I was in a band in the 1990s called "Performance Anxiety." Our bass player worked in a cabinet shop for his day job. At the time I was gigging a Line 6 AX2 212 combo amp. Like most 2x12 combos, it was pretty heavy. I got the bright idea that the amp would be lighter if I separated the components in the AX2 into separate cabinets - a cabinet for the head, and one cabinet each for each 12" speaker. One day I had a conversation with the bass player and we made a deal that I would build him a custom PC and he would build me the custom cabinets described above. I supplied some killer figured maple. He supplied walnut and bubinga and did all of the cabinetry. He was a master craftsman and built the cabinets in the photos below.
He built the speaker cabinets with no previous experience designing or building acoustic cabinets. The speakers are the stock, Line 6 branded speakers from the combo cabinet. After it was complete I discovered that the wood added enough weight that each of the cabinets ended up not being significantly lighter when compared to the original combo. I also discovered that I now had to make two trips during cart in (three cabinets but only two hands) and that these beautiful wood cabinets were getting scratched and dinged as I transported and setup for gigs. This happened despite my trying to be careful of them. So, in one sense the project was a bit of a fail.
The tone of the amp, after the conversion, tended to have a high mid focus that sounded kind of shrill on its own. Luckily, the sound actually cut through well in our live mix. I used them for a couple of years, until I eventually sold the whole rig in the early 2000s.
Here are some pics and some links to recordings that I made using the amp. Little Wing was recorded in a studio with a singer friend who was putting together some demos to use for getting gigs in Las Vegas. The comb filtering resulted from the studio engineer recording only one of two speakers. The AX2 had a stereo signal path and included a "widening" effect. The comb filter resulted from micing only one speaker with the widening effect engaged. I was using a G&L Legacy strat with stock pickups.
The other recordings were recordings made at gigs using a boom box, with lots of audio artifacts. You can hear the wow and flutter. The boom box was sitting in the audience so overall audio quality isn't great. I'm playing the lead parts using a Fender Flame Elite (the Japanese made precursor of the Fender Robben Ford model). Bummer that I sold this guitar. Even though the recordings are muffled, you can still (sort of) hear the tone of the amp. I'd love to see pics of other odd ball projects. Enjoy!
He built the speaker cabinets with no previous experience designing or building acoustic cabinets. The speakers are the stock, Line 6 branded speakers from the combo cabinet. After it was complete I discovered that the wood added enough weight that each of the cabinets ended up not being significantly lighter when compared to the original combo. I also discovered that I now had to make two trips during cart in (three cabinets but only two hands) and that these beautiful wood cabinets were getting scratched and dinged as I transported and setup for gigs. This happened despite my trying to be careful of them. So, in one sense the project was a bit of a fail.
The tone of the amp, after the conversion, tended to have a high mid focus that sounded kind of shrill on its own. Luckily, the sound actually cut through well in our live mix. I used them for a couple of years, until I eventually sold the whole rig in the early 2000s.
Here are some pics and some links to recordings that I made using the amp. Little Wing was recorded in a studio with a singer friend who was putting together some demos to use for getting gigs in Las Vegas. The comb filtering resulted from the studio engineer recording only one of two speakers. The AX2 had a stereo signal path and included a "widening" effect. The comb filter resulted from micing only one speaker with the widening effect engaged. I was using a G&L Legacy strat with stock pickups.
The other recordings were recordings made at gigs using a boom box, with lots of audio artifacts. You can hear the wow and flutter. The boom box was sitting in the audience so overall audio quality isn't great. I'm playing the lead parts using a Fender Flame Elite (the Japanese made precursor of the Fender Robben Ford model). Bummer that I sold this guitar. Even though the recordings are muffled, you can still (sort of) hear the tone of the amp. I'd love to see pics of other odd ball projects. Enjoy!
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