Teeny-tiny bass cab - recommendations please

[Teebs]

Can anyone recommend a tiny bass cab - 5w / 10w to go with the Hotone Nano bass amp head?

 

The one that Hotone used to supply is discontinued

 

Ta v much

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

 A tiny cab will have a tiny, as well as tinny, sound. It has nothing to do with power. In fact the less power you have the better result you'll get with a larger versus smaller cab. Google 'Hoffman's Iron Law'. Then have it tattooed on your arm. It is probably the single most important law of acoustics where bass players are concerned.

[JapanAxe]

Barefaced One 10.

 

Whether that is tiny enough is your call!

[Teebs]

Thanks Bill - I've added a quote regarding Hoffman's Iron Law for anyone else interested.

 

That was useful advice - much appreciated.

 

Hoffman’s Iron Laws of Speaker Building

 

1) Bass Extension

2) Efficiency

3) Small Enclosure

 

The law is that you can only have two of these three attributes in speaker building.  Ideally we would want all three, we want speakers with good bass, can play really loud, and are small.  Unfortunately we cannot have all these.

 

Typically, if you find small speakers with good bass, they will require a lot of power or won’t get very loud.  If you find big speakers with good bass, they won’t require much power.  If you find small speakers with no bass, they will not require a lot of power and will get decently loud.  All off these are vague statements and basically amount to use common sense; you won’t get a tiny subwoofer unless it has some insane power requirements and you won’t have tiny speakers that rattle the house.

 

What I'm after - a small cabinet with low power & not a huge bass response for use as a low volume practice amp setup - I understand that I'll have to sacrifice the bass response, but didn't realise that I'd need more power as well. That's useful to know.

 

So I guess my modified question should be 'can anyone recommend a tiny bass cab (or design for one I could build) with a compromised bass response for low-volume practice? Power require ment as necessary (10w +)'

 

[Teebs]

3 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Barefaced One 10.

 

Whether that is tiny enough is your call!

 

Thanks JapanAxe 👍🏼

 

A touch larger than I was hoping, but I'll bear in in mind.

 

 

[Dan Dare]

25 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Barefaced One 10.

 

Whether that is tiny enough is your call!

 

Probably about the smallest practical option that will actually work.

[Stub Mandrel]

PJB C2.

 

I have a red one (hopefully) arriving in November.

 

Black ones in stock I think.

 

I have high hopes from what I have heard of other PJB gear.

 

Hope to use it for practice and teeny gigs with an Elf.

[Ricky 4000]

Can you get a 15" speaker in a 10" cab? 😗

[Stub Mandrel]

https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/index.php/2020/04/15/pjb-compact-2-c2-refines-bass-cabinet-size/

[Reggaebass]

This should be ok

[Teebs]

6 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

This should be ok

That's the f**ker!

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

That would do. The larger the cab the lower and louder it can go with not much power. That's why even in home hi-fi big cabs ruled through the 1940s, when 25 watts was a monster amp, and they still do with Singled Ended Triode amp aficionados.

[Downunderwonder]

If a BF 110 is too big you're going to have to say how small it really has to be.

 

You could probably get someone to spec you a weird 'flat' cab that would slide under the bed with a 12'' guitar driver to go with your 10w amp.

[Stub Mandrel]

13 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

That would do. The larger the cab the lower and louder it can go with not much power. That's why even in home hi-fi big cabs ruled through the 1940s, when 25 watts was a monster amp, and they still do with Singled Ended Triode amp aficionados.

 

Somewhere I have a (~30 year old) Maplin nominal 1 watt amp powered by a PP3 battery, about 4" square in the shape of a combo. It has a jack output as well as a teensy speaker, it sounded remarkably loud through my old Marshal JCM 16R 1x12

[Reggaebass]

Hey teebs, not sure how teeny tiny you want to go , but miss RB bought me this to play my phone through and you can also play your bass through it, it’s a proper mini amp, it doesn’t rumble the house down 😁, but it works 

[Teebs]

52 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

😁

 

Awww!

Sweeeeet!!!

[Teebs]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Somewhere I have a (~30 year old) Maplin nominal 1 watt amp powered by a PP3 battery, about 4" square in the shape of a combo. It has a jack output as well as a teensy speaker, it sounded remarkably loud through my old Marshal JCM 16R 1x12

Reminds me of these:

 

https://www.keymusic.com/item/zinky-recycled-cigarette-pack-smokey-amp/

 

 

[Teebs]

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

If a BF 110 is too big you're going to have to say how small it really has to be.

 

Ideally very small.

The original cab for these amps was 200 x 130 x 170mm, with a 4.5" speaker.

 

I'm not too fussy about the bass response & tone as it's only for playing to the baby when we're away from home. (He likes 'Reach' and by S Club 7 & 'Rockabye' by Clean Bandit! FML!).

 

I can use headphones for me to practice.

 

I might try to recreate the Hotone cab myself... 

What could possibly go wrong? 

 

 

[Teebs]

15 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

PJB C2.

 

I have a red one (hopefully) arriving in November.

 

 

Have you won the lottery, Stub?

 

 

 

[Teebs]

15 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Can you get a 15" speaker in a 10" cab? 😗

 

Twerp!

[Beer of the Bass]

I'm not sure if people will be aghast at this idea, but for low volume home use with a low powered amp, a small closed-back guitar cab might well do the job just fine.

[Hellzero]

This was recorded with a cheaper than chips amp through my smartphone...

 

 

This is the amp : https://m.thomann.de/gb/joyo_ma_10b_portable_bass_amp.htm

 

Strangely, it sounds amazing at, of course, low level.

 

I also bought this to use if off the mains, but it can also work on batteries : https://m.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_powerbank.htm

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Teebs said:

 

Have you won the lottery, Stub?

 

 

 

 

Part of the reward for surviving divorce.

 

There's also the Blackstar Fly Bass. I have a pair(!) of ordinary Flys (Flies?) and they are good enough to play clean living room bass through at a low level.

[Stub Mandrel]

5 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

This was recorded with a cheaper than chips amp through my smartphone...

This is the amp : https://m.thomann.de/gb/joyo_ma_10b_portable_bass_amp.htm

 

Strangely, it sounds amazing at, of course, low level.

 

I also bought this to use if off the mains, but it can also work on batteries : https://m.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_powerbank.htm

 

Oops. Accidentally bought one.

 

Could be a good Xmas/Birthday pressie for my brother too.

[Ricky 4000]

2 hours ago, Teebs said:

I'm not too fussy about the bass response & tone as it's only for playing to the baby when we're away from home. (He likes 'Reach' and by S Club 7 & 'Rockabye' by Clean Bandit! FML!).

 

Awww, why not just take an acoustic guitar around with you? You can play bass lines on a guitar, plus chords and stuff... 👌