speaker cabinets/makin em

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 18 Feb 2002 4:59 pm

OK, so white pine for everything but the baffle sounds like the way to go. I like the 45 degree kickback idea. Single 15 cab and single 12 cab's are what i want to build using Dowel or dovetail joints. Rear ports or... bass reflex in the bottom front? Thats what I'm mainly asking here..anyone have any thoughts or experience using cabs with bass reflex designs? does it really add or benefit anything? thanks.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 18 Feb 2002 7:11 pm

White pine? Not for me, thank you! JBL recommends void-free plywood, or flake-board. These are denser, and less susceptible to the "ringing" sometimes experienced when plain boards are used, but with very small cabinets, this probably isn't a big issue. Bass reflex cabinets often boost lows too much, and they aren't particularly well suited to the high range of the steel (unless you play like Chalker). Rear ports can sometimes create standing waves right where you don't want them (behind you). My favorite is a front-loaded center port design with a sealed back. But if your goal is minimum size (with the wedge design) I would also recommend a horn tweeter for the highs. Small wedges tend to over-emphasize the mids...great with vocals, but less than desirable for steel.

Oh, you are building these for steel, aren't you?

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 18 February 2002 at 07:13 PM.]

Steven Welborn · Post by **Steven Welborn** » 18 Feb 2002 10:45 pm

Very helpful info there Donny. You know more than I about this subject. Yep these are for steel and no I dont play like Chalker(wish I could though

). The reason for pine comes from researching an older thread and some folks were talkin up pine as producing the better sounding cabinet, though you wouldnt think. And I'm not sure you'd call this a wedge exactly. It's a stand up or kick back optional type design, somewhat medium size. Gallien Kreuger makes combo amps like this. In fact I just tried one out (backline 115 w/125rms)but sent it back. Lookin for small venue amp but it seemed to be underpowered

. Anyway to get back on track...I thought the cab design was great and why not make some closed back spkr cabs this way for steel. How many times have you been cramped in a tiny space for the band with you and amp jammed against a wall.high suck factor. An enclosed cabinet will give you consistancy in your sound plus being able to tilt it back enables you to hear yourself better under these conditions.or moniter yourself better in any condition. The idea for bass reflex was inspired by something I thuoght was kinda cool about the G-K Backline115 mentioned above: When playing very bottom C6 strings and especially the doowop pedal(ok..so doowops old hat..my horn's still somewhat green and i still think its neat sometimes), BOY...did that doowop kick in! (likely due to the G-K's bass amp spkr and circuit voicing) and probably too much so but I thoght it was be nice to capture some of that effect, hence the bass reflex. Well..maybe some of this stuff's already been tried n what everyones usin is whats worked best. What do I know? I'll still probably make'm though. More feedback welcome. I'll stop ramblin.[This message was edited by Steven Welborn on 18 February 2002 at 10:53 PM.][This message was edited by Steven Welborn on 18 February 2002 at 10:58 PM.]

Chuck Norris · Post by **Chuck Norris** » 19 Feb 2002 3:30 am

I`d nix the horn boy`s, unless you like throwing razorblade`s at people`s ears to quote Eddie Van Halen, steel player`s love those cry in your beer harmonic`s, the rest is subjective.
Chuck Norris NFM

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Feb 2002 8:55 am

Chuck, the only reason I mentioned a horn was to help clear up the top end. Normally, with a sealed-back cabinet, the lows tend predominate the sound, especially with the 15" speaker that Steve was considering. The tone controls on the amp can effectively reduce the highs that are sent to the speaker so that "cracking mirrors and such" isn't a problem.

I mention this because some players will add or subtract things from the sound-chain to attain a certain sound (tone), when all they really need to do is use the controls they have more effectively.

And Steve, you are right about the bass reflex cabinet's affect on the sound of that "boo-wah" pedal. It certainly gets everyone's attention!

Chuck Smith · Post by **Chuck Smith** » 19 Feb 2002 3:18 pm

Steve, I just finished building two speaker cabinets out of white pine..(kinda borrowed some of the design from Jack Stoner) They are app.20"x22"x11". about half open back. Top and bottom is 3/4 inch, sides are 9/16 inch and the two back boards are 1/2".
Baffle board is 3/4 " plywood. Speakers are BW-1501-4-SB , front loaded.. They are awsome. Guess I got lucky on everything coming together...I am playing a Remington U-12 thru a ProFex ll and MV-500. Stick with the white pine!!!!

Chuck

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 20 Feb 2002 10:11 am

I use a single 15" cabinet I made myself and the sound is quite good. I'm not a pro builder but I did pay attention to professionaly made cabs and did add some innovations.

The box is 19" X 11" X 22" made from 1/2" plywood All joints on the inside were heavily reinforced with 1 X 2" molding. After several years as an open back design, about a year ago I closed up the back, sealing the edges with insulation. I added two 2" ports on the top front, each tube is about 8" in length. My speaker has a piezo tweeter which enhances the highs only slightly. The speaker is an EV15, 8 ohm.

I found that enclosing the back boosted the volume and bass. Around the same time I enclosed the back, I switched to a rack rig with tube pre-amp and SS power amp. This setup has considerably less overall power than the Peavey amps I'd used previously (measured in watts RMS) but the volume is only a little less. A 4 ohm speaker could make up the difference.

It's generally assumed that harmonics are better with an open back design. I think this is true but overall volume is decreased. With my rig, the tone is superb, thanks primarily to the tube pre-amp. This is easliy the best soundig rig I've ever had.

--JR

Patrick Smith · Post by **Patrick Smith** » 20 Feb 2002 3:08 pm

A while back I built 2 single 12" JBL cabs....out of birch plywood. I actually made them ported, closed back to begin with and they sounded great, but after careful A-B-ing I liked the high end out of an open back cab better so I opened them up

PMS

Keith Murrow · Post by **Keith Murrow** » 20 Feb 2002 7:29 pm

..[This message was edited by Keith Murrow on 26 October 2004 at 04:36 PM.]