The Steel Guitar Forum

Here's a 5" speaker from PartsExpress. Will this give me more bass response from the MicroCube. I'm pretty sure there is enough depth in the cabinet to hold either of these speakers.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=264-826

Here's a nice 5 1/4" http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=290-374

I'll tell you now, I know nothing about ohms, watts etc. So I don't know if the MicroCube can even work with this speaker.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

For what it's worth---It's been my experience that speakers rated for high power need high power(at or above their rating) to get decent response.Seems like the high power ratings often equate to heavy windings and stiff cones which need a lot of juice to get them hopping.

I doubt that the Micro Cube's two watts of power will effectively drive the 50 and 70 watt speakers you mentioned so that you get the bass response you're seeking. If you have another amplifier or speaker cabinet and you can try plugging that into the Micro Cube, you might get an idea as to whether or not it would be feasible to do this before you start taking your amp apart.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Gerald,

FWIW I just unscrewed & unfastened the (what I call a 4") stock speaker from my Micro Cube. It looks like the cab would only take something 6" high x 7" wide at the max. I found an old homemade speaker cable, clipped off one end, twisted the Micro Cube's speaker wires onto the ends, and plugged the other end (which already had a 1/4" plug on it from some previous experiment) into the 2x12" Sonic cab I am using for electric bass with my ukulele band.

(plug: windycityislanders.com )

I recently put 2 8 ohm bass speakers into it, wired in parallel, giving 4 ohms (which is what the Micro Cube's stock speaker is marked).

Result: It is LOUD, even on the AA batteries. Plenty of bass, and all of the other frequencies as well (I only tried with a guitar). I will try it again tomorrow, when people aren't trying to sleep.

I think what would work well, would be to put a 1/4" jack somewhere on the Micro Cube (to bypass the internal speaker), and buy however big a guitar or bass speaker cabinet you'd like to lug (maybe an Ampeg 8x10). I suspect even the biggest / most efficient speaker that will fit in the Micro Cube cab would pale compared to an external 1x10" or 1x12" cabinet.

Thanks Craig, I look forward to hearing the results of today's test.

The beauty of the MicroCube is it's size and built-in effects. I like the fact that I don't have to carry around extra pieces of hardware, namely an external speaker box and stomp boxes. It also fits neatly into a suitcase.

If one of the replacement speakers I mentioned above will give me more bass and won't fry the cirucuitry I will be happy.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 26 July 2005 at 05:48 AM.]</p></FONT>

Seems a 1/4" jack should work.

I added an external jack to my Magnatone Movieola for the same reason. Works great.

Also have that little cigarette' case amp -
The Smokey Amp. It's .5 watts and drives any cabinet I've plugged in! Amazing sound from a pocket sized amp.


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Chris Kennison
Colorado

I got a pretty good sound from the 2x12 cabinet, even bass guitar sounded good (the built in speaker doesn't seem to handle that well).

I'm going to bite the bullet and invest $20 in two speakers from Parts Express.

I measured the stock speaker in the MC and it's cutout hole. In reality it's a 4" speaker and the cutout hole is 4".

I'll try one of the beefy 4" subwoofers and perhaps a 5 1/4" speaker as well. I'll make sure they are both 4 ohms.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

What happens if I use an 8 ohm speaker?


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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

>>What happens if I use an 8 ohm speaker?

The power output will be reduced.
You really need a bigger box to get more bass.
You might get it to be louder if you find a speaker that is more efficient. A wild guess would be 95+ dB at one watt at one meter.

Fred

I've got a couple of replacement speakers showing up tomorrow.

I'll report back.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

If you pull the cap can you use the headphones jack to run an extenion cabinet?

George

Gerald, keep us posted on your results. I put a bigger speaker in a Karaoke Machine that i was using as an amp with good results. It was out of a cheap outdoor metal speaker box. (KLH). Those woofers and subwoofers usually require more power. If they don't work out try a full range speaker or maybe even a coaxial might work.
I would think any bigger speaker would sound better and with more bass.

Nope... didn't work. The replacement speakers sounded a lot worse than the stock MC speaker.

So it goes.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

I was hoping that your idea was going to be more successful. What I've been doing with my Mico is using a Aphex Aural Exciter pedal to help with the botton end. The Roland is simple enough circuit that my amp guy thinks he could wire in an effects loop and run the pedal that way. $40 plus parts.

GM

I played my 63 Gretsch Country Gent. through the micro last night and it sounded just fine. Gerald, you may have a problem with your amp or your ears are just a lot better than mine.

Have you tried another amp just to be sure?

I am not familiar with your amp, or the store mentioned but there is a fairly dramatic difference between instrument speakers and Hi Fi, or Stereo, speakers. Replaceing the former with the latter will usually render your tone controls somewhat useless. Instrument spkrs are usually a much narrower freq. range -- good guitar spkrs cuts off around 8khz.
Good luck, Charlie

Gary,

What style of music are you playing with your Country Gent? When I play fingerstyle on my D'Angelico NYL-2 the bass buzzes out on the MC.

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

Gerald,

It seemed like the bass on my MC just overdrove the speaker, kind of making it "fart out"(musical theory term!). I took a page out of the home stereo speakers book and lined the inside of the cabinet with some 3/4" insulation from a hardware store. It does help the bass hang in there better, but it did change the sound of the amp. Maybe playing with the amount of insulation and preamp controls will find an acceptable tone. It is cheap to try.

Jaime

Hey Guys, has anyone thought about calling the engineers at Roland and asking them what we are looking for. They know their product the best and am sure they can advise you exactly how to achieve what you are looking for. They might even design the next MicroCube with exactly this in mind. Yikes, that might be too easy.

Jaime,

I'm willing to try the insulation route. Parts Express sells this stuff:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=260-317

How tightly do you pack the speaker cabinet on the Microcube with this stuff?

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

Gerald,
From the supplier's description:

<SMALL>Most sealed and vented enclosures require 1/2 lb. of dampening material per cubic foot of enclosure. For best results it is recommended to loosely fill the material throughout the enclosure.</SMALL>

Rockwool was used sparingly; the modern way is to cram it full. Keeps the speaker's back radiation from bouncing off the cone.

Thanks Charlie,

So what's the answer. Use sparingly or cram it full?

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Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'



CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

I wonder if one of these would work ...
http://www.zyonshop.com/product/soundbug.htm

Gerald, in my imagination, a quarter pound of foam is a lot, so cram it full.
I get polyfil from the fabric store, by the yard or bag, and it's cheap. Hope you will post your results, cause it's all experimentation.
Charlie