Making a guitar cab from a bass cab

Duppy03

A bass player friend of mine has offered me his empty Schroeder 4x10 bass cab to convert into a 2x12. I've got a Celestion G1265 good to go and was thinking of getting a G12H30 Anniversary to accompany it. 

I'm just thinking before I get the saw out and start making a new baffle, what differences might I expect in tone with regards the dimensions of the bass cab? It's 23.5 w x 23.5 h x 16 d

ecc83

That cab has a volume of around 5cu ft (based on the external dimensions) .

A typical 1x12 combo cab would be in the order 2cu ft so that bass box is going to give a different acoustic result than the norm', what exactly it is hard to say but if closed back the difference could be large. Semi open backed will not matter so much. 

But I would not alter the cab as yet. Build your baffle and give it a blast. You can  then try the effect of making it smaller by inserting non-resonant, non absorbing materials. Bricks, blocks of wood or exp' polystyrene. Once you have it "tuned" to taste you can easily calculate the added volume then reduce the box dimensions accordingly. I would alter the 16" depth and keep the height, saves buggering the baffle again anyway. 

No doubt ICBM et al will be along with driver suggestions? Much of course depends on the type of sound you are after.

Dave.

ICBM

My driver suggestions would be to save yourself a lot of work and make a guitar 4x10".

I also certainly wouldn't alter the box - there's really no point in cutting down a cab to change the internal volume when you can do it with acoustic inserts, as you suggest. In any case, it's unlikely to sound bad if it's a bit oversized for a normal 2x12" - bigger cabinets usually sound better rather than worse. It's not as if you're trying to put a lot of science into it as you would for a hi-fi, PA or even proper bass cabinet - a guitar or bass guitar cabinet is usually little more than a box with speakers in it, and little attention paid to tuning.

If you do really want to do it, I'd go for a speaker with closer power handling and sensitivity to the G12-65, possibly a G12T-75 - which I'm not a huge fan of on its own, but seems to mix very nicely with more midrangy speakers, which the 65 is.

mike257

Those Schroeder cabs are, by all accounts, very well made boxes and they aren't cheap to buy new. I'd question the wisdom of attacking it with power tools.

martinw

ICBM said:

My driver suggestions would be to save yourself a lot of work and make a guitar 4x10".

 

+1. 4x10s are great cabs.

ChrisMusic

ICBM said:   My driver suggestions would be to save yourself a lot of work and make a guitar 4x10".

I am curious, could you elaborate a little on 10" options please.

Back in the day I don't remember 10" guitar cabs only 12s, so this is all new to me.

The idea came up on the "Head or Combo" discussion and I have been wondering about it since.

Hope you don't mind me asking here Duppy03, but it seems it could be revevant to you as a no-mods option for the cab.

Cirrus

Fender had a few 10" speaker cabs/ combos iirc, the bassman combo being one that springs to mind.

ICBM

ChrisMusic said:

I am curious, could you elaborate a little on 10" options please.

Even just sticking to the usual suspects, there are a lot of options here:

http://celestion.com/category/4/guitar/size/4/10"/

http://www.eminence.com/guitar-bass/

http://www.jensentone.com

Not quite as many as for 12"s, but still plenty to give you almost an unlimited choice. What sort of tone are you after? Type of music? Rough budget?

ESchap

Marshall did a very nice closed back 4 x10 back in the day.  

ICBM, you used to have a very nice one stripped of tolex and varnished if I remember correctly?

Duppy03

Thanks for tips guys. I'm going to stick with a 2x12 seeing as I already have a 12 I like. It 's more affordable to simply aquire another. The reason I was going to pick a G12H is because a friend gas a Zilla Fatboy loaded with a V30 (midrangey) and G12H (pronounced highs and lows) and it sounds great. But I suppose a G12T-75 will do the same thing and much more affordable.

I'll be using the cab as an option for smaller venues for both my funk band and alternative rock band, so I'm open to other suggestions on the speaker front.

Cheers for the tips on tuning the cab, I was hoping I could do something as simple as use foam to pad it. Do I still need to do that if I'm going for an open back design?

mike257

If you're going open back then the internal volume/tuning isn't (in my limited knowledge) a massive issue.  It's only when your'e dealing with a sealed box that the internal dimensions become a critical element.