Has anybody built there own 2x12?

[Mayo5]

I was wondering if anybody has built their own 2x12 or 4x12? I'm looking into this option, because I'm a poor college student and can't fork out 700-1200$ for a 2x12 or 4x12. lol

Does anybody have any guides or methods/advice that they would like to share?

Thanks for any help or links! Pictures of your home build is welcomed too!

 

[hipofutura]

Here's a 2x12 shipped for $260. I had him build two cabs for me. Excellent quality and no surprises. He'll build to your specs. which is what I wanted. You supply your own speakers. If you build it yourself you'll probably spend close $150 or so.

 

[Mayo5]

Here's a 2x12 shipped for $260. I had him build two cabs for me. Excellent quality and no surprises. He'll build to your specs. which is what I wanted. You supply your own speakers. If you build it yourself you'll probably spend close $150 or so.

The link is missing, I'm pretty curious though.

 

[Standard 64]

Avatar cabs(google it) are priced well and used alot.

 

[Mayo5]

Avatar cabs(google it) are priced well and used alot.

They get pretty pricey too, for what I'm looking for. But thanks, though.

 

[hipofutura]

Oops. 18 WATT 2X12 CABINET FOR MARSHALL,CERIATONE,FENER,KIT - eBay (item 110366023809 end time Jun-16-09 20:36:55 PDT)

 

[hipofutura]

Here's some pics of my cabs. I had the center section of the Traynor cab removable so I could run it open for different speaker tuning.

 

[GuitarnLax36]

my dad just finished building a metro amp kit of a jtm45. We got a mojo bluesbreaker 2x12 cab and the thing kills its insanely nice haha

 

[Last]

Man, I'd love to see some of these projects "in progress" photos?

Got any?

 

[Mayo5]

Here's some pics of my cabs. I had the center section of the Traynor cab removable so I could run it open for different speaker tuning.

Nice pictures Hipo! That looks to be a good quality, and kind of what I'm looking for, I already have the speakers; so I just need a cab. Are you the owner of that company?

my dad just finished building a metro amp kit of a jtm45. We got a mojo bluesbreaker 2x12 cab and the thing kills its insanely nice haha

Yeah, that's one of the companys I have been looking into. They seem to be killer.

These are some of the following cab companies I've been looking, but am kinda sheering away due to price.

Mills Acoustics
Port City
Mojo Cabs
Stone Age
JD Designs
Stagecraft

So far, I'm loving the JD Designs 2x12 Slant Back. A decent price unloaded too, that includes shipping.

Man, I'd love to see some of these projects "in progress" photos?

Got any?

This is what I'm talking about! I want to see some designs from the start.

 

[hipofutura]

I've built quite a few amps and speaker cabs, but decided to hire these two out as I just didn't have the time. He's a guy I found online. The quality is great, prices are more than fair, and he built the cabs to my design.

 

[dwagar]

buy used.

I picked up an old Sunn 2x12 loaded with EV Prolines for $140. And my 2x12 Marshall cab that matches my JTM60 was $300 used, with the factory Celestions.

 

[Mayo5]

I have the speakers I want, except one.

So I'm looking for cabs, and right now. I'm leaning towards the sourmash, or the stagecraft cabinets.

Unless anyone can find a tutorial or links towards helping me.

 

[hipofutura]

It doesn't require blueprints or anything exotic. I use Visio (software) to design my cabs and layout the pieces for cuting the 4x8 plywood. You don't have to be exact as you can cover most flaws with the tolex. You can get birch plywood at any lumber yard, as well as the pine for bracing. What you do need are tools. Skill saw, router (optional, but makes pretty speaker cutouts), a bunch of clamps, tape measure, framing square, drill, and assorted other hand tools. You can rough out the cab in half a day. You'll spend another day putting on the tolex and grill cloth. By the time you buy "all" the materials (plywood, pine, screws, glue, handles, feet, blind nuts, tolex, and grill cloth) and misc. tools (whatever your missing) You could be at the $200 mark. I still think SourMash is the best option, and I like the SourMash route as you can get the cab sized as you want. Sizing was important to me as I wanted it tuned to my speaker and sized to match my Traynor head. If you want a Fender Bandmaster type 2x12 cab you can go to the Guitar Center website to get the dimensions.

 

[drewbertca]

This is mine I used 3/4" laminated pine panels pine 2x2s for bracing inside (basically a frame since I didn't finger joint the panels) and 1/2" plywood for the front and back ....I know 1/2" is a bit thin but I have a 2x2 running vertically between the speakers
I screwed the frame together and the panels to the frame and I used one of those expanding polyurethane glues on all the joints except for the rear panel in case anything needs repair...and I sprayed about 2 cans of rhino lining on it and put little rubber feet on it......the speakers are Eminence The Wizard

Approx costs in CDN$:
Lumber and screws and glue about $80
Speakers about $150
Rotary saw with circle cutter $100 - but it has been used on many projects since
Rhino Lining $20
grill cloth fabric was in the discount bin at walmart so it was cheap - maybe $6 or $7

 

[siore]

I chopped up the ancestr....errrr... old table for this. Then my buddy had some scraps of lumber from making new cabinets for his room.

As you can see, pretty straightforward construction. Glued and nailed rabbet joints. Baffles and back panels attached by nails to cleats glued to the sides of the 3/4" hardwood shell. You can actually keep your costs down if your materials are readily available. 3/4" Plywood or MDF works fine too, but they are more neutral sounding and not as acoustically resonant as solid wood, which could also be a good thing, as it's more transparent to let the color of your speakers through (esp. if they're good ones voiced for your amp, like your Celestions, Jensens, Weber, Emis, etc.).

As far as tools go, I had a hand saw, a coping saw for the circles, hammer, chisel, lots of different grades of sandpaper, and soldering iron for wiring the speakers (those alligator clips shown I just used to test the connections). Then you just spend for nails, screws, handles, glue, varnish, grill cloth, wires, paint, tolex, etc. If you have extra, you can spend it on a nice set of speakers. If not, just start with what you can get... watch the specs... and upgrade as you go along.

Dimensions I got from fender amp dimensions. If you stick to open-back designs, there's a lot fewer things to go wrong. Less likelihood of overly resonant low freqs and rattling at the joints, undesirable late reflections, no need for internal damping, no thiele-small parameters to compute, etc. etc.

Still, expect to make some mistakes, expect to be discouraged, expect to repeat and repeat certain tasks, and be prepared to put serious time and effort into it, especially if you're not experienced with woodworking. That's the cost of keeping costs down. My advice to you, if you go through with it, measure twice.... then measure again before cutting. Labor over the tiniest detail. And watch a lot of woodworking videos, especially on joints and finishing!

If you ask me, it's worth it. By putting time and sweat (and at a time or two, blood!) into the project, this cab actually means something to me now. I'm quite surprised how good it sounds, warm and punchy, and I'm really happy with it. If you do well, I'm sure you will be too!

 

[Torren61]

You can go just about any level you want. The figured maple cabinet has a 12 inch 60 watt Celestion in it and is dyed amber/cherry and shot with clear nitro lacquer. I had to take it to a cabinet maker to get the finger joints done. I have about $800 to $900 in this cabinet when you count all materials and the cabinet shop's labor. That's not counting MY labor.

The Birch plywood cabinet is something I threw together with scraps from my studio work station build. If you have the tools, it could be built for right around $75. It has a 8 inch Jensen 15 watt MOD speaker.

Then you could also luck out like I did and find a 4X10 cabinet for free. This one (no pic) was sitting on someone's front porch with wrecked speakers and I offered them $10 and they gave it to me for free. That's my next project.

 

[Torren61]

Oh, btw...I'm a crap carpenter.

 

[Last]

Hey man you're learning & trying.

I've no doubt this CAB sounds awesome!

To be very honest I couldn't do 1/10 as good of a job on completely building 'anything' starting with just a flat piece of wood & an idea. My wife on the other hand can cover all my mistakes as she's very good at recovering just about anything with anything. A lot of Tolex later I'm quite happy with the results.

 

[Splattle101]

Here's my 2x12 (in fact, the cabinet you can see in the right-hand corner of this first pic is a 4x12 that I made, too):

It's made from 19 mm ply, braced with 30x30 mm pine because I didn't finger joint it. It's covered in Tolex and got salt & pepper grill cloth. It's loaded with a pair of G12M-70 Celestions. It's deep, and well sealed so its bass response is excellent if not alarming.