stevie

The two times I've got real low-price bargains, the sellers have refused to supply. They usually make up some excuse not to sell. You can't win 'em all, I'm afraid.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='772537' date='Mar 12 2010, 10:36 AM']I have been looking into what type of grilles to fit onto my homemade cabs, when... I noticed that some grille cloths are advertised as 'acoustically transparent'. This led me to wonder how much a punched steel grille affects the sound of the average bass cab? Some steel grilles are listed as being 40% free air, so this must have an affect.[/quote] I did some tests on punched metal grilles and found that they caused a a very slight reduction in HF. They won't affect bass guitar frequencies at all, although it makes sense to go for the more open ones. A wooden frame and cloth grille is lighter than a full punched steel type.

>Check out these videos by KJung on Talkbass.... Although he says that all the amps are flat, I think he must mean that all the tone controls are set to zero, because the only one that sounds flat to me is the TC. The Mark Bass sounds mildly scooped with some HF lift and a depressed LF. The Puma sounds as if there is an excess of lower mids. Depends on the cab, of course, and I'm assuming that the Bergantino is relatively uncoloured.

Just love the bracing! You cannot buy a cabinet in the shops that's as well built as that.

Why doesn't one of you born-again cable fans at least post some recordings of the incredible differences between your cables on here? Until then, all we have is your opinions. Or better still, why not measure the cables and post the measurements on here with your conclusions?

Dave bought an OLP bass from me. It was a perfect trade and Dave even elected to add funds to cover my Paypal fees. One of the good guys.

[quote name='yorick' post='764939' date='Mar 5 2010, 11:29 AM']I like the pic of the UPS driver at the bottom of the ad!!![/quote] He used to be the construction worker in the Village People.

[quote name='chris_b' post='764871' date='Mar 5 2010, 10:33 AM']They were the only bass amps to use from the middle 60's. Shame to see how little they care about the quality of their products these days![/quote] That's one instance where 'vintage' really was better. They had proper birch ply cabinets in those days. MDF - pah!

You might like to measure the resistance of your pickups before you spend any money anywhere else. I've got a Yamaha BB1100S and the pickups on mine were beautifully made but underwound. I replaced them with Duncans and it sounded much fuller. It sounded OK before, and it's only when I measured the things that I realized something was amiss. A set of lightweight tuners on mine improved the balance of the bass no end and was a worthwhile improvement, in my opinion. It used to be very neck heavy. I also fitted the Gotoh 201 and then the Badass. I can't swear there was any difference either time, but I thought their was. The Gotoh isn't expensive and certainly looks better than the bit of tin that was on there before.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='761093' date='Mar 1 2010, 07:40 PM']The 2 things I need is 2X10 and lightweight as I won't have the band to help me, I'm going to paint it green [/quote] Nowadays, lightweight means neodymium. The Celestion BN10-200X looks quite good. It's a neo and costs about £60. I haven't modelled it but it should be happy in an average sized 2 x 10 cab. The Eminence Deltalite 2510 is not bad, but not quite as good as the Celestion and quite a bit more expensive, at least in the UK. If you want a neo 10, the Celestion BN10-200X is your best bet for value. Should you want to pay more, the choice widens :-).

An eight-inch bass speaker is something of an oddity. There are a few around but I doubt if it would cost you much more to get an original Ashdown replacement, as Ashdown's spares prices are not particularly outrageous. You will slash its resale value if you put just one non-standard speaker in there. You could also end up with something that doesn't sound very good.

[quote name='JTUK' post='760635' date='Mar 1 2010, 12:34 PM']I think you'll be hitting £200 quite easily on materials and that is without what charge you put on your time, to end up with, a box that will have little resale value and a chance that it will sound decent. As an exercise and a project, then go for it, but personally I wouldn't bother.[/quote] On the other hand, £200 spent on materials could get you a cab that will perform as well as, if not better than, £500 or £600 shop-bought cabs. You're not going to get your money back, that's true, but neither are going to take a huge depreciation hit. It all depends on whether you want to put a value on your leisure time. Understandably, most people prefer to buy something ready made.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='760509' date='Mar 1 2010, 10:45 AM']Not wishing to hi-jack this thread, but..... How did you work out the port sizes? I am asking this as someone who doesn't know the difference between a cab tuned to 40hz or 50hz. [/quote] First, you have to decide what size of port to use. Choosing a port that's too small will result in 'chuffing', compression and distortion. Choosing one that's too big will result in an excessively long port (or too high a tuning frequency) and resonances within the port itself. For this box, I decided on two 3" ports (which I happened to have already). Sizing a port can be a bit of a juggling act with a compact, high powered speaker and flared ports can help reduce the problems of chuffing and compression. Tuning a bass guitar cab is not like tuning a hi-fi speaker; it's largely a matter of ensuring that the driver doesn't run out of excursion when you play the lowest notes. You can model this in most speaker design programs (I don't know about WinSD). The tuning frequency for a 4-string bass usually ends up between 45 and 50 Hz. If you tune to 45 Hz, you will generally be pretty close. In this case, the cabinet size was a given, as were the parameters of the drivers. As I had already figured out that two 3" ports would be acceptable, all I had to do was to work out the length of the ports in my modeling software.

You could also consider the option of taking an existing cab and pimping it. You can upgrade just about any commercial cab by fitting better drivers, bracing it, fitting damping, Speakons, etc. It saves you all the hassle of building a cab and sourcing the bits. I did it with this Laney 2 x 10, bought on Basschat, which I have fitted out with a pair of second-hand Volt drivers. I had to enlarge the holes for the drivers, brace it and fit a couple of rear ports. Despite its compact size, I would expect it to spank most 2 x 10s on the market.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='760130' date='Feb 28 2010, 08:41 PM']The speakers will be these. [url="http://www.lean-business.co.uk/eshop/celestion-bn10300s-4ohm-neo-magnet-bass-guitar-speaker-10-p-327.html"]http://www.lean-business.co.uk/eshop/celes...r-10-p-327.html[/url][/quote] It's been mentioned quite a few times on here that the Celestion Orange series is not very good because of (excursion-) limited output. Unless you are looking for an overdriven guitar type sound (which you might be), I'd avoid them. You really need to define your design objectives before you can do anything. For example, do you want a lightweight cab, do you want a compact cab, do you want a state-of-the-art cab, do you want deep bass, do you want something cheap, etc., etc. When you build your own cabs, almost anything is possible. The Greenboy designs are fine, but I don't think they don't include a 2x10. As far as tools are concerned, the minimum you will need is a jigsaw, power drill and a screwdriver - assuming your wood supplier will cut the panels to size for you. A router, clamps, set square and other stuff are all useful if you have them, but probably not necessary for a one-off.

[quote name='Hamster' post='759026' date='Feb 27 2010, 12:31 PM']Having heard the Midget on stage, they are very impressive and made of helium and hummingbird feathers [url="http://barefacedbass.com/index.php?page=midget"]http://barefacedbass.com/index.php?page=midget[/url][/quote] It may be slightly too large or too expensive for the OP's needs, but the beauty of the Midget is that it's small enough to be unobtrusive at home, but powerful enough to work well in many live situations.

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' post='757907' date='Feb 26 2010, 09:43 AM']Do we have a date yet?[/quote] As it's highly unlikely that John will want to organize a bash in Exeter or Bristol, I wonder how many voting for those locations are prepared to do all the organising? Perhaps now would be a good time to volunteer.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='757763' date='Feb 26 2010, 12:34 AM']"HiFi"bass tone. Shudder. [/quote] I'm not sure what a 'hi-fi' P-bass tone is. Anyone care to enlighten me? Does it just mean clean, full range, or what?

Bought a beat-up old bass case from Dave to use for shipping a bass. Just as described (crap ) and just the job! Clear communication and a really easy bloke to deal with. Thanks, Dave.

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='753503' date='Feb 22 2010, 09:16 AM']Regarding Xmax.[/quote] Phil, Eminence explain how they measure xmax somewhere on their website. It's not simple voice coil overhang. It's true they used to use the same method as Celestion but they don't any more. Have a look at this Beyma speaker here: [url="http://profesional.beyma.com/ingles/pdf/12P80Nd.pdf"]http://profesional.beyma.com/ingles/pdf/12P80Nd.pdf[/url] It has a voice coil overhang exactly the same as the Celestion, 4mm. Yet the stated xmax is 7.5mm - nearly twice as much. If you are going to compare xmax, you have to compare the same thing.

[quote name='Muthawhat' post='754759' date='Feb 23 2010, 10:11 AM']ahh hello local chaps! Dont suppose anybody knows of any heads and cabs for sale? or a 4 string?[/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78245"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78245[/url] But you'd better be quick. Also, have you seen the South West Bassbash thread?

Hello from just down the road in Dorchester.