House Jam Micro Cab

[Phil Starr]

 

 

Hi everyone, so as promised this is the result of my lockdown project to make a tiny but usable combo for practising with an acoustic guitar and two unamplified (but loud) vocals. I was also looking to avoid irritating the neighbours and maybe have something handbag sized to take to open mic nights. Hence the title. Here it is, the  wine bottle was just used  to give you the size  

 

 

 

So this is a 1x6 speaker in a cab the size of a fuel can with a limited bass response but with good output from then on up. It has good top end, plenty of rich mids and lots of clarity, but with a still satisfying sound. It is a lot louder than it has any right to be. The advantage of using a small driver is that there is no crossover, the speaker is substantially flat until 7,000Hz and there is no need for a cheap and tizzy horn as the smaller driver covers pretty much the whole upper frequency range produced by the bass pickup The technical trick was to accept that the fundamental would be more or less absent but to make sure that all the harmonics from then up were really present. My target was a cab which was as loud as possible and flat down to 80 Hz. Minus 3db is actually 77Hz.

 

Technical spec is

 

Power handling 100W thermal (AES)

Frequency response 65-7000Hz -10db (77-6000Hz -3db)

Sensitivity 93db @ 1m

Maximum output 113db (midrange)

Size(cm) 33W, 28H, 19D

Weight 4.9kg

 

This is the modelled response

 

 

the driver used is the Fane Sovereign 6-100 currently £37 from Blue Aran. Materials for the box will be around £20 and a handle, corners and speakon connectors and mounting plate maybe another £15.

 

A couple of independent basschatters have tried the cab and their comments are

 

“That splendid little 6"er if yours I played with deserves a mention. Quite extraordinary, packed a punch for such a small package.”

 

“Vis a Vis the 6" pocket rocket. I had sauntered into the side room out of nosiness and was handed a bass a very solid, Fender P with a few extra bells and whistles, very nice instrument.

I was focused on getting a sound I liked rather than on the amp/cab I was going through. 

There was a line of small cabs dwarfing the even smaller 6" and I assumed it was one or other of them.

Genuinely astonished when I discovered which it was.

I honestly think gigging with a couple of them would be a serious proposition. Never easy to tell with no kit in an empty room but there was all the good stuff coming out of that tiny cab.”

 

 

“Yes! What a ludicrous little cab (in a really good way)”.

 

I'll go on to put up proper drawings when I have them and a brief description of the build ply a few more photos 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Phil Starr

[Phil Starr]

Drawings

 

Many thanks to @RichardHfor turning my terrible sketches into something good. 

 

 

 

BC106 (2).pdf

Edited October 26, 2021 by Phil Starr

[Phil Starr]

notes

[Phil Starr]

Just in case i forget anything

[Pea Turgh]

Just about to start cutting up loads of wood to build out the inside of my garden music room (starting with 4 vent boxes/silencers), so this will be a parallel endeavor!

[Merton]

Never mind the speaker, what’s that bottle of wine like? 😜

 

Ahem. As ever excellent work and look forward to seeing all the other info appear

 

[Phil Starr]

11 hours ago, Merton said:

Never mind the speaker, what’s that bottle of wine like? 😜

 

Ahem. As ever excellent work and look forward to seeing all the other info appear

 

I'd strongly recommend the wine if like me you like full bodied reds with a really smooth oak finish. Portugal are producing some fantastic value wines at the moment. Can't remember if it was Naked Wines or Laithwaites

[Merton]

9 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I'd strongly recommend the wine if like me you like full bodied reds with a really smooth oak finish. Portugal are producing some fantastic value wines at the moment. Can't remember if it was Naked Wines or Laithwaites

Sounds bang on to me 😀

[Phil Starr]

Just a quick update, I finally got to use the prototype in anger this weekend. A noisy open mic with around 50 people in the pub. I've done a quick review over in the Warwick Gnome Thread as that's the amp I used with it. 

 

I didn't know it was happening but the host was posting on FB so this is a snippet recording on an iPhone House Jam Cab Everything set flat with a bit of compression/overdrive on the input and maybe 2-3db left on the output Warwick Gnome into this single 6" 8ohm speaker. It's not hi fi but a decent set of headphones should give you an idea of the volume you can achieve with this tiny cab

[JohnDaBass]

I am wondering if the HB GPA-100 maybe the right choice for my project?

I use a Zoom B 1-4 for HPF & compressor so I my thinking is if the GPA-100 can provide the basic power stage then I could simply add an Amp sim to the Zoom patch. 

 

www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_gpa_100.htm

 

Anyone with any experience of the HB GPA-100?

[Phil Starr]

Hi John, I wonder whether this belongs in an amplifier thread. In many ways this looks like another amp like the Gnome/BAM/Elf, if so it's a remarkably cheap option but it's roughly the same size and power output. 

 

As it happens I'm sitting here looking at a little power amp board based on the TDA8954 which will give this sort of power given the right voltage, it cost £10.35, I bought a preamp at the same time for £6.54 of course it needs a power supply and a case but it isn't hard to see how cheaply switch mode stuff can be built. Last year I repaired a Behringer active monitor with a replacement plate amp. That cost me less than £100 and that had two amps in it, nominally 250W for bass and 50w for the tweeter and that included most of a case and the power supply.

 

I suppose I'm saying it can be done and if you get Thomann's three year warranty why not try it? I'll be mainly running my Gnome of a B1 too.

[JohnDaBass]

Sorry to bother you Phil, but what are the port dimensions of the 6ins cab, 

50mm dia x 55mm long

Or

68mm dia x 77mmlong?

Thanks, Brs John

[Phil Starr]

Hi John, the 50mm dimensions are the ones  I used in the original combo, because I was using an existing cab I only had space to fit in a tiny port. When i redrew the cab for @RichardH I recalculated the port for the permanent design. It is tuned to the same frequency. The 68mm is the outside dia, inside dia is actually 64mm but it is standard UK downpipe. The bigger dia pipe is better because wind noise in the port is less likely so use that nless there is a good reason not to.

 

I missed this yesterday because I was at rehearsal. I took my 6" cab and Warwick Gnome along to set up as a bit of fun. I've recently built a lightweight cab for our guitarist and I was teasing him about his 'huge' stack. Since it was there anyway I used the House Jam Cab for the first song. Our drummer is pretty loud so I had my usual cab but hidden out of sight (I know, I'm really childish) but didn't need it for the first song or the whole rehearsal. The studio isn't huge maybe 6mx6m but this is mad , I used a bit of compression and some trimming of the bass with my Zoom B1 but backed up against the wall the sound was really just there, sitting in the pocket and plenty loud enough for rehearsal/on stage monitoring. 

 

I'm starting to wonder about a 2x6.....

Edited July 18, 2022 by Phil Starr

[Pea Turgh]

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

 

I'm starting to wonder about a 2x6.....

4x6 line array that doubles as a bass stand?

[Pea Turgh]

Ooh, I didn’t see the plans were up!  Going to raid the shed for wood this week then…

[Phil Starr]

21 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

Ooh, I didn’t see the plans were up!  Going to raid the shed for wood this week then…

If you can take some pictures during the build please. I didn't take many as I never thought it would gather a lot of interest. If you build it I've also used it as a 'bright box'  which it does quite well and is fun.

[Pea Turgh]

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

If you can take some pictures during the build please.

If go no other reason than a darn good laugh, yes, I will take photos 👍

[Guest]

 

 

Finished the wood work tonight, just have to fit the port and most importantly the driver. 
Thanks for the plans Phill, it’s cute! Can’t wait to find out what it sounds like, just one question though, did you add any lining to the inside?

Edited November 23, 2021 by steve-norris

[Pea Turgh]

That looks great!  Have to wait til the weekend to sort mine - borrowing a mate’s circular saw to chop up some 18mm ply (plans adjusted to keep the internal dimensions)

[JohnDaBass]

Great job looks awesome. 

@steve-norris and @Pea Turgh what drivers did you choose?

[Pea Turgh]

9 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

Great job looks awesome. 

@steve-norris and @Pea Turgh what drivers did you choose?

Fane Sovereign 6-100.  I’d fitted it to a cheapo guitar combo in a bid to make it useable, but decided to do the full cab instead.

[Phil Starr]

13 hours ago, steve-norris said:

 

 

Finished the wood work tonight, just have to fit the port and most importantly the driver. 
Thanks for the plans Phill, it’s cute! Can’t wait to find out what it sounds like, just one question though, did you add any lining to the inside?

I'm loving the 'leather' covering.  I've a little bit of polyester wadding on the rear panel only, there's not a lot of space. I can't wait to see what you think of it once you get the chance to put the bass though it.

[Guest]

Yes should be interesting, especially to compare it with the little vox Beetle bass speaker. I might even run it as an extension cab. 

[lemmywinks]

On 23/11/2021 at 22:19, steve-norris said:

 

 

Finished the wood work tonight, just have to fit the port and most importantly the driver. 
Thanks for the plans Phill, it’s cute! Can’t wait to find out what it sounds like, just one question though, did you add any lining to the inside?

 

Looks super that, fits in with the aesthetic of the surrounding gear as well.

[stevie]

Phil Starr, Chienmortbb and I had one of our irregular meet-ups over the weekend.  After an hour or two measuring and auditioning high-end bass cabs and drivers, including a well-known active PA cab favoured by a number of Basschatters (very interesting!), we plugged this little critter in.

I'd briefly heard it before, but not seriously auditioned it. This time, we turned the volume up as loud as we could dare without annoying the neighbours - and the sound was impressive. It needed a bit of bass boost, although not a huge amount it has to be said, but we certainly didn't come away with the impression that this was a cheap cab.

It's tiny size means that it's ideal for home use, because you can easily stash it away in a cupboard or behind the sofa. It'll  go louder than you'll ever need at home and it sounds really sweet toboot. We were unable to drive it to its max, but I can see this tiny box handling acoustic and not-too-loud gigs with ease. You'll be surprised

This is by far the simplest Basschat DIY cab project so far. If you've considered building your own cab but haven't done so yet, this is a great starter project. Once you've finished, you'll have something that's very usable.

Edited November 29, 2021 by stevie