Noob needing sub for gigs.

[mrbobian]

Well I have to say, I don't know very much about audio at all, but what i do know, is our band needs some bass. I'm in a small band in high school and we are starting to get some bigger gigs and just seems like our Yamaha speakers aren't pushing any lows out to the croud (who'da thunk right?) Most of our shows are outside and the croud is right up close to where the sub would be placed.

Well I've built a couple of small sealed enclosures for my car and some friends vehicles so i was thinking I could built a sub for the band. My queston is, what do i need? I was looking at maybe an 18in driver with 400watts or so in just a rectangular ported box, but I am starting to find out that there may be alot more i could do with just enclosure designs. Any thoughts? I am really trying to do this on a tight budget so any help would be great. Thankyou in advance,

Mike B.

[Inductor]

Try a DIY 12Pi basshorn subwoofer with 2x12" Labs 12 speaker drivers. Kit-$270.00. Flat pack Kit $850.00 (wood from a CNC).

[mrbobian]

Wow, those look really nice but way out of our price range. Any cheaper alternatives? We don't need super high output, just something to bring the kickdrum and bass line to the crowd. Thanks,

Mike B.

[John_E_Janowitz]

What kind of price range ar you looking at? How many people are you going to be playing to?

john

[sreten]

http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Passive-...bwoofers--2745

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....ctGroup_ID=583

Hi,

You may find that building the cabinets will not save you that much.

/sreten.

[mrbobian]

Originally posted by John_E_Janowitz


What kind of price range ar you looking at? How many people are you going to be playing to?

john

I was hoping to stay in the $300 price range as we still have to buy some power for whatever we end up going with.

Our croud ranges from 100 to 200 kids usually. A good night will bring in a few more.

Also, I have looked and though about some pre-built subs like the peveys or something similar, but I was thinking we could get a little better output and better sound with something I built. It would be way cooler to build something too, I love projects that are a bit beyond my skill! Thanks

Mike B.

[John_E_Janowitz]

Well the most simple thing to do for getting adequate output would be a fairly large vented 18" cabinet. The lowest range you'll likely need to cover is 32Hz for the low E on a bass guitar. I'd love to sell you something but we don't have TD18's.. at least not yet You're going to want to do an 18" driver with the most Xmax available.

The standards out there are drivers like the Electro voice EVX180B but they're over $500 and Xmax is only 6.4mm http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=294-565

The B&C 18TBX100 has 10mm Xmax and is on special at $282 now from PE. This is also a very capable driver. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=294-676

The eminence Sigma Pro 18 at $159.97 would be a slightly less expensive driver with 6.1mm Xmax. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=290-427

There are numerous other drivers you could look at in that range of Xmax in the $150-300 range. Check PE's list of 18" pro sound drivers for an option.

Go with the largest port you can fit tuning from that 32Hz point up to 45hz based on how large you want your cabinet to be and if you want to cover that full range on bass guitar or not. Any of these options will fairly substantially out perform any of the $500 range commercial offerings.

Then if you want to try building something a little more complex, other options would to build something like one of the plans Bill Fitzmaurice has available. His Titan 48 would be a good option and will cost you about $300 fully loaded.

http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/T48.html


John

[dangus]

Some thoughts:

Take a look at the designs at Speakerplans.com, particularly the bandpass type. Those should give efficiency approaching a horn, but are easier to build.

Eminence has some reference designs, although IIRC they're mostly conventional ported cabinets. Their drivers are good value for money, and quality seems fine.

How about renting a sub or two first, and seeing how that helps, before committing money and sawdust?

And, contact some local sound companies... they may have some old boxes they no longer use (like W-bins) and would be happy to get rid of them (though probably with no woofers).

[sreten]

Originally posted by John_E_Janowitz
The lowest range you'll likely need to cover is 32Hz for the low E on a bass guitar.
John

Hi,

31Hz is low B on 5 string bass, low E on a 4 string bass is 41Hz.

/sreten.

[John_E_Janowitz]

Err.. yeah, Low B is what i meant. not E. sorry. I thought it was 31.87Hz but looks like 30.87Hz.

John