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New BassChat 8"Cab design


Phil Starr

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9 minutes ago, JPJ said:

I find myself strangely attracted to the idea of external ports, in a sort of bass cab “Lloyds of London” building type way - very steam punk but not very practical for life on the road.
serious thought though, would top exiting ports help with hearing your bass when you’re crammed into the back corner of the “stage” at your local Dog & Duck?

If the ports are on top, you can't have an amp on top, but you will have a nice flat surface just waiting for someone to put their pint on...

As far as the sound is concerned, I think that the ports only operate around the resonant frequency of the cab, so I'm not sure that you would hear much note definition from them.

David

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I always get excited by these threads! Can anyone suggest a good and simple way to cut the circles in the baffle? I have hole saw which will do the port, but I've never gone as far as the cutout for the driver itself. 

Thanks in advance. 

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I do mine with a router using an arm, but it is a faff - lovely finish though

 

A jigsaw and a steady hand works fine. You don't really see any wobbles as long as theyre not too wild. A new, narrow blade helps with the cut. Slow and steady wins the race....

 

I've also got a bigger, souped up version of the image attached. It's probably as old as I am and was always in the toolbox in my dad's garage. 

 

I use this with a pillar drill though. I wouldn't fancy trying it with a hand drill....

411mVSgDKTL._AC_.jpg

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1 minute ago, GlamBass74 said:

I use this with a pillar drill though. I wouldn't fancy trying it with a hand drill....

411mVSgDKTL._AC_.jpg

I can attest to this. I used a hole saw with a hand drill rather than a pillar drill. It was dangerous and stuff flew everywhere. Lesson learnt.

 

For woofer cutouts I put a nail through the centre of the cutout, and rotate the wood around the nail, trying to keep the running jigsaw steady. I've ended up with some pretty good cutouts although I do say so myself.

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  • 2 months later...
On 12/07/2023 at 11:45, Phil Starr said:

This may help you decide which is best for you. It's the bass response of both speakers as calculated by winISD @ 100W. Surprisingly both are equally loud but the 8" cab will handle another 100W at this point, adding an extra 3db, and whilst the 6 handles all of the second harmonic upwards equally well there is a lot of extra fundamental with the 8. In a small room at home the 6 sounds way better than you'd expect, light agile and crystal clear and not as bass light as you'd think. Perfect for not annoying neighbours and satisfying to play. The 8 has a more authoritative sound though and is comparable with a much bigger speaker..

 

image.png.16dc4ca7387ae90e663e78c1430e9b8a.png

I've belatedly started to follow this thread with great interest and have tried to reproduce your frequency response curve in WinISD as above using the fane data and assuming 20l enclosure and 62Hz tuning frequency to establish the same baseline for some tweaking for interest sake. But it does not look the same so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong or missing, maybe some of the speaker parameters not provided on the Fane spec sheet? I was also thinking that with these small enclosures the volumes of the driver, bracing and the port itself may have an effect. Do you subtract these volumes from the internal cab volume when calculating?

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Phil will be along soon I am sure but, as you may know, the 8” design was originally an extension cab for my supercharged Ashdown After 8. 
 

I know Phil was looking to change the shape slightly ( a cube is not ideal). For memory, just a few cm taller. However I know that Mr Starr has just joined a new band and is giving with the old one so there has been some delay. 
 

Just for reference, the original cab is a delight it really does sound good. I use it at home together with an Ashdown Retroglide 800. I sometimes wind it up while herself and next door are out. 😀👍🎶

 

I do not feel as though it it lacking much even compared to many 10s. 

 

Again, for reference, the updated After Eight was fitted with a P-Audio 8” medium speaker but that has been discontinued (the Basschat speaker curse?). Although heavier, it has a ceramic magnet, the Fane is a nice driver and the weight will come down as the new cab will be either 15 or 12mm Poplar core ply. Phil will elaborate shortly. 

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Ok it was the day after tomorrow :)

 

The hold up has been because the Basschatter who does the drawings for me has a load of work pressures and not been able to get them back to me. I in turn have been busywith family stuff plus a new band and not really pulled my finger out as a result, maybe that's just an excuse for my inactivity though.  On the plus side a few people have said via pm they want to build this and post their build diaries so the pressure to get on with it is building.

 

So, first of all can anyone turn my pencil and paper designs into something that looks like the drawings we have for the other speakers?

 

Something that looks like this would be perfect

 

image.png.c98fcefaf83217580005b0394a81c48c.png

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I retrofitted a  Fane sovereign pro 8" into my baby Laney combo. The results are surprisingly good. Encouraged by this and the thread, my thoughts are on an angled (think Marshall 4x12 angled cab) 2 x 8".  My reasoning is hearing myself better when standing  right up against it on minute stages. Given that all the internal  volumes, port sizes and bracing are ok, are there any downsides e.g. projection into the audience?   

 

Is the  sovereign Pro worth £17 more than the Sovereign.  The only significant difference in the specs (via Blue Aran) seems to be  Le  1.2 mH vs 1.47 mH (even this could be manufacturing tolerance).

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I'd expect the higher Le driver to have a longer coil (all other things being equal) but the spec sheets claim the coil lengths are the same. The specs seem to be identical otherwise - so I'd expect the Le values to be the same. One major difference I noticed, however, is that the pressed steel chassis has an undesirable resonance between 3 and 5kHz that is not present in the cast chassis version. For that reason alone, the more expensive driver would be worth it to me - if the published curves are accurate, that is. Another thing you're getting with the cast chassis driver is spring-loaded terminals, which are much nicer and more reliable than the push-on type.

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Across the range of Fane Sovereign speakers the Pro version is just the version with a cast chassis. The cast chassis is thicker and probably slightly more rigid than the pressed steel chassis and may help dissipate a little more heat but I've never had a failure due to the chassis so for me the difference is academic. Ther is a peak in response between the pro and the non-pro version  (well spotted @stevie) however the standard pressed steel frame is the one we've tested and auditioned and that rising response will add a little brightness to the sound with a bass. It was one of the things that attracted me to the speaker and the peak in response is fairly broad and flat compared with a more harsh cone breakup that other speakers show. I'm not sure if the peak is a function of the basket/frame or of some sort of treatment of the cone itself. I'd choose the pro if i was adding a tweeter but this design uses the cheaper model. They'll both work in the same cab though so you can make your own choice :)

 

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The peak is unlikely to be a function of the steel basket. If that is the only subsdtantial difference, which seems to be the case, I would expect the frequency response to be the same.I wonder how reliable the published curves are.

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1 hour ago, stevie said:

.I wonder how reliable the published curves are.

Indeed :)

 

Mms is quoted as the same so there can't be much difference if any in the cone.

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19 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Ok it was the day after tomorrow :)

 

The hold up has been because the Basschatter who does the drawings for me has a load of work pressures and not been able to get them back to me. I in turn have been busywith family stuff plus a new band and not really pulled my finger out as a result, maybe that's just an excuse for my inactivity though.  On the plus side a few people have said via pm they want to build this and post their build diaries so the pressure to get on with it is building.

 

So, first of all can anyone turn my pencil and paper designs into something that looks like the drawings we have for the other speakers?

 

Something that looks like this would be perfect

 

image.png.c98fcefaf83217580005b0394a81c48c.png


I can help if needed Phil, have done a fair bit of technical drawing over the years. 

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5 hours ago, Bassybert said:


I can help if needed Phil, have done a fair bit of technical drawing over the years. 

Thanks, I'll PM you.

Oh you are Somerset based, whereabouts? That could be quite convenient.

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41 minutes ago, d-basser said:

If for any reason Bassybert can't oblige I can easily sort technical drawings. Just incase you need a backup

Thanks for the offer, at some stage I want to update all the old designs with a standard format to make it easier for people to build without having to trawl all through the old threads. I may get back to you ;)

 

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29 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Thanks for the offer, at some stage I want to update all the old designs with a standard format to make it easier for people to build without having to trawl all through the old threads. I may get back to you ;)

 


I was thinking that would be a good idea Phil, especially as a couple of them are only available as low res images

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On 05/03/2024 at 17:11, Bassybert said:


I can help if needed Phil, have done a fair bit of technical drawing over the years

Me too. I still have my Pentels but the drawing board is long gone. 😀

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all, just to say I haven't forgotten this design but I've not been well. Recovered now, but I've lost a couple of weeks and I'm behind with everything. It's going to be a few weeks catching up before I get time to re-visit this. I know a few people are revving up and ready to go but if you are patient it is still coming

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Snap, just coming out, hopefully of a chest infection compounded by a second infection to my throat. Had a gig in the middle and it was close by so we did not cancel but I did not sing, due to both my stupidity in forgetting my mic stand and the throat. I am just waiting for the other members of the band saying the vocals were better that night.

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