New homebuilt cab day! (steampunk content)

[Quitty]

Introducing the Cabface!



Story in short is that i bought a couple of home-made thiele 1x12 cabs with Eminence Legends.
The speakers i love, but the cabs were too small and as was suggested, the thieling doesn't do shit for low-velocity speakers like the legends.
End result was that everything sounded boxy and i was starting to mess with modding my amp 'till i hooked it up to a 4x12 at the rehearsal space and, well.
Let's just say Carvin can sure make a mean amplifier.



It's a slanted, oversized, overengineered 2x12 design from scratch -
-internal volume was calculated from an approximation of a 4x12 and it's wave propagation ranges. I'd say i'm just wank-gineering, but it effin' sounds like a 4x12.
-side porting, for an open backed vibe without the associated volume or bass loss.
-back is split in half to allow service without desoldering or dismounting the speakers - also bumps the resonant frequency somewhat.
-Lots of phase-minimizing features, without using damping. specifically - it's internally split into two indirectly connected 1x12, the front is slanted and the top is junctioned to the front to induce transverse movement and break the phase flip-
so essentially, there are no parallel surfaces anywhere and thus, no standing waves. Whoop-dee-doo.



It cost a total of around 80$, not including the speakers. A carpenter friend sliced up a plate of 17mm birch plywood and let me use his nail-gun to make things easy. I got the corners, handle and feet off of a 10W fender practice amp i bought for 20$ and the fabric is left-overs from my girlfriend's latest clothing collection - it's a very crude scuba-diving fabric and is gorgeous up-close.

The process, in it's entirety, took roughly 6 hours - including shopping for parts and testing before and after every feature i installed, so this was also a bit of a science project. Surprisingly enough, almost everything worked as expected and most features had an impressively dramatic effect.

As for performance -
-weighing in at around 28kg, this needs casters. Urgently.
I'm thinking of mounting them to the side and installing another handle, so you turn it sideways to wheel it into place then flip it over to play.
-It sounds huuuge. Almost as large as a 4x12 and much tighter.
-These are hands down the best recording speakers ever. They have a bit of an off-axis sound even miced on cap.
-I love steampunk.

Next up is a velcro patch between the grills and a collection of smiley-mouths. It's going to be hilarious

[Quitty]

Oh, and the strap is a parting present from the aforementioned girlfriend -
she's on a fashion-thing business trip in central Manhattan for two months (i'm freaking out here) and made me this before she left.

I sure hope my playing's better than my photography skills.

[CYBERSYN]

Very cool and original!

Any chance of some clips?

[Wrecklyss]

Nice job!! How are you liking the X100B?

[Quitty]

I'm planning a review of the Carvin, so i'll have some clips up soon - both of the amp and the cab.

[skeels]

My vote- Mister Potato Cab rules!

Been wanting to rebuild one of my 4x12s for a while.
Just may have to start ...

[TheProgWay]

sick man, can't wait for the clips. How about some pics till then? :P