Members FUBTAG Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Hey there all, I have been searching for a 1x12 speaker cabinet and nothing seems to be worthy.I have access to a great speakers (my drummer recones speaker as well) but seems that I cannot find a speaker cabinet that is within a good price range. I was thinking of building on myself, just to be able to say that I did. I am sure that someone here has done that. What was your experience? Were you happy with the outcome and would you do it again? Did you design it yourself, or did you go by design plans? Thanks..... Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Christobevii3 Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Have you looked at avatar cabs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shovelhead Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 I've built a bunch of cabs. The ease and cost depends on your skill level, tools available, material availability, etc. Buying Tolex and grillcloth in small quantities is expensive. Same with adhesives for Tolex, etc. It'll cost you as much as an Avatar or equal brand to make your first one. I'd buy a cab, unless you plan on building many more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 I've never built one specifically for a guitar amp, but I've built several custom boxes for subwoofers for cars, trucks and SUVs. I agree with the previous poster. For me, even though I built numerous ones over a period of probably 12 years, I never bought tolex, cloth, corners etc. I just built the box and took it to a car stereo shop and had them 'finish' it. Well, once, I had it LineXed (one of the companies that does the spray in bedliner. If you want to leave it plain MDF or birch or whatever, I say go for it. If you want it to look 100% professional, I'd just buy something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaurentB Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Originally posted by FUBTAG Hey there all, I have been searching for a 1x12 speaker cabinet and nothing seems to be worthy.I have access to a great speakers (my drummer recones speaker as well) but seems that I cannot find a speaker cabinet that is within a good price range. I was thinking of building on myself, just to be able to say that I did. I am sure that someone here has done that. What was your experience? Were you happy with the outcome and would you do it again? Did you design it yourself, or did you go by design plans? Thanks..... Tom I have built several speaker cabinets. You have to know some basic stuff to avoid acoustic shortcuts when you want to make an open backed cabinet, but that actually boils down to making the shortest way from the front of the speaker to the back of the speaker longer than half the wavelenghth of a soundwave of the lowest frequency you really want to hear out of your speaker. Speed of sound = 342 meters per second. Speed = frequency * wavelenghth. That's how you can calculate it. You have to built it sturdily, to prevent parts from resonating but that's it, basically. The hardes part is making it look nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Prages Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 I built this one.Like Shovelhead said, it's really not much money savings, and takes a good bit of time. It is nice to be able to say you built it though.This was about $100 worth of wood (I used solid poplar for the sides and birch ply for the baffles), and then another $150 or so for the speakers, then another $50 or so for the corners, handles, grills, and casters. It didn't really take all that long to build. Probably 4-6 hours, not counting waiting for glue and stain to dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaurentB Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Originally posted by Prages I built this one. Now THAT'S a nicely built cabinet, mine aren't that beautiful at all:It sounds good though, with it's two 150 W Celestion Sidewinder speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoeBoy Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 You might get a good price here This used to be SteelSound. They changed names. I have 2 4-12 cabs I got from them. Pretty well made and the price was great even with shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted October 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Originally posted by LaurentB Now THAT'S a nicely built cabinet, mine aren't that beautiful at all: It sounds good though, with it's two 150 W Celestion Sidewinder speakers. While Prages has a gorgeously built amp, How do you like your road case cabinet Laurent?Avatar Cabinets look nice -- but honestly.... I am looking to go on the cheap! Guess I will keep checking Craigslist and garage sales... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shovelhead Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Here's some of my cabs:A head cab I built for a customer:A JTM-45 rig I built for myself. It's a 2x12 with Eminence custom-made speakers, convertible (open or closed-back) cab: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FUBTAG Posted October 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Wow -- that is some amazing looking stuff.... how much would you get for a 1x12? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shovelhead Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 Originally posted by FUBTAG Wow -- that is some amazing looking stuff.... how much would you get for a 1x12? All of these are fingerjointed on all corners, and the front speaker panel (baffle) is dadoed into slots on all sides. So they're very labor intensive. Right now, I've not been building for customers because my wife and I bought a pizza shop, and I'm running that in addition to a regular job. There's just no time!Normally, I got somewhere in the area of 275 per 1x12, depending on options.Here's some of the cabs in progress: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mfergel Posted October 27, 2006 Members Share Posted October 27, 2006 I built two of these. Right now, I'm trying out different speakers in them. I've had Celestion G12-T75's (too bright) and Eminence Texas Heat's (maybe a little too flat). Think I might try Eminence Swamp Things next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 Originally posted by FUBTAG Hey there all, I have been searching for a 1x12 speaker cabinet and nothing seems to be worthy.I have access to a great speakers (my drummer recones speaker as well) but seems that I cannot find a speaker cabinet that is within a good price range. I was thinking of building on myself, just to be able to say that I did. I am sure that someone here has done that. What was your experience? Were you happy with the outcome and would you do it again? Did you design it yourself, or did you go by design plans? Thanks..... Tom I've built tons of them, from simple guitar cabs to folded horns and horn-loaded fullrange cabs. Guitar cabs are really simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lump Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 My aunt built this one. Just over an inch thick pine with a solid mahogony baffle. Tone tubby alinco 12 inch speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaurentB Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 Originally posted by FUBTAG While Prages has a gorgeously built amp, How do you like your road case cabinet Laurent?Avatar Cabinets look nice -- but honestly.... I am looking to go on the cheap! Guess I will keep checking Craigslist and garage sales... Well, of course it's not very vulnerable to scratches or anything, it sounds good and I added two legs to it (visible on the side) so that I can tilt it backwards in a 45 degree angle, because those Celestion speakers don't spread out their sound very much.I used to have those legs on the inside of the cabinet when it was still open-backed, which looked nicer, but in combination with my Pod Pro 2.0 and Marshall 8080 stereo power amplifier it sounds better with a closed back.I also added to brackets on top of the speaker (at the back) so the amplifier will stay on the speaker when it's tilted backwards. I think the total cost of the cabinet was about 50 euros (without the speakers, of course. Those were 75 euros a piece, I seem to remember). It IS quite a heavy cabinet, I have to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bruce Bennett Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 I build cabs.. but I must agree with Shovelhead.. Don't bother unless your willing to build a lot more of them. also you need to be willing to stay broke a lot if you pursue this course... Here is some of my stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mfergel Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 I agree. I have almost as much into the ones I built as it would have cost me to purchase one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.