Chienmortbb

When the original 1x12 Design Diary was spec'd it was for a single driver 12" cab that was capable of keeping up with a loud drummer (120dB SPL). It was to be wide enough to take a rack mount amp with no overhang and was to be easy to build. Phil and Stevie achieved this with the MK1. I bought a Beyma SM212 fully intending to build the MK1 but Beyma revised the specs on the SM212 (for the better) so I asked Stevie, who has the measuring gear, if he would like to check it. It turned out that Beyma had been turning out drivers that were better than the original published spec and that my driver and Phil's were almost identical. Beyma had just revised the specification to match the real performance of the driver. While I was with Stevie that first time, he pulled out a small cab fitted with an OEM version of the Deltalite 12" and a properly designed crossover and tweeter. The low end was nowhere near as good as the MK1 but the midd and top were so clear. I was persuaded to go the MK2 route. He convinced me that a good horn and compression driver could improve dispersion so that I could hear myself even with a small cab on the floor on a pub stage. I love an old school hump (that looks so wrong in print) but I have always thought that flat speakers and a good EQ is the way to go rather than a "voiced" cabinet. I had been in conversation with Passinwind regarding pre-amps and the design he came up with has a really flexible EQ that can dial in an old school response or just about anything else I want. All with a really low noise figure (virtually no hiss). I had hoped to get my DIY amp ready for the Bash on Sunday but illness and the late arrival of some components ruined that. I will get the amp finished in the next week or two then I will have a complete rig I built myself. Of course I will post pictures on here as soon as it is finished. The think is there is no right or wrong, it is a personal thing. Phil's idea of a smaller cab creating a low mid peak is as valid as the "HiFi" cab. The choice is yours.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1490609772' post='3266309'] A lot of the weight of those old cabs is in the wood (I think at least some of them were MDF), so it may be only a little lighter with neodymium drivers. [/quote]I had a conversation with an ex Trace employee and he told me they used MDF as it was sonically better than even Birch plywood.

I got to the Bash too late to hear this but aesthetically it lacks something. When I used to chose cars my wife had a test. Would it look good on the drive? Suffice to say if MarkBass made cars, Mrs A would haunt me from the after life if one of these went on the drive.

I seem to remember Phil saying he was thinking of doing a 40 litre cab using the Beyma. As for the screws, I finished the cab a bit too fast enable me together me to get to the bash and had to cut some corners. I am now going to replace the screws with dowels then re-applyTuffCab so the final effect will be much better. I also agree about the piping Stevie the whole effect is s bit too dark at the moment. Does anyone know where to get it?

Ok Just North of 14Kgs with only a handle (150gm)and a few more corners. I will be filling the screw holes either dowels an I have enough TuffCab left to paint another couple of coats.

I will weigh it when I find my luggage scales but here are some pics of the almost finished cab. I am still debating whether to pain the port black but I am starting to like the contrast so it may stay. My dad used to tell me that you cannot hide blemishes with paint and it is true even with TuffCab. I have some screw holes to fill and a bit more sanding OR I might just spend the time playing through it.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1491076030' post='3270376'] Would those vintage amps still have 1/4 jacks if Speakons had existed? [/quote]NO. Jacks were designed for signals not power and many are rated at under 1 amp. that is 8 watts at 8 ohms. SpeaKons are rated at 40 amps continuous ( just short of 13,000 watts). Of course the better makes of jacks from the likes of Neutrik (Rean), Switchcraft, Amphenol and Cliff have jack sockets and/or plugs that are rated ay 5 amps (200Watts into 8 ohms) or even 10 amps (800 watts into 8ohms) but are all the connectors rated that highly? Are all jack speaker leads using properly rated connectors (or cable). Of course the real problem is that it is easy to short out a jack lead and many early solid state amps have died this way. SpeaKons are bulletproof, they cannot be shorted and can take all your amp can put out and more. However... for a small form factor amp, a jack does make sense but make sure you use a good quality speakers lead and connectors and only switch the amp on oncer the cables are in place.

Well after burning the Midnight Oil and getting up early I just about managed to get the Cab to the Big Fat South West Bass Bash. I had about 5 mins to check the cab at home before setting off so it was a leap of faith to think that I had connected everything correctly in the crossover. I just knew I had noise of sorts coming out of both drivers. The handle was not on , there were no cabinet corners and Heath Robinson would have been ashamed of the crossover construction but it worked. We had about an hour comparing the my MK2(.5?) with Phil Starr's MK 1 cabinets. I think Phil will agree that you could hear the difference but it really did prove what a nice driver the Beyma SM212 is. Out in front (where the audience would be) the difference was noticeable but not massive. However when standing above the cabs, in "gigging" position, the improved dispersion was quite noticeable. This was the main design criteria for me. To be able to hear myself, without a monitor, when there is no FOH support. A number of people said they would be happy to gig with Mk1 or Mk2 even though they owned high end cabs themselves. We tried to record the cabinets but the "war of the bassists" made any meaningful comparisons very difficult. Hopefully we can get some real sound clips and other opinions soon. sadly my guitarist has a damaged nerve (no not his brain) in his left hand so no gigs for me until June but I will tidy the cabinet up and keep using it until then. At some point I will take it to Stevie so we can measure its performance to see how close it is to the prototype and the original design goals.

[quote name='Jabba_the_gut' timestamp='1491166730' post='3271008'] I'd just like to add my thanks to Mike and the Scrumpys for a really enjoyable day. The atmosphere was really welcoming and the food was lovely - a very big thanks for that!! My wife and kids really enjoyed the cup cakes given to me for them to eat on the way home - a lovely touch and much appreciated. Both the venue and weather were perfect. If there's one next year then put my name on the list.... It was great to be able to put faces to names I've seen on here before and to get to try out some different gear (I really would like an RH450 now - great piece of kit!). It was also very interesting talking to the guys from Gillett, Chowny and Retrovibe guitars. Everybody at the bash was friendly and chatty, made for a great day. Thanks again! [/quote]I have to say that the pictures on the build threads do not do your basses justice, they are works of art.

What a great event. I have my Tee Shirt on now and I promise to buy another mug next year Mike. I am so clumsy i might need one on mail order before then. The catering was excellent and yes i did make a point of telling team Scrumpy in person. The venue was ideal and you must have serious connections with the man upstairs for organising that weather. The real thing though it was just nice to be with people that appreciate bass. I was not there long enough to see much but that Barefaced 1x10 was so small. There was a lot of Trace stuff on show and I like that and there were some beautiful basses all over the hall. Put me down for next year now please.

I was up at 7 this morning as time is running out. The wadding is in and I have glued the top and bottom. The glue sets fairly well in 2 hours but clamping time is 4 hours so four hours it is. That will be about 11:30 when the edge corner shaping and painting will be done, I have to be out for the afternoon (more pressure) returning about 18:00. While the box is drying, I will make the crossover. I have had trouble posting the template drawing for the horn, when converted to an image file the size is wrong so you need the PDF. I have now posted it and you can get it by clicking [url="http://candheat.co.uk/documents/PH170.pdf"]HERE[/url]. The drawing is a very zoomed version of the small image on the P--Audio data sheet. Although slightly pixelated, it is accurate to within about 1.5mm and using the cropped rugby ball shape in the middle, I cut a template that made a good hole as can be seen in the baffle image in an earlier post. The complete P-Audio data sheet for the PH-170 Horn is [url="http://www.p-audio.co.uk/products/P-Audio_PH-170_1_inch_Throat_High_Frequency_Horn.php"]HERE[/url]

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1490965068' post='3269449'] Here are the corrected versions. [/quote]One of the things you will notice is how complex the crossover is. Not that I want to put anyone off building it but compared to some of the best commercial offerings this is a beautifully tailored circuit.

I use Open Office/Libre office draw. I have not used Paint for years so don't know if it's better or not. However it is free.

I use Open Office/Libre office draw. I have not used Paint for years so don't know if it's better or not. However it is free.

The grille has been tricky. i decided that the weight of a good metal grille would be too much. I already had some old really tough plastic grille material ,and decided to use that. Here is a picture of the Grille almost complete. The plastic is very string and tough and quite hard to work with. It is stapled on to the edges of the frame. It pulled the sides of the frame inwards so I added a brace as you can see from the clamps. The red triangles are thin pieces of plywood that both strengthen the joints and give me something to screw through to hold the grille in place. If I had to do this again I would not do it this way and I may redesign the grille after the bass bass next Sunday. Having tried a dry fit of the grille I have to say I am much happier with it. The two things that worry me now are whether I can get the fixing screws on and whether I will be able to get it off if I need too. To say it is a tight fit is an understatement.

I am struggling to get this finished before the South West Bass bash on Sunday. I ordered some bits form Blue Aran, Handle, corners, screws TuffCab and that came today. i am still waiting for the wadding. Yesterday I finished the baffle and installed it together with a new brace to support the baffle between the Horn and Port. This is a weak area and I used a triangular ogg curt that attaches to the baffle and the Top. I painted the baffle matt black before installation. Tuff Cab does not adhere well to other paint so I was trying to avoid contaminating subsurfaces that might need Tuffcab. The next picture shows the new brace. Im did wipe the excess glue after I took the picture. I cannot put the top and bottom on until I have the wadding so next, the grille.

[quote name='Phil C' timestamp='1490790464' post='3267992'] Update - I emailed both companies. Wembley Loud speakers never replied! The guys in Norwich did, and turned my speaker around in a week (£80 plus £15P&P). The speaker has just been through 3 two hour sets with Deeper Purple, and is as good as new! Thanks for the advice. [/quote]I wanted to be fair to both companies but I have also found the Norwich guys to be great. I am really glad you are sorted

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1490170791' post='3262720'] I'll make mr funk and Mr glockenklang aware of your view 😁 you have to listen closely.. [/quote]What I meant is there is no excuse for manufacturers to produce noisy amps. Most noise cameos from the preamp and even low cost opamps can give s low noise floor. Don't worry I am not going into details. However if Mr Funk and Mr Glocengang make noisy Amps... or maybe it is just the crossover in the Barefaced that is the problem!

I have been trying to do the odd bit on the cab despite wanting too curl up in the corner. I finished putting the braces/struts into the cabinet and put the other side on. Then I cut the baffle hole in both my baffle and Stevie's. Mine went OK but lost concentration with the router and ended the rout of Stevies with black sawdust on the baffle. I had routed through the live wire but being a class two device, there was no danger of a shock. I have rewired it now but the cable is 35cm shorter . Next trick, dry fit the baffle. That is the next thing to go on so it needs to be a good tight fit and it is. Sadly when I spaced out the braces, I calculated that the full brace above the baffle would sit just above the woofer hole...... except that I calculated to the centre of the brace and the is 7.5mm lower than the centre line and just [u][i]below[/i][/u] the woofer cut-out. You can see that in the image below where you can also see some of the sanding I need to do. I am not too concerned as I think the angle to the speaker and the offset from the foam sealing will ensure that the brace is not in the way. The slight lost in strength is also offset by the better support for the woofer. I just have to keep repeating those two sentances t until I believe it. The good think about building one cabinet before the other is that these little issues can be corrected on the second cabinet. Stevie's should turn out perfectly After I have tidied up the inside by sanding the rough edges of the braces, I will mark-out and cut-out the hole for the horn. I have a novel way to mark that out but it might not work! Then fit the wadding*, the baffle, the port and the connector hole(s) on the back. The top and bottom will be fitted last of all. I think we are still on track for the SW Bash Bash but I am going to bed now and hope to wake up feeling better tomorrow. *The wadding is due Tuesday but I may have to glue the baffle before it arrives. Hopefully more progress tomorrow.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1490428120' post='3265030'] I'm going to try to get along for a couple of hours. Unfortunately our band are rehearsing in the afternoon from 1.00pm but it's just the other side of Taunton so I should be fine for the first couple of hours. I'll bring along the original Basschat 12 in case someone is interested in building one. It'd be interesting to compare it with the tweetered Mk 2 versions. I could probably leave it with someone if people want to go on playing with it. GrahamT you know who you are [/quote]No pressure then Phil? I am building the MK2 as fast as I can but illl health has put me behind schedule. I might have to bring a Wet Paint sign on Sunday.🤧

Sorry for the delay in posting, I had the start of a virus when I was st Stevie's on Tuesday and it has laid me low ever since. I have made some progress and will post photos tonight.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1490346682' post='3264422'] So many opportunities for poor jokes here, but I am a grown up so will not. [/quote]Ouch/ There may be a howl (round) from some of out transatlantic cousins over that pun

[quote name='funkle' timestamp='1490285779' post='3263970'] The BC 1x12 is going to be one heck of a cabinet then. There are some incredible lows out of the F112. [/quote]Once I finish mine, assuming I get rid of the bug I currently have, I will be taking it to the South West Bass Bash. Hopefully there will be some feedback from there.

Just a punt but I would try different leads first. active basses use stereo jack sockets and use the mono jail plug of you cable to make the earth connection, connecting the battery to the pre-amp. So either the lead has a stereo plug or, there is something wrong with the stereo jack socket on the Schecter. Or I could be completely wrong.

[quote name='pmjos' timestamp='1490199228' post='3263183'] Thought I would update this having has the F112 for a while. I matched it with a Warwick LWA1000. I wasn't expecting the sound to be as neutral as it was and to be honest at first I didn't like it. However as I got the hang of it and began to drive the 'colour' from my various basses I have really come to appreciate the difference you get from just plugging in a different instrument. Sounds obvious really but to some extent I have been used to plugging in basses and trying to make them sound different. With this you don't have to, not one bit. Put a P bass in and you get P bass, and EUB it sounds like and EUB. You get the idea. The rig is small , flexible and very loud but I prefer to use mine at lower levels and going out through the front of house.The cab is properly full range and responds across the whole spectrum. I did say it didn't have as much bottom as my AER AMP Three, that remains true. The AER is a sealed cabinet and almost unique for a small combo for thunderous bottom end. However, the F112 rig gets much bigger and loader and doesn't colour the sound. The build of the cab is clean, sturdy and the drivers are of the highest quality. I love the wedge shape. I am very happy with the rig and its a keeper. [/quote]Dave Greenboy really knows how to design a no-compromise cabinet. In fact having learnt so much from the design of the BC 1x12, I think he is one of the few that does it properly.