DankStar
Her Little Mojo Minion
I debated getting a bass amp for awhile, then I realized I have a bunch of amps laying around I can use my bass with. All I really need is a speaker cab that can handle bass. I'm going to use it on recordings and in a garage setting at relatively low levels. Might even try running my guitar through it.
Oddly, there aren't many small bass cabs (small like a combo bass amp with a 10" speaker), and the ones I saw seemed overpriced for what they are or otherwise not appealing.
So I decided I'll build my own closed cab out of plywood. Nothing fancy - I probably won't even carpet or tolex it, just a painted box. Maybe kick-back style if I can. I figured I'd go with an aluminum speaker because I like how the hartkes sounded I tried out (an 8" and a 10" combo). Also, they're full-range so I don't need a tweeter. Testing the hartkes also led me to realize that even a 35 watt bass amp would be loud enough for my needs (although I'll sometimes go up to about 50 watts).
I was surprised at the scarcity of bass speakers that fit my requirements. I ended up at eyeballing a Dayton Audio DA270 for $50 or an MCM Audio 55-1300 for $23. Given their specs are very similar (although the dayton's magnet is 2x as heavy) and I wanted to keep costs low, I went with the MCM: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-1300
Using a subwoofer box equation, both of the above speakers are supposedly good for sealed cabs without ports. That way I don't need to goof with port designs, just make a box with some acoustic wadding inside. I'll probably try to keep the box around 1 to 1.3 cubic feet.
Oddly, there aren't many small bass cabs (small like a combo bass amp with a 10" speaker), and the ones I saw seemed overpriced for what they are or otherwise not appealing.
So I decided I'll build my own closed cab out of plywood. Nothing fancy - I probably won't even carpet or tolex it, just a painted box. Maybe kick-back style if I can. I figured I'd go with an aluminum speaker because I like how the hartkes sounded I tried out (an 8" and a 10" combo). Also, they're full-range so I don't need a tweeter. Testing the hartkes also led me to realize that even a 35 watt bass amp would be loud enough for my needs (although I'll sometimes go up to about 50 watts).
I was surprised at the scarcity of bass speakers that fit my requirements. I ended up at eyeballing a Dayton Audio DA270 for $50 or an MCM Audio 55-1300 for $23. Given their specs are very similar (although the dayton's magnet is 2x as heavy) and I wanted to keep costs low, I went with the MCM: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/55-1300
Using a subwoofer box equation, both of the above speakers are supposedly good for sealed cabs without ports. That way I don't need to goof with port designs, just make a box with some acoustic wadding inside. I'll probably try to keep the box around 1 to 1.3 cubic feet.
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