Custom or home-made 2 x 15" cab?

[Roobubba]

Hi guys,

So I'm weighing up whether to get a custom-made 2 x 15" cab (unfortunately, an opportunity to get this done locally has fallen through, so I'm without contact for a cab maker, now), or to build my own.

Can anyone recommend some good resources for reading about making your own cabs? It's difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff online!

I'm particularly interested in making a 2 x 15" extension cab for my guitar amp (Peavey 5150-II, alongside a Peavey 5150 cab loaded with 2 x G12K-100, 2 x emi wizard, hopefully!). It might have to be ported, but I'm after a nice tight bottom end for maximum punch!

Alternatively, could people recommend a UK-based cab maker (I'm looking for an unloaded cab)? I guess the guy who I'd contacted might well be mentioned, but I'll wait until/if that happens before asking for alternatives!

Thanks in advance,

Roo

[Twinfan]

Matamp can build you anything you want.  Slightly pricey but very good quality:

http://www.matamp.co.uk

[Oli]

If you want a nice tuned cab, you'll have to settle on some speakers and find out various characteristics of them so you can build the cab to respond perfectly- unless you want to go for an open-backed design, which will make the cab and the amp sound big, because the sound is less directional, and fills the room better :)

I build my own 2x12 (open backed) a while ago, you can see the pictures at here. I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you have :)

[Will]

That Zilla music thing ?

[Roobubba]

Oli, that cab looks really nice. I'm quite keen on the closed back idea, but guess I will have to check out all the relevant parameters and tune it with the correct sized ports... I'm marginally above average with numbers, but know nothing about the theory at the minute. Shouldn't take me too long to work it out, but I'd like to find the right information first!

I suppose I could make it a semi-closed back - ie make it closed but have a section which could be removed - at least this could allow me to experiment with different sounds. I could always calculate how much space would be needed for ports and plan those in but not actually cut the holes out in the first instance.

Have contacted matamp, I'll see what they reckon. At the minute, because I'm after the G12K-100 celestion speakers,  and they only come in 8 ohm varieties as far as I can tell, I'm essentially limited to changing my 4 x 12 from 16 ohm to 8 ohm. Someone on another forum pointed out that I could use a 16 ohm cab with an 8 ohm cab, and use either the 8 or 4 ohm outputs on the amp, but I'd rather keep them properly matched if possible.  That means I'll need to use an 8 ohm 2 x 15, which means I'm probably looking at 2 x 4ohm Eminence Commonwealth 15" speakers.

Thanks for the advice so far - I might PM you soon, Oli, depending on when I decide I can actually afford the speakers and the wood!

Cheers,

Roo

[HTH AMPS]

If you've already got a 16ohm 4x12 get a pair of 8ohm 15" speakers and run them in series for 16ohms.  You'd then run the amp at 8ohms with both cabs.

 :twisted:

[Roobubba]

Yeah, but I want to swap out the sheffields in the current cab, and in their place put in 2 x G12K-100 and 2 x Wizards. The G12K-100s are only available as 8 ohm speakers, which limits me quite a lot :(

Roo

[HTH AMPS]

Yeah, but I want to swap out the sheffields in the current cab, and in their place put in 2 x G12K-100 and 2 x Wizards. The G12K-100s are only available as 8 ohm speakers, which limits me quite a lot :(

Roo

Ok, so you'll have an 8ohm 4x12 with the K100s.

Get 4ohm 15" drivers wired in series for 8ohm or two 16ohm 15" drivers in parallel for 8ohm.

Run the amp at 4ohms with both cabs connected.

 :twisted:

[Roobubba]

Anyone got any experience of Jensen MOD 15-200s?
Or Eminence Commonwealth 15"?
It seems that 15" guitar speakers are very hard to find in the UK!

[Roobubba]

Too good to be true? Obviously it's not "guitar" loudspeakers, but to be honest, I'm finding very little that looks "right" to me, the untrained eye...


http://www.terralec.co.uk/omnitronic/omnitronic_loudspeaker_cabinet_2_x_15__horns_500watts/16242_p.html

?

Roo

[5F6-A]

weber??

[Roobubba]

email fired off, let's see what happens.

I am now thinking very much of building the cab myself. Still not sure about 15" speakers, or even sure about my ideas for the 4 x 12"! So many variables, so little cash!

Roo

[HTH AMPS]

Watford Valves stock the Jenson C15K - I remember it got a great review in TGM when they last did a speaker shootout.  WV are knocking them out for £55.00 a piece.

Here's a peek at some Celestions you could use... http://professional.celestion.com/bass/green/index.asp

btw, have you seen those EVH-signature G12's on the Celestion website? - cool as f*ck... http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/products/heritage/detail.asp?ID=33

 :twisted:

[Bob Johnson]

You could try Eminence Delta 15's if you're looking for something in the 50 quid a unit bracket. I've just replaced the 15" drivers in the bands PA with these and they're really good. Since we don't use a backline all the mix goes through the desk and the PA and these things handle it all, guitar, vocals the lot, very well; much better than the stock JBL's that were in there to start with. We also use Eminence Beta 15's in the bass bins and they're great too; ideal if you don't need all the handling capacity of the Deltas and of course a bit cheaper.

This company are pretty good for speakers http://www.bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?id=EMIDEL15A&product=Eminence_Delta_15_400W_15!dquote!_Driver_8_ohm&browsemode=category

or www.cpc.co.uk

[Will]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARSHALL-JCM800-SERIES-2-x-15-BASS-GUITAR-CAB-STRAIGHT_W0QQitemZ260183270596QQihZ016QQcategoryZ58719QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thought I would post it here :) just if you are still looking