Your ideal cab?

[Truckstop]

Handles on all sides and jack sockets on one of the sides please.

I hate having to f*** about blindly with leads around the back of the cab. Why not have the sockets on the side? Or even the top?

Truckstop

[Steff]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1389542332' post='2335271']
There are one or two Schroeder cabs that have one of the drivers fitted to an angled baffle inside the regular cabinet, but I get the impression this is more to enable a smaller external cab size rather than to make it more audible to the player on stage - particularly as you'd need to use the cab on its side anyway. Not a bad idea in itself, though.





Agreed. Accugroove's 'switchable impedance' cabs turned out to be not what they seemed...
[/quote]


That's where my idea came from but instead of having a side angled woofer I was thinking of upwards angled full range speaker. As I mentioned I am a heavy Schroeder user

[stevie]

It's good to see so many people concerned with midrange dispersion. I'm sure everyone reading this thread is aware of the problem of beaming with large diameter drivers. Altering the angle of the baffle can help but it is not the ideal solution, as it doesn't actually improve midrange dispersion - it just point the mids in a different direction. And even if you play with a cab with an angled baffle, step to the side of your cab and the mids are gone - not to mention the problem of midrange frequencies not reaching the audience.

As you'll be assembling these boxes yourselves, there's nothing to stop you modifying the plans and angling the baffle upwards slightly, although I strongly suspect most people considering building will not be comfortable cutting acute and oblique angles.

A better solution is to add a midrange driver, something that we have discussed and is in the pipleline.

[Steff]

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1389545049' post='2335308']


A better solution is to add a midrange driver, something that we have discussed and is in the pipleline.
[/quote]

I agree mate but even with an added midrange driver facing forward you still won't be able to hear clearly your cab when it's pointing at the back of your knees at high volumes on the stage.
I remember gigging my Mesa 1516 and although a tall cabinet I still needed to move about 4-5 feet away to get a good clear full-range hearing.

[stevie]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1389544719' post='2335302']
Handles on all sides and jack sockets on one of the sides please.

I hate having to f*** about blindly with leads around the back of the cab. Why not have the sockets on the side? Or even the top?

Truckstop
[/quote]

Assuming we are talking strap handles, you can add as many as you want, and if you want sockets on the side there shouldn't be anything to stop you (although I don't think sockets on the top is a good idea). That's the beauty of a self-build.

[JTUK]

12" and 6"..... and poss a horn on top..?? depending on the horn..

[stevie]

[quote name='Steff' timestamp='1389545334' post='2335312']
I agree mate but even with an added midrange driver facing forward you still won't be able to hear clearly your cab when it's pointing at the back of your knees at high volumes on the stage.
I remember gigging my Mesa 1516 and although a tall cabinet I still needed to move about 4-5 feet away to get a good clear full-range hearing.
[/quote]
You could, of course, add a midrange driver and angle the baffle if you wanted (ideally increasing the depth of the cab to compensate).

[RandomBass]

My ideal cab? One that arrives on time, gets me home quickly and doesn't cost the earth. Workable?

Ooops....

[Jack]

There are several companies offering takes on the 'angled up' baffles. LDS has done exactly what's been discussed here on a few custom builds that I've seen.A few cabs have tiltback handles, my Laney combo is wedge-shaped and you can use an ampwedge with pretty much any amp. The only design that's ever really taken off is Marshall's guitar 4x12", it seems there just isn't the market in the bass world. Having said that, a bar along the back to support a head or cab on top whilst the cab is angled would be a great feature, you'd just need to incorporate a matching recess into the bottom of your cabinets to facilitate stacking. That way you don't have an awkward look like EAD.

[discreet]

I suppose if you've got your amp in a rack there's no compulsion to put it on top of your cab, necessarily?

[Jack]

Ease of reach to the buttons?

[LukeFRC]

will angled baffles really make much difference? like if you have a horn/tweeter there then making sure it goes vertically up enough should be enough?
Or alternatively to me it makes sense from a form and engineering POV to do something like green boy did with his range and make it tiltable.

[warwickhunt]

Yes the angled wedge is (an extreme) version of the tilt that I would find beneficial but the angled baffle means I still have a horizontal surface to sit my amp.

[Musky]

Maybe something like this would do the trick.

[Steff]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1389597759' post='2335835']
Yes the angled wedge is (an extreme) version of the tilt that I would find beneficial but the angled baffle means I still have a horizontal surface to sit my amp.
[/quote]

+1.

I'm still imagining something half-angled where the front facing would be a single 12' or 2x10 and on the angled surface - 1x8' or 2x6'. But still a cubical shaped box.
I've checked LDS' cabs but they do not offer a cab that keeps the traditional shape while still having angled speakers.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Steff

[Ghost_Bass]

My ideal cab:

1. Full range - no mid scoop or mid bumps;

2. Extended range - high/mid range driver or/and tweeter is mandatory;

3. Good low-end extention - has to sound big but not muddy;

4. Transparent sounding - so that i know that the sound i hear from the cab is the same i'm feeding to FOH;

5. Front porting - rear ports don't sound the same and are a pain in the "a" when i have to setup against a wall;

6. Side/recessed handles - to avoid having to balance an amp on top of the handle;

7. Enough clearance from the drivers to the side pannels and enough depth on the baffle to alow installing a frame for a silver grill cloth;

8. Fairly inexpensive drivers but ones that are common on the market and not hard to replace/recone;

9. Light weight and easy to pickup/carry;

As for designs everybody will have their favourite so, in the long run, would be great if we could end up with:

- 8 Ohm designs:

1x10"
1x12"
1x15"
2x10"
2x12"
4x10"

- 4 Ohm designs:

2x10"
2x12"
2x15"
4x10"
6x10"

Maybe this could be too much....

[charic]

How about a home practice cab? Takes the full wattage of a gigging amp (mines 1kW) but is small and doesn't risk damage (dummy load or something may be the easiest way I guess?)

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1389610388' post='2335992']
How about a home practice cab? Takes the full wattage of a gigging amp (mines 1kW) but is small and doesn't risk damage (dummy load or something may be the easiest way I guess?)
[/quote]We're quite keen on a home practice cab, something small and unobtrusive but with a satisfying sound at the sort of levels you will practice at.

There is a technical problem with something small built to handle 1000W though. Heat dissipation. Small speakers have small coils and less metalwork so don't handle such high power before burning out. The simplest thing would be to turn down of course, 50W into a decent speaker is going to annoy the neighbours quite enough anyway. It would be possible to wire a 4x6 for example so it ran at 32ohms and your amp would only drive 125W into that or a 16ohm 2x8 could be made to handle 200W easily enough.

It's more likely we will come up with a 1x8 design for this purpose, but it won't handle quite that much!

Edited January 13, 2014 by Phil Starr

[charic]

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1389617661' post='2336098']
We're quite keen on a home practice cab, something small and unobtrusive but with a satisfying sound at the sort of levels you will practice at.

There is a technical problem with something small built to handle 1000W though. Heat dissipation. Small speakers have small coils and less metalwork so don't handle such high power before burning out. The simplest thing would be to turn down of course, 50W into a decent speaker is going to annoy the neighbours quite enough anyway. It would be possible to wire a 4x6 for example so it ran at 32ohms and your amp would only drive 125W into that or a 16ohm 2x8 could be made to handle 200W easily enough.

It's more likely we will come up with a 1x8 design for this purpose, but it won't handle quite that much!
[/quote]

I only gave my particular example to show you the extremes ofcourse and I wouldn't be likely to crank it up at home anyway! That's what the 6x10 is for haha. A 16ohm 2x8 could be good! The other thing would be to make it the right size to still take a rack on top though if possible. Also an isolated bottom to it (Like a grammar pad) so the vibrations don't travel and you've got it nailed

The Home Office Cab of choice!

Can it have a headphone out too which disables the speaker so that people without headphone outs on there Amps can use that actually (I don't actually need that, just a nice feature to have )

Edited January 13, 2014 by charic
Ideas!

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1389617661' post='2336098']
It's more likely we will come up with a 1x8 design for this purpose, but it won't handle quite that much!
[/quote]

Would that be using the Faital 8" drivers that a couple of the US builders are using? I think my interest was piqued when I saw that the displacement should allow them to get as loud as many 10"s. Given that a 1x10" does me for a lot of my playing, and I use buses a lot, this could be very much of interest to me.

[largo]

I think a standard "rectangle" box with an upward angled baffle & speaker behind the grill is a great idea and wouldn't affect cab depth too much. It only needs to point upwards maybe 10-20 degrees, not 45 or anything. And a bug bear of mine, a cab that's wide enough to sit flush with a standard 19" rack-mounted amp. That's all, cheers.

[Musicman20]

A nice design similar to the very small/light Genz Shuttle cabinets...the 8" cab was apparently wonderful for how tiny it was.

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1389620690' post='2336159']
Would that be using the Faital 8" drivers that a couple of the US builders are using? I think my interest was piqued when I saw that the displacement should allow them to get as loud as many 10"s. Given that a 1x10" does me for a lot of my playing, and I use buses a lot, this could be very much of interest to me.
[/quote]
We're talking about a number of drivers for all the designs, There's the Fane 8-225 and Precision Devices do a lovely 8 with great extension at the sacrifice of sensitivity. the trick is going to be to home in on th best drivers in their class

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1389622159' post='2336178']
I think a standard "rectangle" box with an upward angled baffle & speaker behind the grill is a great idea and wouldn't affect cab depth too much. It only needs to point upwards maybe 10-20 degrees, not 45 or anything. And a bug bear of mine, a cab that's wide enough to sit flush with a standard 19" rack-mounted amp. That's all, cheers.
[/quote]

Funnily enough we were discussing the need to match the 19" amps this morning. It's an ideal and it does make stacking cabs easier but tricky to achieve with smaller cabs. If we can we'll do it but how much should we compromise the sound?

Edited January 13, 2014 by Phil Starr

[sblueplanet]

I've been trying to find a small cab with enough gigging power that I can lift up 6 flights of stairs after a gig. My budget has landed me with a 4ohm 1x12 Eden, but in the shared rehearsal room is a Barefaced Midget. I lifted it and it felt around half the weight of my own. Unfortunately I can't get permission to have a play through it.
Would be curious to know if they come in 4 + 8 ohm versions