itu

When the steel is frozen a lot (the basic home freezer does not mean much here), it shrinks a bit. This video is about hot and cold (liquid nitrogen, -160 degree centigrade) and a shrink fit:

The first question is: what are you after with this modification/project? More (or less) of something or simply different sound? What is driving you to this?

Adjust the gain so, that the input is not distorting. Check it with low volume level. This way you amplify the signal, not the noise! Gain is just an adjustment. It has to do with good and good quality signal level. If it has to be at 3 o'clock, be it so.

I have it. I tried some five (or seven?) OD/dist/fuzz pedals side by side and that 'tweaker was the best. I also have a Spruce effects Old growth fuzz modded for bass. Not cheap ones, but when I listened to them, I took the one (two!) that was for me. Amptweaker has lots of switches to tweak the sound. It works with hi- and lo-Z ("active and passive") basses, which is a bit uncommon. OGF works better with a hi-Z ("passive") instrument.

Sorry for the slow answer: the unit pushes 9 VAC! I would not even try that one.

Tried that 112 but was not my cup of tea. I heard the box too well. Some damping material would have probably helped. My 2 x 12" alusonic has some colorization from the aluminum box, too, but not as bad.

910248. bartolini preamp and pickups, with rotating switches (single/par/ser). Mixpot.

@mar_to_the_t: I had one, too. The cut of the body revealed the bass. I can say it felt good. 1991 model.

Certainly! By the way, is there a 90's Quantum 5 in the background? With a cocacola (yes, a joke) top?

I have used clear nail lacquer on Vigier, Modulus, and Status necks. Lacquer dries quickly and sticks very well. Cheap, easy to find. Of course any colour is good, and it's always nice to start the conversation in the shop about which brand is the best for you with the salesperson...

Some background The element was the other of two from a Glockenklang Soul combo. Because of an incident in a gig, the other speaker was hit, and became perforated. This happened after the last set. Later I bought new elements from the company. Their customer service was very good. The box is slightly larger than the half of the Soul cabinet. A larger volume relates to lower frequency, or better efficiency. My speakers are the Soul, an alusonic, and now this small box. I will probably use it with my electric double bass, a 5-string Clevinger. The building took around a month. Costs were reasonable, although a new cab would be easily in the same ballpark, well under £200. Remember that I had the element already. There was no reason to do this myself except for the fun. Now I do know what I should do differently, how much faster this could be done... the work has taught me quite a lot. For those thinking about similar work I can support the idea. A box is after all a straightforward work compared to a bass neck or body. A cabinet will be the ugly duckling, down on the floor, that has to withstand some kicking and hitting. Components are cheap, tools simple. If something goes wrong, a wood panel is easy to replace. Sound is another story. Bass cabinet has to be tight and sturdy. The sound can be tailored with careful calculations, that affect the shape and measurements. How well the cabinet works with my amp, no one knows. I will not say mine is excellent, but seems to be one functional and fun trial: I really do respect the people of Glockenklang that designed and produced my excellent sounding Soul. Mine sure isn't that good, but decent is now enough for me. And there's one less speaker floating free.

The big thing in doing the box was to get the wood sides cut to measure. They weren't exact, but close enough. I don't have a big saw, table etc. so this obstacle was bypassed by the shop personnel and their heavy equipment.

Yes, I know. Here we go:

Starting point I happened to have a 10" Volt in my garage. It was floating in free air, so I decided to put it to a box. I think this helps with the bass response... First steps I went to a shop that cuts wood. They cut the 15 mm plywood to pieces and I started tinkering. The wood parts are 300 x 400, 300 x 450, and 400 x 450 mm. A sharp eye may see, that this will not be a neat box, but I will come back to this later on. I needed a Speakon, some wire, glue, and quite a lot of screws. There is a good way to build a cabinet with strips of wood in the corners to seal the seams but I decided to use lots of glue & iron... not so wise from the weight point of view. Help needed The element looks good, but how about the specs? Mr. Nichamin from Volt was very helpful and sent the data sheet. T/S and everything else. A good friend of mine loaned me four long clamps. Building process The work was somewhat slow. Main reason: the soft glue was sticky for hours. So I did one phase at a time in the evenings. There are two threaded rods through the cab to make it even stronger. Overkill, maybe. So are the metal corners inside the box. There are quite a few bolts and nyloc nuts, there. Every attachment is asymmetric more or less. This was intentional although the panels will not resonate that much, but just decided to make things different. As said earlier, all parts do not fit exactly, and the smallest wood panels needed some work: the backside was simply cut shorter to fit. Front is slightly slanted. This way the element is not protruding from the cabinet and offers some extra protection. A piece of metal mesh is in front of the element. I opened the hole for the element with a router. It is one practical tool. All functional corners were rounded or chamfered. The filling is foam and polyester. The reflex ports are now 50 mm in diameter and 30 mm long according to Volt's recommendation for this volume (around 40 - 50 dm3). As everybody can see, the case is not finished, yet. The extra glue has to be removed. It needs some paint or wood oil. And lots of filing. Conclusions The weight is decent. My amp is at the rehearsal place in the other side of the town, so first test will happen within few days (no files will be added). The next cab will/could be made from thin plywood and lots of braces. Much harder to build, but the result is also substantially lighter.

Highest quality is relative here. As long as the track is carbon, it creates noise. Lifetime is also limited. Top end is cermet or conductive plastic. Wire pots are overkill because of their size and high power handling.

The glue heats up really slowly through the fretboard! An inch / 5 minutes is so slow. With a very thin heater it might be faster but it would be one more tool, or what do you think @Andyjr1515?

Yes, I am a killjoy: 450 is a carbon track pot. CTS produces series 282 and 284 with conductive plastic tracks. Talk about quality and low noise. The firm feel comes from the substance between the shaft and the body. Put some alcohol or thinner to the shaft and it becomes loose. To get it back to firm you need to deconstruct the pot and put some thick grease or similar there.

Yes, it is true. There are several constructions which include an extra pot that may be excluded or included with the lo-Z circuitry. I did not want to include every possible signal chain option, as there are many, like Alembic (filters; external power source for opamps), Wal (semi-parametric eqs), Vigier (semi-parametric + treble/tone) etc.

An easy start is the signal chain of the bass: pickups - blend - vol - tone - output Any part of this chain can be "active" (low impedance is maybe a bit better term, but never mind), or "passive". It is very common, that an "active" bass has battery powered tone stack and that's it. This means, that blend and vol are simple (and usually low quality carbon track) pots. They always load the pickups in a way or another, most common issues are related to the treble or signal strength. In a "passive" bass the tone pot affects the sound, too, whether at 0 or 10 (yes, there are exceptions...). When an "active" tone stack is bypassed (the bass is in "passive" mode) the sound is changed slightly. Compared to a "passive" bass, there is no tone pot to load the pickups and the sound is different. These tiny details depend on the pot values and types. There are only few electronics with a mixer in them. That type of system is much more controlled (and more expensive), and does not load the pickups (= change the original sound). Price comparison: - a J bass has three carbon track pots, a cap, an output jack, and some wire: £5 (for the manufacturer) - a John East preamp is around £150 - 220, but the performance is stellar

Both options mentioned are functional ones. It is also possible to get a preamp with active mixing, like John East and Audere. I put a Noll Mixpot to Modulus Graphite Quantum. The bass has bartolini NTMB tone module (B & T) and the Mixpot was a good addition to the system. I had tried Vol + Vol, and Vol + Blend, but was not satisfied with the results. Mixpot is nice but it requires some accurate soldering in tiny places. Take your time with it.

Classical guitars have arm rests. Maybe some searching might reveal tape and suction cut designs.

How about the calibration signal terminal under the display, @Bobo_08 ?

Wow, that is a tool. Well, nearly any signal source is fine like a CD player or a tuner. Maybe even that saw signal from your scope. Very accurate component values are hardly needed. You want better accuracy, metal film resistors are fine.

It's not the temp, if you can live there. You want to keep them dry, put your strings to a plastic bag and seal it. Some silica gel dries the extra moisture. By the way, how many sets and what is your changing interval? Depending on the amount of playing I change strings 1 - 4 times / year / bass.