MoonBassAlpha Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Hi Alex what it says, really. I'm looking to make a small light cab to go with a Shuttle 3.0 for when I just don't need the size and oomph of my Compact (which is working out nicely with it, incidentally) I've only looked at the Celestion BN10 200X (neo magnet) from Watford Valves at £42 odd + vat + post. Are you aware of anything better, value or performance-wise that would be worth checking out? Also, would a slot port at the top of the cab angled upwards somewhat have a similar effect to tilting the whole cab back? Cheers Jules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 It'll work ok but it won't have much bottom because the Fs is rather high. Slot port on the top won't do anything beneficial, there should only be lows coming out of it and any mids that escape will be out of phase. Vas and Qts are both low so you shouldn't have midbass hump troubles in a small cab, which makes it better than many other options. So I'd say it's worth the gamble. I've been searching for a high performing good value driver for a small practice cab for ages and have yet to have any success - starting to lean towards giving up SPL and looking at hi-fi drivers, at least that'll get great tone at a good price. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 I could see giving up SPL might not be too much of a problem, since the amp is relatively high powered for a practice amp, so there would be the power available to push air out of a less efficient driver. I'm out of touch with hifi stuff - are we talking high 80s efficiency as opposed to the claimed 96dB for the Celestion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='551280' date='Jul 25 2009, 06:24 PM']I could see giving up SPL might not be too much of a problem, since the amp is relatively high powered for a practice amp, so there would be the power available to push air out of a less efficient driver. I'm out of touch with hifi stuff - are we talking high 80s efficiency as opposed to the claimed 96dB for the Celestion?[/quote] Yes, high 80s, maybe a bit lower. I presume by practice amp you mean something for home practice, maybe accompanying an unplugged acoustic guitarist? Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 Well, lightly amplified acoustic and 2 vocals through a little PA is what we usually get, and possibly a quiet drummer. I currently use a Lowdown 110 (75W) and that easily covers what i do with this outfit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='551324' date='Jul 25 2009, 07:17 PM']Well, lightly amplified acoustic and 2 vocals through a little PA is what we usually get, and possibly a quiet drummer. I currently use a Lowdown 110 (75W) and that easily covers what i do with this outfit.[/quote] For that then I'd want something as loud as that Celestion 10", I'm sure it's a better speaker than whatever's in the Lowdown. From the Barefaced perspective I'd expect the Midget to cover that role admirably whilst being able to go much much louder if need be and work modularly with the Compact, so if I were looking to do a lower volume practice cab I'd be going quite a bit smaller and less sensitive. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassplace Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 fwiw - I made a 1x10 as an experiment of a "de-tuned" cab design I read about. It's essentially a fairly large 2x10 size box with both speaker holes cut out and not ports. It's only loaded with one speaker. The theory is that the bass output starts to roll off fairly high but does so slowly so that you still get usable output. I used it once at a loud practice and it almost kept up. Sounds great for low volume home practice and would easily keep up with acoustic guitars and vocals. Even oversize it's light and still much smaller that a Compact. It has a ToneTubby 10" in it. Seems like there should be a neo Eminence bass speaker that would work well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I'm not sure about this 'detuned' cab design. It strikes me that it's either going to behave as a ported cab which is tuned rather high, or as an open-baffle cab, neither of which will perform as well as a well designed ported design. Once I have a Double Midget on my hands I'll block the ports and measure it with only one speaker loaded and let you know what's actually happening. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassplace Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 [quote name='alexclaber' post='552368' date='Jul 27 2009, 04:58 AM']I'm not sure about this 'detuned' cab design. It strikes me that it's either going to behave as a ported cab which is tuned rather high, or as an open-baffle cab, neither of which will perform as well as a well designed ported design. Once I have a Double Midget on my hands I'll block the ports and measure it with only one speaker loaded and let you know what's actually happening. Alex[/quote] I think you nailed it as a "ported cab tuned rather high". Has "adequate" bass response for low vol. I think it was meant mainly as a guitar cab but is OK for bass. Definitely would not rely on it for a live rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Fro anyone considering the Celestion from Watford Valves, they are doing them post free, a special offer ending today! (6PM) Mine arrived Thurs, ordered Tues and was about £48 n a bit all in. Seemed a good deal to me. Just got to decide on the size and shape of the box now... I think it needs about 1 cu foot (correct me if I'm wrong) If I put a slot port in, should that volume include or exclude the port? And I'm still thinking of angling the speaker up a bit, say about 15 degrees. Any comments, as always, most welcome. Cheers Jules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Volume needs to exclude the port and what the driver displaces. For a practice cab I'd consider making it a wedge, so even more than 15 deg upwards tilt. Regarding the 'detuned' cab, tuning a port that high means you get a big peak in the mid-bass and then response drops very steeply below that, whilst cone excursion goes through the roof. Fine for a guitar cab as the lowest frequency from a guitar is around 80Hz but with bass guitar just a handle of watts on low E or low B will make the speaker distort. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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