Building my new 1x12 cabs

[boobtube21]

Today I started on my cabs I'm building for the Twin. I mentioned this project in another thread a couple of days ago, and I surprised myself by getting off my lazy ass this morning and getting most of the stuff together to do it.

Again this is the goal, or something like it:



I'm using 3/4" pine for the sides, and I think birch ply for the front and back (3/4" for the front, 1/2" for the back. Here's how far I got today, sorry first one's a little blurry:



Here's a close up of one of the joints, I wish they all looked like this. I just went with a rabbet, because I can't remember how to do a finger joint. Been 10 years since woodshop in high school!





Not my best work, I'm kind of slamming them together. Better than what Fender was slopping together in the 70's though!

[boobtube21]

I forgot to mention, they're initially going to house whatever 12" speaks I can get my mitts on that will handle the 135w, but will probably eventually get new baffles for 15" drivers.

I'm building them a little taller than they are wide too, like the pro jobs in post #1. Partially because I think it will look better than square and also to make room for a bass port. I don't know anything about acoustics though, so I don't know how big to make the bass port or where to put it (or if I even need or want them).

Any tips?

[ziess]

Looking good! I just built a cab for an amp build to the rough spec of the 5G9 Tremolux. I used an, ahem, improvised finger jointing method (freehand with a jigsaw then a chisel to tidy up) but it seems to have come out ok and now it's been glued it's rock solid.



Are steel cabs traditionally closed back? Why not leave it open?

Tommy.

[DoobieK]

Cool cabs, both of them. You guys are far more adventurous than I am.

For speakers that can handle 135w. I have a pair of Weber Chicago's in my '71 Twin. 80 watts handling per speaker and to me they are THE speaker for that amp.

[boobtube21]

Thanks guys. There have been a few Weber recommendations, I'll be looking further into them, but I'll have to get them used and cheap. We're trying to save money for a down payment on a house and I've already spent $113 on this project in materials alone.

What kind of wood are you using Tommy? What does that finger joint in the front tie into? I ws thinking of closing them in the back but I'm not sure what the traditional way is. Whichever setup is louder is probably what I'll do.

BTW thanks for mentioning glue, I forgot to use some of that, lol. Like I said, it's been 10 years since high school woodshop!

This will be my practice/recording/small gig rig. Chuckocaster's giving me a little present for the larger gigs. Chuck's the man!!

[ziess]

I'm just using 3/4" pine. I bought a few shelves from Homebase and cut them into appropriately sized pieces.
The front finger joint is simply for the front strap that the baffle board mounts on. The bottom will also be finger jointed. This is mainly because the baffle will be big enough to accomodate a 15" speaker so I wanted it to be as tough as possible. I don't think that the original tweeds had it but it can only make it stronger I suppose. I took the original dimensions and the basics of cabinet construction as a starting point and adopted a make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach so that's how it turned out!
It's going to be wide-panel finished in gold sparkle with a gold metal grille.

For glue I just used EvoStick woodglue. Worked really well and didn't dry so quickly that I couldn't fill in the mistakes I'd made while cutting with sawdust and small bits of wood.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll finish the cab construction, make the baffle and test mount the chassis and speaker (finished that earlier tonight).

Chuck's *giving* you that cab as a present?! Wow, that's really nice of him!

Tommy.

[ziess]

Oh, and in my experience open back is much better for hearing the amp off-axis. An open back cab fills a room with sound whereas a closed-back one is a lot more directional.
I did a radio session at the BBC the other day and was able to open up my tweed Bassman clone properly in the centre of a pretty big studio room. It filled it with sound and while it wasn't quite as clear as it is directly in front of the speakers it was well defined wherever you stood in the room.

Tommy.

[boobtube21]

Yeah, I've thought about the open back thing a lot since you mentioned that. I'm not even sure that these cabs are the right size for 15" drivers, let alone if the magnet on one will fit in the cab with a back on it. I'm sure acoustically speaking you need a larger cab anyway to maximize their potential. Still, this is just a practice rig. Maybe I'll leave 'em open just 'cause it's easier.

I'll be interested to see the gold sparkle! I look stuff like that. I thought about doing this crazy TV-looking thing with angled sides, but I drew it out and it would look like crap with the head:



Maybe it would have looked ok without the thick TV-style borders on the front. Oh well, too late now!

[ziess]

I agree that the TV front maybe wouldn't have worked the best...
You know you're obsessed with amps when even your sketches for things have the right number of knobs on!

Forgot to mention that you should make the head cab pretty big as having the reverb tank close to the chassis can create a load of noise.

Tommy.

[boobtube21]

LOL I am a little obsessed I guess.

Yeah, I wondered why the head on the pic above was so tall...now I know, thanks for the tip.

[chuckocaster]

lookin good there colin!

[boobtube21]

Thanks buddy. Hopefully I can get some more work done on them this weekend. Jamming with the band in San Diego again, but I'll have to borrow a 4x12 from one of the practice rooms. Hopefully one of them is switchable to 4 ohms.

[chuckocaster]

despite what others may tell you, if it's 8 ohms you should be fine. i've been running amps at that same impedance mismatch for years with no glitches... YMMV, i DO NOT condone such activity... but, i haven't had a problem yet doing it.

[blewgrass]

Let's hear it for the home made cabinet gang!

Here is my (un) finished result with the new wheat grill cloth:



More detail:

[boobtube21]

OK, 5 months later I've made some progress.

I made the box for the head:



I messed up on the dimensions of the top piece, didn't make it deep enough fron to back. Just looking at this picture you can see the mistake I made:



So, I had to cut a piece to fix it:



Here is the corner joint. My Dad asks me, "Are you planning on dropping this out of a window?", lol:



Here is the whole setup. I also put cleats in the cabs for the baffles, which are cut but not shown here:

[boobtube21]

So I'm about halfway there. One big thing I'm waiting on before I can tolex the cabs is some Marshall style amp handles from Parts is Parts. They've been backordered for over a month now. I've got some other tricks up my sleeve for this setup but it would be hard to explain so I'll wait till I finish it then post pics.

BTW blewgrass sorry I missed your post earlier. Nice work!

[Gris]

We have had many Twins through here and the best sounding one to our ears had two EV SRO 'coffee can' alnicos in it. Damn thing weighed like 200 lbs though. Point is with two separate little 1x12 mini-cabs, I'd seriously consider trying a couple of those.

[boobtube21]

Well since my initial posting of this thread I've gotten my hands on a Weber California and a Weber ceramic Blue Dog. I'm not so much a fan of the ceramic Blue Dog, it's a little icepicky. I had an Alnico Blue Dog but it was only 50w so I couldn't leave it in there. Too bad, it sounded frickin AWESOME. I hear the neodymium Webers are pretty close in sound to the alnicos though so a 100w version of that may be in my future.

Are these SRO's a vintage speaker? Also I need headroom, much of it as I can get (this setup is for pedal steel)

[Gris]

SRO has mucho headroom and smooth as silk. See Ebay item # 180351495366

Weber Neo is maybe only spkr Ted makes I didn't like - waaay hi-fi/ice picky.

The large magnet alnicos are the way to go. Cali alnico is a great speaker. cali ceramic only so-so.

I have a 100 watt 10 inch paper dome Weber Michigan alnico that is also awesome with a high power amp. Tis a SRO clone... :-)

[boobtube21]

Wow. 300 watts, 103dB, alnico magnet? Looks pretty good on paper.

I'm not really in the market for speakers anymore though. If I was I'd claim that thing.

[Gris]

No, that guy is full of BS. Really rated at about 75-100 watts. They are efficient though.

[boobtube21]

It's on my "watched" list on Ebay.

[boobtube21]

Well I made a little more progress today. I'm doing this in spurts because I have to drive to my parents' house to use the table saw and chopsaw, and they live about 45 min. away.

Today I got all the wood cut and I painted the insides and the speaker baffles black. Also painted some other parts black so you won't see the wood through the grill cloth.



Here's a close up of the joint I screwed up and had to fix. I also filled the screw heads with wood putty. They were countersunk 1/32, some almost 1/16 into the wood. Not sure if I really needed to do that but I'd hate to get the tolex on and see a bunch of divots in it, lol:



Here's the Marshall-style handles I was waiting for:



I thought of something today: I wonder if it would have been easier just to cover the cabs, then cut through the tolex for the handles when they arrived. Now I have to cut and glue the tolex around the inside of the hole, which seems like kind of a PITA. Not sure if you can just drill and cut through tolex without ripping it off the wood though.

So all I've got left is basically glue on tolex, and staple on some grill cloth, and they'll be done! Might happen tomorrow. Then I can start the refin on the Muddy Waters Tele. THAT should be interesting...

[phantomman]

You might consider installing your speakers and amp chassis -- temporarily -- at this point and playing them under a variety of simulated performance conditions to ensure that all your cleats and baffles are securely anchored to the cases and there are no unwanted buzzes or rattles.

[Cogs]

Looks good! A question, though: Why did you put the screws so close together in the center like that & none toward the corners?

[boobtube21]

That's a good tip, Phantomman. I wish I had thought of that before I started tolexing! I think they're pretty solid though. The only place I might have any buzzing on the cabs is on the actual speaker baffle itself, but I shouldn't have a problem adding more screws there if needed. On the head, now that's a different story...

71818>A good question. The answer is: I don't know. I don't really know what I'm doing! I'm just sort of throwing these together. I say "throwing these together" like I don't already have about 40 hours into them, but you know. I'm trying to do a good job but kind of winging it at the same time.

I started tolexing today. What a PITA. Took me a couple of tries to get the corners right, most of them still don't look all that hot. I ran out of that Weldwood contact cement, you know the one in the red can? That's illegal to sell, and possibly to use as well in Orange county now. According to the guy at Home Depot I may be able to go to L.A. or San Diego and find some more.

Otherwise, I'm stuck with the stuff in the green can, which doesn't seem to work half as well.

[Cogs]

Dude, go to your local auto paint & body store & get some 3M headliner spray. I'll post a photo of what I'm talking about when I get home & look at the can. The name escapes me right now but it's pretty heavy duty stuff. You better be sure where you want the tolex when you put it down, lol

[phantomman]

I always diagnose any structural issues and correct them before tackling the cosmetics.



And I add a twist to Leo's basic design by both gluing and screwing the interior cleats to the inside of the case, using vintage-correct hardware so this blasphemy is less obtrusive to a "purist".

Once the grill cloth is attached to the baffle board, I'll install the speakers and take the cab for a "test drive".



If it passes the "buzz test" then it's off to the Tolex barn for its covering.

HTH

[Cogs]

Dang, Roger, that's beautiful! I'll bet you used to detail the engine compartments & undercarriages on your Revell models, too
Here's the stuff I use to affix coverings:

It's used to attach headliners in cars & is made to withstand high temps. It should hold about any type of material to a cab & do it for a long time to come. I've been using it for a few years now w/no problems.

[dzguitar10]

3M 7700 Spray adhesive will work too... alot like the stuff above. Use it in a well ventalated area and you'll be fine... otherwise might kill some brain cells

Guys... I've seen some of Phantomman's models... he's a hell'ava builder! I used to work for Accurate Miniatures and Roger was well known for his work... and his attention to detail shows on that cabinet too!

Nice work Roger! Can't wait to see it covered!

[boobtube21]

Damn, Roger. That is one fine lookin' cabinet there. Sure puts mine to shame! What's your secret for getting the grill cloth so straight??

Thanks for the tip 71818. I'll buy some of that stuff tonight and see how it works for me. I'll try to retain what little brain cells I have left too.

[phantomman]

Thanks for the kind words, Boobtube.

The smaller baffles are actually easier to do but this tip will make the job more trouble-free regardless of the size of your cab(s).

Start by anchoring the cloth solidly to one side of your baffle board, ensuring that the weave pattern is uniform along the edge. Then staple the opposite side of the cloth to a scrap piece of wood -- go about 2 inches beyond the edge of the baffle and use a lightweight piece of lumber (I used a piece of 1"x2" pine cleat about 40 inches in length) as a "comb". Make sure you get the weave pattern straight at the edge. Then rotate the comb around the rear side of the baffle so that the cloth is drawn taut across it. Use an adjacent perpendicular edge as a gauge to ensure that the weave remains consistent. When positioned correctly, staple the opposite side down (use plenty of staples) then remove your comb. With this method I only "wasted" about ½-inch of cloth (cut away as excess.). With the cloth pulled taut and solidly anchored across one dimension, the perpendicular edges will pretty much fall into place. Just wrap to the edge and staple (again, use plenty of staples). I like to lightly tap them down with a hammer as "insurance" once the cloth is on.







This particular cabinet started out as a kit purchased off of Ebay and included an extensive set of assembly instructions and helpful finishing hints. Of the eight or so that I've built in my life -- the first seven between the ages of 16 and 18 -- this one has turned out the best......the cloth is actually straighter than on some of my "real" Fender gear.

HTH

[boobtube21]

I gotcha. Wow, that's so simple I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks. I have to redo the part below the control panel on the head now, that turned out terrible. I did a 4x12 years ago and it turned out great but apparently stapling grill cloth isn't like riding a bike...

Thanks for the tip. I'm off to do a little vacationing with the wife but when I return I will continue and post some final pics when I'm done.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[Cogs]

I got me a pair of these for stretching grillcloth:

[phantomman]

I got me a pair of these for stretching grillcloth:

Dr. Robert Coggins, DDS (aka "Dr. Russ T. Plyers" in a previous life).

No root too tough to canal!

[boobtube21]

Those look pretty diabolical, lol.