Tube Amp Archive

Recently I've been getting calls for acoustic gigs more and more. My old Takamine plays ok, but really sounds terrible with the piezo direct into the PA.

I noticed acoustic amps use small full range speakers and a tweet so I hooked up a small mixer, Pyle 30-30 power amp, a pair of stereo speakers and a TC nova delay. The result is amazing, until you bear down on the guitar then the quack comes out. The stereo field with the TC and reverb in the mixer makes the guitar sound huge.

So I picked up a Baggs Lyric to eliminate the piezo, 4-6.5" speakers and 2 tweets from parts-express based on the reviews. I have plenty of crossover parts, just gotta figure out what to use.

I can either build a single 4x6.5" and wire it in stereo, or 2-2x6.5" cabs. I can mount the little power amp in the cab as well. I'm not sure a single cab will give me any stereo field, but i also want as simple of a setup as I can possibly have. Will 2 cabs be worth it, but in building and lugging around.

I'll build the cabs from 1x8 clear pine and 1/2" ply for the baffle and back, PVC for ports, tolex so I can throw it in the trunk. I'll build in a slant because my knees don't have ears, and I can put my little mixer on top.

Thoughts?

In principle something along the lines of a Fishman SA220?

martin manning wrote:In principle something along the lines of a Fishman SA220?

Exactly.

I had a good friend that had a really nice Santa Cruz guitar.

He originally had a Fishman piezo in the saddle.

I hated the sound so after a while he took that out and used a microphone on stage for his sound.

I forget what mic it was but it cost around $600.

I know what he meant about the piezo, kind of a fake sound, does not really capture the tone of an acoustic guitar.

That Lyric looks really cool Bob, I'd never heard of it. Looks like you've got it figured out. If I was going to do something like this, I think I would get a couple of in-expensive 2 way powered monitors and go that route...mostly because I don't like making cabinets, lol!

Mark

Blindog wrote:That Lyric looks really cool Bob, I'd never heard of it. Looks like you've got it figured out. If I was going to do something like this, I think I would get a couple of in-expensive 2 way powered monitors and go that route...mostly because I don't like making cabinets, lol!

Mark

I actually have some inexpensive monitors, harbinger 150 watt 1x12 + horn. They don't sound anywhere near as good as my 35 year old stereo speakers. That's why I thought small drivers are the way to go.

Bob-I wrote:

Blindog wrote:That Lyric looks really cool Bob, I'd never heard of it. Looks like you've got it figured out. If I was going to do something like this, I think I would get a couple of in-expensive 2 way powered monitors and go that route...mostly because I don't like making cabinets, lol!

Mark

I actually have some inexpensive monitors, harbinger 150 watt 1x12 + horn. They don't sound anywhere near as good as my 35 year old stereo speakers. That's why I thought small drivers are the way to go.

I hear ya Hey, did you happen to see these 5" Celestion drivers on closeout for less than 10 bucks? Says they were originally designed for high end acoustic amps.

https://www.parts-express.com/celestion ... m--299-416

Mark

Blindog wrote:

Bob-I wrote:

Blindog wrote:That Lyric looks really cool Bob, I'd never heard of it. Looks like you've got it figured out. If I was going to do something like this, I think I would get a couple of in-expensive 2 way powered monitors and go that route...mostly because I don't like making cabinets, lol!

Mark

I actually have some inexpensive monitors, harbinger 150 watt 1x12 + horn. They don't sound anywhere near as good as my 35 year old stereo speakers. That's why I thought small drivers are the way to go.

I hear ya Hey, did you happen to see these 5" Celestion drivers on closeout for less than 10 bucks? Says they were originally designed for high end acoustic amps.

https://www.parts-express.com/celestion ... m--299-416

Mark

Yes, but I also read some pretty poor reviews. I grabbed some 6.5" mid bass drivers for $4 each. I figure if they don't sound good I can still use the cab(s) I'm building.

Ugh...I didn't look at the reviews. I usually do! Lets see some pics when you get this thing done!

Mark

I'm still looking for opinions on a single cab wired in stereo or 2 cabs? Has anyone done a single stereo cab? How'd it sound?

Bob-I wrote:I'm still looking for opinions on a single cab wired in stereo or 2 cabs? Has anyone done a single stereo cab? How'd it sound?

My opinion is to build two separate cabinets. Years ago, I had an Evans rack mount preamp, and I decided to build a combo around it. I had a cabinet maker make a 20.5" wide walnut cabinet that had three rack spaces over top of a ported 2x8" cabinet. I loaded the Evans preamp, a Stewart 2x100W power amp, a Lexicon MPX-1 and two Carvin 8" guitar speakers. It was small and light, and looked amazing. Sonically, not so amazing. Stereo image was lacking, and because of the very small speaker box, it wasn't loud enough to gig with - in spite of having 200 watts on tap.

I say build yourself two cabinets, and make them as big as you can tolerate in terms of weight-management and moving-convenience.

JazzGuitarGimp wrote:

Bob-I wrote:I'm still looking for opinions on a single cab wired in stereo or 2 cabs? Has anyone done a single stereo cab? How'd it sound?

My opinion is to build two separate cabinets. Years ago, I had an Evans rack mount preamp, and I decided to build a combo around it. I had a cabinet maker make a 20.5" wide walnut cabinet that had three rack spaces over top of a ported 2x8" cabinet. I loaded the Evans preamp, a Stewart 2x100W power amp, a Lexicon MPX-1 and two Carvin 8" guitar speakers. It was small and light, and looked amazing. Sonically, not so amazing. Stereo image was lacking, and because of the very small speaker box, it wasn't loud enough to gig with - in spite of having 200 watts on tap.

I say build yourself two cabinets, and make them as big as you can tolerate in terms of weight-management and moving-convenience.

I'm a little surprised that you didn't have volume on tap, maybe those speakers were very inefficient. I'm not expecting to play this loud, my plan is to run a split out of the mixer and feed into the PA so this is more of a monitor system. I have 60 watts which seems like enough power, but I can always upgrade the poweramp.

As I expected, a single cab won't give a decent stereo image. I've got another idea, 2 cabs and bungie together so I can carry them in a single trip.

Bob-I wrote:I'm a little surprised that you didn't have volume on tap, maybe those speakers were very inefficient.

I agree. It was a medium sized room, and I was playing with a keyboardist who plays left-hand bass and uses a drum machine, as well as a tenor sax player. The keyboardist and I also were singing. We were doing mostly pop and R&B. It's been a whole bunch of years, so I cannot state with any certainty the efficiency of the Carvin 8's. I was playing a strat, and the power amp was clipping left and right (no pun intended).

http://www.apexjr.com/speakerstuff.html
Steve has some inexpensive speakers you might take a look at

I like 8's for acoustic sound, warm and enough highs, but not bright. I also have a monitor speakers that are two wedges that snap together to make a square. really handy to carry and split apart.