Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

[PFDarkside]

I'm thinking of rehousing my combo amp in a new, hardwood cabinet. I've seen pictures of the beautiful custom Mesas, and I've been dreaming, but I just had a thought about tone... Assuming a similar birch baffle, how much difference does an open back combo's wood type make? Pine, Mahogany, Maple, Walnut, would they sound appreciably different or would it mostly come down to appearance? And how would any of these change from the stock Fender Tolex'ed combo?

 

[Pilatvs]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Short answer:Yes with an if, Long answer: No with a but.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

I dont know about those hardwoods, but i definitely prefer pine than plywood. Maybe its because it flexes more or maybe because each panel is one piece of wood rather than multiple layers glued together but it seems to have a sweeter more forgiving tone. I can only hazard a guess that spruce or rosewood would give a more solid bottom end. I mean...they don't make classical guitars out of pine do they? Insofar as that goes, i like the sound of cedar as the soundboard rather than spruce because cedar is warmer, where spruce gives a brighter, wider tone. For the sides, rosewood imparts a deeper tone and mahogany tends more towards the midrange. Dunno if this helps, but i guess a classical guitar is really just a solid wood cabinet that amplifys guitar frequencies so its something i guess.
If i had unlimited funds id love to try a cedar speaker baffle and rosewood box, but until then, ill keep using pine and/or plywood.
just adding my 1c worth.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Original Tweeds were made out of solid pine. Some players contend that these sound better than plyewood cabs. It does weigh much less too. Some up scale cabs have mahogany speaker mounting boards. Marshall has used particle board back plates on 4x12s since 1969-on purpose. It similulates a deeper cabinet without it actually being bigger. So I think the type of wood matters.

Wood uncovered by tolex will probably sound brighter and more lively, than tolex covered plye or particle board.

The physical size and shape makes a difference. A square box made of the minimum physical size to house a 12 speaker, sounds...well boxy, and it lacks bass. A rectangular shape with the speaker not placed exactly in the middle seems to work better. With open back cabs you can loose bass by the wave form from out of the back coming around and canceling out bass frequencies with the sound waves coming from out of the front. I have found that 12"+ is the depth of the cabinet you want- as long as it still fits in the trunk of your car.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

ive built a few boxes and my favorite is a lacquered solid pine thats just under 12" deep with a thinner floating baffle. granted if you are playing metal this is not a good plan for you, if you play rock and blues it sounds great. wood and construction make a big difference in cabinet response. floating baffle vs fixed, thickness of the baffle, size of the box, box material etc... all work together to give the cab its tonal qualities. whats best for rootsy rock is not good for detuned metal

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Very interesting idea...would be interesting to test this idea. I would think at least a slight yes...and I don't know what to think about an amp without tweed/tolex, would probably make me think of living room furniture

 

[jeremy]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

without tolex, the cab is a little more lively and has more overtones. very cool for me, but again not so great for other things. pine is really soft and lacquer isnt all that tough so you can dent the box pretty easy.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

ive built a few boxes and my favorite is a lacquered solid pine thats just under 12" deep with a thinner floating baffle. granted if you are playing metal this is not a good plan for you, if you play rock and blues it sounds great. wood and construction make a big difference in cabinet response. floating baffle vs fixed, thickness of the baffle, size of the box, box material etc... all work together to give the cab its tonal qualities. whats best for rootsy rock is not good for detuned metal

This is my lovely Princeton Reverb that has had some work done, and is sounding pretty good right now. The next step is speaker upgrades, and of course the glued in baffle precludes easy speaker size modification. The Tolex is a little scuffed, but mostly I was thinking it would be a fun project.

Very interesting idea...would be interesting to test this idea. I would think at least a slight yes...and I don't know what to think about an amp without tweed/tolex, would probably make me think of living room furniture

That's kind of the idea, it will be much more welcome in the family room if it looks like furniture.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Those Mesa's look awesome! I take back the furniture comment lol

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Ooooo that 1/2 stack!

 

[donnievaz]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

I've made a few and honestly I don't think it makes huge difference. There a some subtle differences but nothing drastic.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Nice! Is the second one maple cherry and mahogany?

 

[donnievaz]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Maple, Cherry, and Bloodwood. The bloodwood is a ***** to work with though. It's heavy, hard, and brittle.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Speaker Cabinet wood differences?

Ah... Very nice, love it.