Oh, no! A swapping speaker driver thread!!!

[Pea Turgh]

Calm down, calm down - not done anything silly... yet.

I have a gig rig which is great, but every now and again (not so much these past few months) I go round my mates house for a quiet jam to work new songs out, and the gig rig is OTT.

I bought this tiny little guitar combo so my daughter could have it in her room with the Hohner Pianet, but that fad has passed, so I’m wondering - could I put a bass driver in this poxy amp to have a little ‘house jam’ combo?

The unit is sealed, and I’d like it to stay that way, so does that make driver selection easier?  Looks to be about 6.5”.  I’ll get the internal volume later.

Thoughts?

[itu]

If you keep the volume down, there is no need to change the speaker. If the volume is in need, well...

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, itu said:

If you keep the volume down, there is no need to change the speaker. If the volume is in need, well...

Though the stock speaker would by far most likely be voiced for guitar, which, especially at only 6.5", would most likely make it extremely poor at reproducing the low end of the bass, but which a speaker designed specifically as a bass driver, even at the just about 6.5" of the stock one, would no doubt do a much better job at.

Though in any case you should properly still expect from a just 6.5" speaker unit, no matter the design, to not exactly work optimally for use with a bass, so if it is possible to enlarge the speaker mounting hole in that little combo like a couple of more inches it might be worth looking into your options for fitting an 8" speaker unit in it instead, since there are actually a few options for 8" speaker units on the market specifically designed to work as bass drivers that got a quite decent low end response for use with a 4 string bass (that is of course given that the space/volume of the speaker enclosure of the combo otherwise happens to actually accommodate that).  

Edited November 16, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Matt P]

as this is a budget amp i'd be surprised if the standard speaker was anything other than something fairly generic, and the enclosure is really quite small even for the 6.5" driver, i'd be more tempted to sell the amp and pick up something that was designed for bass.

they do actually make a bass version that is the same size though, it would be interesting to know if they have different speakers.

Matt

[Phil Starr]

Hi Pete, I'll get back to you later. I've just done this with a guitar combo of my son's, never used. It's still not brilliant but it'll do bass at a sufficient volume to play along with an acoustic guitar. It just involved a simple cab mod and a speaker swap. Camera's broken on my phone so it'll take me some time to show you what i did. I'll try and make some time this evening.

[Pea Turgh]

1 hour ago, itu said:

If you keep the volume down, there is no need to change the speaker. If the volume is in need, well...

I know it’s a cheapo, but even so, the sound is just brittle.  Hifi speakers manage more bass.  Pretty sure I’ve seen someone else do something similar.

[Pea Turgh]

42 minutes ago, Matt P said:

as this is a budget amp i'd be surprised if the standard speaker was anything other than something fairly generic, and the enclosure is really quite small even for the 6.5" driver, i'd be more tempted to sell the amp and pick up something that was designed for bass.

But Matt, that would be the easy sensible option - it’s just not me 😂

[Pea Turgh]

28 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Hi Pete, I'll get back to you later. I've just done this with a guitar combo of my son's, never used. It's still not brilliant but it'll do bass at a sufficient volume to play along with an acoustic guitar. It just involved a simple cab mod and a speaker swap. Camera's broken on my phone so it'll take me some time to show you what i did. I'll try and make some time this evening.

Starr by name, Starr by nature!

[Baloney Balderdash]

18 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

I know it’s a cheapo, but even so, the sound is just brittle.  Hifi speakers manage more bass.  Pretty sure I’ve seen someone else do something similar.

Did you read my reply, about looking into the possibility of enlarging the speaker mounting hole in your little guitar combo a couple of inches to make it possible to fit an 8" bass driver speaker unit into it, as that would likely, with the right 8" unit, give a much improved, actually even quite decent, result over what any 6.5" speaker unit, even if specifically designed as a bass driver, likely would for use with a bass guitar?

Edited November 16, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Pea Turgh]

4 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Did you read my reply, about looking into the possibility of enlarging the speaker mounting hole of your little guitar combo a couple of inches to make it possible to fit an 8" bass driver speaker unit into it, as that would likely give a much improved, actually even quite decent, result than any 6.5" speaker unit, even if designed as a bass driver, likely would?

I did.  Would be fairly straightforward to fashion a new baffle looking at it.  Was just thinking initially of doing the easiest thing possible to start with!  I’m not expecting miracles, just an improved low frequency.

Measurements are 12cm x 30cm x 23.3cm, and there are ports (dammit) 2 x 4cm.  Going to hook the amp up to something else to see what it sounds like....

[Pea Turgh]

Connected the amp to my BF Two10 - much better 😂😂😂

 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

That's literally a tuppence driver. Replace it with an Eminence Alpha 6 and it will work as well as is possible. http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EMIALPHA6A

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 10, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[knicknack]

Honestly for the price of a decent speaker replacement and less man hours you could probably get a decent bass-specific small combo, like the smallest Fender Rumble 2nd hand? 

[knicknack]

I also appreciate that half the fun is in the problem solving however!

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

41 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Perhaps worth popping a little wadding in the box, too?

It wouldn't hurt.

[Steve Browning]

1 minute ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

It wouldn't hurt.

Unless you hit your thumb with the hammer.

[Pea Turgh]

Thanks for the input, chaps.  I’ll have a think about what to do and let you know if I end up tinkering.  I know the sensible thing to do, but sensible is often not as fun!!

[BassmanPaul]

You also might think about running a HPF in your signal chain to ease the strain on a small driver. 

[Pea Turgh]

10 minutes ago, BassmanPaul said:

You also might think about running a HPF in your signal chain to ease the strain on a small driver. 

Covered!

[Woodinblack]

I assume as it is a guitar amp it already is quite high passed

[Phil Starr]

Here you go, this is my 'build' 

 

 

[Pea Turgh]

I read a lot on here.  Some of it sticks, most phrases just sound familiar and when someone says them to me I look like a dog looking at its own reflection in a mirror.

So - at this most pathetic end of the spectrum (15watts in to a 6.5” driver, as cheaply as possible), do I go for higher sensitivity (92dB) or longer Xmax?  Only I found a driver on CPC for under 15 squid, but the Xmax is only 2.5mm.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Pea Turgh

[Pea Turgh]

https://cpc.farnell.com/unbranded/sp-167e/speaker-6-5-4ohm/dp/LS01252?st=6.5 driver
 

Data sheets for all the drivers... yay!!

[Phil Starr]

Hi Peter, this is an odd one, the half roll surround suggests that this is a hifi speaker and that is what it is sold as. However for £12 you could just decide it is worth a try. The specs are a bit odd, for instance the 35W rating for a 1" coil on an aluminium former looks too low. I'd choose a known entity like the Fane 6-100 (£28) that I used or the Beyma CMV6. The Eminence Alpha that Bill suggested would be good too but expensive this side of the pond. However a 4x6 for £50+ some ply offcuts looks like fun, but I digress.

I'll put those specs into WinISD tonight and let you know.