Cab design -- important?

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Boudoir Guitar

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Saw this video some months ago and it was...surprising. There is a fatal-flaw caveat to his analysis -- he did everything with a close mic such that proximity effect of the mic itself is likely overwhelming his attempts to quantify differences in cab's sonic signature. But nonetheless, cool video. And it seems like if he noticed an in-room difference that was wildly different from measured response so I don't know that its useless from a qualitative perspective.

Anywho, I've got a few cabs I need to make, and I'm not nearly as worried about construction methodology as I have been in the past after watching this. Still very worried about which golden girl color scheme to paint them, though...

 
I think yes, the cab has a big impact on how the speakers sound.
I've built my own 1x12 cabs and they sound massive compared to the shallower Framus 2x12.

two-1x12.jpg
 
James Freeman said:
I think yes, the cab has a big impact on how the speakers sound.
I've built my own 1x12 cabs and they sound massive compared to the shallower Framus 2x12.

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Dimensions, definitely. But I'm a lot less worried about method of baffle attachment, Baltic birch ply vs. more moderately priced but less perfect plywood vs. pine etc...

On those points, I'm gonna go based mostly on weight and laziness considerations all day long moving forward. Did you get to the end where he was playing through the styrofoam cab?
 
There are just straight better cabs in the world.

Mesa, Orange, Vader, Bogner.

These cabs are all great.

Some of the Diezel cabs are great, depending on what you prefer as far as FL cabs or RL cabs.

Marshall Mode 4 cabs are great despite their construction.

G-Flex cabs can rule hard depending.

Yeah, it matters.
 
100% important. I've played cabs w the same speakers right next to eachother some sounded great, some just meh.

I remember once I was looking to move away from my recto 4x12 cause I was a fucking pussy and didn't want to haul it to gigs anymore. I A/B'd it right next to a Bogner OS 2x12 (same speakers) and I'll be damned if the 2x12 didn't shit all over that Boogie cab
 
Flinto2002 said:
100% important. I've played cabs w the same speakers right next to eachother some sounded great, some just meh.

I remember once I was looking to move away from my recto 4x12 cause I was a f*****g pussy and didn't want to haul it to gigs anymore. I A/B'd it right next to a Bogner OS 2x12 (same speakers) and I'll be damned if the 2x12 didn't s**t all over that Boogie cab
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Thanks a lot. Now I want to try that cab.
 
Flinto2002 said:
100% important. I've played cabs w the same speakers right next to eachother some sounded great, some just meh.

I remember once I was looking to move away from my recto 4x12 cause I was a f*****g pussy and didn't want to haul it to gigs anymore. I A/B'd it right next to a Bogner OS 2x12 (same speakers) and I'll be damned if the 2x12 didn't s**t all over that Boogie cab
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I’ve got an old Mesa 2x12 with Black Shadows in it, the original owner removed the back off it and it’s ridiculous in comparison to the 4x12’s I’ve heard it sit in a room with. First time I brought it to a jam session my buddy was playing his XXX half-stack and the dude got swallowed up by that 2x12 and I was powering it with a solid state Peavey head. It’s f*cking glorious.

Another buddy has a 2x12 with EV12L’s in it, that thing is insane. I’ve never heard a cab that small put out that much sound, but I guess when you have two 200watt speakers VS 4 30watt speakers, shit’s gonna be different, regardless of the cab construction.
 
To clarify, of course dimensions and closed vs open, and degree of open and/or port tuning etc. matter.

And a huge difference between 1, 2, or 4 x12.

But stuff like floating baffle vs glued baffle, finger joints vs butt joints, specialty void-free ply vs Home Depot void-filled ply, etc...this video made me stop worrying much about those things for my home-built cabs. I mean, the foam-board constructed Orange 2x12 knock off cab he plays through at the end sounds pretty dang good
 
cab design is huge. take two 412s with identical speakers and you will hear a massive difference. a bogner 412, a mesa standard recto 412 and a marshall 412 all sound wildly different with V30s.
 
I saw the video awhile ago. He obviously did a huge amount of work, and his conclusions are generally correct - for close mic'ing.

At 17:21 in the video, the light comes on for him. Wavelengths matter. The most dramatic differences caused by cab size and shape are due to the cab's effect on speaker vibration. Those effects are due to standing waves. The specific combination of standing waves a given cab will produce is a function of the relationships among its dimensions. For example, a cube-shaped cab will produce different standing waves than a rectangular-solid cab with the same internal volume.

There are some diffraction effects that are audible in normal playing but are completely hidden when you put a mic right in front of the cone. Those are generally subtle. OTOH, the difference between an open and an otherwise-identical closed cab is much greater from a player's position than it is in a close-mic'ed scenario.
 
jay mitchell said:
I saw the video awhile ago. He obviously did a huge amount of work, and his conclusions are generally correct - for close mic'ing.

At 17:21 in the video, the light comes on for him. Wavelengths matter. The most dramatic differences caused by cab size and shape are due to the cab's effect on speaker vibration. Those effects are due to standing waves. The specific combination of standing waves a given cab will produce is a function of the relationships among its dimensions. For example, a cube-shaped cab will produce different standing waves than a rectangular-solid cab with the same internal volume.

There are some diffraction effects that are audible in normal playing but are completely hidden when you put a mic right in front of the cone. Those are generally subtle. OTOH, the difference between an open and an otherwise-identical closed cab is much greater from a player's position than it is in a close-mic'ed scenario.
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Thoughts on method of baffle attachment? I was surprised by how little difference there was. For the person making their own cabs s it kind of like the rear panel - make sure it doesn't rattle, etc., but as long as it's secure don't really worry too much about sonic impact?
 
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