If guitar wood matters. . .

I saw an interesting youtube video the other day about guitar cabs:

It's worth a view . . . lots of interesting information and myth busting. He compares various cab construction methods, sizes, with/without baffles. At the end he does some recordings with a cab made of styrofoam . . . it didn't sound too bad!.

:P


He also did direct comparisons between birch and OSB and they didn't seem to make much difference for baffle or back panel material.
 
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Thanks, Steve that was probably one of the best videos I have ever watched on here. Makes me even happier I bought my Marshall MX212 for $300 instead of spending $800 on the birch version. Now I need to get out there and get myself a styrofoam 4x12. I can rock out and keep my beers cold at the same time.
 
Go to TalkBass and there's gobs of information there about bass cab construction using lightweight materials. With a lightweight speaker, they are ridiculously light and don't sound bad at all. It's not only what is used but how it is constructed to handle the sound waves inside the cabinet.
 
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don't sound bad at all. It's not only what is used but how it is constructed to handle the sound waves inside the cabinet.

^ This +1. I think a lot of people think in a very binary way. If Birch sounds good MDF must sound bad. Which is so far from the truth. I have seen people post that the MDF Marshall cabs are crap. Looks like they sound the same as the birch, go figure.
 
That's all ridiculous.

Sound waves never hit nor reflect off of any surface because they just hang in the air in stasis.

And even if they did hit or reflect, the frequencies that make up the sound wave remain 100% unchanged; no matter the surface material.

And reverberation is all in your imagination.

Heck for that matter, they claim we have eardrums. Have you ever seen yours? Didn't think so.

Trust the science.

:13:
 
Now I need to get out there and get myself a styrofoam 4x12. I can rock out and keep my beers cold at the same time.

Sound might be fine, but I suspect your styrofoam cab isn't going to last for very long while gigging. :P

The difference in sound between speaker configurations and cab size was really impressive to me. If you look at his frequency responses, the 4x12s all pretty consistently had a dip in the 600 - 800 Hz range along with boosted bass.
 
It all matters to some degree. We can debate how much and to whom all day every day.
Like most gear things I would say it's a matter of matching the parts together that produce a sound and feel that you find desirable.
 
The difference in sound between speaker configurations and cab size was really impressive to me. If you look at his frequency responses, the 4x12s all pretty consistently had a dip in the 600 - 800 Hz range along with boosted bass.

What got me was when he was changing the back panel size on the open-back cabs. My Quad Reverb has been missing the top back panel since I bought it. Many times I have thought about buying a replacement to make it whole again. Now I wouldn't touch it seeing it sounds exactly the way I want it to sound.
 
And the pants.

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.
 
Go to TalkBass and there's gobs of information there about bass cab construction using lightweight materials. With a lightweight speaker, they are ridiculously light and don't sound bad at all. It's not only what is used but how it is constructed to handle the sound waves inside the cabinet.

My Hartke HyDrive 4x10 is way lighter than my Marshall 2x12
 
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That's all ridiculous.

Sound waves never hit nor reflect off of any surface because they just hang in the air in stasis.

And even if they did hit or reflect, the frequencies that make up the sound wave remain 100% unchanged; no matter the surface material.

And reverberation is all in your imagination.

Heck for that matter, they claim we have eardrums. Have you ever seen yours? Didn't think so.

Trust the science.

:13:

Hey Sheldon, are you working on that Sarcasm thing?
 
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