JBass 212x5 bass guitar cabinet

[isaeagle4031]

A friend asked for a rig because the commercial offerings were just out of reach financially. Six kids will do that! Well, its speaker building and an area that I was not well versed in, so yeah, I will give it a try. After much searching, reading, and modeling I decided on this concept. A pr of Eminence S2012 woofers and a pr of PRO5MRN-8 mids. The crossover point is 2khz and the mids are wired in reverse polarity. I used 2nd order electrical slopes, damped on the woofers, on both sides. No BSC in this design.

The cabinet is on the large side at 6cu ft but the light weight neo drivers, 3/4ply and minimal bracing keeps the weight down. Overall dimensions are 31.5w 24h 17.75d. The 4" ports tune the enclosure to 40hz with an f3 of 50hz. This is low enough for a 4string bass and on the edge for a 5 string.

Many of the commercial offerings employed a tweeter, but really would have a pretty nasty null between woofer and tweeter. Most just run the woofs full out, break up and all. Kind of silly imo. Anyway, while the response here is not as smooth as we are used to seeing from our projects, it is much better than the commercial offerings I tried. Sitting directly on the floor, the bottom end is rich and full so no worries there!

[wogg]

I saw you post that on FB and mention Marcus Miller... was looking for a picture with him and a bass

Looks good! I prefer tweeters on my bass rig, but that's really dependent on the playing style and personal preference. This sucker would do quite nicely. Nice grill work on that thing!

[isaeagle4031]

Thanks Wogg. I decided not to use a tweeter as the upper range of the bass is 8k, which these PRO5MRN-8s handle quite nicely. This allowed me to cross at a more reasonable point than most any tweeter would allow for a smooth transition.

[mlau]

That looks nice!

More info please! I might want to build one for myself.

[isaeagle4031]

What would you like to know?

[jim85iroc]

That woofer breakup is what gives a guitar (or bass) cabinet its particular sound, and is a characteristic part of a player's sound. With bass it's becoming more common for players to utilize a "hifi" sound that's more refined, but even then, having high frequency extension is important if the bassist is doing anything more significant than providing rhythm support (root, 5th, octave, rinse, repeat). If they're slapping or doing anything as a lead, they're going to want those highs in the signal.

[isaeagle4031]

That woofer breakup is what gives a guitar (or bass) cabinet its particular sound, and is a characteristic part of a player's sound. With bass it's becoming more common for players to utilize a "hifi" sound that's more refined, but even then, having high frequency extension is important if the bassist is doing anything more significant than providing rhythm support (root, 5th, octave, rinse, repeat). If they're slapping or doing anything as a lead, they're going to want those highs in the signal.

The highs are there. They just aren't distorted by the ugly cone breakup. I've now had more than a few players use this cabinet (a some of those are pros) that really enjoyed it. To hear what the bass actually sounds like and not just the cabinet was refreshing for them. As many systems lack on stage cabinets and play through the house system, hearing what is going in has been a big help. And judging by the number that have ordered this system and its new iteration, I think it is a winner ;)

[wogg]

The highs are there. They just aren't distorted by the ugly cone breakup. I've now had more than a few players use this cabinet (a some of those are pros) that really enjoyed it. To hear what the bass actually sounds like and not just the cabinet was refreshing for them. As many systems lack on stage cabinets and play through the house system, hearing what is going in has been a big help. And judging by the number that have ordered this system and its new iteration, I think it is a winner ;)

Totally agree with this. Breakup can be a good character, but you won't be able to adjust it with your own effects up stream. I did my mini practice amp with a proper crossover that included break up suppression in a notch filter for the 8" woofer. It's my favorite rig now, and when paired up with a 2x10" cab for below 200Hz it's quite gig capable.

Response ended up like this on axis:


That's a Peerless horn tweeter with the Dayton 8" pro woofer. As jim85iroc alluded, I play slap style a lot so the extra output up above 10kHz is appreciated.