tonewood & amp speaker cab

[jdtogo]

this was a reply I made on tonewood of guitar . so I think it would be good to put it there also . so if we are talking only about tone of a solidbody guitar. you would have to test it (the tone) of each guitar not plug in to a amp . the wood of you amp speaker cab will do more to shape the tone of a set up then the guitar itself . but not many do or say much about the wood in the speaker cabs . so the guitar wood and the pu and speaker and cab wood all have to work together . case in point . take a great guitar with the best tonewood and best pu's and plug it into a amp that has low cost speaker cab and it will sound like a low cost unit . when you go to the guitar store and try out a guitar do you plug in to a cheap amp .......no . but you should at least plug into one like that you are using . don't mis understand me a guitar made with good wood is important as part of the tone chain . but if you are really looking for that killer tone put same time into your amp speaker cab rebuild it if you need to . put that good tonewood into the speaker cabs and you will hear the tone . this may not be the right spot for this reply but oh well . last thing I took a cheap pv amp (10 watt ) and install it in a hand made cab, out of MAPLE and mounted a 10 " speaker on a peace of basswood . and WOW ! you want to talk about tone and at low volume and mid volume .

[GuyaGuy]

glad you brought that up cuz it was something i was thinking about recently. what effect do different cab materials have? what would be the difference in tone between maple, say, and plywood--or even plexi for that matter?

[mike]

I would think the most important thing is that everything is braced, tight, glued, screwed and put together well. I would think a braced thick marine grade plywood would be ok. Even partical board could be used for lite duty (No traveling) if it was going to sit in the corner of ones house. Tone wood in a guitar would be a different animal because you want something that enhances sustain. In a cab you want something that can handle the abuse of being loaded and unloaded. Tonewood in a cab is the new hype word. I mean look at the crap some of the best speakers in the world are made of, but the engineering and speaker materials is what makes them great, not the tonewood.

I'm not knocking the idea, a mahogany cab would be beautiful, but as for tone quality, I thourghly believe one would be buying hype.

[jdtogo]

mike for the most part your right about moving cab around . also keeping the cost down on a unit . but its a little more then a hype word . having work with alot of speaker cabs both high end wood and low cost wood . and yes it is sad that some of the best speaker come in cab made of crap , all in the name that it will hold up to a lot of moving it around . the only way for sure is to put them side by side . I have done this . so its not hype ...its cost . try to understand I'm not talking about a fine looking cab like a fine place of funiture that is sanded and a high gloss shine . the wood was cut to fit not realy sanded much put together just like you said, glued screwed and put together well and cover with black cab cloth and a mesh grill . but it has a tone that is all its own not like the ones you get in the stores . but like all things its up to the person who is using it . to each his own . its all part of the tone chain . so to all reading this ...try it you may like it . and it may give you the tone the stores can't sell you .

[mike]

Give some examples, for instance I know KRANK uses poplar, but they promote it for its toughness and they way they put it together. They put the video about that on the Guitarworld CD when Dimebag toured their plant, It's a small place that seems to be quality oriented. They took you through the whole process.

I would think one would have to use the same speakers, wire, cables and guitars, playing the same strings, during the same conditions, while at the same time measure the sound levels and air presures of the room to see exactly what the difference would be. I'm open minded, what would be the best?

In the end when all the numbers are crunched it would have to be significant to both the eyes(charts) and ears to validate the cost, guessing here that it would be a lot more, than whats used on the market today. Then when you crunch the data will it make a difference in a stadium or venue where the accoustics are poor, or where one would end up miking it into the house PA system.

Don't get me wrong here, I think this is a great discussion which may or may not lead to a product.

[jdtogo]

yes like I said its a cost thing . so your right about that and yes you would have to do a same for same test . but sad to say most people would not buy a speaker that would cost more just for the small gain in tone . what I did was to make a cab for myself its a great sounding cab . I also did this to a small amp . like I said in the 1st thread ( I took a cheap pv amp (10 watt ) and install it in a hand made cab, out of MAPLE and mounted a 10 " speaker on a peace of basswood . and WOW ! you want to talk about tone and at low volume and mid volume . ) so if you like I can help you if your thinking about making one for yourself . I can tell you this if you do you will love it . and your guitar friend will go nuts . you will have the edge . think of it like having a hot car with all the cool thing on it, but having cheap tires to run on . you know you have a great guitar great amp the string you like the best , great PU's and a great speaker but its in a cheap poor sounding cab . think about it ?

[mike]

You've just given me an idea, BAM, light bulb goes on. I have a small 10 watt practice amp also, in my closet, and I've itching to do something with it. I'm going to look into building a cab that will let me put in a bigger speaker. I'm excited at the possibilities because just like you found out with yours I had a similar experience when I tried a cab with my Fender Frontman 25R.

[jdtogo]

cool ! well if you need any input just ask . and let us know how it turns out .

[dripfire]

my peavey XXX 60 combo is made of birch and I made my 2-12 cab with sapele ( a type of mahogany) and maple-ply soundboard (what the speaker is bolted too)

my XXX has a peavey clone of a celestion vintage 30 and it sounds brite and articulate, at higher volumes a bit shrill
kind of like having a prs! just kidding
my cab sounds darker with a celestion g12h80 & fane medusa 30
its open back still at higher volumes it sounds better but still has nice midrange







I like both sounds, at lower volumes I like the stock speaker


and then you to factor in the club's acoustics


I miss my gretsch 6161 with a nice pine cabinet, but it wasn't very loud or bassy, still that tremolo was GOOD, also sold it for too little because I wanted this XXX amp! it had nice prs-santa anna type sounds as well, pine is nice for texas tones, with a boss turbo od pedal it could nail the santana mesa sound better than mesa boogies, just not very loud

however for $500 ptp tag strip construction? very nice pro-quality on the inside!

[D2o]

Hi dripfire, and WELCOME to GN2!

I am not really sure what else to say yet ... we're kind of used to seeing new members either asking a question or responding to current threads, so I guess "thanks for bringing these items of interest to the top of the board again".

Anyway, you've posted 4 times without a welcome - so WELCOME!

Hope to see you join in on some of the current topics as well.

DD