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

[Bogie]

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?

[sreten]

Hi,

Buy a guitar amplifier (strictly speaking a combo).
Music systems and guitar amplification do not mix.

/sreten.

[joe carrow]

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.

[Bogie]

But isn't the digital effects virtual amp dealie...

http://www.behringer.com/V-AMP2/index.cfm?lang=ENG

...supposed to just be plugged into the board, and from there to the amps/mains?

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

She's 11... Not looking to go on the road with it...

[BobEllis]

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.

[sreten]

Originally posted by Bogie

... 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.

[Bogie]

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...

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by Bogie
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?.

[sreten]

Originally posted by Bogie
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...ckCode=EG00838



Probably a lot more useful and very PC friendly.

/sreten.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Personally I would suggest she spends more time learning to play the guitar, and not playing with 'toys' - guitar modelers aren't going to help her playing skills at all.