django49 Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 Knock knock, who dere? A Q knock-off. When Quilter announced they would make a very compact cabinet designed to mate with their lightweight mini-heads, I thought it to be a great idea for a real grab and go. And a 2 x 8 cabinet that is angled for where you can HEAR it and to (allegedly) "perform as well as a 4 x 12 cab", what's not to love? Well, how about the PRICE? $699 for a 2 x 8!?@! Even at my usual source, with a discounted price of $559, that is an eye-opener. And when I looked into the components, those exact speakers are available for under $50 each. And I had virtually everything else already in the shop, aside from about $10 in misc parts. Sorry, guess I am just a cheap SOB. So, I needed a challenge. There are a LOT of pieces to cut and fit, esp need to create a 20 degree angle on the front. I used a ton of "biscuits" to glue it all up securely.....Pine and pine plywood. The boots in the pix give an idea of how small they really are.....Literally like a breadbox. I used "my own" process to "antique" the wood to look like old furniture. Built strictly for my own use. And there is a bunch of hand labor. Doubt I will make any more. (If I did, I might find some nice "Brazilian Cherry" and do some better final finish work. I was thinking of wrapping these in tolex, but for now I like the "antique" look, which I have used on some shop built furniture as well). As a plus, the top is 20" wide and about 9.5" deep, so it COULD be used with a regular amp head, assuming it is not a Mesa Road King or the like. To be clear, I am NOT doing something like this for use/sale by anyone other than myself. And I DO appreciate the Quilter innovation. IF someone has a need for such, they MIGHT want to look at the original item. Yeah, I know the real thing is cooler and more professionally finished, whereas mine is "rough around the edges", but.... Hard to tell how the speakers (100 watts each, with kevlar cones) will sound after being broken in. Thus far, I have used them ONLY with the Quilters (one 50/100 watt, the other up to 200 watts). But (IMO) they are pretty darned impressive. And they weigh 25 pounds each, plus the 4-6 pounds of the 2 different mini-heads. They are completely sealed so they really do project a tight sound, completely forward and up (rather than completely past the player's knees). I would be highly skeptical of the marketing hype that they are the full equal of a 100+ pound 4 x 12, but these little things will shake the walls.
bubs_42 Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 Nice! Fuchs used to use 1x8 and 2x8 Cabs with the Lucky 7's, but i've never played an 8 that sounded any good.
Studio Custom Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 If you can afford that stoop you can afford the cabinet.
django49 Posted March 10, 2017 Author Posted March 10, 2017 FWIW, Quilter has made believers of a lot of folks with their small Aviator and MicroPro amps, that come with a single 8" (same Celestion speaker) in a sealed cabinet. They seem to catch a lot of people off guard, including soundmen, as they"keep up" with much larger amps. In fairness, the sound IS much bigger if teamed with their 12" extension cabinet (the so called "20 inch" piggyback combination). Quite a few folks seem to be leaving their vintage tube amps at home for the ease and reliability of such as the Aviator. But there is certainly a bit of hype in that as well. I am not there yet. BTW, a Hamer Duo-Tone, with one output into each of the two channels of an Aviator openback (12" speaker) is a very good and versatile combination for live use, esp if you use "the right" dirt in front of the electric channel. The open back gives more of an "old school" shape to the tone.
Never2Late Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 I'm looking at the front door to a Mansion, and the OP can't afford a $300 cabinet for a pair of 12" cones? What am I missing? I didn't know Chardonnay was so expensive....
Toadroller Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 Nice bit of woodwork you did there. A fun project no doubt. Now, if one 2x8 is supposed to sound like a 4x12, and you built two of them... you've got a concert in a box.
Studio Custom Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 43 minutes ago, Never2Late said: I'm looking at the front door to a Mansion, and the OP can't afford a $300 cabinet for a pair of 12" cones? What am I missing? I didn't know Chardonnay was so expensive.... McMansion, it's styrofoam covered in stucco.
ARM OF HAMER Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 And thats just the entrance to the music room!
killerteddybear Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 38 minutes ago, ARM OF HAMER said: And thats just the entrance to the music room! C'mon, you could drag a Marshall stack or an SVT fridge through that door!
G Man Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 Digging the little cabinets. Not sure why personal success creates acrimony no matter what, but looks like a lovely home you have as well, congrats. And have the rest of you just not been paying attention, have you seen the many, many beautiful high dollar guitars this man has posted here? Did you think he was doing that from a trailer park somewhere? Sheesh.
mrjamiam Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 3 hours ago, Never2Late said: I'm looking at the front door to a Mansion, and the OP can't afford a $300 cabinet for a pair of 12" cones? What am I missing? I didn't know Chardonnay was so expensive.... If one wasn't prescient enough to plan to inherit it, one makes it easier to obtain the mansion by not wasting funds on store-bought goods that can be made at home just as well.
bubs_42 Posted March 11, 2017 Posted March 11, 2017 Easy up fella's, the OP knows when something isn't a bargain. So a Mini 2x8 Cab for that much coin doesn't flip his switch. I give him props for rolling up his sleeves and putting in some work making what will get the job done. Maybe that is why he can have what he's has.
django49 Posted March 11, 2017 Author Posted March 11, 2017 So, I probably picked the wrong setting to show the cabs. In this part of the world, you take your sunshine when/where you get it.,,,,Today, the front side. I freely admit to being a cheapskate, at least in some things. Sometimes it is hard to break old habits. Too many hours (a long time ago) in the hot summer sun over multiple summers doing manual labor for $1.25 an hour. Sometimes less than that. In that context, seeing something that costs 6 times what I can build a functional version for just sorta tweaks me. Even if I could easily just buy one. But the thing to me is not the cash flow or even the (IMO) excessive price. To me, I see it as, first, a challenge.....I had on-line pictures of the real thing. A helpful Q dealer was kind enough to tell me the external dimensions. From there, using the info on the Q site, my challenge was to "reverse engineer" it. Things would be way too easy to do if there were actual plans available. What fun would that be? (Someone I know suggested using the "liberal return policy" to get one, take it apart, then reassemble and return it for a refund. Sorry, but that is not honest). Cannot say I need TWO, but once you are setting up to make a lot of exacting cuts, why not? Second, I have a ton (you can take that literally) of "leftover" materials from prior projects---And some future ones. Turning a small portion of it into a "value plus" asset is satisfying----And it helps me clean up the shop, just a bit......A neighbor jokes that I am going to build a second house. FWIW, the pine for this project was the surplus from the sideboard I built for the better half. I guess she is easy to please, because it is her favorite thing in the whole house. BTW, the stash includes some "really nice" wood, including flame and quilted maple, as well as some "exotics". But, NO, I am NOT going to take on those that KNOW what they are doing (like Mike S!) and make an amateurish stab at building a guitar. My wife's fav: Of course, I do make a few other things for my own self.....(BTW, that is Brazilian Cherry atop a birdseye maple cab). Well, enough self-analysis. Have a good weekend, y'all!
Jakeboy Posted March 11, 2017 Posted March 11, 2017 I like the 2x8 cabs! Great work. you obviously have some good woodworking skills. I am disappointed the focus of this thread temporarily shifted to your house size/financial status. Quilters have become a big deal here in MO....a local country hot-shot player moved to them and lots followed. I own a bunch of tube amps and dearly love them. Anyway, do tell us how the cab sounds as the speakers break in. I would love to find a really quiet, inefficient cab with two 8s to run my Bassman through without an attenuator.....but it is hard to find inefficient speakers that can handle a 50 watt amp cranked.
mrjamiam Posted March 11, 2017 Posted March 11, 2017 Nice job with the cabs! I have what I think might be an even better situation here: a retired friend with a comparable shop who turns out comparable furnishings. He has been extremely amenable to helping me out with my guitar and amp/cab projects, none of which are as photo-worthy as yours, which is directly due to my own lack of imagination and ambition. You're inspiring both, though.
ARM OF HAMER Posted March 12, 2017 Posted March 12, 2017 On 3/10/2017 at 7:07 PM, django49 said: So, I probably picked the wrong setting to show the cabs. In this part of the world, you take your sunshine when/where you get it.,,,,Today, the front side. I freely admit to being a cheapskate, at least in some things. Sometimes it is hard to break old habits. Too many hours (a long time ago) in the hot summer sun over multiple summers doing manual labor for $1.25 an hour. Sometimes less than that. In that context, seeing something that costs 6 times what I can build a functional version for just sorta tweaks me. Even if I could easily just buy one. But the thing to me is not the cash flow or even the (IMO) excessive price. To me, I see it as, first, a challenge.....I had on-line pictures of the real thing. A helpful Q dealer was kind enough to tell me the external dimensions. From there, using the info on the Q site, my challenge was to "reverse engineer" it. Things would be way too easy to do if there were actual plans available. What fun would that be? (Someone I know suggested using the "liberal return policy" to get one, take it apart, then reassemble and return it for a refund. Sorry, but that is not honest). Cannot say I need TWO, but once you are setting up to make a lot of exacting cuts, why not? Second, I have a ton (you can take that literally) of "leftover" materials from prior projects---And some future ones. Turning a small portion of it into a "value plus" asset is satisfying----And it helps me clean up the shop, just a bit......A neighbor jokes that I am going to build a second house. FWIW, the pine for this project was the surplus from the sideboard I built for the better half. I guess she is easy to please, because it is her favorite thing in the whole house. BTW, the stash includes some "really nice" wood, including flame and quilted maple, as well as some "exotics". But, NO, I am NOT going to take on those that KNOW what they are doing (like Mike S!) and make an amateurish stab at building a guitar. My wife's fav: Of course, I do make a few other things for my own self.....(BTW, that is Brazilian Cherry atop a birdseye maple cab). Well, enough self-analysis. Have a good weekend, y'all! Well regarding the cabinet for your wife I can see why she likes it...................its beautiful and of course YOU made it for her. Nice work! Looks like you have some real skills...................besides just collecting and playing guitars. That wood stash.....................did that come from Hamer?
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