Good evening,
Recently, I've picked up an electric guitar and I wanted to build a speaker cabinet for it:
Unfortunately, I have neither the budget to buy a prebuilt one nor the tools to build it myself where I live currently, so:
I had an idea in previous days to use the pre-built IKEA Eket cabinet because they were quite accessible for the price (25 EUR or 20 EUR) and easy to build:
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/eket-cabinet-brown-walnut-effect-60530577/
or the smaller version:
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/eket-cabinet-brown-walnut-effect-30530574/
As frontal panel, I'll use an MDF panel attached to the cabinet with some glue and screws.
I'll probably need to reinforce it internally with some piece of wood and a bit of glue (on the 4 sides).
I planned to have a 2-way design because the woofer is not reaching completely the higher frequencies for the electric guitar, so I thought to add a tweeter.
I think that in the end this speaker will be an open back, but I'll have to see when I build this, actually.
For the drivers I plan to use:
— Woofer: GRS 12PF-8 (12' inch, 120W RMS) [86dB per W] or a GRS 10PR-8 (10'inch, 80W RMS) [87 dB per W]
— Tweeter: Dayton Audio AMT2-4 AMT (15W RMS) [92.5dB per W]
(this is a little expensive, but I have something similar on my near fields monitors [Adam T5V] and they sound quite nice)
You can find their spec sheets here:
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/GRS Spec Sheets/292-412--grs-12pf-8-spec-sheet.pdf
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/GRS Spec Sheets/292-421--grs-10pr-8-spec-sheet.pdf
https://doc.soundimports.nl/pdf/brands/Dayton Audio/AMT2-4/pdf_Dayton Audio_AMT2-4_1.pdf
For the tweeter, I choose this one presently, but if you know a better choice, please tell me an alternative.
I'm not sure if the tweeter-subwoofer is a good match, for the SPL I've read that it needs to be equal or greater compared to the subwoofer, but what about the Power RMS? Do they need to be equal? I read in some discussion that the tweeter doesn't get that much power at high volume with a crossover, but I could be wrong >.>
What do you think of the frequency diagrams of the woofer-tweeter? They seem good enough for me, flat-ish enough? 🤔
I'll also need to make/buy a crossover, probably the cut-off frequency between the two drivers would be around 2-3Khz for what I can see from the graph (is this okay?)
(I've tried to follow the lines on the frequency response diagram and get a point where the two drivers would converge without changing much in level of loudness for frequency),
Something like this? https://www.soundimports.eu/en/dayton-audio-xo2w-25k.html
If it is not right, I could also make a circuit myself, do you know any calculator to make a simple crossover circuit?
What do you think? Is my plan viable? 🙂
-----
(for future use, at first, I also considered these cabinets, but they were a bit too big, still they could be useful on some occasions)
Theoretically, I could also use these three cabinets also (I'll put it there for future uses):
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-black-brown-40311873/ (2x 12' woofers)
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-white-20301554/ (1x 12' woofer)
https://www.ikea.com/be/nl/p/besta-basiselement-wit-gelazuurd-eikeneffect-10247379/ (1x 18' woofer or even 1x 21')
Recently, I've picked up an electric guitar and I wanted to build a speaker cabinet for it:
Unfortunately, I have neither the budget to buy a prebuilt one nor the tools to build it myself where I live currently, so:
I had an idea in previous days to use the pre-built IKEA Eket cabinet because they were quite accessible for the price (25 EUR or 20 EUR) and easy to build:
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/eket-cabinet-brown-walnut-effect-60530577/
or the smaller version:
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/eket-cabinet-brown-walnut-effect-30530574/
As frontal panel, I'll use an MDF panel attached to the cabinet with some glue and screws.
I'll probably need to reinforce it internally with some piece of wood and a bit of glue (on the 4 sides).
I planned to have a 2-way design because the woofer is not reaching completely the higher frequencies for the electric guitar, so I thought to add a tweeter.
I think that in the end this speaker will be an open back, but I'll have to see when I build this, actually.
For the drivers I plan to use:
— Woofer: GRS 12PF-8 (12' inch, 120W RMS) [86dB per W] or a GRS 10PR-8 (10'inch, 80W RMS) [87 dB per W]
— Tweeter: Dayton Audio AMT2-4 AMT (15W RMS) [92.5dB per W]
(this is a little expensive, but I have something similar on my near fields monitors [Adam T5V] and they sound quite nice)
You can find their spec sheets here:
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/GRS Spec Sheets/292-412--grs-12pf-8-spec-sheet.pdf
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/GRS Spec Sheets/292-421--grs-10pr-8-spec-sheet.pdf
https://doc.soundimports.nl/pdf/brands/Dayton Audio/AMT2-4/pdf_Dayton Audio_AMT2-4_1.pdf
For the tweeter, I choose this one presently, but if you know a better choice, please tell me an alternative.
I'm not sure if the tweeter-subwoofer is a good match, for the SPL I've read that it needs to be equal or greater compared to the subwoofer, but what about the Power RMS? Do they need to be equal? I read in some discussion that the tweeter doesn't get that much power at high volume with a crossover, but I could be wrong >.>
What do you think of the frequency diagrams of the woofer-tweeter? They seem good enough for me, flat-ish enough? 🤔
I'll also need to make/buy a crossover, probably the cut-off frequency between the two drivers would be around 2-3Khz for what I can see from the graph (is this okay?)
(I've tried to follow the lines on the frequency response diagram and get a point where the two drivers would converge without changing much in level of loudness for frequency),
Something like this? https://www.soundimports.eu/en/dayton-audio-xo2w-25k.html
If it is not right, I could also make a circuit myself, do you know any calculator to make a simple crossover circuit?
What do you think? Is my plan viable? 🙂
-----
(for future use, at first, I also considered these cabinets, but they were a bit too big, still they could be useful on some occasions)
Theoretically, I could also use these three cabinets also (I'll put it there for future uses):
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-black-brown-40311873/ (2x 12' woofers)
https://www.ikea.com/be/en/p/kallax-shelving-unit-white-20301554/ (1x 12' woofer)
https://www.ikea.com/be/nl/p/besta-basiselement-wit-gelazuurd-eikeneffect-10247379/ (1x 18' woofer or even 1x 21')
What are you trying to achieve?
A commercial 12" guitar cabinet is made of plywood with corner protectors, feet, and handle. It will use a guitar-specific driver and no tweeter.
You're trying to save money but then throw a fragile tweeter and crossover in there too? I am baffled.
A commercial 12" guitar cabinet is made of plywood with corner protectors, feet, and handle. It will use a guitar-specific driver and no tweeter.
You're trying to save money but then throw a fragile tweeter and crossover in there too? I am baffled.
I wanted to make a full range guitar cabinet just for practice, I know that it won't have the same tone as using the guitar specific driver but it will be probably fine with me, at this moment I'm using some nearfield monitors + simulation of the tube amps on the PC with an audio interface and I don't have any problems.
I really likes the full range sound from the guitar, maybe in a way this could be considered for this a bass cabinet.
I know that the cabinet will be fragile, but it won't be moved much if not at all from my room 🙂
+ I'll make a cover for the drivers someway
My plan in the long run is also making a custom class d amplifier and a preamp for the guitar with all the tone controls effects needed :^
Forget the tweeter, in Guitar speakers the high freqency stuff comes from the cone breakup of the driver. Guitar speakers are broadly specific to the genre you're playing, and tend to be expensive. e.g. in Aus I'd pay around $300 for a name brand 12" driver. However, I recently bought 2 used guitar amplifiers and 12" speakers for $75 for all. The drivers are Chinese, but I already have one & know that I like it. So I say, go used, rather than using 'HiFi' woofers, which won't really stand up to the job.
No good guitar amplifier in the world ever used by a good player uses tweeters! Fuggetaboutit!!!!
Remember that excellent guitar amplifiers ARE NOT Hi-Fi!! If you plug an electric guitar into a hi-fi system (even an excellent one), it will SOUND HORRIBLE!! Totally different amplification and speaker types are needed.
Buy a broken Guitar combo at a garage sale, pawnshop, etc.
Junk the dead electronics/chassis and use just the cabinet and speaker.
Absolute worst case, get a guitar speaker and mount it in any wooden box you find in a dumpster or a neighbour is throwing out.
Musicians often "improve" their setup and replace original speaker with a "better quality/famous" one, sell old one for peanuts.
Think $20-30 tops.
What are you using as an amplifier?
PS: if you use the Ikea cabinet, run a bead of Carpenter's/white glue along all mating surfaces and into back panel slots before assembly, also inside all holes for mounting dowels, then along all internal joints.
Beyond transporting, you do not want it to buzz/vibrate with Bass notes.
Junk the dead electronics/chassis and use just the cabinet and speaker.
Absolute worst case, get a guitar speaker and mount it in any wooden box you find in a dumpster or a neighbour is throwing out.
Musicians often "improve" their setup and replace original speaker with a "better quality/famous" one, sell old one for peanuts.
Think $20-30 tops.
What are you using as an amplifier?
PS: if you use the Ikea cabinet, run a bead of Carpenter's/white glue along all mating surfaces and into back panel slots before assembly, also inside all holes for mounting dowels, then along all internal joints.
Beyond transporting, you do not want it to buzz/vibrate with Bass notes.
Nor are excellent guitar speakers. Anyway, I made good experiences with (Hepner?) speakers of old, but useless Hammond organs (the transistorized ones). Also not exactly designed for guitar use, but they work almost perfectly.
Best regards!
Agree, for the price of those suggested drivers, filter, cabinet (unless you already own them) you can buy a used guitar amp.
Back in the day, up to, say, the 50's, "all speakers were the same"
Lightweight paper voice coils, thin cones, weak magnets, paper edge.
Some HiFi types added a whizzer cone to extend treble, some Hi Fi cabinets added a cheesy paper cone tweeter, actually a small conventional speaker, crossover was an electrolytic 5 or 10uF capacitor.
You want Bass?
Then simply use a larger speaker 😄
Open back or unsealed or multiperforated back cabinets were popular.
Meaning most old speakers DO work fine for Guitar, even if found inside an Organ or Home "combination radiogram"
Modern ones specialized, a woofer has WAY better Bass (thick heavy cones, long heavy voice coils, ultrasoft cloth/rubber/foam edges, large elastic spiders, but lost efficiency and "guitar frequencies", big time.
The woofer mentioned by the OP has 38Hz resonance; a typical Jensen around 100Hz.
Celestion speakers have a somewhat lower resonance, but then they were designed for top of the line Radiograms in the early 50s.
For what I saw, some bass guitar cabinets are using a tweeter with a knob to regulate on the box how much is active in the speaker. Some of them use a Piezo tweeter to keep things simple without a crossover.
As I said in the first post, I don't have any problems using a full-range speaker, I did it previously with my near field setup. Probably this project would be better be described as a FRFR (full range, mine 'mostly' flat XD) speaker cabinet instead of a guitar cab. I will need to have an amp modeller of some sort most likely though, or some way to just tune the sound how I want it.
If I had enough budget, I could also buy directly the Celestion F12-X200 driver that is full range, but I would like to have a little more bass expansion for future use with a bass guitar.
True that this setup is a lot less efficient, but presently it is just a proof of concept to see if it is viable, I need to find a cheaper tweeter that would fit!
Buying a used guitar cab cabinet is an excellent idea, but come on it wouldn't be interesting
, I want to see how it sounds in the Ikea cabinet XD.As an amplifier, I plan to make a PCB using a Texas Instrument class D amplifier IC in SMD size in the range of power of 20-100W.
I'm still figuring out the exact model to not have a big power supply, (probably around 24 6A would be the max that I can deliver staying small)
So something in the range of these IC https://www.ti.com/audio-ic/amplifi...atalog&2982=Analog Input&1055max=Mono;Stereo&
I will do surely the glue part and some sort of reinforcement for the cabinet!
Yeah, the tweeter is way too expansive for this build, I'll figure out something 🤔
Money-wise it would make sense just to buy a used guitar amp, but now I'm too intrigued.
From what I've heard from a Celestion interview on YouTube, back in the day, Celestion was one of the main suppliers for most of the speakers made back in the old days (pre-1960). Then they did not invest in the guitar speaker market, so Jensen became the main supplier until Celestion entered the market again in the 1990s.
BassBox 6 Pro is suggesting a sealed box size for GRS 12PF-8 of 2.92 ft3 (83000 cm3), the Eket cabinet is 3 times smaller than required. You need a smaller driver if you are constrained to the Eket cabinet size. If your main goals are cost reduction and quick assembly with minimal tools; and you want to use a cheap chip-amp that works best at 4 ohm impedance, maybe a car audio coaxial driver will be a good choice.
One thing very specific to guitar amps is the tone-stack, or tone control design. Just running an electric guitar output through a passive Fender tone-stack circuit before going into a hi-fi amplifier can sometimes make the guitar sound better.
Regarding cabinets for guitar speakers, open back can sound nice; doesn't have to be closed back. Either way, it is important that cabinet not have a lot of ugly sounding resonances. Often guitar cabs are not filled with acoustic damping material, but the sides of the cabs can be reinforced if they vibrate too much. You know there is a problem with the cab if you can take the speaker out, set it on a piece of rug pointing straight up, and get better guitar tone out of it than if its in the cab. Obviously there will not be deep bass with the speaker out of the cab, but you can still get some sense as to whether the cab is muddying-up the sound.
Regarding cabinets for guitar speakers, open back can sound nice; doesn't have to be closed back. Either way, it is important that cabinet not have a lot of ugly sounding resonances. Often guitar cabs are not filled with acoustic damping material, but the sides of the cabs can be reinforced if they vibrate too much. You know there is a problem with the cab if you can take the speaker out, set it on a piece of rug pointing straight up, and get better guitar tone out of it than if its in the cab. Obviously there will not be deep bass with the speaker out of the cab, but you can still get some sense as to whether the cab is muddying-up the sound.
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TBH I used to run a electric guitar through PMC active studio monitors with eq, distortion and compression done upstream via software on a DAW. Sounded perfectly good for domestic use. Obviously not what you'd do for live use when you need to keep up with an acoustic drum set.