House Jam Micro Cab

[Woodwind]

13 hours ago, stevie said:

Phil Starr, Chienmortbb and I had one of our irregular meet-ups over the weekend.  After an hour or two measuring and auditioning high-end bass cabs and drivers, including a well-known active PA cab favoured by a number of Basschatters (very interesting!), we plugged this little critter in.

I'd briefly heard it before, but not seriously auditioned it. This time, we turned the volume up as loud as we could dare without annoying the neighbours - and the sound was impressive. It needed a bit of bass boost, although not a huge amount it has to be said, but we certainly didn't come away with the impression that this was a cheap cab.

It's tiny size means that it's ideal for home use, because you can easily stash it away in a cupboard or behind the sofa. It'll  go louder than you'll ever need at home and it sounds really sweet toboot. We were unable to drive it to its max, but I can see this tiny box handling acoustic and not-too-loud gigs with ease. You'll be surprised

This is by far the simplest Basschat DIY cab project so far. If you've considered building your own cab but haven't done so yet, this is a great starter project. Once you've finished, you'll have something that's very usable.

I can't wait to make one of these!

[Phil Starr]

The perfect London cab. You can take it on the tube and at home it won't annoy the neighbours.... well not as much as some others might 

[Guest]

I’ve been slightly delayed by melting my input jack, now I’ve been soldering since I was a lad, so over 40 years! I’ve modified pedals etc with delicate components. What the hell is is this new solder!!!! It just won’t flow, I eventually resorted to my high powered gas iron, the jack melted before the solder flowed. I need to find my stash of old fashioned ‘naughty’ solder. It’s I the house somewhere. I know this as I used it on a bike dynamo connection, same experience there, used the new stuff and couldn’t get it to work, used the old lead stuff and Job done in seconds with nice shiny joints.  
 

If I can’t find my lifetime supply of proper stuff can anyone recommend something which actually works?

[Woodwind]

1 hour ago, steve-norris said:

I’ve been slightly delayed by melting my input jack, now I’ve been soldering since I was a lad, so over 40 years! I’ve modified pedals etc with delicate components. What the hell is is this new solder!!!! It just won’t flow, I eventually resorted to my high powered gas iron, the jack melted before the solder flowed. I need to find my stash of old fashioned ‘naughty’ solder. It’s I the house somewhere. I know this as I used it on a bike dynamo connection, same experience there, used the new stuff and couldn’t get it to work, used the old lead stuff and Job done in seconds with nice shiny joints.  
 

If I can’t find my lifetime supply of proper stuff can anyone recommend something which actually works?

I hate modern lead free solder and whether it is fluxcore or plain I tend to use some Bakers No.3 Fluid Flux on the surfaces to be joined.

 

you can mask off areas using tipex and get some really neat solder joints.

 

 

[tauzero]

You can get 60/40 multicore on That Ebay.

[lemmywinks]

Never really had a problem with modern solder, I use the 60/40 stuff off eBay as mentioned above.

[JohnDaBass]

Looks like you have created a new market segment @Phil Starr

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2021/12/03/phil-jones-bass-introduces-nanobass-x4-combo-amp/

[Chienmortbb]

When you look at @Phil Starr's 6" cab it seesm PJB have missed a trick.  Adding a lightweight amo to the PSB6 (Phil Starr Bass 6") woiuld make a real mini monster. Good for home practise and small gigs,

[Phil Starr]

5 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

When you look at @Phil Starr's 6" cab it seesm PJB have missed a trick.  Adding a lightweight amo to the PSB6 (Phil Starr Bass 6") woiuld make a real mini monster. Good for home practise and small gigs,

John you've got me thinking, I'm checking out alternative drivers already  Shelagh will be pleased!

 

I've been using the House Jam speaker at open mics for the last few days, too loud and a bit bassy at the last gig apparently. Well if they will rush you on with 30secs notice.......

Edited December 5, 2021 by Phil Starr

[JohnDaBass]

I have recently purchased a TC 200 BAM and considering using a Faital Pro 6RS140 in place of the Fane. The 6RS140 has an Xmax of 5.6mm so I'm hopeful it may offer a little more bass response. 

https://faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=101020140

I will report back with the outcome. 

[Chienmortbb]

@JohnDaBassFaital Pro are great drivers but be aware their XMax figures are measured in a different way to most companies giving a more favourable result.
 

You can also over spec a speaker.  @stevietold us of a driver he had tested that looked great on paper. Despite modelling well it was  not as good as another driver that looked worse on paper. 

[Guest]

Just finished the build, cracking little cab!

[Phil Starr]

On 05/12/2021 at 22:35, steve-norris said:

Just finished the build, cracking little cab!

Brilliant, I am pleased you like it, any feedback good or bad would be welcome. I've used the cab again in public this week and it's still doing what it says on the tin for me,

[Phil Starr]

On 05/12/2021 at 18:04, JohnDaBass said:

I have recently purchased a TC 200 BAM and considering using a Faital Pro 6RS140 in place of the Fane. The 6RS140 has an Xmax of 5.6mm so I'm hopeful it may offer a little more bass response. 

https://faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=101020140

I will report back with the outcome. 

Hi John, you have to look carefully Faital are looking at the coil overhang+ 1/3 of the gap depth as Xmax, I've seen other people use Overhang +1/2 gap depth and some just using the overhang. I think the Fane does this. Also used is the excursion before a specified level of distortion. It's all valid as the magnetic field does extend beyond the gap but for the unwary it can end up comparing apples with pears. Fane and Beyma used to use the less favourable overhang only measurement but with the comparison charts are starting to change to overhang+ Celestion are using overhang only so far. I think Fane used overhang for the Sovereign 6 from memory.

 

Have a look at the top end response also, it's pretty good for the fane. The Faital though gives extra power handling and lighter weight at a price. It's a nice driver though and I'd love to hear how you get on with it if you go ahead

[Guest]

Well I’ve had a little more time with it now, I’ve got it hooked up to my tiny little Hotone Thunder amp which puts out a mighty 5W! Volume is on 3/4 and I’m having to cut it on the bass quite substantially. This is where it really shines, initially I was bumping the bass up but have cut it back a little bit and added some mids and it now sounds full and balanced, sounds counterintuitive but…..the other thing I’ve noticed is that it’s really articulate, normally when low volumes I find ghost notes don’t work as well, with this they jump out. It’s just about perfect for when I get in late and pick the bass up post 9pm, it sounds like bigger cab but without the crockery rattling..

I can’t wait to hear it with a bit more power into it, Thanks Phill, it really is a fantastic little thing.

[Phil Starr]

Thanks Steve, that's really helpful.

 

Articulate is a good description and that is exactly what I've found, it's a perfect practice speaker because it brings out your playing but doesn't distract. One reason for this is that you only need a hint of the sub-harmonic bass in most people's living rooms but there are a couple of other things too. A small driver has better dispersion than a large one so in smaller rooms where you are closer and can't always sit straight in line with your amp you'll hear more of what the speaker is doing. More importantly you have a more or less flat response all the way up to 7,000Hz which covers the whole output from the pickups on your bass. No irregularities from a crossover and no need for a tweeter.

 

I initially designed this as practice speaker with a 10-20W amp in mind and something that would boost the sound to the point where I could jam along to a jumbo acoustic guitar. I only tried it with my main amp because, well you have to try your bass with every speaker. It was only then I realised I had something special. I hope you enjoy it with a bigger amp, just remember it's only a 100W speaker

[Phil Starr]

On 05/12/2021 at 18:04, JohnDaBass said:

I have recently purchased a TC 200 BAM and considering using a Faital Pro 6RS140 in place of the Fane. The 6RS140 has an Xmax of 5.6mm so I'm hopeful it may offer a little more bass response. 

https://faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=101020140

I will report back with the outcome. 

Good news, I had a second look at the Faital last night. the frequency response looks great and the speaker has a longer coil than the Fane with the same magnet gap. I haven't modelled it yet but it looks from Vas and Qts figures to be an OK match for this cab. Maybe even a slightly smaller one. Can you use WinISD or would you like me to have a look

[Phil Starr]

I had a look anyway, this speaker will go in a cab as small as 3l but with the low value for Qts it will have a marked shelving response with the bass down a long way. In this cab it needs tuning differently but the best I could do leaves it with a dip in the 80-160 hz octave where you least want it. It does have a bit more deep bass but the Fane is also 2dB louder at the same power. Having looked i'd only use this as a mid range driver. If you want lightweight the Faital 6PR160 looks a better bet. The other possibility is the Beyma 6CMV2. BTW if you use the I/2 overhang + 1/3 gap depth for the Fane it has Xmax of 4.5mm

 

the Fane is red the Faital 6RS140 green

[JohnDaBass]

Thank you so much for modelling the 6RS140. The Fane looks significantly better. What size port should be for a 10l cab? What's your view on front firing port rather than a rear firing on a cab this size that would probably be sat against a wall in the lounge?

[Phil Starr]

Hi John, the plans are in post 2 of this thread.  I'll try and get some tips on the build and some pictures up as a priority if you are building soon?  

 

I've used the cab a lot now for open mics in rooms which are much bigger than the ones I originally designed the cab for. There are no problems with the rear port unless you literally press the cab against the wall and the bass reinforcement from a wall will really help with the bass in the room, as it does with any cab

[JohnDaBass]

House Jam Micro COMBO!! Anyone??

 

 

 

Nearly finished , using a Faital 6RS140 speaker and what a fine piece of engineering it is too.

I will do a proper post in the coming days.

[JohnDaBass]

Rather than derailing Phil's excellent Thread I thought I would post my Micro Combo build in the Build Diary Thread.

 

House Jam Micro Combo - Build Diaries - Basschat

 

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by JohnDaBass
link added

[Pea Turgh]

Finally borrowed a circular saw.  I think it would have been quicker to chew the panels to size.  We’ll see if I can squeeze in some time this week to chop chop chop.

 

Anyone else finished theirs yet?

[tauzero]

I went to a place that cuts wood to size. I think everything was cut about 1mm too small, but I can live with that.

 

Due to having a biopsy on my right hand a couple of days ago, I'm slightly limited in what I can do for now. I think I've got all the ingredients though, except for a grill cloth.

[Pea Turgh]

Outside finished, just need some port tube and spade connectors.