RichardH

I must admit, I thought the impedance on valve amps needed to be matched to the speaker. This being because each impedance output on the valve amp is a different secondary on the output transformer...which would make the original query's statement correct. ...but I could well be wrong, and am happy to be corrected by those who know better!

Many moons ago I made some cases for my hifi from aluminium sheet and plate. I used an etch primer I bought in Halfords (can't guarantee the one they do now is the same though!), which seems to have worked a treat - the satin black I finished the cases in is still good 10 years on - though of course they don't get the beating a cab (potentially) gets. The one I used was grey, and had a very matt and quite rough surface (almost like a very fine sandpaper) - I assume to allow the top coat to bond properly. So I suspect if a black etch primer is similar in texture, the surface would not be the nicest finish.

I was admiring the floor tiles

Why not just have a thread for advice - those who don't want to read it can ignore it, but it may well be useful to others thinking about building etc. Separate threads for each person's build sounds like the way to go IMO - easier to follow progress that way.

Most of the DIY sheds have a section with various profiles like that - usually at the end of an aisle with them all racked up end on. Wickes are usually pretty good for that sort of thing too.

Thanks - this is what it replaced - the benches were chipboard and completely banana shaped from water getting in through the roof - in some places water had worn right through the chipboard (though it was quite atmospheric working in there with the rain hammering on the tin!) Yup - LED lighting strips FTW - still waiting to get power over to the new shed (it's a bit further from the house, and to be honest the way the power was fed to the old shed made me scared!). Very good points. I was intending the bench to be fixed to the wall (which is currently the open 4x2 studwork of the shed itself - I had intended to put ply or pegboard on the wall behind it to stop stuff falling behind), so options for clamping from the other side would be tricky, but I might make some sort of accommodation for that, as it sounds very sensible. I think the main reason for not using worktop (which is in 3 approx 1.5m lengths) is that I read comments about it being hard to clamp to because of it being slippy - but that's easily fixed with some matting. It will do for the first attempt anyway - I can always rethink if it doesn't work out right. The comments about height are helpful too - thinking about it, at my old place I put the bench in at "worktop" height, and it was hard to bear down.

Well, you can't build anything else until you have a bench, right? Having moved house earlier in the year, we've had a lot of jobs on the go.... and a nice space for me to tinker in has been fairly low on the agenda! Anyway, we now have a reasonably weathertight shed/garage in place (about single garage size - 3.6m x 5.8m external dims), so I'm now looking to get some shelving in there and - most importantly - a workbench. No car will be in there - just the ride on mower etc. I have some decent sized offcuts of laminate worktop (650mm deep), and had thought to use those as the bench top - any reasons not to do so? Should I be looking to use double thickness 18mm ply or similar instead? Any recommended depth for the bench - is 650mm too shallow? I'm intending to run the bench along from the single side door under the window to the far end.

I made some cases for my home built hi fi amps a few years ago, made from aluminium sheet. I used an etching primer from Halfords to spray it - followed by a satin black spray. It worked really well, and has been solid over the last few years - but it obviously gets a lot less in the way of knocks than a bass cab.

I was going to say - aluminium grille with the grey cab would look great. That finish you've got looks really nice - very "pro PA cab".

Did you get the Tuffcab "pro" stuff or the normal stuff, by the way?

I have a load of this sheeting, so if anyone wants any to try this with, PM me your address and I'll post some!

I found that the surface finish was very slightly different where tuffcab goes over sanded filler. May be because the filler is smoother than the rest of the cab (well it was in my case!). Hardly noticeable though, and it adhered just fine.

Here's a quick tip for when cutting the pipe for the port. If you're using a normal panel saw (as per for timber etc), then use a blunt one. I was cutting some drain pipe recently, and my super sharp panel saw caused the pipe to shatter in one place. I then tried again with an older saw I keep for odds and ends, and it worked much better.

Lots

Just to reiterate what others have said. Although it looks like the cabs are in series, daisy chaining (linking one cab to the next) will put the cabs in parallel. The reason being that the twin connectors on the first cab are in set up so that you get a parallel connection between cabs. So the amp will see a 4 ohm load. Job done.

Our drummer has the drummer's equivalent - a throne with the shaker built in. He always brings to rehearsals, and swears by it.

Try a search for black pan head screws - something like this listing on eBay would do the trick, which has a range of lengths and sizes. Depending on the hardware, flange headed screws may be a better option.

The Camelcamelcamel website is very handy for seeing Amazon price history. Here it is for that Crafter https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Crafter-BA-400EQ-N-BA400EQ-Electro/product/B0053GSHEW ...so you can see that the £146 price was very much a big drop - though they have done it briefly before. I use it to double check whether something really is at a very low price, or whether it is the prevailing price. You can also tell 3C to alert you when a price drops below a certain point - having had my original Geddy book order cancelled at £15 earlier in the year when stocks dried up, I set an alert so knew when it came back out and down to £20.

We've just booked a slot there actually!

We rehearse at Starfish, but we're not sure what the recording facilities are like - did you ever use them for recording?

Hmmm - either it's a different place I've found or they seem to have changed focus. Looks promising!

Moved down near Lewes in Feb, joined a band, and we want to get some decent demos recorded. Between us we're spread from Worthing, Brighton, Lewes and Hastings, so anywhere around these places would do. Looking for somewhere that has a decent live room to get a decent drum sound. 4 piece alt rock band, so somewhere not too cozy

Love the crescent effect with the circles!

Of all the angled tuner options, that last one is certainly the nicest, Christine.

Square for me. To my eye, they just "get out of the way" visually and don't detract from the headstock itself. Any other alignment draws my eye to the tuners - I find myself looking to see what they are aligned with. Square enhances the headstock shape, in my book.