JohnDaBass

So after a few hours of Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, Motown greatest hits and Cream Live I used some rice and the online tone generator to check the frequency of the cab tuning. I was really pleased that it turned out to be between 49.5 and 50.5 Hz so I am happy to call it 50Hz. It’s not that easy to accurately detect when the rice stops vibrating but it’s in the ball park. Setup to A/B the cab with my BF One10, a bit “Heath Robinson” but I wanted to compare what I had built with what I had bought. The BF One10 has only been used at home, and has not been pushed further than home volumes would allow. Fortunately Mrs DaBass went for a walk down the beach so I was able to let rip to hear the difference at some higher volumes. Firstly the BCEasy Build-10 has a much tighter bottom end the BF One10 had a fuller G down to open E. Secondly, the BCEB-10 was definitely louder. While the BCEB-10 was not as “warm” as the BF One10 it did have a greater “attack”. The mids of the BCEB-10 were much more forward, clear and clean. The BF One10 broke up much earlier than the BCEB-10 when I was able to crank up the volume out of the Fender Rumble. All in all I am really, REALLY, pleased with the outcome. It may not be a £400 cab but I tell you what it's a little Monster!!!! We are so blessed here on Basschat to be able to follow @stevie and @Phil Starr excellent technical guidance to enable us to enjoy building something of personal value and achievement. The purchase of the MiniMax has added a combo to the original speaker project and the cab dimensions have allowed for a nifty “cubby” to hold, mains lead, speaker lead, guitar cable and the Zoom B1 Four in the back of the amp compartment. BTW thanks to John @Chienmortbb for the supply of his excellent hand made speaker cable.

I glued the sewer soil pipe to the baffle and then glued in the 100mm X 120mm port from the front to give a nice pro-like finish. So the cab is ready for some warming up playing some gentle music through it and then to check the tuning frequency with the old rice test. Later some A-B comparisons with my BF One10 using my Fender Rumble 500 with its regular settings rather than confuse matters using the MiniMax.

A few hints. For those amongst us who suffer with S.I.A.D.’s (Soldering Iron Anxiety Disorder) Blue Aran offer a fully built SpeakOn connector plate with screw terminals. It’s around £9 where the individual parts cost around £6. If builders wish to achieve a pro look-alike finish, those with S.I.A.D. can practise their soldering iron technique burning holes & scrolls into cheap Wilko roller sleeves. It’s great fun and a lot cheaper than buying the purpose made rollers. The pattern I have used mimics a sort of leather Ostrich Skin finish. I generally apply with a brush and then use the roller to create the texture. I like to use the large dia tall rubber feet on my cabs, mainly to keep the cab way off those wet rainy pavements and those beer wet floors down the Dog & Duck. As many have experienced from feet “popping off” cabs of some repute, it is difficult to achieve a decent means of securing wood screwed feet on light weight, thin wall cabs. So I try to fix the front feet through the base and into the baffle batten meaning at least 30mm of “ meat” to hold the wood screw. To align the rear feet I add a glued off-cut to the inside of the cab to “beef” up the wall thickness to 24mm. I tend to use the “filament” type speaker cabinet wadding which I staple to the internal battens, not forgetting to fit some to the rear of the baffle

Good move from Ampeg, IMHO, I can understand the delay in coming to the market, the transition of any company after an acquisition can be a long slow process. Couple that with the Japanese dedication to product reliability and the desire to ensure that the first product launch from the new owners is a success. So all this takes time. Clearly Ampeg weren't it a position to launch a combo line at the same time as Fender and didn't appear to have the resources to compete. These new Ampeg combos really appeal to me and I hope they are successful as volume sales may bring down the "street price".

Totally agree. One of the best tones I had was in 1968 with my Selmer T'n B 50 through a Selmer 1 x 18 100w Goliath cab with my Gibson EB3. I can achieve a similar tone today with my two BF Super compacts and Mesa Subway D800 in one of my rock bands. Technology has moved on so much since 1968 and agree that tweeters add to the overall harmonic delivery of the bass guitar. The 40 to 2500 Hz frequency response of the BN-10 300X will probably be fine for me knowing that the combo's target use is down the Dog & Duck for causal Open Mic nights. I love the sound of my two DIY Beyma SM 12 Basschat Mk1 cabs in my function bands and the BF One10 that I use at home, the tone I like and enjoy is delivered in differing ways thro differing rigs. As already mentioned I still have the option of adding the tweeter if I discover I am missing something in the sound output of the combo. But Hey-Ho it's a Lockdown project so we're all allowed an ocean of flexibility.

Thank you Phil for your kind words. The MiniMax was the ideal solution, a lot lower cost than the ICE Power modules. It's a bit noisey but I hope I've calmed that down with the slotted sides to the amp cavity. The BN10-300X is a super light Neo speaker with specs close to the Pulse 10 that Stevie selected. I had a spare 100mm dia port but it was only 110mm long and I needed 186mm long so the soil pipe fitted the bill. It's been sanitised and once it's had quick spray no one will know that copious amounts of poo have been thro it. So it will be quite comfortable reproducing my poo bass lines😂😂. I'll update the thread as I progress with the build.

***** Stingy old Skinflint ALERT******** As a Zoom B1 Four Fan boy I thought a small powered cab with the B1 Four would be ideal for the odd pub Jam & Open Mic nights down the Dog & Duck. I have been toying with the idea of building a powered 1X10 for a while, but the cost of Plate amps and ICE Power modules seems very expensive. @Chienmortbb As a @stevie & @Phil Starr follower I have been waiting for the Basschat Easy Build 1 x 10 cab ever since @Stevie teased it last year. My personal bass tone does not demand any top end so I decided to use just the speaker. So I started my Mini Combo. The baffle dimensions were already fixed as I had salvaged a front grill off an old Carlsbro PA cab. So after buying a Peavey MiniMax from here I decided that I would go for an 8Ohm Celestion BN10-300X speaker as the MiniMax output was 300W at 8 Ohm and 500W at 4Ohm. I played with WinISD to get the final dimensions and port length, and since I had a Roqsolid cover I tried to work within the covers dimensions so I did not need to buy a new cover. ( I told you I was Stingy) I used @Phil Starr guidance to construct the cab and a spare length of 100mm sewer pipe for the port. As per the thread I used 12mm for the cab but 18mm for the baffle because it was a bit of a squeeze to get the Speaker & port in the 345mm X 375mm baffle so I wanted to be sure it was rigid enough. The cab ended up being 345 x 375 x 280 internal with a volume of 36.3 Lts, resulting in the port being 186mm long. Here's the progress

Welcome Pete, I am a Fender Rumble 800HD & Rumble 500 head user. I run the heads through one or two Barefaced SC 1x12. I find that this combination provides a wide range of tonal options. The footswitched Drive function is very usable and the 3 character switches offer instant basic pre-selects. There's plenty of comments & opinions on here and other forums that will enlighten you to the Fender's pros & con's.

That's a stunning bass, great job. It's going to sound huuuuuuge.😎

Looking forward to your review.

This makes a lot sense, integrating Line 6's portfolio of technologies into single "standalone " pedal. The Pod Go has been on my radar since it was launched and the integration of wireless is very appealing to me.

Does this use the same Pulse 10 speaker? ( Beyma 10WRS 300 perhaps?)

Hi @stevie & @Phil Starr, Internal dimensions of my 'no HF' cab are 375 X 340 X 291 giving a volume of 37Ltrs. Am I correct that Phil has allowed 7litrs for Speaker, port and HF horn? If I use a 100mm diameter port 120mm long will I still get close to your planned 50Hz tuning for my cab?

Oh my Lord that is awesome.

Two beautiful "sisters". Fantastic ladies who need to be loved, nurtured and tired with care. Congratulations.

Nah, not for me.🤐🤐🤐

Or BonkingGrabbaWife😂😂😂😂😂

I have a Lindy Fralin Split '51 P 5% over wound Pup with @KiOgon loom of CTS V & T and 0.047 cap. I have found, just like @Cuzzie, that you have to treat basses with this Pup differently to other basses which have more modern design Pups. Firstly you have to remember that Lindy builds these Pups to the authentic, vintage specs. So using the same wire, form wear, winding style and hook-up wires. So in reality you are dealing with 1951 technology. The Pup has the two coils wired in parallel, which provides the most authentic sound from the Pup. So it is natural that you have to use different amp setups to get the most out of the Pup. I have found that the Fralin split '51 P delivers a much tighter and clearer tone than my Jess Loureiro Split '51 P Pup. The Loureiro is wired in series with the same loom & cap value. When switching to the Fralin bass from the Loureiro bass I find I have to cut the Treble. (12.00 to 9.00) and increase the gain ( 9.00 to 2.00) on my Fender Rumble 800 HD into a Barefaced Super Compact. The two basses have different characters and that's the joy of accessing different tone palettes. I would recommend spending some time tweaking your amp settings until you reach the tone that you are seeking. I guess @hooky_lowdown would suggest changing the cap value to 0.1 to roll off a little more top end and possibly deliver a smoother tone. But I would listen to what Lindy Fralin says first as he really does know his Pups. Happy tweaking!!!!

One idea is to use a Jess Loureiro split '51 P ( wired in series) to replace the stock Bronco Pup and add an EBO Humbucker in the neck position. Thus a BroncieWife 😂😂😂😂😂

That's a bute, well done looks fantastic.

Here's my 32ins scale Spector Performer 4 Classic Bitsa.

Well here is my Spector Bitsa. Hope I'm not intruding????

So made some progress with the control cavity screening and completed the wiring. Control is thro 3 position switch for Pup selection then through a @KiOgon volume & tone loom. Each Pup has a series- single coil- parallel switch offering a broad palette of tones from 51’P’ish, to Neck Humbucker, to Jazz’ish 2 single in parallel, to Jazz'ish single coil bridge, through to passive Stingray in series or parallel. The body was advertised as an old Performer 4 Classic and was an unused second surplus stock from China. Following some research I could not find any reference for the “Black Ice” finish Performer 4 Classic, basswood, Spector bass with a curved body. Production of the curved body Performer 4 Classis ceased in 2008 and production of Performer 4 was moved to Indonesia where only flat body, basswood basses were produced. So I am a little unsure of the true origins of the curved body. The 32ins scale neck from Retrovibe was a real gem of a find it is a typical Gibson EB3 type neck and the maple fret board fits in with my preference for “Black/ Maple neck” basses. I finished the neck with Tru-oil and the feel of the bass is very satisfying, indeed the acoustic sound of the bass is fantastic, vibrant, resonant and quite loud especially with the s/h Labella Deep Talking strings care of @Osiris of this parish. All in all I am really pleased how the Bitsa SpectorRayVibe has turned out I enjoy creating basses that are “out of the ordinary” with different tonal options. That’s for watching

Phil, @Phil Starr What are the draft dimensions of the prototype cab?