Detuned 2x12 = Rock!!!

[gproud]

Well, I did my second gig with the 'detuned' cab Saturday night, and it still sounded fantastic! So I have a V30 for sale if anyone wants it Anyone considering this should give it a go. I think most will be pleasantly surprised.

[basicbill]

I've had mine for years, best sounding cabinet I've ever heard.It's really just an oversized 2x12, 16" deep.I cut beamblockers right in the baffle.These are great for low volume playing and add an extra dimension to the sound almost like reverb.Very warm sounding cabs which could be good or bad, I used 3/4" baffle which may have been a bit much.

[gibson8678]

If you do it to 4x12, which speakers do you take out?

[basicbill]

Doesn't matter, I would prolly do it in an X-pattern.

[spodsie]

Has anybody heard the Z Best cab that I recently saw reviewed with the DR Z Remedy amp? Maybe it would produce a similar result?

[zaphod_phil]

Or maybe Dr Z's doing his thing of borrowing someone else's ideas and making like he invented it all himself. At least he's not Randall Smith, who would then go and patent them as well.

If you do it to 4x12, which speakers do you take out?

Here's some real interesting recommendations from tarzanalog:

FYI - If you detune your Marshall 4x12, put the speakers in the top half and screw a piece of laminate flooring to the baffle and the backpost partially dividing the cab into top and bottom chambers. The rewards are HUGE (I tried just about everything when I detuned mine) and the mod is undetectable and reversible.

http://www.18watt.com/modules.php?name= ... ad&id=9570

My divider was the result of much experimentation and works very well. Just a piece of laminate flooring I had on hand. It's fastened to the baffle and center post but has roughly a 3 inch gap around the other three edges to allow the sound to get through to the bottom front of the cab. Sounds gorgeous with those speakers and that cab can handle anything I throw at it.

Having open handle holes on the sides gives you a better treble spread like having the cab open-backed would, but is not really meeting the design intent of a detuned cab. The goal there is to simulate the sound coming off of a fixed-distance rear wall in an open-backed cab scenario.

[krx]

I actually built a "detuned" cab with a bottom port equal in area to the speaker and a large internal volume and depth. I've used the same speakers in that, a 2x12 closed back, and a 1x12 open back. Basically, it's halfway between an open and closed back sound... but with some compromises.

The good: You get a big but tight low end compared to the same speaker running open-back with none of the boominess of a closed, sealed cab. You also get more efficiency out of the speaker than an open-back design but less directionality than a closed, sealed cab. Bass response can be further tightened by adding some sort of resonance killer (I used the old drummer trick and stuck a small pillow inside).

The bad: The higher frequencies do not sound as clear and open because of the weird phase issues.

On the whole, I greatly prefer the sound of an open-backed cab for most applications unless you're playing real heavy stuff where you need the sealed cab to get that sound.


By the way, Zaite is pretty open about his cabs being Thiele ported and using what he calls "lens technology" (putting a spacer ring between the baffle and driver to increase dispersion). Thiele porting can sound good if done right but given that Z offers different speaker options, I doubt they're optimally tuning the cabs...

[StarGeezers]

Gentlemen , I was able to get a deal on two very old (60s) Fender bassman cabs (2-12/tilt) I took one and removed a speaker (old Fender) and inner board baffle ,for a de-tuned cab ... Worked GREAT , sounded really more "musical"... for the guitar
The other cab got 1/2 of the particle board back cut away and removed (baffle left in) Both speakers wired separately to take advantage of available room conditions... That works well too ... both mods better sounding than the original sealed cabs ... Borrowed a friends stock FB cab (same era) to compare AB...
As a result of these experiments I built a 1-12" sorta' de-tuned folded horn cab... which I now use to gig with.. http://www.wattkins.com/node/15707

I know, they weren't Marshall cabs...

[klingo]

nice little cab!
is it your best souding cab or the easiest to carry to gigs?

[StarGeezers]

Both !!!

[Just-Mike]

Also reinforces the speaker wave at many frequencies.

And cancels just as many.

[zaphod_phil]

Whichever way, a lot of people seem to like how these detuned cabs sound. I'm starting to get an itch to cut a hole in the front of an over-sized closed-back 1X12 I've got, which sounds somewhat boomy as it is.

[Ripstich]

I once purchased an old Marshall 4x12 Big M cab, cir I believe was 1966 made for Germany. The player I got it from was cash poor and I was holding it for him. Now he had taken out the inner baffles, with speakers configured one high and one low. And the sound coming out of that plywood box was awesome!

I tried this same setup on a 1970’s 4x12 particle board cab, and it just didn’t have it. This experiment lead to my first cabs, and made me a firm believe in detuned cabs. So what if you lose a little bit of the low end, just reconfigure the amp and adjust to taste. The amp I was using at the time was a Butcher and the sound was amazing. No, that amp was not an 18 watt.

Hopefully just one more surgery on my neck and I’ll be ready to make a come back. It has taken 8 months now for the ribs to heal.

Doug

[1950]

This all sounds a bit !"feng suie" (try clapping with one hand) to me? Why not take out all the speakers
I have a few configuration speaker boxes, but my 18 watter (and a couple of other amp builds too) sound far better "to me" through my favourite single 12" - 30 per'cent open back speaker. Maybe I'll try it without the speaker .
Doubles & quads seem to mush my sound too much .