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Heavy Cabs


parker_muse
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Its not just about weight but how its distributed in the cab, the design and location of the handles and the technique you use for lifting.

However, Basson and Hartke make some back breakers regardless of how you try and tackle them. Burman's old 4x12 was impossible for one person to lift and in them days they didn't make 'em wi' wheels. I can lift up to about 100lbs with not much problem but the Hartke 4.5xl weighs in at 125lbs and that was a struggle over anything but the shortest of distances. Dood used to have two of them!!

Any 8x10 owners out there?

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='12649' date='Jun 5 2007, 07:46 PM']Its not just about weight but how its distributed in the cab, the design and location of the handles and the technique you use for lifting.

However, Basson and Harke make some back breakers regardless of how you try and tackle them. Burman's old 4x12 was impossible for one person to lift and in them days they didn't make 'em wi' wheels. I can lift up to about 100lbs with not much problem but the Hartke 4.5xl weighs in at 125lbs and that was a struggle over anything but the shortest of distances. Dood used to have two of them!!

Any 8x10 owners out there?[/quote]

I work in a cellar bar and one guy used an 8X10 Ampeg which appeared in a metal flight case. It took the entire band to get it up the stairs and out, and my were those guys sweating! hell, i was sweating just watching them.

Edited by Crazykiwi
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Make 'em up, nobodys going to check. You can just say they are from, 'a collection of bass guitar players'.

Easy enough.

How are you going to go about making the cab? Are you looking to use Neo drivers?

There are lots of things that you need to consider, because if you simply use thin MDF to make the cab you may find that it rattles itself apart!

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[quote name='stewblack' post='12653' date='Jun 5 2007, 07:54 PM']I work in a cellar bar and one guy used an 8X10 Ampeg which appeared in a metal flight case. It took the entire band to get it up the stairs and out, and my were those guys sweating! hell, i was sweating just watching them.[/quote]

Ahh... the traditional fridge in a box.

I love it when people turn up with those. They look over at you with that puppy dog look in their eyes....

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I own an Ampeg 8x10 but I just put a leatherette cover over it to protect from scratches and scrapes, but carry it otherwise. That thing doesn;t need any more weight!

Peaveys are pretty damned heavy as well, although the 4x10 is manageable as a one man lift. Good thing about ny decent 8x10 is casters!

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I can tell U that even an old EV TL115 can be a heavy MF at 4am-after a 3hr gig- when U got 3 flights of stairs to go DOWN!!!!
One night by the last flight I was gettin a bit 'hazy' & light headed, missed a step(lucky I was only 5 or 6 from the bottom!!), realized in an instant that if I didn't THROW the cab in front of me I'd be in a NASTY situation(i.e. broken legs/arms etc.)so I threw it to the bottom, sort of tried to JUMP the last stairs & made it to the bottom, JUST managing to stay on my feet. The EV TL115 cab....got a bit dinged up-but I took it all apart later & reinforced it so it is NOW STILL a great cab! THAT was a close one!

Edited by rodl2005
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I'd like to see far more development going into the aesthetics of cabinet design on the outside. The posts above have nailed it really! Its very hard to make a cumbersome box easy to move, but a few companies have started addressing this. WarwichHunt has a Tech cab, 6x10 that, instead of being really wide, it is narrower and taller. I used to own the 4x10 versions, and was so glad to keep the flesh ON my knuckles whilst getting the gear out of my house. My new cab has tilt back trolley wheels nad a handle on the back. No need to put your fingers on the side!

As has been mentioned already, simple things like the correct placement of handles to make lifting easier and replacing components with lighter options would be good. The thing is, it WILL force the price of the cabs up. When I was down at Bass Merchant they were telling me what the difference in cost of using heavy MDF and the equivalent cost of the 'super lightweight' PLY that a lot of companies have started using. It is more expensive.. but there's no way that it should add even £100 to the cost of a bass cab. (some manufacturers would have you believe it should)

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[quote name='parker_muse' post='13101' date='Jun 6 2007, 04:07 PM']Im going to use ply or pine... something strong and light. The idea is to have 1x12' speaker set-up in a very strong case, just big enough for it, its bulk really where im cutting down on weight.[/quote]

Bear in mind that most bass cabs are made from decent quality ply and still weigh a lot. If you go down to 1/2" from 3/4" you can save 30% of the weight (but remember to add bracing). Using a neo driver like a DeltaLite II 2512 will save you some more.

For my lightweight design I'll be making the cab from a ply/foam/ply composite, using 3mm ply and 12mm expanded polystyrene. I may even epoxy a layer of glassfibre in between the ply and foam. Something worth considering if you have the time as you can expect to more than halve the weight of the cab compared to a 3/4" ply ferrite magnet design.

Alex

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I've owned just about every heavy cab ever made.

I started with a Peavey 410TX and added a second
I then moved on to a Peavey 810TX
I then got an SWR Triad and added a second

I'm a pretty strong bloke - I could carry the 4x10s and the Triads one in each hand from the car to the venue. The Peavey was a unique challenge - especially as the path to my house has around 20 steps!!!

I finally got sick of lugging them about and went lightweight. At the time you just put up with the hassle of heavy gear becase you don;t think there's an alternative.

I now own a pair of Tech cabs - 2 x 12 and 1 x 15 and being able to load in one handed without grunting like a contestant on the world's strongest man is empowering

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[quote name='parker_muse' post='13126' date='Jun 6 2007, 04:42 PM']Alex, that sounds great, how can i do that?

Can you get me a materials list for that somewhere?[/quote]

Would you like me to build it for you whilst I'm at it? :) Ah, the joys of delegating coursework.

I haven't found local sources for any of the parts yet but here's a brief summary:

3mm (1/8") plywood. Baltic birch would be nice but whatever you can get. Make sure it's flat and knot/void free on inspection - try a local timber yard or cabinet maker.
12mm expanded polystyrene. This is used in the building trade for insulation in houses. Places like Wickes or Travis Perkins should have it, hopefully.
Fibreglass roll and 2-pack epoxy resin. This is used by DIY boat builders so that's the kind of thing to google.
Aluminium edges and stacking corners. Places that supply flightcase parts or similar should have this.
Speaker grill. That's another challenge - I found a place that does s/s wire mesh. Grills add a lot of weight.
Handles, connectors, speaker etc - Maplins, Blue Aran, Speakerstore.eu, Adam Hall, etc. It takes quite a bit of searching to find the best prices.

Don't forget to download WinISDpro and model the response of the speakers you're considering in different cab volumes and tunings until you get the response you want. If you dig into the t/s specs more deeply and/or include a crossover maybe you can get some physics or electronics coursework points whilst you're at it!

On an aside, if you're looking to build two different cabs and want to know how they'll respond when played simultaneously, you have to treat the magnitude and phase as a complex number, add the two and then convert back to real numbers. Ask your maths teacher about that, it should keep them talking for hours...

Alex

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Really remeber to use WinISD pro, you'll need to tune your cab, especially when porting.

It's not as simple as just wacking a speaker in a box, each individual speaker will peform well with its own specifcally designed enclosure.

Are you going to port the cab? Because if you do you'll end up with a much more sensitive (louder) cab but the maths gets a little complicated.

Theres a timber yard down near Waitrose in Stroud (last time I checked). :)

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