Okay... Building guitar speaks... What should I look for?

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My girlfriend's daughter has the guitar bug, and it's looking like it may stick around... Got her one of those Epiphone Les Paul knockoffs for her birthday, and now I wanna upgrade her output... At reasonable cost...

I'm thinking of ebaying one of the digital signal processing dealies like the Behringer V-Amp, and hooking it up to a 30 watt "old pioneer receiver" I've got in the garage, and building her either a single cab, or dual cabs... May make them high-crossed two-ways into a cheapo piezo tweeter, so she can also use it as a stereo (she listens to mp3-generation stuff...). Crossover will be VERY minimal, with nothing on the woofs.

I'm thinking of stacking 4 drivers/cabinet (to leave room to grow...), probably 8" or 10" drivers... For guitar-only use, I'm gonna put a switch on the piezo...

Whaddya think? What should I look for in an el-cheapo buyout driver?
 
I think you can save some money by building your own, but it's important to realize that a lot of the "sound" of an electric guitar that is so desireable is the sound of tube amps being over-driven, and paper cone speakers being driven to distortion and ringing with breakup.

It's definitely not hi-fi. Have a look at the guitar speakers at Parts Express. Most of them show a ragged frequency response (as opposed to flat), and an extremely high sensitivity. The frequency response is part of what gives them their characteristic sound.

Whatever you do for amplification, I recommend that you use actual musical instrument speakers.
 
Sure, it will work, Bogie. Just realize that you won't sound like a stack of Marshalls is all the posters above were saying.

I played my bass through an op amp preamp, an old stereo and an extra set of speakers until I built a "proper" rig. Of course, many bassists prefer a cleaner, more Hi Fi sound than guitarists. The Behringer may give her the sound she's looking for.

The key is to get whatever sound makes you happy - it doesn't matter how you get there. ;)
 
Bogie said:

... Plus if I stack four 8s or 10s, it'll take up a LOT less footprint than a regular 4x cab...

True. But there are very good (guitar) reasons not to stack.

Stacked is good for short throw vocal PA systems.

IMO what is required is a luggable guitar combo, 2x10 or 1x12.
Some built in modelling effects but proper guitar pre-amp and power.

Generally speaking any one planning to jam / play in a band
a vocal PA system is a very handy thing to have lying around,
you could easily make this a music system also.

:)/sreten.
 
I don't think that her mommy is going to okay any gigs in the next couple of years. She's 11...

I was just thinking that one of those behringer digital modeling dealies would be cool to play with, because she's starting to wonder about all the different sounds and there's NO WAY that I'm gonna buy her 20 different speakers/20 different amps...
 
Bogie said:
I don't think that her mommy is going to okay any gigs in the next couple of years. She's 11...

Don't be too sure! - my daughter's 15 now, and she's been gigging (and recording) since she was 11.

I would suggest though buying a little practice amp, the ones that you normally get in starter kits - you should be able to find them cheap second hand, lots of people upgrade to a bigger amp when they join a band or start gigging. It's really all she needs to learn on, and it will be FAR louder than you need - you might consider getting a pair of headphones to go with it?.
 
Bogie said:
I don't think that her mommy is going to okay any gigs in the next couple of years. She's 11...

I was just thinking that one of those behringer digital modeling dealies would be cool to play with, because she's starting to wonder about all the different sounds and there's NO WAY that I'm gonna buy her 20 different speakers/20 different amps...

Hi,

practising / rehearsing / jamming with other people is not gigging
and the only real way to learn how to play electric guitar in a band.

You can get guitar combo's with all the modelling built in. Genarally
two types, analogue modelling for more traditional sounds and ones
with digital modelling, more sounds but distortion not as good.

The beheringer guitar shaped jobby is more for recording.

Kings of the budget stomp box are Zoom :

http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=EG00838

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Probably a lot more useful and very PC friendly.

:)/sreten.
 
"so she can also use it as a stereo (she listens to mp3-generation stuff...). Crossover will be VERY minimal, with nothing on the woofs.

Hi boqie,

I also vote for sretens stomp box rec. it's more suitable for practising purpose than the Behringer.

Given your:” and hooking it up to a 30 watt "old pioneer receiver" and to keep cost as low as possible:

I suggest to choose some small inexpensive but and very good sounding drivers and build the enclosure with your daughter involved:

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?DID=7&WebPage_ID=3&Start=2&ObjectGroup_ID=585&sm=1&so=2

They also sound good when used for play back recordings and in my opinion; the 5-inch needs no other supplement in the top octave and sounds nice at the lower end too.

A year ago, I build two field programmable arrays, up to five drivers when bessel-array is the right choice, where all drivers are separated and had slotted-ports with the 5-inch version for general-purpose instrumental/reinforcement and for use in medium sized locations.

You can start with less and it’s easier and even more flexible to build separate stackable boxes to grow with and in this case 3.2 Litre and a port with 2-inch circular diameter and a length of 4 inch.

½ inch Plywood is adequate and spray-glue ¼ inch felt of wool (or ¾ inch foam) for covering internal walls.
The latter is needed for reproduction of recordings and makes the sound from vocals smoother.

I bet this little box and your old Pioneer amp together with the suggested stomp box will outperform most of the existing crappy toy like practise amp on the market, with no low end at all and tin-can like sound, especially when comparing with similar driver size and the low total cost which was the prerequisite.

B
 

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sreten said:
Hmmm.... seems a bit harsh.

Sorry, I wasn't criticising the young ladies capabilities at all - just that I don't think introducing a modeler will help anyone learn guitar - particularly as (I presume?) she's inexperienced.

Certainly once you're a fairly accomplished guitarist, then move in all directions - but for a start stick to learning to play!.
 
gobs 'o power for guitar amp

Get a used tube pre-amp specifically designed for guitars, bass, etc.

Hook it to a decent 50 watt (or less) mono-block or stereo (class-d) kit or inexpensive class-d commercial amp ... and let her play through your quality stereo mains.

The sound is the best for solo practice, that "mellow" guitar sound, 'cause of the tube pre-amp ... and no extra speakers cluttering up the homestead ... and then get her a chastity belt with the extra funds ....
 
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