opionions on different cabinet woods

[slash857]

so im thinking just for fun ill put my marshall in a new hardwood cabinet this summer. right now its in pretty cheap particle board. i know i know, crappy amp why waste the money, but i could also buy a kit later and just drop it in the headspot, and if i screw it up i can always just put my amp back in the original cab, no biggie, im just doin it for kicks really.

so anyways, im thinking, what would would meet the following with a nice compromise?

comparing, ease of use (difficulty to cut/work with), tone, stainability/looks.

im thinking ill just put a clear stain on it to bring out the woods beauty, or if there is like one wood that is really superior in sound quality then i can get some really cool tolex, maybe snakeskin or something. no that sounds weird. maybe like red or green, that would be cool.

 

[slash857]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

yeah sry, i spelled opinions wrong.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

Birch plye is the industry standard.

Old Fenders used pine.

If you cover it with tolex just use a plye. Birch or pine. Birch =Marshall, and pine = Fender type tones. It will be more stable (warp resistant) and more durable, and still sound okay compared to solid planks. It will be a major improvement over manfactured materials.

You can get plye of exotic woods such as Mahogony, Korina..ect..... too, if you wanted a bare wood with a stained or clear finish or a diffrent tone. However, uncovered cabs usually sound quite a bit brighter than leather or tolex covered cabs. A venier glued over regular plye would get a good look, but it may hurt resonance....

 

[slash857]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

ohh ok. thanks alot. yeah i was thinking about like an oak veneer but my mom said that would be a very hard wood to work with, same with maple. birch with tolex or leather seems like a good idea. any other ideas?

 

[Scott_F]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

veneer isn't a good idea. it bubbles unless you've glued it beyond well.

I had Jeff Swanson make a 1x12 combo out of Poplar. It has a wonderful tone. The wood has a bit of a yellowish/green tint to it in places. It stained pretty well, used a rosewood one-step stain stuff from minwood. Then I laquered several clear coats onto it.

I think I did a pretty good job. It's a lot of sweat equity. I don't mind doing it for me, but I'll let a pro do it for a customer. My mistakes don't bother me on this personal piece.

 

[DLT]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

so im thinking just for fun ill put my marshall in a new hardwood cabinet this summer. right now its in pretty cheap particle board. i know i know, crappy amp why waste the money, but i could also buy a kit later and just drop it in the headspot, and if i screw it up i can always just put my amp back in the original cab, no biggie, im just doin it for kicks really.

so anyways, im thinking, what would would meet the following with a nice compromise?

comparing, ease of use (difficulty to cut/work with), tone, stainability/looks.

im thinking ill just put a clear stain on it to bring out the woods beauty, or if there is like one wood that is really superior in sound quality then i can get some really cool tolex, maybe snakeskin or something. no that sounds weird. maybe like red or green, that would be cool.

Check out what a guy did with his Music Man Amp. It is up on eBay right now. Called The Holy Grail. Really nice solid oak. Nice pics!

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) is the only 'wood' actually suited for audio reproduction. Actual woods harbor vibrations and thus create inaccuracies in the sound.　Most people figure that the wood colors the sound nicely, or the fact that MDF weighs like twice as much as real wood makes it unusable in most situations. If you make a cabinet using the driver manufacturer's specifications and out of MDF using sound construction techniques, you will hear the tone of the driver and nothing else.

Ummmmm yeaaaaah

 

[Scott_F]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

I've seen mdf made. Not pretty. I'd take a pretty piece of natural wood over some sawdust and glue any day.

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

I've seen mdf made. Not pretty. I'd take a pretty piece of natural wood over some sawdust and glue any day.

If you want some good tone, it's the only way to go.

I wouldn't suggest it for guitar cabinets based solely on the fact that it's heavy as crap. If you really want the goods, get some HDF, that stuff is wickedly expensive and twice as heavy. Imagine a 400 pound guitar cabinet.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

With guitar cabs your not really trying to reproduce the signal faithfully. You usually want the cabinet to color the sound a certian way. It's the interaction of the cones the volume and the wood all together. For example, EVH specified a thinner than usual plye for the cabs on his 5150 cabs so they would resonate more.

 

[Marcel]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

I would rather build a 1x12 than put the crappy AVT in a new cab! Get a Vintage 30 and solder some plugs on the avt so you can connect it to the ext cab. You can sell the AVT and use the 1x12

 

[BigBazz]

Re: opionions on different cabinet woods

With guitar cabs your not really trying to reproduce the signal faithfully. You usually want the cabinet to color the sound a certian way. It's the interaction of the cones the volume and the wood all together. For example, EVH specified a thinner than usual plye for the cabs on his 5150 cabs so they would resonate more.

Thats weird, 5150 cabs are heavy as ****, i have a birch ply marshall cab thats light compared to a 5150 cab (my other guitarist in band uses a 5150 cab).

Ive tried MDF cabs, they may be the main thing used for speakers in the hifi world and such, but mdf guitar cabs sound bad, ive tried a few and they sound dead to me.


Ryan