Contemplating ultralight bass cab.

[killa]

I am thinking about building an ultralight bass guitar cab. I am currently using two greenboy fearful 12/6 cabs (which are fairly light) but want something with a bit more sensitivity for lower powered amps. My current cabs take quite a bit of the power my crown xls1500 can put out to keep up with the rest of the band. I would like something that would get loud enough to keep up with two metal guitars with 400 to 500w.

With that said I am looking for input on drivers that will achieve this while keeping weight to a minimum. I would also like to keep box size as manageable as possible. Also we are tuning to C so it will need to reach about 50hz I think (If I remember right B is around 40hz fundamental)

I have just started thinking about this so any tips will help.

Edit: Oops wrong section! Please move mods

[wogg]

Standard E tuning fundamental on a 4 string bass is 41Hz, but a cab rarely has to reproduce much of the fundamental. Even more so on 5 strings or de-tuned stuff, the string is floppier and outputs more harmonics than fundamental.

I would like something that would get loud enough to keep up with two metal guitars with 400 to 500w.

That's going to be really tough, guitar players are always to damn loud I'd go with more cone, a pair of 12's or 15's... but that will get big fast. Or... perhaps base the design off the classic 8x8 Ampeg monsters, those are awesome rock machines... but again... huge!

I run bi-amp with a single 15" on bottom in about 4.5cu ft. It's been a while, the driver is an Eminence Kappa, I think... 600W RMS handling and 99dB sensitivity. In that box it modeled down to 40Hz F3 to catch that low E. The highs are a 4X6 cab with a horn tweeter centered... lots of attack for slappy funk (very anti-metal). Couple old pictures on my site here. Gotta re-finish those things sometime this year, that box carpet sucks and the grilles are rusting a bit.

[STIchris722]

Amen to the guitar player and their volume! I found that unless the guitarists are playing in isocabs, I have to resort to at least 6x10 to keep up with them;

[killa]

That's going to be really tough, guitar players are always to damn loud I'd go with more cone, a pair of 12's or 15's... but that will get big fast. Or... perhaps base the design off the classic 8x8 Ampeg monsters, those are awesome rock machines... but again... huge!

Well I already run a pair of 12s (kappalite lf) but they are very power hungry. I am not opposed to multiple drivers or large cabs as long as they aren't too heavy and I can load them myself. I am sure even a monster like the big ampeg could be built to weigh about half the weight with lighter drivers and materials with well thought out bracing.

[Sydney]

I'll be curious as to the outcome.

a pair of 12s (kappalite lf) but they are very power hungry.

The 3012LF runs approx 96db (EIA 426a).
Since universal lowering of SPL is not a consideration ()
AND

I am not opposed to multiple drivers or large cabs

- I'd go with a bigger cab and bigger driver. ( Higher sens. lower Fs and more Sd )
I do like the multi-split amp and cab solution that Wogg mentioned.

[wogg]

My cabs are actually quite light, but bulky. I didn't use any internal bracing, just 3/4" ply construction. That's bad for hi-fi of course and they sound pretty bad for music, but for bass guitar it's part of the "effect". In my defense this was years before I knew anything about this place, the importance of bracing, and how to properly design a crossover for the highs.

I load them in and out myself all the time. Stairs will get very old very quick, but plopping it out of the hatchback and onto the casters then stacking and rolling is easy. For an amp I use a QSC powerlight to save my back.

[badman]

I have an 80% project in the garage- foamboard, laminated and with interlocking bracing, assembled with caulk as the adhesive. Low-mass and lossy- might be a fine thing to pursue. I used thin aluminum framing to help keep the corners intact, and it's VERY light.

[killa]

I wish PE still sold the basslite 15. I have one. I need to find another one. A pair ought to get loud fairly easily.

[STIchris722]

I am thinking about building an ultralight bass guitar cab. I am currently using two greenboy fearful 12/6 cabs (which are fairly light) but want something with a bit more sensitivity for lower powered amps. My current cabs take quite a bit of the power my crown xls1500 can put out to keep up with the rest of the band. I would like something that would get loud enough to keep up with two metal guitars with 400 to 500w.

With that said I am looking for input on drivers that will achieve this while keeping weight to a minimum. I would also like to keep box size as manageable as possible. Also we are tuning to C so it will need to reach about 50hz I think (If I remember right B is around 40hz fundamental)

I have just started thinking about this so any tips will help.

Edit: Oops wrong section! Please move mods

I personally have built a couple of bass guitar cabinets. What I will shed on this subject is simply that you don't need a cab tuned to the note's fundamental frequency, but rather the harmonics. A standard B on a five string bass is 31Hz. The harmonics and overtones are much higher than that. You will be hard pressed to find bass cabs with specs that show a cab is tuned below 30Hz. I know my Eden D210XST cabinet is tuned to 30Hz, but the amount of output and excursion is seriously reduced at that frequency. I think the specs are BS if you ask me.

Anyways back to my point. I built a PA subwoofer a while back that I ended up using as a bass cabinet and changed my original opinion of. It utilizes the Eminence KappaLite 15LF. 99.4dB sensitivity and 450W RMS. 44Hz Fs. I designed the cabinet to 4ft^3 with an Fb of 44Hz. That cabinet slams on a 5 string. Keep in mind you also have almost 10mm of Xmax as well to keep up with the low frequency extension. I am not going to say this is the end all choice, but I am fond of the sound it makes and the SPL is crazy with little input power. It also weighed right at 40#.

[Chris Roemer]

ditto

dit - to

[mortron]

That 18 looks fun!

I have a few different amps, and have had many more over time.

My gig rig is a MarkBass LittleMark 2 head and a Bergantino NV610. Its too heavy and quite big but smaller than an 810 and almost as loud.

When we jam I run the same head through a 15" and am able to keep up enough but it's definitely not as capable. One thing I always found was that it naturally had a different tone, and because it was lower, it sat lower in the mix and didn't have to fight as much. You may not need to be as loud with a larger driver if you can benefit from hanging out down low.

Going low sounds good if done well, and sometimes carves you out a little more room to hear yourself.

​​​​​​Originally thought this was gonna be an XPS and Fiberglass basscab build... Those are light!