I want to build another cab need suggestions.

epi

New member
I am making a 2x12 cabinet

What speakers should I use?
I was thinking V30s but I have never tried them and they are fairly expensive

I honestly don't know what to say to help you guys help me... So ask a question and I'll do my best to answer em.

But just throw some suggestions of speakers the is easy
Plywood
Paint
Black vinyl (or some other crazy color like my blue amp)

Also what do you like better open or closed back?
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Personally I hate Vintage 30's, broken in or not. Try some if you can before you buy them. They're like the JB of the speaker world. Decent, I guess in the right situation but not in every situation........I've had better luck (in my opinion) with Greenbacks. YMMV............
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

You can either make V30s work for you or not. Some amps don't gel with them
I would look at WGS for any and all your speaker needs.
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Eminence Governor and Man O War speakers have become my favorite overall. I have a pair of each in my Splawn 4x12 and they sound great.

The Eminence Swamp Thang and Texas Heat speakers I have in my Avatar cab are good speakers too, but they are definetly sharper sounding. Which could be good or bad, depending on your tastes.

The way I would describe the differences between those two speaker combos is, the Governor/Man O War combo has more roar and is more like a sledge hammer hitting you in the gut, whereas the Swamp Thang/Texas Heat combo has a sharper tone like a really sharp sword slicing things up. The other guitarist in my band describes them as sounding crisp. Both combos have plenty of highs, mids, and lows, but they have different ways of going about it.
 
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Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Well, before we all start spilling out our preferences some questions:

What kind of music do you play?
What kind of amps do you use? And at what kind of volumes do you play them?
Who's guitar tone do you really love?
What do you typically want in terms of eq for your guitar tone (e.g. do you want lots of bass, or are you a mid heavy guy, what part of the spectrum is important to you?)
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Judging by the guitar models you own, I think you'd be better of with a closed back. You could also make it a vertical cab 2×12 with a detachable back, so you could have the more focused lows on the bottom and the open back at the top.
I use Electro Voice (the regular ones) and Celestion 65W speakers. Expensive, but well worth it.

I feel that speaker selection is absolutely critical to achieving your sound. With the wrong cab, it doesn't matter what amp, guitar or pickups you play... So it's something I personally wouldn't cut corners on in terms of money or time of research.
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Practice your joins on some scrap just so you can make sure everything will be nice and tight. You can use good tonewood but my home build 2x10 bass cab is incredibly heavy, heavier than the 1x15.

Each side of the enclosure is separated, effectively making almost two 1x10s side by side. I also lined it with sound insulation to clean up the bass. It's a good idea to port so everything doesn't rattle but it should be fine without it for guitar.
 
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Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

V30s in a closed back kinda configuration are great. Open back they do this funny thing to the upper mids that can be a bit shrill/painful.
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

Yepp V30s in closed back sound amazing.. I find V30s to meld well with many different heads. I have a closed back Traynor YBX212 right now and it sounds great with my Orange AD30HTC and Mesa 5:50 .... I have had a few V30 combo amps too in the past and they also always sounded good.
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

I've got a 2x12 vertical cab with V30 on it. I always found that the V30 has a very strong upper mids that makes my overdrive pedals to sound almost all the same. I read the web for well known V30 combination so I swapped one of the speakers with a Celestion Classic Lead 80 and I've been very happy with the results. More low end, less upper mids, no so much speaker tone coloring, and now I can really hear all my differents tones.
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

I've got a 2x12 vertical cab with V30 on it. I always found that the V30 has a very strong upper mids that makes my overdrive pedals to sound almost all the same. I read the web for well known V30 combination so I swapped one of the speakers with a Celestion Classic Lead 80 and I've been very happy with the results. More low end, less upper mids, no so much speaker tone coloring, and now I can really hear all my differents tones.
Right. I use V30s prodomintly and found my 2203KK had A LOT of mids and did not work well with V30s, so instead use that amp with a pair of more balanced and clear MC90s.
While my JVM lacks strong mids, so greatly benefits from V30s which also help to cut through the amps compressed gain creating a multi dimensional high gain tone.
 
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Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

if this helps I really like Mesa Cabs...
 
Re: I want to build another cab need suggestions.

13-ply Baltic Birch is the norm for non-tone wood cabinets. Most people use tolex to cover the plywood, but you could paint as well.. one of my cabs is covered in spray-on truckbed liner... VERY sturdy paint job and looks cool... also the amps don't vibrate around on top of the cab as much as they do on other cabs....

As it has been said already, use some scraps to practice your joinery and get good tight joints... Use original tight bond for gluing joints... and I usually caulk all seams inside the box with silicone to make sure I have a truly sealed box!
 
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