Hello,
I am thinking about building one of these:
http://www.amptone…"]Mike Ralph's DIY Iso Box[/]="http://www.amptone…"]Mike Ralph's DIY Iso Box[/]
And putting a 2x12 with G12K100s in it for testing. I need to be able to play loud in order to test out tube amps at full power, but not bother the neighbors. Any issues with the isolation cabinet design I should be aware of? I basically just need to make sure the tone sounds OK when the amp is running full bore. I was gonna put an SM58 inside the box and run that into a PA and then either use a headphones out from the PA or listen to it on monitors at a lower volume level.
What would be good dimensions for the length of the box? (I was going to make the width and height slightly larger than the 2x12) Any issues you can think of I need to be aware of with an isolation box?
Thanks!
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Are you in an apartment /condo living scenario? You will still b
Are you in an apartment /condo living scenario? You will still be pissing off the neighbors...LOL!
That box looks way too flimsy to contain bass note information if you are planning to run a 50- or 100-watt tube amp "full bore". Egg crate foam and 3/4" MDF are too little to contain that sufficiently for most real-life situations. Backstage? Maybe, not at home. Do a search on this site for iso boxes, this was recently discussed, and "Space" from the "Acoustics & Studio Design" section weighed in regarding the build-up parameters necessary to control bass notes.
Also this dude's box looks way too flimsy to be carted around to gigs. MDF held together with brackets and silicone might work in a studio, but transporting that beast will need some serious internal bracing. More weight, as if MDF isn't heavy enough.
If testing tube amps is part of the picture, look at what Weber Amps offers in dummy loads and power attenuators. Read all you can about this. As a former speaker reconer and tube amp hacker, I can tell you they offer a lot of useful info and great products. Good luck and let us know how things work out!
I realize it will still be loud, but at least there will be some
I realize it will still be loud, but at least there will be somewhat of a reduction in volume. What approx db reduction would you estimate? (At approx 10 feet from the box) I live in a house, and this will be in the basement. I just need to reduce the volume to a more manageable level. For example, a 20 db reduction or so would be great.
I have already built a dummy load and an attenuator. Both have their uses, but the attenuator affects the tone somewhat. I'm pretty set on building this iso box, the only question is that of affecting the tone going into the mic.
Iso box design was recently discussed on here? I will look for it.
Thanks for the help! I will try to report on my findings eventually, but it might be a few months. :)
In the basement that should work fine...I hope that you don't pl
In the basement that should work fine...I hope that you don't plan to carry it out very often!
I didn't see any spec's on the attenuation amount. The Randall was around 40 dB, if I recall (less in the bass registers).
Yeah, an attenuator will affect the tone in that the speakers aren't being driven as hard. What amp are you using?
First off, this subject has been covered recently here... try th
First off, this subject has been covered recently here... try the search engine.
Secondly, there are a number of issues that come up with these boxes. The biggest one is that you will still not be able to effectively control low frequency material from "spilling" from the box. The box has to "breathe" in some way, to both cool the speaker's voicecoil/motor assembly and to manage the air pressure generated by the moving cone and as such, has to be vented in some manner. This makes this type of device unuseable in an apartment/condo environment...you will still rattle the doors and windows of your neighbors. Also, if you research these things, you'll notice that no manufacturer uses 2 loudspeakers in their designs, but ONE high-power-capacity speaker. I believe that the reason for this has to do with the physics of wave propogation within a confined area and the comb-filtering effects that dual drivers can produce.
According to the valuable information that "Space" from the "Acoustics & Studio Design" section on this site gave to another poster, in order to prevent low frequencies from being an issue, the bulk and the build-up componentry of the box would be substantial, making this a difficult piece to transport to gigs.
I have owned a Randall isolation box and it did OK in my studio, which was located in a warehouse center. Taking it home to the condo and cranking it up with a 50-watt plexi-clone was entirely another matter and did not go over well with my snooty neighbors...LOL!
I strongly advise you to go to the Rivera amp site and look up the "Silent Sister", then click on the videos of Paul Rivera discussing the problems that they ran into during its' R&D. Also, in the demo videos note the incredibly bassy tone that the box delivers outside of its' walls...this is what I'm talking about.
As a former speaker reconing/tube amp hacker, I would suggest that you take a hard look at the products - power attenuators and dummy speaker loads - WEBER amps offers. Their products offer a solution to what you are attempting to do. Best of luck to you!