.
 
I'd like to know more as well????

Is this box "tight"? If so, my mind is aching...if it's tight, how can the speaker build up/move air to sound decent...and your recording clearly does.

Do tell.
 
allright! glad you guys pitched in.....

notbradsohner
thanks for listening... glad you liked the tune.
how did you hear the guitar parts?
in terms of a speaker being inside a cabinet?

Tadpui
when i lived in my own house back in NC, i did similar things...
i'd take the real cabinet into a closet, pile up blankets and clothes and whatnot around it....
and that worked great....
now that i'm living in a rental duplex, i can't get away with it anymore.
i play pretty loud....

ibanks-
not sure with the bass.... though i have used it to mic a bass through my boogie head (i mix that sound with a sansamp bass DI) and it works fine, as long as you don't push the speaker to the point that it makes the cabinet rattle...

wireneck-
new, empty, this things sells for around $500-600...
i bought it used, with a brand new celestion v-30, for $350.
the dacron polyester insulation, didn't work nearly as well as what i did to it, but of course, it took me a little while, but was well worth it.

punkin-
it's tight. one reason i went with the Demeter, is because he's renowned for his quality.
the air to me, does sound tight...
but is still more authentic than a pure amp modeler (like the POD XT direct)....
tons of thump come off the cabinet when i really crank it up, i've even thought of micing the outside of the cabinet, and adding that in....
small incremental movements of the microphone makes a big difference too....

but the closer to the speaker the mic is, the less the inside sound of the cabinet comes into play...
 
i have a whole cd's worth of tunes, i'm in the middle of tracking right now

but none of them are mixed.

so, i did something just for fun, in the meantime, til i can post some honest song mixes...
this is another song that has (4) guitar parts in it, done with the cab.....

the 2 rhythm parts (left and right) and the 2 solo guitar parts melody and harmony......

the rest of the song was done in nuendo with loops....

 
I'm going to build a cab like that. Thanks for posting this as it's given me a few ideas.

Thanks!
 
For the iso cab I built, I used 2" pink foam board insulation, covered with 2" acoustic foam. It's pretty quiet at loud levels and if I need it quieter, I'll cover it with piles of blankets.
 
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