Does anyone have a Speaker Cab made of Bamboo?

[bubs_42]

Just kinda interesting since it is a wood alternative. If you do what about weight?

[cmatthes]

Gilligan?

The Professor?

[bubs_42]

[pirateflynn]

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I remember that audiophile guys were talking about bamboo a few years back but I'm not sure if anything came of it (cue JohnnyB). Buzz Feiten made a very lightweight speaker cab that was well reviewed. It might have been made of birch wood. As I recall, he only made a small number of them.

[bubs_42]

The Buzz Feiten Cab was a wood composit I believe the same that Fuchs is doing now. My Blackjack 21 is a large combo but not heavy at all. Sounds big and round, I dig it. I am looking for a 1x12 for trying out Speakers and ran across a guy that makes cabinets out of Bamboo with Hemp Grill Clothe and though hey thats a good idea.

http://jdesigncabs.com/

Go to the in stock and scroll down and you will see it. Too me it looks nice.

[hamerhead]

NEVER loan it to a panda.

[G Man]

I dig it, no idea how it would sound, but the hippy in me loves the concept.

[gtone]

Pine is considerably lighter than birch plywood, tends to resonate but that can be good/bad thing depending on the application.

[JohnnyB]

I remember that audiophile guys were talking about bamboo a few years back but I'm not sure if anything came of it (cue JohnnyB) ...

Bamboo has made several inroads to traditional hardwood applications, such as cutting boards and flooring. It's dense, hard, resilient (especially weather-and moisture-resistant), and best of all, quickly renewable and not on anybody's embargo list AFAIK.

It has also made inroads into home audio that are still around. AudioEngine now makes a premium bamboo version of a couple of their models. They look really great in natural bamboo. They cost about $70/pair more because--from what I understand--1) the raw material costs more than MDF and 2) it's a harder material and requires slower cutting or drilling times and possibly carbide-edge/tip blades and bits.

OTOH, it is far more inert and less resonant (good things for speaker cabs) than MDF. 3/4" thick bamboo is more vibration-free than 2" thick (almost unusably heavy) MDF. So at some point bamboo's weight would be an advantage relative to its performance. I so far haven't found comparisons between Baltic birch laminate and bamboo.

Ascend Acoustics is a small Internet-Direct maker of high quality speakers. Owner/designer Dave Fabrikant makes all of his enclosures from bamboo. Here is a link to a detailed forum entry where he describes how he came to choose bamboo, its advantages and challenges. Here are a couple examples of his finished product, one in gloss piano black and the other in natural.

[Sugartune]

Just my floors! They sound pretty good though.

[bubs_42]

I also like the fact that it is renewable and it seems like a pretty cool idea to be able to almost the whole cabinet out of a renewable sources. We will have to see how this week plays out I may just order one and see how it sounds.

[Armitage]

Renewable... the darned stuff grows faster than weeds!

[bubs_42]

When people say it doesn't sound like pine, I say NO SHIT! But does it sound good?

[hamerhead]

If you water it, will a 1x12 grow into a 2x12? Because after a while... you know.... you'd have a pretty massive rig.

[bubs_42]

If you water it, will a 1x12 grow into a 2x12? Because after a while... you know.... you'd have a pretty massive rig.

Good Question! I see Orange has just discontiued its 6x12 so this may be a good alternative.

[soli'd]

The Buzz Feiten Cab was a wood composit I believe the same that Fuchs is doing now. My Blackjack 21 is a large combo but not heavy at all. Sounds big and round, I dig it. I am looking for a 1x12 for trying out Speakers and ran across a guy that makes cabinets out of Bamboo with Hemp Grill Clothe and though hey thats a good idea.

http://jdesigncabs.com/

Go to the in stock and scroll down and you will see it. Too me it looks nice.

J Design is the outfit that builds all the cabs for Fargen amps. Jeff (J) is actually Ben Fargen's brother. He does incredible work, very clean and attentive to detail.

Here's the cab he built for my one-and-only (as far as amps are concerned). Solid maple and walnut, it's heavy as shit but I carry it everywhere because I can't do without that sound.

If I can get anywhere close to that sound with a lighter bamboo cab I'd be looking at Jeff's offering for sure. Need to give him a call and hear what one of those sounds like.

[bubs_42]

If you do, fill us in.

[hamerhead]

Fill us in, please.

You can never be too polite.

[soli'd]

If you do, fill us in.

I heard back from Jeff- I had asked him about the ECO cab in comparison to my walnut/maple cab shown above. Here's the description he gave:

The Bamboo is very dense and has properties similar to Eastern soft Maple or Pacific Big Leaf Maple. Brighter than walnut but very resonant like solid Poplar. With the oval semi-open back on the ECO Sustain, it's a nicely balanced tone projection in a beautiful cabinet. I recommend Celestion Creamback H or M, G12-65 or WGS Invader.

He said the weight was similar to my cab, being hard maple and walnut. I don't know what my cab weighs without the chassis and speaker in it, but the amp has big iron, so I would think at least 20lbs of my amp's weight is in the chassis, and it's about 60lbs overall. the ECO cab's overall weight would also depend on chosen speaker magnet, etc... but I'm guessing the unloaded cab is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 lbs.